So you want to study Literature...

Your Literature AS course focuses on modern Literature and your theme is the Struggle for Identity.
You will complete two coursework essays: one on a modern novel - 1000 words and the second piece will compare two plays - 1500 words.
The exam comprises two questions.
Section A - The contextual Linking question where you are presented with a non- fiction extract to analyse. You will also have to link to this extract by comparing and contrasting with your wider reading in prose, drama and poetry.
Section B - Poetry. You will study one poet's work and you will answer one question from a choice of two. You are allowed to take clean copies of the poetry into the exam with you.
Wider reading is very important in this course. You will study 4 full texts with your teachers and lots of extracts, but you MUST read for yourselves as well in order to get the best grades.

Tackling Duffy in the Exam

Section B Duffy Question:

1. Spend 1 hour on this section. Alternatively, as the Contextual Linking Section is more difficult, you could give 1 hour 10 mins to section A and leave 50 mins for Carol Ann.
2. Underline key words in the question to focus your answer. Apparently most marks are lost at AS from students not answering the question, or trying to force fit the question they wanted as opposed to the one given.
3. You can make notes, scribble quotations etc in your answer booklet.
4. DO NOT WRITE IN YOUR CLEAN COPIES OF 'THE WORLD'S WIFE'. The invigilators have been instructed to note down the names of any students who do and you will be invoiced.
5. The examiners like to see a brief plan. 5 key points is ok.
6. Read the question carefully. Use all key words in the introduction to your essay and focus your answer all the way through.
7. If the question asks: " How is this poem key to the collection?" make sure you use the poem named in the question and move out from that poem to consider other poems which show:

• characteristic themes
• characteristic style - image choices, language choices, recurring devices - word play, use of rhyme, colloquial language, use of form, the use of monologue
• And remember it's all about giving a voice to women and rewriting the 'stories' which shape us as human beings: fairy tale, myth, legend, biblical stories, his...story, stories told in contemporary culture - the media

8. USE OF HUMOUR - She is funny as well as hostlie and SUBVERSIVE.
9. Use quotations . And remember the effect on the reader!
10. Make sure you get marks for three AOs:

• A01 Communication. Use appropriate terms, construct a coherent argument
• A02 FORM, STRUCTURE AND LANGUAGE and how they shape meaning
• A03 Compare and contrast with other poems in the collection and remember the very important second part of A03 - ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATIONS by other readers.

In this question all the Assessment Objectives are equally weighted. There is no A04 in this question
SO DON'T BRING IN YOUR WIDER READING

Poetic Techniques

I think I gave you all a copy of this before, but it's quite useful. I found it somewhere so credit to whoever wrote it...

Poetic Techniques

How to Create a Mind Map for Revision

Click on the image to make it bigger.

How to Create a Mind Map 2

CONTEXTS

There are two links to timelines and history of the Twentieth Century in the LINKS section to the right of this post. In Section A - Contextual Linking Exam, you do need to know about the cultural, historical and social changes in the world and think about how they have influenced modern literature and the struggle for identity. Race, Gender, Political/Social, Religious, Sexual.
Big changes in the world clearly affect writers and what they write about. Do you know enough about what has happened in your world?
You would do well to read through and think about how we have been developing this century.  e.g. emancipation of women, attitudes to race, changes in attitudes to sexual identity, attitudes to sex itself, family life and changes in attitudes to children, the rise of the teenager, social pressures, impact of war and terrorism, national identities, shifts in attitude to ecology and the world around us. Big events change our way of thinking and what we write about.

Examiner's Report for the Jan 2010 Exam Paper

This is really useful to read so that you understand what the examiners are looking for in your responses.

Jan 2010 Examiner Report in Word

Mark Scheme for Contextual Linking Section and Carol Ann Duffy Questions Jan 2010 Paper

The Assessment Objectives Word Mark Scheme for Jan2010

More Revision on Carol Ann Duffy

I put together some stuff I found in a variety of places on the poems and more essay questions. It all looks good to me. At the very least , it will help you to add a few more annotations to poems and think about the anthology as a 'collection'.
I really hope you are all accessing this blog. The count of visitors is going up, but I think it might be other schools?



More Revision Notes

Contextual Linking

Here are some nonfiction extracts and questions for extra revision for Section A of the exam.
Have a go.
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Non Fiction Extracts for Section a Practice

Useful revision on Carol Ann!

This is an interactive power point and you will have to download it to make it work properly. Click on the red title to download from slideshare. Work through the presentation and it will help you group the poems and think about examination responses. I found this somewhere on the web, but it looks really useful. If I knew whose it was I would give them the credit. Try it! Happy revising...
Mrs Sims
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Carolannduffy revision power point

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An essay locating Demeter as key to the collection

How would you grade this essay?
Use your mark scheme to give a mark out of 45
To what extent, in terms of subject matter and style, is Demeter an appropriate conclusion to the collection?


Duffy Essay[1]

Grouping Poems

Download this chart and fill the information on themes and imagery for each poem in the collection. If you click on the title word "GROUPING", this will take to my page on SCRIBD where you can download the document in Word format.

Groupings

DEMETER

PDF Version of Demeter

Mrs Beast

Mrs Beast

Lots of Carol Ann Duffy Exam Questions

Read through the questions.
Underline key words.
Make A4 page essay plans with quotations.
Write as many essays as you can.
You will have 2 hours to complete the whole exam paper.
Contextual Linking Section A Spend about 1 hour - 1hour 10 minutes 45 marks
Carol Ann Duffy Section B Spend about 50 minutes to 1 hour. 45 marks
You will always have a choice of two questions on Duffy, but you must only write on one question.
Exam Questions

Ann Hathaway

Ann Hathaway

Thetis

Thetis

Eurydice

Eurydice

Mrs Faust

Mrs Faust

Mrs Rip Van Winkle

Rip Van Winkle

Mrs Sisyphus

Sisyphus

The Kray Sisters and Elvis' Twin Sister

The Krays and Elvis

Medusa

Here are the boards on 'Medusa' Carol Ann Duffy

Medusa

Pope Joan - Carol Ann Duffy

Here's the smart boards in pdf form for 'Pope Joan'. Use the notes from pages 1 - 5 to help your annotation of the poem

Pope Joan in PDF

Here's another way to organise your notes on wider reading

Use the template below to record notes on your wider reading on 'The Struggle for Identity' You can download the template and write your notes by hand or you can embed it into your blog and copy and paste multiple pages and keep under a link called 'Revision'

Wider Reading Note Map

Some questions to go with the story below

Reading ‘The Company of Wolves’
As you read the short story ‘The Company of Wolves’, answer the following questions.
1. All of the following words and phrases appear in the story. Use a large dictionary, e.g. a Collins or Oxford Concise, to find out what they mean:
carnivore incarnate      benighted        wraith
aria      trepidation       acrid
canticles       irremediable       solstice
phosphorescent      metamorphosis        lycanthrope
pentacle      fungi         cuneiform
wideawake hat         disingenuously         pious
prophylactic       feral muzzle         vellum
diabolic       threnody       integument
prothalamion        Liebstod         Walpurgisnacht

2. As the story opens, what two colours do the wolf’s eyes reflect; what objects do they reflect and what might the reflections mean?
3. Why, as the narrator says, should you be frightened of the wolves?
4. The narrator gives some examples of how wolves can be the enemy of humans. List three.
5. In the fourth example (of a man who vanished on his wedding night), why has the groom gone outside?
6. How is an eerie setting created for the man’s disappearance?
7. What did his wife do because he didn’t return?
8. What happened on the winter solstice?
9. What is a werewolf and how long is his natural lifespan?
10. A new story begins with ‘It is midwinter...’ Which fairy story do the first two paragraphs remind you of?
11. The colour red has already been referred to a number of times. What connotations does it have in the story as a whole (e.g. red for danger, q.2) and in particular in the second paragraph of this new story?
12. What simile is used to describe the girl’s entry into the forest and what does it suggest?
13. Describe the man she meets there.
14. Quote the first indication you have that this man might be a werewolf.
15. Find two more suggestions that he might be a werewolf.
16. What does the man do to grandmother?
17. How does the writer use the language of a fairy story when the girl arrives at her grandmother’s cottage?
18. How does the writer create an eerie atmosphere when the girl looks through the window at the wolves? Think of: sights (e.g. colours), sounds, movement, literary devices (e.g. alliteration, similes) and how these contribute to the scene.
19. At the end of the story, why does the wolf not eat the girl?
20. How else does this story end differently from the traditional fairy tale version?

The Company of Wolves - Angela Carter

Here's a short Story for you to read which is useful as wider reading for "The Struggle for Identity"
The Company of Wolves

Coursework Mark Scheme

Before writing up your final draft of coursework, please look closely again at the mark scheme to make sure that you have understood what you need to do for each grade.

Mark Scheme for Drama Coursework essay English Literature AS

Worksheet on Circe and Penelope

Comparison Grid Circe and Penelope

Circe and Penelope

Work for Wednesday 17th March

Circe and Penelope

Carol Ann Duffy Interview

Carol Ann Duffy Interview

Carol Ann Duffy Salome

Salome

Little Redcap Carol Ann Duffy Lesson

Little Redcap

Themes Past and Present in Streetcar

Streetcar Theme Past Vs Present

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A Streetcar Named desire Revision and extra help

A Streetcar Named Desire Revision Powerpoint

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Allen Ginsberg reading part of his poem, "HOWL"

Wider Reading Extracts

Click here to see a copy of the book at AmazonHere's a link to Amazon and a collection of extracts all based on 'The Struggle for Identity'. It's a really useful book to buy - especially if you feel you've got a it behind with that wider reading...

Wider Reading Journal

How to Keep a Wider Reading Journal

SNOW DAY WORK

What a nightmare eh? Never mind, you can make really good use of this time at home by preparing for your exam and the wider reading element of the paper. You can also use the power point below to work on that exam question I gave you. Don't try doing it in timed conditions yet. Do it well and spend more time on it.

Check in regularly as I update this page.

You need to get your wider reading notes into a useful format.
Soooooo. You must be able to refer to all three genres: Poetry, prose and drama. I think you are lacking in some poetry wider reading so I will post a few poems in the next hour for you to analyses in terms of 'The Struggle for Identity'

Keeping notes:
Collect apt, SHORT quotations from your wider reading texts which fit under the main areas of 'The Struggle for Identity'
GENDER
RACE
SOCIAL/POLITICAL
SEXUAL
RELIGIOUS
 
You can also organise your notes chronologically (by date published)
For every quotation you select, make sure you write a comment about the effect.
Check out that booklet I gave you at the beginning of the year about how to approach the wider reading. It's uploaded on this Blog.
You can send me a message by e-mail or post a comment on this page.
PS. Does anyone know Katie's e-mail address? She can't access the Blog and I left her e-mail at school
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Contextual Linking Section A Exam

How to Approach the Contextual Linking Question Copy