Mid-term review poetry & play

• Engels
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

Lesson objectives 

My Language day & word of the day - affixes

We will consider approach to the unseen poem and play from the mid-term test 

We will use an analogy to remind ourselves how to approach a literary analysis 

My Language day

On Tuesday 27th February in lessons 1 & 2 

Is English your first language? 

You can help out during MLD with the English group and log it as a CAS activity 

Email:[e-mail]

Word of the day

Loc or Loq = Latin root that means 'speak' 

Our key word to remember this root is Ventriloquist 

The difference between reality and the brain's perception of reality is what keeps ventriloquists in business.

Rate the word 1 to 4

1. I do not know the word, and I have never seen it before. 

2. I've heard or seen the word before, but I'm not sure what it means. 

3. I know the word and can recognise and understand it while reading, but I probably wouldn't feel comfortable using it in writing or speech. 

4. I know the word well and can use it correctly in writing or speech. 

Loquacious 

Word of the day

Loquacious (adj) - somebody who talks a lot 

Synonyms: chatty, garrulous, verbose, talkative 

Write down two antonyms for loquacious 

In fact, she falls into a small group of patients whom we all see and who are extraordinarily loquacious: they go on, and on and on.

quiet, silent, restrained, untalkative, subdued, taciturn, introverted, uncommunicative 

"Good Measure" poem analysis 

How does the poet's use of detail contribute to our understanding of the relationships portrayed? 

subject and speaker = a reconsideration of a broken marriage through a deliberation on the process of moving house. Speaker is probably the wife in the severed relationship. Title = finality. Subtext = measuring the situation in a balanced or correct way

Purpose = to convey the feelings of loss and regret of someone in that situation. 

Author's choices 

Emotion and tone = nostalgic, reminiscent, regretful, resigned, acrimonious, bitter

Repetition and anaphora = repetition of "we (left)" & "left" = emphasis on relationship (parents and children (daughter) "the height they were"). Link to the "good measure" idea. "separate beds" "separate loves" 

Semantic field = destruction and the remnants of destruction = what is left behind in memory after this traumatic breakup. "dust", "sediment", "ash", "smoke", "fire" 

Author's choices 

Enjambment = highlighting "left" highlighting contrast in good and bad moments "walk", "run", "fights", "hearts", "sadness", "stars" Highlighting the everyday "futon", "tank", leaf blower", "bricks", "textbooks", "cold tea" 

Language = consistently simple, often monosyllabic words = highlights the everyday and how a marriage and family operate over years in the ordinary. 

Symbolism= "cold tea", "cold mug" = loss of warm emotions in the daily.

"pencil marks in the doorframe" = passing time, children growing up. "bleeding hearts" "poppies" = flowers = happier times, love, warmth, "the hearth" = warmth, home, comfort 

Author's choices 

Metaphor = "until I saw stars" = partner (wife)unable to hold the "sadness" 

Structure = 4 stanzas, 11 lines, 7 lines, 5 lines, 6 lines. 1st stanza = contents of house, practicalities of moving & the emotional separation. 2nd stanza = outside house and neighbours external appearances. 3rd stanza = passing of time and the effects of that on the partners. 4th stanza = mundane and acceptance of the separation. Movement towards resignation. 

The Visit by Dürrenmatt

In what ways does the playwright make this an impactful start to the play?

Purpose =  To establish the setting (exposition) and intrigue the audience through suggestion of an inciting incident.

Subject =  5 men are waiting in Gullen for the arrival of Claire a millionairess. 

Mood = desolate, hopeless, deterioration => expectation of a brighter future. 

Stage directions = exposition establishing decay: "wreck", "ramshackle", "rusty", "mutilated", "barren",  name of town "Gullen" is established, railway station's importance is established, base, squalid human necessities highlighted: "Ladies", "Gents". 

The Visit author's choices

Anticipation of inciting incident = "red paint on a banner clearly intended for some procession: ' Welcome Claire'. Playwright highlighting this event.  

Sound = establishing location before seeing - audience anticipation. Bell = introducing the inciting incident "millionaires got here" 

Characters = unnamed - intrigue, ambiguity, uncertainty, engagement 

Dramatic dialogue: 

Syntax = some characters speak in fragments, incomplete sentences or single word fragments "vegetating", "World famous", The entire township". 

The Visit author's choices

Grammatically incorrect sentences: "The Wagner Factory gone crash". Some characters speak in complete sentences: " It's more than time that millionaires got here." = an important sentence highlighted for  impact. 

Complete ideas or sentences shared across characters: 

"Man Two: Vegetating 

Man Three: And rotting to death" 

Proper nouns = names of national cities, of trains, of local cities, of factories, businesses and local square "Hamburg", "Racing Roland", "The Foundry", "Bockmann", "Sunshine Square" = context, setting & place 

The Visit author's choices

Adverbs of time and importance of time = past - present - future "Five years ago", "shut down", "at eleven twenty-seven", "It's more than time". 

Juxtaposition and contrast = "The Foundry on Sunshine Square", "rotting to death", "millionaires", "World famous", "Ruined" = though-provoking how and why has "Gullen" become so ruined? 

Alliteration = "kindergarten in Kaffigen", "Bockmann bankrupt", "Racing Roland" 

On stage and off stage characterisation = the 'saviour' is on her way "Claire" and she is a millionairess who has saved other towns. 

The cottage is very picturesque and probably a very peaceful place to live. I can tell this from the large amount of green foliage surrounding it and the sturdy red-brick chimneys protruding from its thatched roof. The wooden beams framing the walls are brown and the exterior face is painted white. The union jacks adorning the rafters may suggest that the woman outside, presumably the owner, is a fervent nationalist and probably voted for Brexit.​

Analogy – an essay about a cottage​

Which of these two essay responses is describing the cottage, and which is analysing the architect’s craft?​

Analogy – an essay about a cottage​

Which of these two essay responses is describing the cottage, and which is analysing the architect’s craft?​

The cottage is very picturesque and probably a very peaceful place to live. The architect has designed the cottage in the pseudo-Elizabethan style, attempting to look old while retaining the techniques of modern house building. I can tell this from the red brick chimneys which protrude from its thatched roof, which are held together with Type B cement and even brick spacing. The architect has chosen red bricks for their traditional appearance, but also for their durability in adverse weather conditions. The wooden beams framing the walls are made of oak because this is a soft wood which is able to warp in the changing temperature of the seasons without compromising the cottage’s structural integrity.​

I don’t know anything about designing and building a cottage, but you have to treat a novel like a cottage because it is a constructed thing which has been made using various materials and various techniques for a purpose. Analysing how it is constructed should be the focus of an essay, not describing what it is.​

​A cottage is made of various components, which the architect had to design for various aesthetic and functional reasons.

Red bricks held together with type B cement

Elizabethan style thatched roof

Cream-painted exterior walls with water-resistant paint

The same can be said of a novel, poem or play which is built from literary techniques and novelistic conventions for both aesthetic and functional reasons. ​

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These techniques serve the purpose of constructing a coherent narrative, conveying the main themes and social comment of the author, and engaging the reader on an emotional level.

Focus on:​

​Literary devices​

Structural/Narrative features​

Novel/poem/play conventions​

Conventions of genre​

Linguistic devices​

Elements of writing style

In summary:​

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You need to analyse a novel like it’s an artificial, constructed thing: a product designed by a creator to achieve various purposes (a main one being to convey their viewpoints about society). Focus on the methods they have used to do so, and what you think may have been their intentions for using these methods. ​

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Do NOT get lost in description of plot or writing about characters and plot events as if they were real.​