Lockdown Literature 12.1

Hello,

How’s it going?

This week, we’ll keep on doing coursework reading / research / prep and we’ll do a bit of revision too. I’m also intending to throw some short stories your way for your coursework consideration. Here goes:

 

Here’s your work (for Thursday):

1) Do this mixed tragedy recap quiz.

2) Continue to do some research, reading and thinking about coursework options. All the info and docs you need can be found in Lockdown Lit 11.

3) If you haven’t already, listen to this podcast as a revision exercise. It's also available to download on iTunes (search 'Lend Me Your Ears'). It starts off with a gentle intro and plot summary (the first 12 minutes), but gets into some interesting discussions around key themes: race, identity, outsiders, storytelling etc.

Optional extra:

4) Want to read a great short story? Try Daphne Du Maurier’s The Birds. Consider: which section of the Critical Anthology would work best with it as a coursework option?

There’s an abridged audio version here.

Next time, my plan is to give you some more revision, more time to explore coursework ideas and to start giving you some more short stories and extracts to read and respond to. I’ll figure it out.

Apologies – I’m a little behind in my mini-essay marking and writing. I’ll get it sorted this week.

Right, I’ve got to go to school!

Let me know if you need anything.

Mr M

Lockdown Literature 11

Hi folks,

You surveying coursework choices, aka 'Wanderer Above The Sea of Fog'

Thanks for the essays I’ve received so far. I’ll be doing feedback and writing my own today. If you haven’t done it yet, please make sure yours is with me asap. Remember, it's just a 30 minute essay - and it's probably the last one of the year! You can find the title, plan and guidance here. 

Today, we’ll turn our attention to coursework. Most of the stuff I’m about to show you is stuff you’ll have seen before, but as the first of the in-school catch-up meetings is on Monday, I thought it would be a good idea if you’d already given it some consideration.

Before we get to the tasks, here’s a quick reminder of what your coursework involves:

  

Click here for a more detailed explanation. 

 

In terms of the prose coursework, you need to choose either a novel, a novella or some short stories (by a single author). I suggest that you read a few texts over the summer to make sure you have options and to give yourself a chance to find a text and task that you really love. Usually, I end Year 12 by getting students to make a written pledge to read at least 3 or 4 books. We’ll do the same over the next few weeks.

WARNING: The prose coursework is particularly challenging and can go badly wrong. It differs from the poetry coursework in that you have to write a short essay about a much bigger text. It’s easy to bite off more than you can chew. It’s vital to be selective and get the balance right between your assessment objectives. Too often, I get first drafts that ignore the writer’s methods because students try to cover everything in little depth and don’t know the text well enough to be selective and focused on details. Every year, I have a few students who get completely lost, or who write such terrible first drafts that they have to start from scratch. A few years ago, I had two students (who were aiming for A grades) whose coursework was an E grade until they did a late, complete re-write. One of them even chose a new text and question with just a month to go. I’m getting palpitations just thinking about it - they did both get As in the end, though. 😅 Every year, I tell myself that the coursework is so painful that next time I’m not going to give you as much freedom. However, this unit is called ‘Theory and Independence’, and I think it’s important to offer you that independence. But here’s my warning:

 

a) if you think you’ll need a lot of support, choose something on my list or something I know well, and…

b) choose something fairly short, or…

c) choose a narrow focus for your question

This is why the 1984/Feminism question has worked well; even though it’s a big text, the focus is narrow (there is only one major female character and a handful of significant minor female characters) – and I know the text inside out.

If you choose a text that I don’t know or that hasn’t been done before, you have to convince me that you know what you’re doing – and then you have to accept the burden of responsibility.

Okay, warning over.

Here’s your work (for Monday):

1) Reacquaint yourself with these two documents…

My recommended coursework texts:

Past prose coursework essay titles:

Make a note of anything that sounds appealing and do some research into any texts that you like the sound of. You might want to get hold of some texts for summer reading in preparation for the coursework.

2) Have a browse through my old coursework posts for more prose coursework inspiration.

3) Read the ‘narrative theory’ section of your Critical Anthology, plus one other section that interests you. If you’ve mislaid your anthology, there’s a digital copy here:

4) On or before Monday, give me an idea of what kind of texts/tasks sound appealing to you. These are just tentative early ideas. There's no pressure to make up your mind until September. If you are meeting me on Monday morning, you can tell me about it then. If not, drop me a brief email with your thoughts about what you think you might read or what caught your eye. Failing that, just let me know what kinds of books you find appealing, or other things that you've read that you liked. From there, I can give you further guidance.

Okay?

Next week, you’ll continue your coursework thinking / researching/ reading, and I’ll give you a couple of revision tasks to get on with too.

Get in touch if you have any questions about coursework – or if you just need someone to bounce ideas off.

Mr M

Lockdown Literature 10.2

Hi folks,

We’ve finished the content for this year. Under the circumstances, I’d say that’s a real achievement. CONGRATULATIONS!

All that really remains now is:

• reinforce what we’ve been learning about recently (TEoSA)

• revise what we’ve covered this year

• prepare for next year (esp. the coursework)

We’ll deal with the first bullet point first. I’m going to set you a mini-essay to help you develop your arguments about The Eve of St Agnes as tragedy. After we’ve done that, we’ll focus on coursework ideas ahead of the first set of catch-up meetings in school in 11 days’ time.

Here’s your latest bit of work:

1) Do this mixed recap quiz

2) Write a mini-essay (30 mins) in response to this question:

‘Far from a mere fairy-tale romance, The Eve of St Agnes is tragic and perhaps even anti-romantic.’ To what extent do you agree with this view?

I’m going to give you a week to write this mini-essay. You can use this planning sheet if you like. Feel free to send me a plan before Monday if you need help. Monday will just be a check-in to answer any queries and to make any suggestions that occur to me. I guess I’ll have a go at this question too.

Before you start planning, please read my initial thoughts on this question below:

In the past, students have found it difficult to write about this poem and tragedy; after all, at the end of the poem, the lovers escape the castle and run off to start a new life together. This question is designed to get you engaging with interpretations of the poem than suit our genre focus on tragedy, and Stillinger’s essay will be a big help.

First, it’s worth considering the key words in the question again. 

I assume you’re all okay with ‘tragic’, right? 😏💀

‘Romance’ and ‘anti-romantic’ are important though. Don’t get lulled in to the idea that ‘romantic’ in this sense means to do with love or even to do with Romanticism.

First, let’s consider what a romance is:

In Isabella, Keats says ‘O for the gentleness of old romance’, and his poems often feature medieval settings, knights etc. However, his poems usually end with pessimism and melancholy and a sense of futility. If we are going to make the argument that the poem is anti-romantic, we need to question whether Keats is rejecting romantic notions such as sentimentality, idealism, courtly love, heroism, chivalry, and remoteness from everyday life.

Here’s another useful definition of ‘romantic’, especially meanings 2, 3 and 4:

So, the negative connotations of romantic are to do with it being fanciful, impractical, and unrealistic. If we are to see the poem as anti-romantic, we need to think about whether Keats is condemning Madeline for her ‘whim’ and her ‘enchantments cold’ that lead to her being ‘hoodwinked’.

Finally, let’s look at what you considered to be the key aspects of tragedy in this poem:

Blindness seems a sensible choice as Madeline is ‘hoodwinked’ and seems unable to see it. Treatment of women also seems relevant, especially if we’re considering Madeline as a victim. There are three in there that I think are important but that haven’t received a vote: isolation, learning and moral growth (although perhaps anagnorisis works just as well) and, for me, one of the most important aspects of tragedy: LOSS. Have a think about which of these you’ll consider in your response.

So, have a go at doing a plan before Monday. That way, you will know in good time if you need more help. Feel free to share it with me if you want some feedback.

Later next week, we’ll turn our attention to coursework.

As always, let me know if you need anything. I’ll send some thoughts about the best ‘takeaways’ from Stillinger’s essay later.

Mr M