LITB3 - The Gothic - Wuthering Heights

In response to requests here are some useful links for you to follow concerned as they are with the Gothic elements in Wuthering Heights:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/14359/gothic_literature_an_indepth_look_at_pg6.html?cat=38 

 A further, more academic article on the Gothic in Wuthering Heights, can be found here:

http://elizabeth-gregory.suite101.com/gothic-in-brontes-wuthering-heights-a87897


Every character in the novel, male and female, indulges in various acts of violence - both overt and casual, gratuitous brutality and verbal aggression.  These emanate from quite a range of motivations and moods:  love, revenge, isolation, jealousy, frustration and despair.  

Heathcliff and Cathy's relationship, although romantic and spiritual, is full of violent passions and emotive and aggressive arguments.  Their meetings are considered to be more like animals than humans. Heathcliff's relationships with Isabella and Catherine are also permeated with viciousness and malignity.  Heathcliff's elopement with Isabella starts with the hanging of her dog and ends with her attempted murder. Catherine, angry and frustrated at her imprisonment in Wuthering Heights, finds a voice full of anger, hatred and vituperation with shocking physical violence against Hareton and Heathcliff.

Every chapter is suffused with violence and  in order to maintain the power to shock the reader, it escalates steadily and appallingly.  Violence begets violence.

LITB1 - ASPECTS OF NARRATIVE - THE GREAT GATSBY

I am taking as a given that you have read the first chapter, not just watched the film!  Therefore watch this excellent analysis of the first chapter vlog, and navigate through others that you can find on the page -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehjTS6AhMJ8

  

Remembering that AO2 - SRUCTURE FORM and LANGUAGE is what you will be marked on for question 1a (check out an earlier blog in the archive on the right hand side for more information), then I also need you to study the following:

Structure: Fitzgerald uses Nick as a framing device to bring the novel together.  The first pages introduce him and the last chapter is concerned with what happened to him after Gatsby was killed.  It is Nick who chooses what to include in his book and tells us what he remembers of what the other people involved told him as events unfolded.

Jordan Baker tells what information she has about Gatsby and Daisy's former relationship, apparently in her own words.   Fitzgerald, in parenthesis, says that she was 'sitting up very straight on a straight chair' which conveys the impression that her words will be factual and truthful, not gilded by her imagination.  This technique makes Jordan Baker seem a believable witness but not Daisy, we are unclear what she thinks and feels.  Fitzgerald wrote in a letter that:  'The worst fault in [TGG] I think is a BIG FAULT: I gave no account (and had no feeling about or knowledge of) the emotional relations between Gatsby and Daisy from the time of their reunion to the catastrophe.'

However, when Gatsby gives his version of events, Nick takes over and puts all that is said in his own words.  Gatsby's language is child-like, revealing his lack of education and immaturity.  Anne Crow argues that if Fitzgerald had allowed Gatsby to be the narrator, his style would have made for a very dull and commonplace novel, rendering the title wildly inappropriate.

Also look at how Fitzgerald condenses information, the story covers only 4 months, but seems over a much longer period because of Fitzgerald's narratorial technique of having Nick informed of past events by the other characters who were involved.  It is a non-linear narrative structure and by looking at the 60 Second re-cap video clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF7rykLUIU0&list=PLBNXmyDnoU4R8Q6VBhemloC8c_5LYLv_c

 Navigate through further videos once you've reached the link.

                                                                   

  

THE GREAT GATSBY: HISTORICAL CONTEXT

It is esential that you study an understand the historical context that surrounds Fitzgerald's novel as assessment objective four - AO4, demands that students can discuss context when constructing a critical argument. Below are several links to resources that will help develop an understanding of America in the 1920s. The decade is a complex one. At the beginning of the decade with many returning veterans of the First World War, there was a period of economic hardship, in 1925, when the novel was published, rich urban Americans were experiencing an economic boom, and then in 1929 the Wall Street Crash occurred.

'The Roaring Twenties' is a YouTube documentary in three parts that, if you can cope with the excruciating narrator/voiceover, will give you an insight in to the issues and themes which form the backgruonmd to the novel: the jazz age, prohibition, the position of women, advertising, the haves and the have nots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVOflzLGKCc&feature=relmfu 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MExfjbSmR0k&feature=relmfu 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHZckXwIa5E&feature=relmfu


A further documentary, again in 3 parts, The Century, America's Time: Boom To Bust which contains interviews with people who lived through that period of time, is also required viewing:

One:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foooDFF9Dgs
Two:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJuEi-U6pmo
Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJuEi-U6pmo

LITB1 ASPECTS OF NARRATIVE - THE GREAT GATSBY

The following are excellent video resources, you can follow the link to the archive page or follow the link and view the rest from that:

http://cm-englitres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/litb1-aspects-of-narrative-great-gatsby.html?showComment=1368472916651#c1135072735839207495 


 










There are two others on SETTING and STYLE and notes on PLOT, but you will need to follow the link for those, whereupon you will find some useful revision notes, a means of testing your knowledge and of checking on how well your revision is going, so do take a look:  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/bitesize/higher/english/great_gatsby/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/english/great_gatsby/ 

THE GREAT GATSBY

I would encourage all AS students to consider and digest the following resources to develop their own reading of the narrative and develop an awareness of the possible readings of the story. In particular to look at  Fitzgerald's aims and how he uses character as symbol to shape key ideas. To help, the Channel Four News interview with film director Baz Luhrmann is essential viewing:

http://www.channel4.com/news/baz-luhrmann-the-great-gatsby-film-director

 Di Caprio on Gatsby: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22338888

More Di Caprio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxxrehVI0Lk

  The Guardian discusses Gatsby:    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/30/great-gatsby-movie-fashion-wealth

 A just tolerable interview with Nick, Daisy,Gatsby, Tom and Myrtle:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ2woqCbB20


These Crash Course English Literature videos by John Green are useful

 


Make sure you watch all of the following: John Green explores The Great Gatby http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw9Au9OoN88http:

John Green - IS GATSBY GREAT?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn0WZ8-0Z1Y

John Green looks at THE VALLEY OF ASHES:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VhYMdnAsyM 

John Green provides a critical overview of Chapter One:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehjTS6AhMJ8 

THE KITE RUNNER

For those of you starting LITB4 Independent Reading you might want to follow the link to read this article from The Guardian in full:

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/01/khaled-hosseini-kite-runner-interview?INTCMP=SRCH  

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/01/khaled-hosseini-kite-runner-interview?INTCMP=SRCH

LITB 1 - ASPECTS OF NARRATIVE - THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER

In what little time you have left before the exam, click the link and view the podcast lectures by Leeds English Faculty.  There are two on The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, looking at the text as an ecological poem 'deeply concerned  with the relationship between human beings and their environment.'

http://www.theenglishfaculty.org/a-levels/item/221-language-and-meaning-in-the-rime-of-the-ancyent-marinere-pt1

http://www.theenglishfaculty.org/a-levels/item/220-language-and-meaning-in-the-rime-of-the-ancyent-marinere-pt2

LITB 1 - AS ASPECTS OF NARRATIVE - THE GREAT GATSBY

There is just time to view these excellent podcast by Leeds University's English Faculty,
the first is concerned with narrative in the novel:

http://www.theenglishfaculty.org/a-levels/item/212-narrative-in-the-great-gatsby

Then The Great Gatsby and the Roaring Twenties, which is in two parts: part one -

http://www.theenglishfaculty.org/a-levels/item/213-the-great-gatsby-and-the-roaring-twenties-pt1

http://www.theenglishfaculty.org/a-levels/item/214-the-great-gatsby-and-the-roaring-twenties-pt2

AS ENGLISH LITERATURE B EXAM RUBRIC INFORMATION

YOU CAN FIND THIS IN THE ARCHIVE (SURROUNDED BY RESOURCES),  I FIRST PUT IT ON THIS TIME LAST YEAR, BUT THE INFORMATION IS STILL THE SAME, SO READ IT CAREFULLY AS I HAVE BEEN MADE AWARE THAT SOME OF YOU ARE NOT CLEAR ON EITHER THE ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES OR THE SPECIFIC AOs REQUIRED TO ANSWER THE SECTION A QUESTIONS CORRECTLY - THIS SHOULD HELP. 

 

 

As the AS examination is imminent, I'd like to clarify the requirements:

• The examination is 2 hours long
• You answer one question (in 2 parts) from Section A (1 hour)
• You answer one question from Section B (1 hour)

Section A - Question A

• This question focuses on narrative
• It must be a detailed comment on narrative method, e.g: write about the ways Coleridge tells the story in Part 2 of 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.  So you must go through the building blocks of narrative: setting - scenes and places;  time, sequence and structure;   characters and characterisation;    voices in the story (one way in which we get information in a story is through what we are 'told' by the characters involved); and point of view - the narrator/s, 1st or 3rd.
• You are marked on Assessment Objective 2 ONLY in this section - STRUCTURE, FORM & LANGUAGE.
• STRUCTURE includes for example: the syntax, whether it is a linear chronology, use of flashbacks/analepsis or in 'TROTAM' the use of rhyme and repetition to structure the narrative, use of patterns, circularity of the whole poem, the end of each part referring to the crime and thus linking to other parts.
• FORM asks you to think about the genre of the chapter or poem, and the style that it is written in, for example: 'TROTAM' is in the form of a ballad, an extended narrative poem, how many parts, use of quatrains and also the gothic/supernatural/moralistic genre
• LANGUAGE - vocabulary use and what it means; for example in 'TROTAM', simple language, language of prayer, gothic imagery, religious references,descriptive detail, figurative language, repetition etc. MORE ON THESE CAN BE FOUND IN THE MARK SCHEMES FOR AQA
• Produce a brief introduction (no more than a sentence or so) followed by a few (perhaps 3) focused paragraphs on examples you have found, and finish with a brief conclusion where you make an evaluative comment.
• Remember to USE QUOTATIONS
• Remember, you only have 30 minutes.

 

Section A - Question B

• This question focuses on your personal  response.
• You are expected to give your opinion.
• Your are marked on Assessment Objectives 1, 3 and 4
• AO1 is your written expression so use formal language with a range of terminology and concepts.
• AO3 is your interpretation of the text and you are expected to give your judgements, but you MUST DISCUSS ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATIONS.
• AO4 is your focus on contextual factors; the significance and influence of the contexts in which the texts are written and received; you MUST consider the various genres within the narrative and consider any other related contexts to the novel/poems.
• THEMES need to be prevalent in this section.
• Write a brief introduction giving your specific response to the question.
• Give around 3 paragraphs that present evidence to support your reasoning, and USE QUOTATIONS
• Conclude your response and remember you have only 30 minutes.

STICK TO THE ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES - you will get no marks if you start writing your opinion in part A and talk about the structure in part B.


Section B

• This question requires your response on the importance of something, for example: place, characters, openings etc.
• You are given two choices, so write about the one you feel you can make focused comments upon, that really answers the question.
• You are marked on AO1, AO2 and AO3 (see descriptions above). Again for AO3 you must consider different interpretations and some evaluation/judgement of their strengths and weaknesses; and ALWAYS include a selection of supportive textual references - QUOTATIONS.
• A short introduction saying why what you are writing about is important will suffice.
• Then 4,5 or perhaps 6 paragraphs on your response.
• You've got 1 hour, so a longer response is expected.

General tips

• You must write about all 3 texts, but do not worry if they are not in equal amounts, However, don't write most of your essay on one text and a sentence on each of the others.
• Comparison is NOT STRICTLY NECESSARY, but you could use a conjoining sentence that links back to the question.
• If you are studying a set of poetry (for example Browning, Keats, Hardy etc.) you've probably studied 6-8 poems.  You only need to write about 2 or 3, that way you can be detailed enough  Do not write about just 1 - you will get substantially fewer marks.

LITB3 - THE GOTHIC - MILTON'S 'PARADISE LOST'

For students of 'Paradise Lost' this article in today's 'Guardian' would be well worth reading, but make sure that you scroll down to read the comments and then beyond those to further Milton related articles, particularly one from 10 September 2010 concerning the question of whether there has ever been  a more enthralling depiction of the prince of darkness than that of the accidental hero of 'Paradise Lost'.  
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/nov/28/milton-paradise-lost-epic 

LITB1 - ASPECTS OF NARRATIVE - CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

This is an essential resource for those who are studying Rossetti's poetry, and you've now been given plenty of time to ensure that you listen to the programme when it is broadcast next week: Thursday 1st of December at 9.00 am and again at 21.30.  Also check out the EXPLORE ARCHIVE tab; this programme may well be challenging, but can provide very useful information for a range of  topics in the Lit B specification and beyond:         http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017mvwy

LITB2 DRAMATIC GENRES: ASPECTS OF TRAGEDY - 'OTHELLO'

For those of you who are about to start your coursework on Shakespeare's 'Othello', then this summary video could be a veritable lifesaver:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp6LqSgukOU

CAROL ANN DUFFY - 'THE WORLD'S WIFE'

This should be an interesting interview for those of you studying Duffy:
http://www.sheerpoetry.co.uk/advanced/interviews/carol-ann-duffy-the-world-s-wife 

CAROL ANN DUFFY - OUR POET LAUREATE

Some of you may be studying Carol Ann Duffy for your A2 Anthology Coursework ( 'The World's Wife' is certainly a very popular choice!), so although this was recorded in 2009 it is still useful, fascinating even,  to hear Duffy discuss her writing, her own sources of inspiration, her opinions and intentions: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8030146.stm   

                           

Y12 AS Unit 3 - PASTORAL POETRY AFTER 1945

It is pretty clear from the views that the previous resources concerned with Larkin have been devoured, so for those of you who are hungry for more here is an important 1964 BBC documentary on the great man: 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTdDS05x6d0



Also a link to hear David Walliams discuss with the former Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion (it's Carol Ann Duffy now - see next post), his love for Larkin's poetry:

http://soundcloud.com/fishymedia/larkin-doc-radio-four-dec-10

LITB1 - ASPECTS OF NARRATIVE - 'THE GREAT GATSBY'

An interesting article for you to peruse on that great novel of, and I quote: 'thwarted ambition' - 'The Great Gatsby': http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14238693

LITB2 DRAMATIC GENRES: ASPECTS OF TRAGEDY - 'A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE'

For those of you studying 'Streetcar' then do watch the first part of this documeanary about its author, Tennessee Williams, who was such a complex literary figure:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur3XB80FE3k&feature=related
 

Y13 TEXTS AND GENRES LITB3 - THE GOTHIC 'WUTHERING HEIGHTS'

Interesting short clip from Radio 4's Today programme in which Andrea Arnold, the director of the latest 'Wuthering Heights' film says she could not resist the temptation to adapt the book for yet another film: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9634000/9634906.stm

Y12 AS Unit 3 - PASTORAL POETRY AFTER 1945

For those of you studying Larkin then you will find some useful articles, critical material and links:
http://www.philiplarkin.com/   

From the unit 2 and 3 anthology the poem 'Going, Going' is read here by Larkin himself:

A further poem in the Anthology: 'Church Going' is read by John Betjemen with some contextual input from Larkin:









For those students who are thinking of using Larkin for the A2 Anthology coursework, then this contemporary award nominated film of the poem 'Here' is read beautifully by Sir Tom Courtenay:

A second film by Dave Lee wonderfully evokes the poem  'Bridge for the Living' which is well worth a viewing:

Y13 TEXTS AND GENRES LITB3 - THE GOTHIC

Particularly relevant for those studying Marlowe's Dr Faustus or Milton's Paradise Lost is this programme which can be viewed on the two repeats tomorrow, the 1st of November 2011, or on the BBC iplayer. There is an interesting focus on the changes in people's perceptions of Satan at the time of the Reformation and of the man who kick started the whole thing - Martin Luther, someone whose works Marlowe was evidently aware of: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016ptr6