Revision Tips - The Inbetweeners

I thought this looked quite fun

But they are completely wrong. Every time you sit down to look at your notes or a book you will be learning something that will make a difference in the exam room.

Check out the new revision pages under the section General Pages in this blog. You'll find them in the right hand column of the blog.

IB ENG YR 1 - WORK OVER EASTER

IB ENGLISH YR 1

PREPARING FOR THE COMMENTARY

OTHELLO REVISION - LANGUAGE

 

INTRODUCTION

At the heart of all our studies we have language. The quality of your commentary will depend on your knowledge and appreciation of the language of the play and its effect on us, an audience. In assessing the language of the play we should consider such features as the following;

 

Metaphor, elemental images, strong contrasts, personification, action or movement, classical references, life and death, imperatives, extreme states, the spiritual, lists, Christian or biblical references, sensuous language, emotive language,

 

Read the following speech from Othello to Desdemona when they first meet in Cypress in Act 2 Scene 1

 

If after every tempest come such calms,
May the winds blow till they have waken'd death!
And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas
Olympus-high and duck again as low
As hell's from heaven! If it were now to die,
'Twere now to be most happy; for, I fear,
My soul hath her content so absolute
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate.

 

What is impressive about the language is the huge variety and intensity of literary features Shakespeare uses. I just picked the above speech at random – but see how much of the above list of features are being used.

 

 

THE LANGUAGE OF THE COURT

 

The language of the court is defined by formal, eloquent and sophisticated language. All the senators and courtiers conduct themselves in this fashion. Perhaps we can best see the formal language of the court when it is contrasted with Iagos’ language: for example

 

IAGO

Not this hour, lieutenant; 'tis not yet ten o' the
clock. Our general cast us thus early for the love
of his Desdemona; who let us not therefore blame:
he hath not yet made wanton the night with her; and
she is sport for Jove.

CASSIO

She's a most exquisite lady.

IAGO

And, I'll warrant her, fun of game.

CASSIO

Indeed, she's a most fresh and delicate creature.

IAGO

What an eye she has! methinks it sounds a parley of
provocation.

CASSIO

An inviting eye; and yet methinks right modest.

IAGO

And when she speaks, is it not an alarum to love?

CASSIO

She is indeed perfection.

OTHELLO [Act 1 – Act 3]

Grand

Eloquent

Proud

Natural authority

 

IAGO

Rational

Practical

Crude

Vivid

Rodregio is presented in the play as a traditional literary figure – the courtier. He loves an unobtainable woman, from a far, uses token as a way of gaining her favour and undergoes tasks – set by Iago – to win her. In this case his quest is fruitless and comic, for example

 SYMBOLS AND IMAGES

Light and Dark

As the play develops we realise that the some of the key scenes of the play are set at night. The whole of Act One and from the end of Act 4 through to the end of the play are all set at night.

It is in the dark that Iago commits his most physical of crimes

Three lads of Cyprus, noble swelling spirits,/That hold their honours in a wary distance,The very elements of this warlike isle,Have I to-night fluster'd with flowing cups,And they watch too.

                                                                                                                Iago Act 2 Scene 3

 

This is the night/That either makes me or fordoes me quite.               

Iago Act 5 Scene 1

 

I have't. It is engender'd. Hell and night
Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light               Act 1 Scene 3

 

Sight and Blindness

Despite the fresh morning light – after the storm and after Desdemona and Othello’s first night together – Iago is able to direct people’s vision to what he chooses for them to see. Throughout the play and with increasing power and destructive effects Iago works

 

an old black ram
Is topping your white ewe.                                                   Iago Act 1 Scene 1

 

He takes her by the palm: ay, well said,/whisper: with as little a web as this will I/ensnare as great a fly as Cassio.

                                                                                                Iago Act 2 Scene 1

 

Didst thou/not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? didst/not mark that?

                                                                                                Iago Act 2 Scene 1

 

Ha! I like not that

 

Cassio, my lord! No, sure, I cannot think it,
That he would steal away so guilty-like,
Seeing you coming.                                                             Iago Act 3 Scene 3

 

I have no great devotion to the deed;
And yet he hath given me satisfying reasons:
'Tis but a man gone. Forth, my sword: he dies.                      Rodregio Act 5 Scene 1

 

 

Plants

Gardens were a great source of literary imagery in Renaissance times. Recreating The Garden of Eden – a paradise on earth – was a pursuit of many wealthy landowners. And perhaps the relationship between Othello and Desdemona acts as a form of earthly paradise - 

Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul,/But I do love thee! and when I love thee not, Chaos is come again.

                                                                                                                Othello Act 3 Scene 3

Iago is the serpent in this garden that destroys this apparently perfect state. Building on this Iago sees nature as something out of control. Something that left to its own devises will become wild, overgrown and corrupt. It is the human will – Iago’s gardener – the human will that can control it and keep it safe.  Thus human beings become co-workers with God in the act of creation

 

Virtue! a fig! 'tis in ourselves that we are thus/or thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to the which/our wills are gardeners: so that if we will plant/nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up/thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs,/ or distract it with many, either to have it sterile/with idleness, or manured with industry, why, the/ power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills.     Iago Act 1 Scene 3

 

Iago talks of medicine that in reality is poison. Perhaps drawing on the serpent imagery. Thus in Act 3 Scene 3 he says

 

Not poppy, nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou owedst yesterday.                                 Iago Act  3 Scene 3

 

Work on,
My medicine, work!                                                                Iago Act 4 Scene 1

 

 

Animals

Like the natural world without human will and discipline the animal world will become wild and grow corrupt if untended. The many references to animals see them as lesser creatures than humans, they are instinctual, motivated by base instincts of lust. It is these instincts which Shakespeare wants us to see control the lives of the characters in the play.

 

you'll/ have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse;
you'll have your nephews neigh to you; you'll have
coursers for cousins and gennets for germans.                 Iago Act 1 Scene 1

 

 

The Moor is of a free and open nature,
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,
And will as tenderly be led by the nose
As asses are.                                                                                      Iago Act 1 Scene 3

 

Cassio shall have my place. And, sir, tonight,
I do entreat that we may sup together:
You are welcome, sir, to Cyprus.

--Goats and monkeys!                                                                   Act 4 Scene 1

 

 

Demons and Monsters

When the symbolism of animals fails to articulate the shocking description of human behaviour then demons and monsters take over. Shakespeare draws on classical and Christian imagery

 

O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on                                                               Iago Act 3 Scene 3

 

A horned man's a monster and a beast.                           Othello Act 4 Scene 1

 

jealousy - dangerously and uncannily self-generating, a “monster / Begot upon itself, born on itself

                                                                                                Emillia Act 3 Scene 4

Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?                 Act 5 Scene 2

 

 

Hell and Heaven

When Othello accuses Desdemona of adultery in Act 4 Scene 2 ‘heaven’ is evoked many times to swear the truth of Desdemona’s innocence. For example

 

Heaven doth truly know it.                                                      Desdemona Act 4 Scene 2

 

Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell.                   Othello Act 4 Scene 2

 

I have't. It is engender'd. Hell and night
Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light.        Iago Act 1 Scene 3

 

Come, swear it, damn thyself
Lest, being like one of heaven, the devils themselves
Should fear to seize thee: therefore be double damn'd:
Swear thou art honest.                                                            Othello Act 4 Scene 2

IB YR 2 ENGLISH - WORK OVER EASTER

You should read the general revision pages in the General Pages section on this blog.

Here are all the questions that were set in the mock exam. You should write at least one other from this list and write a plan for the other.

Answer one essay question only. You must base your answer on at least two of the Part 3 works you have studied. You may include in your answer a discussion of a Part 2 work of the same genre if relevant.

 

Answers which are not based on a discussion of at least two Part 3 works will not score high marks.

 

 

Drama

• Explore the ways in which dramatists have made use of monologues and/or soliloquies in at least two plays you have studied.

• Plays employ various kinds of structural divisions such as prologues, and epilogues, act and scenme divisions, even carefully placed intermissions. Discuss the dramatic uses made of these divisions in at least two plays you have studied.

• "A play should make you laugh or make you cry." With reference to at lest two plays you have studied, discuss the methods playwrights use to generate emotional responses in their audiences.

IB PAPER 2 GROUPS OF WORK QUESTIONS

 

Here are a number of past questions for youi to be working on in relation to the three plays you have studied for this part of the course.

 

• Some plays appeal more to the head than the heart, while others seem to want to evoke an emotional response. Referring to at least two works you have studied, discuss with specific evidence the ways in which playwrights have appealed either to the “heads” or the “hearts” of their audiences, or to both.

• Drama sometimes invites us to become acquainted with times and cultures not our own. What particular situations perhaps different to your own circumstances have at least two playwrights included in their plays and by what dramatic means have they delivered them to their audiences?

•  “The compulsion to talk,” to tell one’s story, or the stories of others might be seen as very important to the construction of plays. How far has the telling of stories been important to at least two plays you have studied and how have the “stories” been effectively delivered through theatre?
• The climax of a dramatic work does not always occur in a fixed or expected place. Comparing at least two works you have studied, discuss the placement of the climactic moment of the plays and the effects on dramatic action.

• Most plays have stage direction; some have none or almost none. What do you see as the relevance of stage directions in at least 2 plays you have studied?

 

• Plays frequently explore moral or ethical dimensions of choices people make.  Discuss in at least 2 plays the dramatic handling of such issues.

 

• Drama sometimes invites us to become acquainted with times and cultures not our own. What particular situations, perhaps different to your own circumstances, have at least two playwrights included in their plays and by what dramatic means have they delivered them to their audiences.

 

• Compare the choices made by playwrights in creating the endings of their plays. Refer closely to at least two plays.  (OR BEGINNINGS)
•  

• "Plays are rarely either tragic or comic but a mixture of the two.” Using two or three plays you have studied, say how far you would agree with this statement, supporting your view with address of both content and form.

A2 LL WORK OVER EASTER- RECASTING AND COMMENTARY TASKS

You will find recasting tasks on this blog and in handouts I've given out for many of the articles from Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs.

Here are a list of further recasting tasks and commentary tasks that you can do over the Easter holiday.

For the article The English Aristocracy

Imagine that you are contributing to a satirical guide to social class in England and are responsible for a fake guide to speaking U for those who are non-U. Your audience is likely to be non-U and the guiode overall will present the idea of class negatively. Using ideas drawn from the section beginning 'Most of the peers' on page 115 to the end of the extract, you should adapt the source material without using direct quotations and write 300 - 400 words.

You should write a commentary explaining how you have used language in your recast text to address audience, purpose[s] and genre.

For the article The Right to Life: What Can The White Man Say To The Black Woman?

Imagine that you have been asked to contribute to a booklet for Black History Month, which will be targetted at 14 - 19 yuear olds in schools and colleges. You are responsible for the opening double page spread, in which you need to0 argue that it is important to remember Black History. Drawing from the whole text, you should adapt the source material without using direct quotations and write 300 - 400 words.

You should write a commentary explaining how you have used language in your recast text to address audience, purpose[s] and genre.

For the article The Iron Butterfly: Helen Gurley Brown

Imagine that you have been asked to script a radio documentary about the magazine Cosmopolitan and its influence on the women's magazine market. Produce the script for a section introducing Helen Gurely Brown and her editorship, to use a mixture of voiceover nmarration and some scripted dialogue. You should adapt the source material without using direct quotations and write 300 - 400 words.

You should write a commentary explaining how you have used language in your recast text to address audience, purpose[s] and genre.

For the article Poor, Immortal Isadora

Imagine that you are writing the opening section of an online encyclopaedia page about Isadora Duncan. Referring to the complete text, you should adapt the source material without using direct quotations and write 300 - 400 words.

You should write a commentary explaining how you have used language in your recast text to address audience, purpose[s] and genre.

Here are links to other recasting questions on this blog.

For the article Slimeballs

For the article on Birth Control

For the article Sluts I

More recasting tasks will follow



 

AS LL - SOME QUESTIONS

You should read the general revision pages in the General Pages of this blog.



SECTION A - ANALYSIS TASK [40 MINUTES]

Answer one question from this section on one of the set texts that you have studied.

You must answer on both the set texts that you have studied - one set text for your Section A (analytical) answer and a different set text for your Section B (production) answera different different set text for Section B from the text you answered on in Section B.

Spies - Michael Frayn

How does Frayn portray Keith's father?
Choose two or three extracts to explore in detail.

In your answer you should consider

• Frayn's language choices
• narrative viewpoint

A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams

How does Williams present Blanche's fantasy and delusion?
Choose two or three extracts to explore in detail.

In your answer you should consider

• Williams's language choices
• narrative viewpoint

SECTION B - PRODUCTION TASK [50 MINUTES]

Answer one question from this section on one of the set texts that you have studied.

You must answer on a different set text for Section B from the text you answered on in Section A.

Spies - Michael Frayn

Imagine that Mr Wheately keeps a journal in which he records his thoughts and feelings. Write an entry for this journal around the time of Chapter 4, in which he reflects on Stephen's behaviour.

You should give careful consideration to your language choices and style, which should achieve a sense of Mr Wheatley's voice.

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Imagine that Stella and Mitch talk about recent events the day after Blanch is taken away at the end of the play. Write this conversation in playscript form.

You should give careful consideration to your language choices and style, which should achieve a sense of Stella and Mitch's voices.

AS ENGLISH LITERATURE - WORK OVER EASTER

Here are the two timed questions you sat during the last week of term.

If you were absent for the timed work in class you should write your essay[s] to time at home and hand this in to me when you come back - the week beginning 15 April.

If you did sit both papers then you should give yourself an hour to write the Jane Eyre question you did not choose in class.

You should also write a second Emily Dickinson question. Posted with this - below.

Charlotte Bronte:  Jane Eyre

Either

(a) 'For each is the saviour to the other.'

How far and in what ways is this statement an accurate description of the relationship between Rochester and Jane?

Or

(b) Bronte has been described as a writer 'acutely aware of place.' In the light of this comment explore the significance of setting in Jane Eyre.

Emily Dickinson

Discuss the ways in which Dickinson presents death in (712) Because I could not stop for death.

In your answer, explore the effects of language, imagery and verse form and consider how this poem relates to other poems by Dickinson that you have studied.

(712)

 

Because I could not stop for Death –

He kindly stopped for me – 
The Carriage held but just Ourselves – 
And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste

And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess – in the Ring – 
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain – 
We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed us –

The Dews drew quivering and chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet

Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity –

A2 ENGLISH LITERATURE - WRITTEN WORK FOR EASTER

Read the general revision pages in the General Pages section of this blog.

Write three paragraphs on each of the following key topics in The Rivals and Songs of Innocence and Experience.

Love

The old and the young

Apperance and Reality

Each paragraph should be comparative - use the comparative paragraph structure you used whgen writing the 3000 word essay.

Each paragraph should also be contextual - in the commentary section of the paragraph you should make references to the historical context the texts were written in.

Each paragraph should include some analysis of both texts - refer to literary or dramatic devices being used.

You should hand these paragraphs in when I see you on Wednesday 17 April

A2 ENGLISH LITERATURE - LIST OF BLAKE POEMS FOR EASTER BREAK

Here is a list of poems to study for the week beginning 15 April.

You should use the Blake guide poetry questions already discussed when we looked at Blake's poetry earlier. And in the light of our reading of The Rivals you should make comparative and contrasting observations. 

from Songs of Innocence
The Shepherd
The Schoolboy
The Little Black Boy
The Little Boy Lost
The Little Boy Found

from Songs of Experience

The Little Vagabond
A Little Boy Lost
A Little Girl Lost

Also check out

from Songs of Innocence

The Divine Image

from Songs of Experience

A Divine Image
The Human Abstract
The Clod and the Pebble

A2 LL - RECASTING TASK - SOME GENERAL FEEDBACK

Recast Task

Planning your recast text is vital.
You will have to work very quickly to fit everything you need to do in the hour you have available to do this task. However one of the most vital and useful ways of spending your time before you write your answer is to plan effectively and quickly. Before you begin to write you should have a list of relevant bullet point notes - in a logical order.

You should aim to write between 300 - 400 words for the recast text.
If you write less than 300 words then you have not included enough information from the source text and therefore will be losing important marks because you have not completed the task effectively.

You must write a variety of sentence structures in your text.
Make use of simple, compound and complex sentences. Be very careful not to dominate your text with long and complex sentences. This will lead to confused meaning and poor expression. By using a variety of sentence structures you are making a text interesting to a reader and you are creating an opportunity to write about this in your commentary.

Select relevant information from the source text.
You must be very selective when choosing material from the source text. You will not get marks for adding irrelevant information. To do this effectively you will need to read the source text carefully - underlinning key statements. But you must also consider and interpret the question / task in its broadest, most open way.

Commentary

Write brief, detailed, concise introductions
that state your audience, purposes and features of genre. Use the introduction to make contextual references both in terms of the task and the actual text itself.

Aim to include about 12 - 18 integrated technical terms in your commentary. If you are not including relevant terms then you are not writing a good commentary and will miss out on marks. I expect you will use a term every second line. As you identify a term you are using then go on to write about its effect on a reader.

Don't be limited by the word count recommendations given to you by the board.
If you have the time to write then keep writing detailed, relevant, concise, technical  
paragraphs. Expect to write as much as you did for the recast text itself.

My recommendation is to structure your commentary in a similar way you wrote your introduction. Your main paragraphs should address audience, purposes and the genre.

Write accurately but just slap down your points. You do not need to take as much care over expression as you did in your recast task. The commentary is not a crafted text. However it should be planned.

A2 LL - 3 WAY COMPARISON - EXAM

WRITING THE COMPARATIVE ESSAY FOR ELLA 3 SECTION A: The Unseen Comparison

A02        demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which structure, form and language shape meanings in a range of spoken and written texts.

·         How does the genre / mode influence the ways in which meaning is conveyed?

·         How is the text organised?

·         How is language used by the writer / speaker?

A03        use integrated approaches to explore relationships between texts, analysing and evaluating the significance of contextual factors in their productions and reception

·         Compare and contrast the texts – how are the texts similar / different?

·         Consider the context (in which the text was produced and the audience it was produced for).  How are these contexts reflected in the language choices made by the writers / speakers

Section 1        Introduction

Make a broad statement to provide a comparative overview of each text.  (Not necessarily in this order!)

C     contexts: what do the texts have in common in terms of their genre (literary / non-literary) mode (spoken / written)?  What differing effects do they achieve?

R    register:- how formal / informal is the style and language of each text – link to mode and context.

A    audience:- who is the text for?

F     function:- what is the aim / purpose of each text?

T     topic:- what similar or different attitudes / values, thoughts / feelings are being conveyed about the

      topic?

Comparative grid for planning:

	Text A Literary  (ANCHOR – COULD BE)	Text B non- fiction	Text C transcript
Lexical features
Use of imagery
Phonological features
Grammar and syntax
Structure / cohesion

Paragraph Plan example (insects texts)

1                    Introduction / overview

2                    Text A:       fiction / autobiographical style / 1^st person – personal / subjective

use of low frequency lexis / vivid vocab –impression of detailed knowledge /affection

use of imagery – strong picture of …

presentation of narrator’s thoughts – feelings of …..

foreshadowing - creates interest / tension

 

3          Texts B and C  travel – informative facts and info / humorous tone (examples) – link = humour /             anecdotal / hyperbole

Spoken – anecdotal / hyperbole, dramatic – to entertain (examples)

Section 2        The Anchor Text

TAKE 15 - 20 MINUTES – YOU MUST ALLOW AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF TIME FOR EACH OF THE 3 TEXTS

Comment in detail on your anchor text.  Select a good range of apt quotations to explore and explain HOW the writer uses language to achieve effects.  Make sure you cover:-

·         Lexical choices (look for significant uses of vocabulary / identify word classes / explore connotations – effects)

·         Use of Imagery (use of simile / metaphor etc. and their effects)

·         Phonological features (e.g. alliteration / assonance etc. /  prosodic features in speech

·         Grammar and syntax (e.g. types of sentence / rhetorical patterns / modifiers / spoken language features)

·         The structure of the text (e.g. how paragraphs are used to develop / organise ideas or topics /  turn taking in spontaneous interaction)

DO NOT WRITE A PARAGRAPH ABOUT EACH LINGUISTIC FEATURE SEPARATELY- THEY NEED TO BE INTEGRATED. 

DO SELECT THE KEY QUOTES FROM THE TEXT THAT PROVIDE INTERESTING POINTS WITH A FOCUS ON MEANING / IDEAS.

THINK IN TERMS OF HOW THE TEXT OPEN, HOW IDEAS OR POINTS ARE DEVELOPED, CLOSURE.

Section 3        Compare Texts 2 and 3

Now start your discussion of Texts 2 and 3: link back to the first text, comparing different purposes and audiences – and therefore different language choices.

Make comparisons with the first and second texts:

·         Lexical choices (compare significant uses of vocabulary / identify word classes  - similarities or differences  to first text / explore connotations – effects) Does one text use more Standard / non –Standard vocabulary – colloquialism etc.

·         Use of Imagery (use of simile / metaphor etc. and their effects) – does one text use imagery more extensively – why / different effects?

·         Grammar and syntax (e.g. types of sentence / rhetorical patterns / modifiers / spoken language features)

Does one text use more Standard / non- Standard sentence structures ?

·         Phonological features (e.g. alliteration / assonance etc. /  prosodic features in speech

·         The structure of the text (e.g. how paragraphs are used to develop / organise ideas or topics /  turn taking in spontaneous interaction)

 

Section 4

Sum up your observations – how does each text similarly / differently convey meaning / fulfil the aim or purpose / address the audience .