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