Lit REVISION

Saturday 16th May

9.30 – 9.40 welcome / groupings

9.40 – 10.30 Poetry or Of Mice and Men

10.30 – 11.20 Of Mice and Men or Poetry

BREAK

11.50 – 12.40 Jekyll and Hyde or Animal Farm

12.40 – 13.00 Students free to leave or work through worries with

Mr Wood

2

Poetry exam top tips

Unseen (20 Marks = 45 mins):

Read the Q, circle the key word(s), then read the poem.

Annotate with striking language features – also jot down the effect.

Start paragraphs with:

Writer + technique + purpose

The poet uses ………… to convey the complexity of [KEYWORD]

Explain in detail:

Connotations of individual words

Alternative meanings

Effect on the reader – tone / feeling

Writer’s purpose

Aim for 3-4 detailed paragraphs

Some points you could make:

The poet creates a sense of ____ when describing [KEYWORD]

The use of metaphor makes [KEYWORD] seem ______.

The structure of the poem is important because it changes. The poet does this

because s/he wants to emphasise (message / feeling / [KEYWORD])

If you don’t understand some of the poem, don’t freak out. Explain something

you can! People’s interpretations are bound to be different, so enjoy the

freedom!

Comparison (30 marks = 1 hour)

Read the question, circle the key words, then choose your poem to compare.

Link both poems by idea and purpose at the start of each paragraph. Use words like

‘both’, ‘whereas’, ‘similarly’ to ensure you are doing this.

Pay equal attention to both poems.

Weave analysis together, showing similarities and differences. This must be related to

the Q, but think about:

Attitude to [KEYWORD]

How do they make you feel about [KEYWORD]?

Who does [KEYWORD] affect?

General tips:

Don’t waffle, and don’t retell the story.

Get to the analysis pretty sharpish – keep overviews brief and always include the

key word.

Analyse more than one feature – and don’t forget sentence length, punctuation

and structure.

Never list a feature without saying why it is used or how it presents an idea.

To do well you must be detailed – cluster short quotations, and explain them in

depth: ‘say a lot about a little’.

Aim for 3-6 paragraphs per part of this exam.

3

UNSEEN POEM

The Harvest Moon – by Ted Hughes

The flame-red moon, the harvest moon, Rolls along the hills, gently bouncing, A vast balloon, Till it takes off, and sinks upward To lie on the bottom of the sky, like a gold doubloon. The harvest moon has come, Booming softly through heaven, like a bassoon. And the earth replies all night, like a deep drum. So people can't sleep, So they go out where elms and oak trees keep A kneeling vigil, in a religious hush. The harvest moon has come! And all the moonlit cows and all the sheep Stare up at her petrified, while she swells Filling heaven, as if red hot, and sailing Closer and closer like the end of the world. Till the gold fields of stiff wheat Cry `We are ripe, reap us!' and the rivers Sweat from the melting hills.

Explore how Ted Hughes presents his ideas about the moon.

Refer to language from the text to support your answer. (20 marks)

4

Unseen Poetry – Harvest Moon by Ted Hughes

Ted Hughes presents the Harvest Moon as awesome and mysterious. The power of nature is conveyed by the use of rich imagery, as the moon’s strange beauty is brought to life.

Firstly, Hughes uses the adjective ‘flame-red’ to describe the moon’s unusual colour. By using adjectives more commonly associated with the sun, Hughes challenges the reader’s perceptions of the moon, creating a mysterious tone. This unexpected sense of heat is developed later in the poem where it is described as ‘as if red-hot’ and the streams of the last line are ‘melting’. Perhaps Hughes is suggesting the energy and power of the world at harvest time.

The moon is also presented as rich and precious in the simile ‘like a gold doubloon’. This currency pf pirate-buried treasure is the stuff of fairy tales and maybe suggests a magical moment is occurring in the sky. Oxymorons such as ‘sink upward’ add to this fantastical feeling, as the moon appears both light and heavy at the same time. It is a ‘vast balloon’ that ‘lies on the bottom of the sky’, a beautiful mystery that cannot be explained.

Onomatopoeia and musical similes work to give the harvest moon a sound of its own, which again is a beautiful impossibility. The moon is ‘booming . . . like a bassoon’ which again reflects its deep heaviness. The gentle rhyming of these alliterative words strengthens the image further.

Hughes uses religious imagery to emphasise the moon’s impact on not only the countryside but also the people. Trees are personified as keeping ‘a kneeling vigil’ and people ‘can’t sleep’. The mood is one of Christmas Eve excitement, pregnant with anticipation. Hughes adds to the festive atmosphere with the use of an exclamation mark to conclude this stanza, emphasising the joy and relief felt at the moon’s arrival. Indeed, the idea of a more literal pregnancy is suggested in the fourth verse as the moon ‘swells/filling heaven’. The use of enjambment allows the idea to spill from the end of one line into the next: it is as if this symbol of fertility cannot be contained, such is its vast size.

The loose rhyme scheme and rhythm adds a steady, hypnotic tone to the poem which is in keeping with the moon’s mesmerising effect; it is as if the moon’s beauty can entrance the reader. The fact that the final stanza is the shortest suggests, perhaps, that nature is powerless in the face of such beauty and that it has surrendered to the moon’s wonder.

The overall effect of the poem is of the skies and earth working in harmony to produce a successful harvest. The earth, personified, ‘replies’ to the moon’s call and in the last stanza the wheat demands to be reaped. The ‘gold fields’ of the final stanza echo the ‘gold doubloon’ of the first, linking the heaven and earth through repetition.

To sum up, Hughes presents the moon as a natural wonder, casting a spell on the awe-struck earth.

5

Compare how the writers of The Class Game and ONE OTHER poem of your choice from

the ‘Clashes and Collisions’ collection present their views about prejudice.

Both The Class Game and Half Caste explore the theme of prejudice, although the types of

discrimination are different: Casey is tackling social class and how those who fail to speak Received

Pronunciation are unfairly judged, whereas Agard explores racism, in particular the negative

connotations of the term ‘half-caste’. Each poem takes a very strong standpoint, however, and

asserts the speaker’s right to be proud of their own identity. The tone of both poems is, at times,

bordering on the aggressive.

The Class Game opens with an accusatory question, with Casey demanding ‘How can you tell what

class I’m from?’ The reader is addressed directly, forcing us to ask ourselves if we are guilty of

prejudging people according to the way they speak. Similarly, Half Caste uses the repeated question

‘Explain yuself wha you mean when you say half-caste’, again positioning the reader as the one with

the problem. The use of the personal pronoun ‘you’ is an extremely powerful tool, as we feel part of

a conversation where we are forced to only listen. Perhaps both poets are giving a voice to people

who are not always truly heard?

A further way in which both poets assert a strong voice is by using dialect and phonetic spelling.

Casey uses Liverpuddlian slang such as ‘wet nelly’ rather than the more formal ‘bread pudding’ and

favours ‘me’ instead of ‘my’. This technique serves two purposes: firstly it roots the poem firmly in

Liverpool and allows us to hear the accent as it would be judged. It also implies that the speaker will

not change her way of speaking for anyone: we need to accept her for who she is. The same is true

of John Agard who takes this a step further by using non-standard punctuation as well as non-

standard vocabulary. By using slashes instead of full stops, he breaks with convention and asserts his

right to be individual. This reinforces his message that we should not stereotype and label people.

Agard also employs repetition to hammer his point home. When he asks the reader to return with

‘de whole of yu eye / an de whole of yu ear / an de whole of yu mind’ he suggests that it is, in fact,

the reader who is lacking something: vision, empathy and intelligence. By using the power of three,

Agard persuades us to re-evaluate the way we carelessly use language that belittles and offends.

Whereas Agard’s most powerful weapon is arguably repetition, Casey’s is contrast. By continually

juxtaposing images from her working class world such as ‘tara to me ma’ with those from her middle

class critics (‘Bye mummy dear’), she emphasises the gulf between the upper and lower classes in

the UK. The reader is forced to assess their own place on the social scale and how we treat those

who are above or below.

In terms of structure, the poems are quite different. Casey’s poem is one long stanza which adds to

the rant-like feel. The speaker is angry at her treatment and therefore it does not make sense for her

views to be broken down into neat units. The ending of her poem provides a strong sense of

resolution, however, with a monosyllabically powerful statement of ‘And I’m proud of the class that I

come from.’ Casey wants positivity and pride to be her final message. Agard divides his poem into 4

stanzas, the first and last both three lines long. This creates the sense of the poem coming full circle,

as it ends in the way it started. The journey is not over, however, as the reader is left waiting for ‘de

other half of my story’. It is a reward we are promised, if we are treat him with more respect.

In conclusion, both poems ask the reader to face up to their prejudices and use strong, assertive,

unapologetic voices to do so.

6

Of Mice and Men Top Tips for getting a good mark:

Revise key characters - Curley, Curley's wife, Slim, G & L, Crooks. Know their significance. Work out the points you would make about each as your revision. Revise key themes - women, separation, violence, dreams and friendship. Know their significance. Work out the points as your revision.

Make points with the context in it: Steinbeck uses Curley's wife to explore the way that the workers on ranches lived a very male existence. It is significant that they place no value in women, and this results in a more cruel world. Steinbeck shows how the blue collar working class American is powerful and strong, but needs looking after.

Put your best points at the start of the essay. Lay out your essay in clear paragraphs with gaps in between.

Explore in depth Explain the symbolic use of people / places / events to show something about American society. Get pointy: writer + technique + purpose. Don't be tempted to just start everything 'When X happens...' Use short quotations and group them together. Analyse, don't retell. Pick out individual words and explore the connotations. Show the effect of words on the reader. Explore what the writer is trying to convey. Link points together: If Slim represents the idealised version of the blue collar worker (that would be the previous paragraph), Steinbeck shows that there is something mystical about this idea.

Be precise with your wording Don't confuse Steinbeck with the characters (who thinks Curley's wife is insignificant - Steinbeck or the characters?) Don't talk about the audience - it's a novel. It's 1930s, not 1930's. Spell Curley right. Capitalise America, and the American dream.

Example paragraph on Curley's wife Steinbeck uses Curley's wife to represent the cut throat nature of capitalist America in the 1930s, and how even within a ranch there exists a rigid hierarchy. Everyone seems to battling everyone else to get ahead. When most of the men go into town, Curley's wife approaches Crooks, Candy and Lennie who have been left behind. She says "They left all the weak ones here." This immediately shows the reader the status of all those characters, in that they are obviously at the bottom of the hierarchy. She is mocking them as weak on the one hand, but Steinbeck is also using dramatic irony: she doesn't seem to include herself as a weak one, but the reader can see this unconscious slip and immediately recognises her position as weak. Steinbeck also reflected women's position in this male dominated world of the ranches through her lack of any real name...

Now practise making some points on Slim, George, Lennie, Candy and Curley's wife

7

Explore the significance of Slim in the novel.

Your answer must show your understanding of the context of the novel.

Explore the significance of Curley’s Wife’s relationships in the novel.

Your answer must show your understanding of the context of the novel.

Explore why hardship is significant to the novel.

Your answer must show your understanding of the context of the novel.

Explore why discrimination is significant to the novel.

Your answer must show your understanding of the context of the novel.

Time allowed for this question: _________

What will you do in your planning time?

Start writing. Aim for at least 3-4 PEEs. Try to show your understanding of characters, themes,

context and what Steinbeck wants us to think.

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8

Literature Prose Exam – Heritage text top tips

(ANIMAL FARM AND JEKYLL AND HYDE)

A

10 mins

Not too complicated – no lang analysis

Short quotations, brief deductions – “this shows / emphasises /

exemplifies he is …”

Use a highlighter to find the bits in the extract

Say three things, each with 1 or 2 quotations

Stuck? Appearance, action, personality and effect on others.

READ BETWEEN THE LINES

Be subtle – not “Hyde is scary”, but “Hyde is intimidating to … , which

shows his personality is …”

B

15 mins

Only the extract

3 PEEs

Link short quotations – clustered together if poss.

“The writer wants … to come across as …”

Stuck? Appearance, action, personality and effect on others. LANGUAGE can be all sorts (imagery, verbs, abstract nouns, adverbs etc… EVEN just

interesting words.

Don’t highlight a feature WITHOUT saying the effect or reason it is used.

Language is all sorts (imagery, verbs, abstract nouns, metaphor,

repetition etc…)

Meaning, connotation, effect on reader, writer’s purpose.

C

As for b).

Start your answer by saying what part it is (In the murder of Sir Danvers

Carew, violence affects the reader in a variety of ways…)

Know and revise key bits. For J&H, try:

o Story of the Door / Search for Mr Hyde (setting) o Trampling / Incident at the Window / Danvers Carew / Jekyll’s confession

9

Jekyll and Hyde Revision

June 2012 (in new Q format) Use this extract to answer Question 2. Extract taken from ‘The last night’.

Mr Utterson was sitting by his fireside one evening after dinner, when he was surprised to receive a visit from Poole.

‘Bless me, Poole, what brings you here?’ he cried; and then taking a second look at him,

‘What ails you?’ he added, ‘is the doctor ill?’

‘Mr Utterson,’ said the man, ‘there is something wrong.’

‘Take a seat, and here is a glass of wine for you,’ said the lawyer. ‘Now, take your time, and tell me plainly what you want.’

‘You know the doctor’s ways, sir,’ replied Poole, ‘and how he shuts himself up. Well, he’s shut up again in the cabinet; and I don’t like it, sir – I wish I may die if I like it. Mr Utterson, sir, I’m afraid.’

‘Now, my good man,’ said the lawyer, ‘be explicit. What are you afraid of?’

‘I’ve been afraid for about a week,’ returned Poole, doggedly disregarding the question, ‘and I can bear it no more.’

The man’s appearance amply bore out his words; his manner was altered for the worse; and except for the moment when he had first announced his terror, he had not once looked the lawyer in the face. Even now, he sat with the glass of wine untasted on his knee, and his eyes directed to a corner of the floor. ‘I can bear it no more,’ he repeated.

‘Come,’ said the lawyer, ‘I see you have some good reason, Poole; I see there is something seriously amiss. Try to tell me what it is.’

‘I think there’s been foul play,’ said Poole, hoarsely.

‘Foul play!’ cried the lawyer, a good deal frightened and rather inclined to be irritated in consequence. ‘What foul play? What does the man mean?’

‘I daren’t say, sir,’ was the answer; ‘but will you come along with me and see for yourself?’

Mr Utterson’s only answer was to rise and get his hat and great coat; but he observed with wonder the greatness of the relief that appeared upon the butler’s face, and perhaps with no less, that the wine was still untasted when he set it down to follow.

10

Spelling, punctuation and grammar will be assessed in part (c). 2 Answer all parts of the question. (a) From the extract, what do you discover about the character of Utterson? Use evidence from the extract to support your answer. (8) (b) Comment on the effect of the language used to present the character of Poole in the extract. Use examples of the writer’s language from the extract. (12) (c) The extract presents Poole as afraid. Explain how the writer presents fear in one other part of the novel. Use evidence to support your answer. (16) (Total for spelling, punctuation and grammar = 3 marks) (Total for Question 2 = 39 marks)

Answers

2a)

Utterson has a straightforward and predictable lifestyle. We hear that he is “surprised” to hav a

visitor, and that he is “sitting by his fireside”. This shows that he is

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Another thing we learn is that Utterson is feeling ______________________________________

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Finally, we learn______________________________________________________________

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11

Answer all parts of the question.

a) From the extract, what do you discover about the character of Mollie?

Use evidence from the extract to support your answer. [8]

b) Explore how the writer uses language in this extract to describe present control.

Use evidence form the extract to support your answer. [12]

c) In this extract talking plays an important role.

Explore how the writer presents talking in one other part of the novel.

Use evidence to support your answer. [16