Final Revision

1. Final Revision Critical Essay, Texts and Close Reading

2. Critical Essay • In a critical essay, you need to show that you can: • Understand the main events and the themes of the poem; • Keep your arguments relevant to the task; • Engage with the text, showing your opinions and thoughts about it;

3. Critical Essay • Analyse the techniques used and make relevant comments about them; • Use evidence from the poem (quotations or references to events) to support your arguments; • Write in a fluent, clear, well-structured way; • Be technically accurate (spelling, grammar, paragraphing).

4. Critical Essay • Avoid: • Micro-analysis (analysing every single word in detail - particularly in prose/drama essays); • The guided tour (writing down everything you know about the text from beginning to end – you must tailor your answer).

5. Critical Essay • Introduction: outline your essay focus. • Main body: each paragraph should deal with a separate idea in as much detail as possible. • Conclusion: should contain an evaluation. • References: must be in context and relevant.

6. The Thought-Fox • Writer: Ted Hughes • Plot: Writer sits waiting for inspiration; sees/imagines fox in the forest; finishes writing. • Themes: isolation; difficulties of artistic process; man and animal; nature.

7. The Thought-Fox • Narrative voice: 1st person; writer (possibly Hughes) = narrator. • Characters: narrator (writer); fox. • Setting: Time - present; Place – looking from room window into forest. • Imagery: nature; fox as extended metaphor for difficult writing process.

8. Mr Bleaney • Writer: Philip Larkin • Plot: Young man rents room from landlady; imagines the life of the previous tenant based on assumptions and hearsay. • Themes: isolation; meaning of life; youth vs old age; the unknown future; fear.

9. Mr Bleaney • Narrative voice: 1st person; young man (not Larkin) = narrator. • Characters: narrator (young man); landlady. • Setting: Time - present; Place – rented room. • Symbols: curtains; books; bags.

10. Death of a Salesman • Writer: Arthur Miller. • Plot: Salesman has strived for success; starts to lose grip on reality; forced to face up to failures of himself and his sons; kills himself for their/his redemption. • Themes: the American Dream; fathers and sons; family; meaning of life; truth and lies; destructive power of secrets; the past; memories (power of/deceptive).

11. Death of a Salesman • Characters: Willy Loman (Weak; volatile); Linda Loman (Steadfast); Biff Loman (Cynic? Idealist?). • Setting: Time – 1940s; post-war; Place – America; New York; family home in city; fancy restaurant; office building. • Symbols: Bill Oliver’s pen. • Techniques: flashbacks.

12. The Great Gatsby • Writer: F. Scott Fitzgerald. • Plot: Young man finds himself embroiled in the lives and illicit affairs of his neighbours; left wondering about his place in their world; is he the last moral saviour? • Themes: the American Dream; dreams vs reality; love; the power of memory; the past (influence on future); wealth and power; class.

13. The Great Gatsby • Narrative voice: 1st person; Nick = narrator. • Characters: Nick Carraway (judgemental, innocent); Jay Gatsby (dreamer, fixated); Daisy Buchanan (shallow, weak). • Setting: Time – 1920s; Jazz Age; Place – New York; East/West Egg; Valley of Ashes. • Symbols: green light; eyes of Dr T J Eckleburg; cars. • Imagery: colour.

14. Close Reading • Understanding the Meaning: • Using your own words (Don’t lift words from text!) • Context (Meaning of word – reference – explanation) • Linking (Linking words – refer back – link forward) • Tone (Reference to language)

15. Language: Formal/informal Jargon Rhetorical language Dialect and slang Simile Metaphor Personification Alliteration Onomatopoeia Pun Hyperbole Euphemism Oxymoron Juxtaposition Cliché Close Reading

16. Structure: Statement Question Exclamation Command Minor Sentence Paragraphing Inversion Repetition Climax and anti-climax Antithesis Long and short sentences Inverted commas Colons Semi-colons Dashes Close Reading

17. Close Reading • Identifying the Purpose: • Genre (Features of genre?) • Readership (Aimed at who?) • Purpose (To entertain? Inform? Argue?) • Titles, headlines or headings (Puns? Tone?)

18. Close Reading • Evaluation: • It’s your opinion they want – “Personally, I find this to be effective because …” • Ideas – What points does the writer make? What is the writer’s overall stance? • Style – What techniques are used? • Difference between passages – compare similar/contrasting ideas and styles.

19. Good Luck! It’s been a pleasure! Do your best - that’s all I ask!

20. Revelation • Writer: Liz Lochhead. • Plot: Young girl visits farm; shown bull in barn; backs away into yard; runs away in fright; realises there is cruelty/evil in the world. • Themes: loss of innocence; man vs woman; good vs evil.

21. Revelation • Narrative voice: 1st person; young girl (not Lochhead) =narrator. • Characters: narrator (young girl); Bob the bull. • Setting: Time - past (memory); Place - farm/countryside. • Symbols: eggs and milk; bull; hens; young boys. • Imagery: religious; gender based; frightening/violent.

22. Shooting Stars • Writer: Carol Ann Duffy. • Plot: Jewish woman in concentration camp; speaking from beyond the grave; recalls the events surrounding her shooting; implores us to remember. • Themes: loss of innocence; war; good vs evil; the past (importance of remembering); cruelty of man.

23. Shooting Stars • Narrative voice: 1st person; Jewish woman = narrator. • Characters: narrator (woman); German guards. • Setting: Time – past/WW2; Place - concentration camp. • Symbols: stars on foreheads; child. • Imagery: religious; violent; feminine.