Guides to poetry by Duffy, Armitage and Pre-1914 Poets

Task: You will work in pairs to produce a revision guide to one of the following poems (I will tell you which one). It must be suitable for use by other Year 11s. The aim of this is both to help you to revise the poems for your English Literature examination, and for you, as a class, to produce a pack of revision guides. This task must be complete by the end of today’s lesson.

Poems to cover:

Duffy
Anne Hathaway
Before You Were Mine
Havisham
Stealing

Armitage
Mother, any distance
...

This teaching guide for students of higher ability is designed as a self-contained unit which can be used to produce the AQA A GCSE Pre-1914 Prose coursework. It can also be used as a springboard for Original Writing.

A Modest Proposal is an excellent alternative for the more able students to the rather well-worn (though useful) Pre-1914 Prose path of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Great Expectations and Pride and Prejudice. Its blistering satire allows students to produce some quite subtle and impressive analyses.

• The AQA A Pre-1914 coursework...

Poetry from Different Cultures

This teaching guide for high-ability students is designed as a self-contained unit which can be used to prepare for the AQA A Paper 2 Section A question on the poetry from different cultures in the Anthology.

Let us remind ourselves of the assessment objectives addressed by this section. Candidates are required to demonstrate their ability to:

(i) read, with insight and engagement, making appropriate references to texts and developing and sustaining interpretations of them;

(iv) select material appropriate to...

Compare the ways an event is described in ‘Blessing’ with the ways an event is described in ‘Island Man’.

Imtiaz Dharker and Grace Nichols are both clearly concerned with issues of identity and clashing cultures when exploring the main events in their poems ‘Blessing’ and ‘Island Man’. Despite the fact that Dharker originates from Pakistan, and Nichols from Guyana, each seems able to use similar poetic techniques to get to grips with wider issues beyond the apparently mundane occurrences in their poetry.

The concept of identity is...

Titus Andronicus

This teaching guide for higher ability students is designed as a self-contained unit which can be used to produce the AQA A GCSE Shakespeare coursework.

• The unit uses one of the lesser-known and less critically-acclaimed Shakespeare plays in order to encourage a high-quality and truly original response.
• The AQA A Shakespeare coursework is what is termed as a ‘cross-over’ piece; therefore, if you are using it for assessment for both English and English Literature GCSEs (the most common approach), you need to be able to...

Associated Resources

• Improving Your Analyses.pptx

It is because we cannot see the reader that writing needs to be different from speech. A reader is distant and so we cannot notice any misunderstandings or loss of interest that occur as they read. This creates a need for clarity in writing that isn’t so important in speech. The style and structure we adopt for example needs to be more formal; and the need to create and maintain interest means that writing should be lively. In the case of school essays, the reader is the teacher or examiner who awards marks and a grade, something that can...

1. Introduction
2. Narrative Viewpoint
3. Structure
4. Social / Historical Context
5. Language
6. Top Ten Quotations
7. Exam Preparation
8. Using Quotations
9. Sample Exam Response

Introduction

This short popular novel is a ghost story with gothic elements. The Woman in Black was originally published in 1983 and a successful cinema adaptation was produced in 2012 starring Daniel Radcliffe (directed by James Watkins with screenplay by Jane Goldman).

In an interview, Susan Hill described ghost stories as follows:

Download

• Non-Fiction and Media with notes.pptx

As part of your GCSE English exam, you’ll be asked to analyse and discuss aspects of the non-fiction and media text ‘genre’.

Genre

The word ‘genre’ suggests that a text type is easily identifiable by readers as belonging to a particular kind or type; in effect, we all ‘stereotype’ texts just as we do people but the effect is called ‘genre’ rather than stereotyping! Texts that clearly ‘fit’ a particular genre are called ‘generic texts’ and we recognise them because they show particular ‘genre conventions’ in...

AQA English Literature GCSE

3d Unit 4: Approaching Shakespeare and the English Literary Heritage

AQA English GCSE

3c Unit 3 Understanding and producing creative texts

AO1: respond to texts critically & imaginatively; select & evaluate textual details to illustrate & support interpretations
AO2: explain how language, structure & form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas, themes & settings....[ read full article ] »

Act 5

Act 5 scene 1

Brutus and Cassius make a military mistake.
Cassius regrets letting Antony live.
Octavius and Antony compete for control.

The final Act concerns the final conflict between the two sides and is compressed into 5 fairly short scenes.  Again Shakespeare compresses time for dramatic purposes.  There were actually 2 battles at Philippi and they were about 3 weeks apart.  Shakespeare merges these into one continuous battle and brings Antony and Octavius face to face with...

Act 4

Act 4 scene 1

Antony and Octavius plan their revenge.

This scene contrasts with the previous one in that the result of Antony’s victory over Brutus at the funeral is shown as political – the deliberate, cold-bloodied drawing up of a list of conspirators who must die.  According to Plutarch the list ran to 300 names. 

Antony’s opening line is flat and unemotional in contrast to the grisly subject.  Octavius and Lepidus then try to bargain for the lives of various...

Act 3

Act 3 scene 1

Caesar reaches the senate but is surrounded by the conspirators.
Caesar is stabbed by all the conspirators, finally by Brutus.
Antony meets the murderers and is given permission to speak at the funeral of Caesar.

This is the pivotal scene of the play.  The scenes in both previous Acts have been building to this moment and it provides the motives for the actions in the rest of the play.

Caesar is surrounded by the conspirators – Artemidorus and the soothsayer...

Act 2

Act 2 scene 1

Brutus considers the murder of Caesar.
Brutus reads one of the false letters and is visited by Cassius.
The decision is taken not to harm Antony or any of Caesar’s other followers.

The storm from the previous scene is continuing and Brutus refers to the darkness in the opening speech.  Darkness is symbolic in this scene – it represents the darkness and confusion in Brutus’ mind.  The conspirators arrive in darkness later in the scene which adds to the feeling...

This guide has been written to help teachers in their reading, preparation and teaching of the play. Julius Caesar can be taught as a part of several exam board English Literature units:

• AQA GCSE English Literature 4710 | Unit 4: Approaching Shakespeare & the English Literary Heritage
• AQA GCSE English 4700 | Unit 3 Understanding and producing creative texts
• OCR GCSE English Literature | 2.1 Unit A661: Literary Heritage Linked Texts
• OCR GCSE English | Unit A641 Reading literary texts
• Edexcel GCSE English Literature | Unit 3: Shakespeare and...

The Language of Radio DJs

• AQA GCSE Spoken English CA SOW 2013.zip

This AQA GCSE Spoken English Scheme on The Language of Radio DJs contains the following resources:

Week 1

• EnglishEdu - AQA Unit 3c Spoken Language Study SOW Week 1.doc
• Introduction to Unit.doc
• Studying Spoken Language Intro.ppt
• A Glossary of Spoken Language Features - Teacher Copy.doc
• A Glossary of Spoken Language Features - Student Copy.doc
• Conventions.ppt
• Info on DJs.doc
• Key.doc
• Medium.ppt
• Radio Stations.doc
• Spoken vs Written Cards.doc
• Terminology.ppt
• Thought Bubble.doc

This anthology is used for the following courses:

GCSE English Spec Code 4700
GCSE English Language Spec Code 4705
GCSE English Literature Spec Code 4710

The Anthology can also be used for Controlled Assessments in the following:

GCSE English Literature Unit 5: Exploring poetry
GCSE English Unit 3: Understanding and producing creative texts
GCSE English Language Unit 3: Understanding spoken and written texts and writing creatively

Associated Resources

• Moon on the Tides: Character & Voice PPTs
• Moon on the Tides: Place PPTs
• Moon on the...

1. Introduction 
2. Narrative Viewpoint
3. Structure
4. Social / Historical Context
5. Language
6. Top Ten Quotations
7. Exam Preparation
8. Using Quotations
9. Sample Exam Response

The Woman in Black & The Exam

You will be studying The Woman in Black in relation to your examining board – either AQA or OCR.

AQA English Literature

This novel is an optional text for Unit 1: Section A - Modern Prose or Drama. It is one of 9 texts prescribed for examination. You will be assessed in relation to A01 and A02.

AQA...

1. Introduction 
2. Narrative Viewpoint
3. Structure
4. Social / Historical Context
5. Language
6. Top Ten Quotations
7. Exam Preparation
8. Using Quotations
9. Sample Exam Response

The ‘PEE’ Technique

When you write about The Woman in Black you must remember to use POINT, EVIDENCE and ELABORATE (the ‘PEE’ technique):

1. POINT – MAKE A POINT (i.e. a sentence that helps develop an answer to the essay or exam question).

2. EVIDENCE – FIND A SUITABLE QUOTATION TO SUPPORT THE POINT YOU HAVE JUST MADE –...

1. Introduction 
2. Narrative Viewpoint
3. Structure
4. Social / Historical Context
5. Language
6. Top Ten Quotations
7. Exam Preparation
8. Using Quotations
9. Sample Exam Response

How to raise your grade?

Examiners’ advice about how to improve your grade when writing about The Woman in Black:

• Be relevant – this isn’t a test on everything you know about the text, only write about things that that relate to the question.
• Be sufficiently detailed – it’s better to give a lot of detail about a small part of the...

1. Introduction 
2. Narrative Viewpoint
3. Structure
4. Social / Historical Context
5. Language
6. Top Ten Quotations
7. Exam Preparation
8. Using Quotations
9. Sample Exam Response

‘I had never been an imaginative or fanciful man and certainly not one given to visions of the future’ (p13).

Arthur is the main character and the narrator and the reader should be sympathetic to him and share his feelings. The effect and unwillingness of the discussion of ghost stories shows the reader he has been badly affected in...

1. Introduction 
2. Narrative Viewpoint
3. Structure
4. Social / Historical Context
5. Language
6. Top Ten Quotations
7. Exam Preparation
8. Using Quotations
9. Sample Exam Response

Through Susan Hill’s choices of language she creates a fictional narrator, characters, settings and action and in this way explores her themes.

Her skill is to draw the reader into the fictional ‘story-world’ in such an absorbing way that we forget we are reading fiction and start to empathise, even sympathise, with the main...

1. Introduction 
2. Narrative Viewpoint
3. Structure
4. Social / Historical Context
5. Language
6. Top Ten Quotations
7. Exam Preparation
8. Using Quotations
9. Sample Exam Response

This story is set in Victorian England. Knowledge of the social, historical and cultural context will help you understand the novel more fully.

Victorian society placed much more importance on motherhood than our contemporary society does. Motherhood was praised and celebrated as the highest honour that could be imparted on a woman....

1. Introduction 
2. Narrative Viewpoint
3. Structure
4. Social / Historical Context
5. Language
6. Top Ten Quotations
7. Exam Preparation
8. Using Quotations
9. Sample Exam Response

The story has a conventional structure and is arranged by the use of chapters. The main storyline involving Kipps in the town of Crythin Gifford is set between 1900 and 1914 ( Chapter 2 - Chapter 11). Although the chapters are not numbered in the text you may find it helpful to remember them as follows.

Chapter 1: Christmas Eve...

1. Introduction 
2. Narrative Viewpoint
3. Structure
4. Social / Historical Context
5. Language
6. Top Ten Quotations
7. Exam Preparation
8. Using Quotations
9. Sample Exam Response

The narrator (and main character) of the novel is Arthur Kipps. Hill creates a believable fiction of a man telling us the story of a period of his life – his own ghost story.  Her technique is known as first person narrative. The use of the ‘first person’ tells us that the story will be told from Arthur’s perspective. This...

Click on one of the links below to download Steve Campsall’s PowerPoint on An Inspector Calls.

• An Inspector Calls.ppt
• An Inspector Calls.pptx

This anthology is used for the following courses:

GCSE English Spec Code 4700
GCSE English Language Spec Code 4705
GCSE English Literature Spec Code 4710

The Anthology can also be used for Controlled Assessments in the following:

GCSE English Literature Unit 5: Exploring poetry
GCSE English Unit 3: Understanding and producing creative texts
GCSE English Language Unit 3: Understanding spoken and written texts and writing creatively

Associated Resources

• Moon on the Tides: Character & Voice PPTs
• Moon on the Tides: Place PPTs
• Moon on the...

This anthology is used for the following courses:

GCSE English Spec Code 4700
GCSE English Language Spec Code 4705
GCSE English Literature Spec Code 4710

The Anthology can also be used for Controlled Assessments in the following:

GCSE English Literature Unit 5: Exploring poetry
GCSE English Unit 3: Understanding and producing creative texts
GCSE English Language Unit 3: Understanding spoken and written texts and writing creatively

Associated Resources

• Moon on the Tides: Character & Voice PPTs
• Moon on the Tides: Conflict PPTs
• Moon on the...

This anthology is used for the following courses:

GCSE English Spec Code 4700
GCSE English Language Spec Code 4705
GCSE English Literature Spec Code 4710

The Anthology can also be used for Controlled Assessments in the following:

GCSE English Literature Unit 5: Exploring poetry
GCSE English Unit 3: Understanding and producing creative texts
GCSE English Language Unit 3: Understanding spoken and written texts and writing creatively

Associated Resources

• Moon on the Tides: Place PPTs
• Moon on the Tides: Conflict PPTs
• Moon on the Tides:...

Click on the link below to download Jo Winwood’s PPT on The Clown Punk by Simon Armitage.

The Clown Punk.pptx

The Clown Punk.ppt

This resource is relevant to the following courses:

AQA GCSE English spec code 4700
AQA GCSE English Language spec code 4705
AQA GCSE English Literature spec code 4710

The anthology can also be used for Controlled Assessment in the following:

AQA English Literature Unit 5: Exploring Poetry
AQA English Unit 3: Understanding and producing creative texts
AQA English Language Unit 3: Understanding spoken and...

Click on the link below to download Jo Winwood’s PPT on Medusa by Carol Ann Duffy.

Medusa.pptx

Medusa.ppt

This resource is relevant to the following courses:

AQA GCSE English spec code 4700
AQA GCSE English Language spec code 4705
AQA GCSE English Literature spec code 4710

The anthology can also be used for Controlled Assessment in the following:

AQA English Literature Unit 5: Exploring Poetry
AQA English Unit 3: Understanding and producing creative texts
AQA English Language Unit 3: Understanding spoken and written texts and writing...

Click on the link below to download Jo Winwood’s PPT on Horse Whisperer by Andrew Forster.

Horse Whisperer.pptx

Horse Whisperer.ppt

This resource is relevant to the following courses:

AQA GCSE English spec code 4700
AQA GCSE English Language spec code 4705
AQA GCSE English Literature spec code 4710

The anthology can also be used for Controlled Assessment in the following:

AQA English Literature Unit 5: Exploring Poetry
AQA English Unit 3: Understanding and producing creative texts
AQA English Language Unit 3: Understanding spoken and...

Click on the link below to download Jo Winwood’s PPT on Checkin Out Me History by John Agard.

Checkin Out Me History.pptx

Checkin Out Me History.ppt

This resource is relevant to the following courses:

AQA GCSE English spec code 4700
AQA GCSE English Language spec code 4705
AQA GCSE English Literature spec code 4710

The anthology can also be used for Controlled Assessment in the following:

AQA English Literature Unit 5: Exploring Poetry
AQA English Unit 3: Understanding and producing creative texts
AQA English Language Unit 3:...

A very useful zipped set of files from Aimee Williams including a Scheme of Work and Associated Resources for the new GCSE English “Spoken English” Unit. Although written for AQA, these will be fully transferable across other boards as this is a new universal GCSE English requirement.

Week 1 - Scheme & Resources

Week_1_Scheme.doc
Annotation_of_Txt_Message.pptx
Annotation_of_Txt_Message.ppt
Features.docx
Features.doc
Spoken_vs_Written_Cards.docx
Spoken_vs_Written_Cards.doc
Spoken_Vs_Written.docx
Spoken_Vs_Written.doc...[ read full article ] »

Associated Resources

• Discourse Markers Toolkit.doc
• Discourse Markers PowerPoint.pptx
• DISPLAY Discourse Markers.doc

A ‘discourse marker’ is a word or phrase that helps to link written ideas. These words are generally more formal lexical items that find little use in speech – which is perhaps why they do not always come naturally to students.

Discourse markers can be used, for example, to link ideas that are similar (e.g. the adverbs, also and similarly); and they can be used to link ideas that are dissimilar (e.g. however, alternately)....[ read full article ] »

Teacher’s Note

This first part of this EnglishEdu guide is aimed at students who are studying any Shakespeare play – but they can easily and profitably be adapted to suit any play.

The second part of the guide is an analysis and commentary of Act 3 Sc. 1 of Shakespeare’s play, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, with accompanying notes that are based upon ideas discussed in the guide’s first section.

• The notes accompanying Act 3 Scene 1 of the play are designed to work towards helping students who are planning their Controlled Assessment essay,...

Sonnet 130
William Shakespeare

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; 1
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white, 5
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound; 10
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks...

Poetic Techniques used in Mother, any distance and The Laboratory

Write examples of the poetic technique on the left from the two poems.

There may be just one example or several. Include as many as you can.

Leave the space blank if there are no examples of the technique in the poem.

Poetic Techniques MAD and Lab.doc

a acres an anchor any at back base bedrooms below between breaking centimetres climb come distance doors empty endless fall feeding fingertips floors fly give greater hands has hatch help i inch kite ladder last leaving length line loft me measure metres mother of on one-hundredth opens or out pair pelmets pinch point prairies reach recording reporting requires second single sky something space-walk span spool stairs still tape than that the then through to towards two unreeling up us walls where windows with years you your zero-end

Mother...

A Teaching Guide to Pre-1914, Duffy and Armitage Poems
‘Mother, any distance’ and ‘The Laboratory’

The presentation of women in ‘Mother, any distance’ and ‘The Laboratory’

This teaching guide is one of 4 guides which cover between them the 12 Key Poems for AQA A GCSE English Literature for Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage and the relevant Pre-1914 poems (Higher Tier).

As pupils must compare a particular theme, idea or approach in the poems in the examination, these guides are centred on a particular theme which is relevant to...

Comparative Analysis

Complete the following grid in as much detail as possible. Try to include different interpretations. If you’re not sure have a guess – but make sure you can back up your ideas from the text. Make sure that as well as finding the techniques, you comment on their effects/significance.

Comparison Grid.doc

a ah all am an and are arms as at away be bear believe beside better bid bite blue brand brave breast brighten brings brought brush burn but call can carry casket church close colour’s come come-and-go could crowd curling dance dead death delicate devil’s-smithy dim do does done drear drink drop droplet dust dying earring elise empty ensnared enticing ere ever exquisite eyes face faint fall fan-mount fee fell felt filigree-basket fill finished fix fix’d fled flow for fortune’s free from gaze give glass go god gold gorge grace grim grind gum...

Compare how women are presented in four of the poems you have studied.

Compare:

• The women in the poems
• How they are presented

Chosen poems

‘Mother, any distance’ (MAD) – Armitage

‘Anne Hathaway’ (AH) – Duffy

‘My Last Duchess’ (MLD) – Pre-1914

‘The Laboratory’ (Lab) – Pre-1914

Your sample introductions are a big improvement on the introductions you were writing earlier in the term, so well done.

However, you now need to consider how to improve them further. These are the things to avoid:

• Don’t tell me what...

Coursework Essay Introductions

How does Jonathan Swift satirise contemporary attitudes towards the poor in Ireland in A Modest Proposal? Consider:

• The language and rhetorical devices Swift uses and their effects
• The structure of the piece
• How Swift’s writing may have been influenced by his social, cultural and historical context.

Here are 3 sample introductions to your coursework essay. They have some good points.

Task 1: See if you can identify these good points and explain why they are good.

However, as you can tell having studied the...

Contextual Research

Exam Criteria

Here’s an overview of the criteria I will use to assess your essay:

English GCSE

You are required to demonstrate their ability to:

• Read with insight and engagement
• Make appropriate references to texts
• Develop and sustain your interpretations of a text
• Understand and evaluate how writers use linguistic, structural and presentational devices to achieve their effects

English Literature GCSE

Candidates are required to demonstrate their ability to:

• Respond to texts critically, sensitively and in detail
• Select...

Macbeth

This teaching guide is designed as a self-contained unit for students of medium to high ability. It can be used to produce the AQA A GCSE Shakespeare coursework and has been designed for assessment via the EN2/Lit Oral Response Option (although it could easily also be adapted to provide a written response).

The AQA A Shakespeare coursework is what is termed as a ‘cross-over’ piece; therefore, if you are using it for assessment for both English and English Literature GCSEs (the most common approach), the student will need to be...

• Judgment against murderers on earth – the punishment.
• Image of the poisoned chalice being brought back to the lips of the perpetrator.
• Macbeth being a loyal subject of the king.
• Macbeth being the host who should protect the king.
• Duncan being a good and honourable king.
• The horror and pity caused by his death.
• Macbeth’s image of the horse as his ‘vaulting ambition’.

Macbeth Table.doc

Macbeth Soliloquy Act 1 Scene 7 Card Sort.doc

Macbeth Plot Cards.doc