Memorising La Belle Dame sans Merci

Oh hi,

Inspired by this blogpost, I've come up with an easy method of learning La Belle Dame sans Merci. Taking this easy-to-learn poem into the exam with you (in your head) is something I regard as a non-negotiable requirement.

This method uses a mnemonic which turns the poem into a shorter poem, or six bullet points:

• The sedge, so haggard
• A lily, I met
• A garland, I set
• She found me, she took me, and there she lulled me
• I saw pale kings, their starved lips
• Sojourn

Follow these steps. (Y13 - you are probably ready to jump to step 4):

1) Read and re-read the poem.
2) Use this set of Quizlet cards.
3) Try using these prompts.

The above steps are designed to ensure that you know each stanza. 

The final steps are to ensure that you know the structure of the poem so that you can put it all together:

4) Use the powerpoint below. Go through slides 2-13 to remember the images and mnemonic.
5) Use slide 14 to practise. I'll be using this to test you later!
6) Now use slide 15. You could try building a memory palace to remember the mnemonic.

Here's the powerpoint:




Once you know it, you could try using your fingers to remind you of the 12 stanzas. In the examples below, the little finger of each hand contains two stanzas:

Give it a go.

Have a great Christmas!


Mr M 

Y12: Montage essay

Hi folks,

As promised, here is some advice about the completion of your second essay.

I forgot to give you your purple books today, so either write it on paper or word process it and we'll stick it in later.

First of all, here's the title and plan:

Remember,  I've asked you to write a developed paragraph for each of the three 'steps'.

In each paragraph/step, you should:

• start with a clear topic sentence to signpost your argument (eg. for 'step 1: In the early stages of the play, Miller juxtaposes scenes from the past and present to give us an insight into Willy's values and his parenting skills, while also clearly showing us the outcome of those values and lessons on the next generation.)
•  explore a few examples, making links and drawing conclusions based on textual evidence.
• end paragraphs by making links (to themes, to contexts etc), commenting on dramatic effect (on the audience) and re-focusing on the question.

Don't write endless examples. One developed, exploratory paragraph on each step.

For the rest of this post, I'm going to add some of the details from my notebook file which I used in the last two lessons. Here goes:

What is montage? 

"Death of a Salesman explodes the watch and the calendar."  (Miller)

Arthur Miller used 'flashbacks' (or are they simply 'imaginings?) to create a montage of events. 

“Montage is the business of juxtaposing two images which would not normally be found side by side in real life to create a third meaning.” 

Remember, if you feel stuck or have any questions, please feel free to email me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.


Have a good half-term!




Mr M


PS. Here are  two examples of montage from film to keep you entertained:

Y12: Contextual Knowledge - Death of a Salesman

Hi,

I'm not in on Thursday. You won't need to come to the lesson, just do the stuff below.

Here are the things I've asked you to do:

1. Consider buying your own copy of Death of a Salesman (this edition is good, if you can get hold of it)
2. Research the life, times and work of Arthur Miller. Come to next Monday's lesson with some interesting info to share.
3. Join our Quizlet class here. This will be essential when I ask you to start learning quotes and key words.
4. Put your email address into the 'follow by email' box ---->(up a bit)^^
5. Read and re-read the contextual information in the document below:

Expect to be quizzed about tragedy and the context stuff above on Monday!

Mr M

Y12: La Belle Dame Sans Merci

Hi all,

You can find a link to the handy comic book version of Keats' La Belle Dame Sans Merci here.

If you want to find out more about Keats, this website is very useful.

This video, which explains Romanticism (the poetic movement which Keats was a part of), is essential viewing.


Mr M

Exam Post-Mortem

Hi,

In order to learn the lessons from this summer's AS exams, I've uploaded some materials that the board have put out to explain a) what they were looking for, and b) what they found when marking the exams.

Here's some advice which was published shortly before the exams:

And here's the examiner's report on your exams:

We'll be using this stuff in upcoming lessons to hone our exam technique. It's worth a skim, but I'll summarise the key messages for you soon.


Mr M 

Lots of Hemingway

Hi,

If you enjoy Hills Like White Elephants this week, there's plenty more where that came from!

Miss B recommends 'In Our Time', his first short story collection. Most of the stories can be found in the first section of the file below. Alternatively, read In Our Time here.

Mr M

PS. The Old Man and the Sea is a perfect little novella, for which Hemingway was awarded the Pullitzer Prize for Fiction.

That other giant of American literature, John Steinbeck, has also written plenty of short fiction. If you enjoy The Old Man and the Sea, take a look at Steinbeck's novella, The Pearl.

The Yellow Wallpaper

One more:

I really wanted you to do a bit of work on The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - but we're out of time.

I definitely recommend it though. It would be great if you're interested in the gothic or if you think you might like to look at the feminist section of the anthology.

Another one to check out is Kate Chopin's novella, The Awakening, which you can read at the bottom of this post. Perhaps start with one of her short stories: An Egyptian Cigarette. 

Here is The Yellow Wallpaper in full:

And here's some Kate Chopin: 

Mr M

Winesburg, Ohio

Hi folks,


Below, you will find a pdf version of Sherwood Anderson's celebrated short story collection, Winesburg, Ohio. Find out more here and here.

Like Dubliners, Winesburg, Ohio was "conceived as complementary parts of a whole, centered in the background of a single community." Another example of this kind of collection is Rohinton Mistry's Tales from Firozsha Baag, a collection of short-stories focusing on characters living in a Mumbai apartment building.

It's always worth checking if you can find a pdf copy of a short story collection online before you buy. Try searching the title + pdf.

Here's Sherwood Anderson's collection in full:

Mr M

Katherine Mansfield links

Hello again,

Here are some links to online versions of the short stories of Katherine Mansfield.

Click here for the stories and other resources.

Chick here for an article in the Guardian about Katherine Mansfield.


Mr M

Dubliners: The Dead

Hi,

A reminder of the homework (I wouldn't want you to forget!):

• For Friday, annotate your copy of the opening of 'The Dead'.
• For Tuesday, read the rest of 'The Dead'. You can find a copy of Dubliners here.

Miss B and I have agreed that, as a minimum requirement, you will be expected to read the whole of Dubliners plus another full text of your choosing in preparation for your coursework in September. We will ask you to 'sign up' (in blood) to confirm your chosen second text. By all means, read more.

Here are a few suggestions:

Short story collections

• Ray Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wallpaper and other stories
• Ernest Hemingway - The Essential Hemingway
• Raymond Carver - Where I'm Calling From (or this)

Novellas

• Franz Kafka - The Metamorphosis (more info here)
• Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse 5

I'll add more as they occur. Plenty of ideas can be found here and here.


Mr M

 

Suspicious readings of Joyce's Dubliners

Hi folks,

A very useful bit of criticism can be found here. Although the whole text is not available, you will be able to read the sections on 'The Sisters' and 'The Dead' - two key stories that appear at either end of the collection.

If you decide on 'Dubliners', take a look.

Mr M

The Sisters by James Joyce

Hi folks,

This week's homework is to read the rest of James Joyce's short story, 'The Sisters'. You can find an online version of 'Dubliners' here, or you can listen to 'The Sisters' (Irish accent and all) here.

I've also asked you to read section 1.1 of the critical anthology. 

On Friday, we'll discuss the story and how it relates to the first section of the anthology; we'll discuss its plot elements, structure and characters; we'll look to map out its structure and reach conclusions about its meanings.

A few introductory points about Joyce and 'Dubliners':

The stories can be split into the following sections:

1. Childhood, contains “The Sisters,” “An Encounter,” and “Araby” (the most anthologized of the stories).
2. Adolescence, is made up of “Eveline,” “After the Race,” “Two Gallants,” and “The Boarding House."
3. Maturity, also is made up of four stories, “A Little Cloud,” “Counterparts,” “Clay,” and “A Painful Case.”
4. Public Life, is made up of “Ivy Day in the Committee Room,” “A Mother,” “Grace,” and the structurally different “The Dead.” 

Dubliners is not merely a group of short stories structured according to stages of human development. Joyce meant Dubliners to be read as a novel of a city’s development, with its inhabitants growing from innocence to experience. In letter to a prospective editor, Joyce wrote:

My intention was to write a chapter of the moral history of my country, and I chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to me the centre of paralysis. I have tried to present it to the indifferent public under four of its aspects: childhood, adolescence, maturity, and public life. The stories are arranged in this order. I have written it for the most part in a style of scrupulous meanness and with the conviction that he is a very bold man who dares to alter in the presentment, still more to deform, whatever he has seen and heard.

(from Herbert Gorman, James Joyce, New York, 1940, V-iv.)

This unity and sense of structure in the collection makes it ideal for the purposes of your coursework. Reading one story from each section would give you more than enough to go on. Another selling point for this collection is the theme of human development. Finally, as one of the most famous collections of short stories in all of literature, there is an easily accessible wealth of criticism to be found and lots of material online to help you.

You can read more about James Joyce and 'Dubliners' here. 

Mr M

A brief survey of the Short Story

Hi all,



Here's an excellent series of articles from the Guardian's books blog about the great writers of the short story. Each post focuses on an individual author who has shaped the development of the form in some way. 

Remember, your 'text' for this unit needs to be a substantial work by a single author. This series of articles would be a good starting point in selecting and reading up on an author. 

If you enjoyed 'There Will Come Soft Rains', you need to check out the rest of Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles.




Mr M

10 Great Short Story Collections

Hi,

Check out this list of great collections of short stories.

Remember, your 'text' for the coursework must be a substantial text by a single author. Find something you like, then get reading more by that author over the summer.

Mr M

20 Brilliant Novellas You Should Read

Hi folks,

I'm going to be posting lots of summer reading suggestions to get you thinking about your Theory and Independence coursework.

Here's the first:

20 Brilliant Novellas You Should Read

Mr M