Romantic and Modern style

Hello class and welcome to my blog.

We began the lesson by talking about our half-term homework essays. We marked someone elses (A)a essay answer and tried to learn as much as we could from it. Afterwards, we were presented with two images. we had to then state the differences between the two- One conclusion was that one was powerful, whilst the other was modern.

As the lesson progressed, we were give two words: Modern and Romatic. Romanticism in this context is widely different to the definition of romance we know today. We can define it by using Nicholas Tredell's broken down view, that is it a "literally movement" which is powered by "imagination rather than intellect." We had to draw pictures to match with his full definition of Romance in this sense. We then watched a video (which can be found of Mr Sadgrove's/ Great Gatsby's/ year 13 folder in learning resources) on him reviewing the novel, in which we had to make notes on why the fusion of modern and romance existed with the text of the novel. Tredell stated that if the novel was written entirely of romance, then it would be "comically over the top".

Later on, we were given two sheets; one containing a section of words from chapter 1 of Great Gatsby and another with two extracts. With `Words From Chapter 1` sheet we had to put an R or M depending if it was a Modern word or Romantic word. whilst, with the `Extract` sheet we has to highlight any Modern or Romantic Words/Sentences on the first extract.

H/W: Read through the SECOND extract and answer the following questions:

1) What is the effect of the combination of romantic and modern styles/ imagery/ rhythms in chapter 1?

2) why might FitzGerald be telling the story in this way?

Also, we have to mark one of our own section (A)b answers. If you do not have an unmarked one, then write and mark one.

Thanks Chris W :)

Porphyria's Lover

Hello class. It's me. Again.

This lesson we looked at a second Browning poem - "Porphyria's lover". At the beginning of the lesson we read the poem and Sir asked us to interpret it's meaning and possibly try to identify what sort of relationship Porphyria and her lover have. There were several possible suggestions for this, for example:
The two characters are in a relationship
Porphyria is married and the speaker is her lover
Something/someone (society) is stopping Porphyria from being with her lover because factors like class and status
There was also a suggestion that Porphyria and her lover

However as we read further into the poem we found that in fact Porphyria's lover could be someone who she looks after, like an elderly disabled person for instance, a person who relies on her but has enough strengh to strangle her. We also recognised that he/she (we never find out the speaker's gender) has a fetish for Porphyria's hair, as her "yellow hair" is mention on several occasions.
Sir explained that fetishes were something common for Victorian society as they were quite severely repressed and channelled their desires in private.
Another interesting thing about the poem in the fact that "Porphyria" is the name of a popular illness that was around in Victorian times, the symptoms of which include sensitivity to light, paleness and excessive hair. Therefore a reading of the poem could be that the lover is defeating his illness by killing Porphyria.

Towards the end of the lesson Sir asked the class to draw abstract pictures that would represent some part of the poem and also give them a suitable pretentious, artsy name. They were all very lovely, unfortunately we did not photograph them, so links are not available.



















Now for the fun part!
Since we took ages doing everything else we have double homework.
A.How does Browning tell the story in “My Last Duchess”
B."The disturbing behaviour of both the Duke and of Porphyria’s lover makes it impossible for the reader to sympathize with them."
How far do you agree?

I hope you all enjoyed the blog.
Much love,
Aleksandra.

Browning Poetry Introduction

We began by looking at the dutch poem De kinderliefde. This was to show that even without the content made known we can still discuss form and structure and so on.

We talked about our research homework on the life of Browning, and how this might affect his poems.

Next we looked at Sylvia Plath's quote that prose is an open palm and poetry a closed fist.

This led to a further discussion about why we study poetry at all, and how well as all the aspects of narrative, we could now discuss poetic techniques too.

We reminded ourselves what form was and went over the form of a dramatic monologue.

We read through "My Last Duchess" and then divided into three groups. One focusing on language, one on structure and one on everything else.

Structure:

The structure is used to show the character of the Duke and this fits the criterion of a dramatic monolgue insofar as it reveals something about the speaker of the poem.

It is written in continuous verse, constructed with rhyming couplets which involve enjambment. Moreover, constant use of caesura, and the rough syntax show his controlling nature. The regular rhyme and rhythm show the character's nod to form, but belie his unsettling nature.

Language:

The language used reveals things about the Duke too. He has a conversational, persuasive tone to the Envoy, but this reveals his calculating personality. He uses asides and imperatives, as well as mimicing Fra Pandolf, which show the force of his character.

He is not very articulate, and this inability to express himself also relates to the rage he feels (still) about his last duchess. He repeats himself lots too.

HOMEWORK

To write a poem called "Enduring Love" for Friday.

The Great Gatsby - context/background

At the beginning of the lesson, sir played a Charleston song and asked us to come up with 5 words that we thought summed up the music; most of our idea's included being jazzy, upbeat and happy. Afterwards sir put up 9 pictures and for us to describe what each picture symbolized.

The class discussion came up with lots of different views which the pictures represented:
- womens freedom, sexual freedom
- showbiz, glitz, glamour
- modernization, industrialization
- capitalism, cities, business's were all becoming increasingly popular.

We then watched a trailer for broadwalk empire, shown on sky atlantic, 9pm saturdays -channel 108. We were adivsed to watch this programme to give deeper understanding of the time that The Great Gatsby was set in.

Afterwards sir put us into pairs to discuss different terms used to describe America between 1918-1939. These included:
- the roaring 20's - lively, breaking boundaries, wild people, a boundless and free period of time
- the pre-depression era - fun, American dream, economic boom, irresponsible
- the lost generation - independent, new, breaking rules, no respect, women equality, partying
- golden 20's - extravagant, wealthy, materialistic, classy, grand, upbeat. 'golden' - worse after?
- golden ages of hollywood- new, energetic, innovative, money, power, lavish, vacuous
- prohibition era - keeping order, authority, law abiding, backlash, paranoia, period of restriction
- inter war - happiness once the first war was over, depression at another world war occurring
- la generation de feau (generation of fire) - european influence, culture, france well established,
- bright young things - activity, progression, hope, initiative, positive, change
- flapper era - fashionable, unconventional, fun, classy, fashionable, glitzy, glamorous, defiance

We were done asked to come up with a haiku to some everything we discussed, mine was-
vibrant new changes,
in society is what
made women equal.

Sir then put a quote on the board 'America was going on the greatest and gaudiest spree in hisory' - Fitzgerald. We then analysed the epigraph at the beginning of the book which reads 'Than wear the gold hat, if that will move her; if you can bounce high, bounce for her too, till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted, bouncing lover, I must have you!" '. We came up with the conclusion that this meant if you have the money and material objects, than you will eventually win the girl.

We then discussed Nick the narrator of the play and how he is a first person retrospective narrator, meaning that he is recalling events. This has two effects on the reader, first it makes the narration less reliable because it is coming from Nick's point of view, however because he is recalling events he has the ability to give these events a fairer portrayal and be less biased.

Our Homework was to comment on this blog, re-read chapter 1 and answer this question.. What impression do we get of Nick in chapter 1? use evidence from chapter 1.

and the blog is up quickly, so no excuses B-)

Leigh

Poetry stalls lesson Mr Sadgrove

Homework was to:

1) answer any Aa question of your choice
2) How far do you agree that the lady of shallot is heroic
3) Read "great gatsby" chapter 1, 2 and 3 (you will be tested next lesson)

In the last lesson we spent our time creating market stalls for different poems and everyone made notes on each of the poem for language, structure, theme and form.

here is a summary for the first chapter if you need some help understanding. I was about to post my essay but then I had second thoughts.



Chapter 1

Summary

The narrator of The Great Gatsby is a young man from Minnesota named Nick Carraway. He not only narrates the story but casts himself as the book’s author. He begins by commenting on himself, stating that he learned from his father to reserve judgment about other people, because if he holds them up to his own moral standards, he will misunderstand them. He characterizes himself as both highly moral and highly tolerant. He briefly mentions the hero of his story, Gatsby, saying that Gatsby represented everything he scorns, but that he exempts Gatsby completely from his usual judgments. Gatsby’s personality was nothing short of “gorgeous.”
In the summer of 1922, Nick writes, he had just arrived in New York, where he moved to work in the bond business, and rented a house on a part of Long Island called West Egg. Unlike the conservative, aristocratic East Egg, West Egg is home to the “new rich,” those who, having made their fortunes recently, have neither the social connections nor the refinement to move among the East Egg set. West Egg is characterized by lavish displays of wealth and garish poor taste. Nick’s comparatively modest West Egg house is next door to Gatsby’s mansion, a sprawling Gothic monstrosity.

Nick is unlike his West Egg neighbors; whereas they lack social connections and aristocratic pedigrees, Nick graduated from Yale and has many connections on East Egg. One night, he drives out to East Egg to have dinner with his cousin Daisy and her husband, Tom Buchanan, a former member of Nick’s social club at Yale. Tom, a powerful figure dressed in riding clothes, greets Nick on the porch. Inside, Daisy lounges on a couch with her friend Jordan Baker, a competitive golfer who yawns as though bored by her surroundings.
Tom tries to interest the others in a book called The Rise of the Colored Empires by a man named Goddard. The book espouses racist, white-supremacist attitudes that Tom seems to find convincing. Daisy teases Tom about the book but is interrupted when Tom leaves the room to take a phone call. Daisy follows him hurriedly, and Jordan tells Nick that the call is from Tom’s lover in New York.

After an awkward dinner, the party breaks up. Jordan wants to go to bed because she has a golf tournament the next day. As Nick leaves, Tom and Daisy hint that they would like for him to take a romantic interest in Jordan.
When Nick arrives home, he sees Gatsby for the first time, a handsome young man standing on the lawn with his arms reaching out toward the dark water. Nick looks out at the water, but all he can see is a distant green light that might mark the end of a dock.
“I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

Yahaya.

HALF TERM HOMEWORK FOR MR CHATTERLEY

Answer this A(b) question the way it's meant to be answered:

“The main interest of ‘Enduring Love' is the contrast between Joe Rose and Jed Parry”.
What do you think of this view?

Read Enduring Love again.

Research Robert Browning.

Section Ab

We started off by discussing the starter activity, which was listing the 'for' and 'against' to the sentence "London Academy is a great educational machine as can be judged by it's products." We discussed points that would back up this and things that would go against it. "Products" could be defined as things such as students, facilities, teachers, amount of students or grades in a positive light. Whereas products could also be described as behaviour or (again) exam results in a negative light.

After this we looked at 5 quotes that revolved around Tennyson and his poems. A selected one said "Even in his prophetic optimism his melancholy is hovering near. T.S Elliot called him the saddest of all English poets." I said this could be argued as much of Tennyson's work that we have studied looks at depression or opression. Marianna and The Lady of Shallot are encclosed and not leading a very fruitful lifestyle.

Then, we were reminded what narrative was and then spoke about how most if not all questions will require you to tell 'how Tennyson tells the story'.

The main focus of the lesson was how to answer section 'Ab' with AO1, AO3 and AO4. The 5 points to doing it were:
1- Focus on the quesiton
2- DON'T WRITE AN INTRODUCTION THAT IS LONGER THAN A SENTENCE. (Not my choice to put this in capitals)
3- Give your view in relation to the question using evidence and context where relevant.
4- Give an alternate view in relation to the question using evidence and context where relevant.
5- Challenge the terms of the question.

After this we were given 30 mins (then cut to 20) to answer the question "The women in Tennyson's poems are presented as victims of a male world. How far do you agree?" We chose the word "victim" to 'challenge' at the end of our essay.

Then, after completing the essay we completed a haiku (some Japanese poem that has 5 syllables, then 7, then 5 again) which was supposed to be about what we had learnt. I didn't hear that it was supposed to be about the lesson, so I wrote:
"Ab answers come
In various forms but none
are haikus like this."

Homework:
-Read the perceptions of a changing world sheet' and make notes on it - about a page.
- Finish off the 'Ab' question.
- Read the examiners report sheet.

Anyway I'm off to watch the football. Peace.

Daniel.