Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918) - poet

Wilfred Owen died before the end of the First World War, but the poetry he wrote carries a very strong message about the destructive nature of war. You will find some information on the poet and his writing at the following sites:

http://www.wilfredowen.org.uk/home

http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/collections/owen

You can find out more about the First World War here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/

'Macbeth' - William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

You can read the whole text online at - http://www.shakespeare-literature.com/Macbeth/index.html

You might also find some useful ideas about the text at - http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/macbeth

There's loads of other stuff out there too.

'Visiting Hour' (poem) by Norman MacCaig

You should now be revising this text, memorising quotations and planning and practising essays.

In order to get a copy of the poem online, you will need to register with the BBC via the following link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/bitesize/higher/english/poetry/maccaig_rev1.shtml

Once you can access a copy of the text, there is useful material at the following sites:

http://www.hsn.uk.net/files/HSN41010.pdf

http://kelsofifthyear.wikispaces.com/file/view/Visiting+Hour.ppt

Seamus Heaney (1939 - 2014) - poet

Seamus Heaney is one of the best-known poets in the English-speaking world. There is a biography of him at this site:

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1995/heaney-bio.html

There are plenty of notes about his poetry available in print and on the internet -

http://poetryforgcseenglish.blogspot.com/2009/11/blackberry-picking-seamus-heaney.html

'A Couple of Old Bigots' (short story, 1976) by George Friel

The setting - SR, ZG, SC

An element which is significant to the story is the setting, which provides a backbone to the story and the relationship between Rooney and Geddes. It is the set in an unnamed Lanarkshire Coalfield village, where two prominent religions, Protestantism and Catholicism, remain strong. Geddes and Rooney constantly debate due to Geddes’ distaste about Rooney’s belief.

Another setting of the story is the mine where both Geddes and Rooney work. The many accidents that occur in the mine immediately form another bond between them.

Another setting in the story is Geddes and Rooney’s pub, which they visit a lot. This pub is a backdrop of many of their arguments on the concept of religion.

Geddes - KC, IM, JS, LM

A middle-aged man, called Willie Geddes, is a 'quarrelsome atheist'. He works in the coal mines with his best friend, Liam Rooney, who is Roman Catholic. Geddes challenges his views by asking questions and making smart remarks. He has more knowledge than Rooney himself about his religion and, therefore, makes fun of Rooney’s beliefs and views.

“I wish you’d give your tongue a wee rest” is a remark from Rooney. This shows that Geddes doesn’t shut his sarcastic mouth about Rooney’s religion. He makes comments which Rooney usually shrugs off to avoid conflict. Geddes reads 'The Freethinker' every week and claims he isn’t a bigot. He thinks his comments aren’t meant to offend. He says to the barman, after an argument with Rooney, “Canny take a joke”. He seems unaware that his views were offensive to Rooney. We see from Geddes’ personality he is a bigot and believes that he is always right and too stubborn to admit his mistakes. Therefore, when he finally realises his mistake, it’s too late. This is due to the dramatic ending of Rooney’s death.

Rooney – KG, CS

Liam Rooney has been friends with William Geddes for decades, but there has always been one difference between them. Rooney is a practising Roman Catholic and Geddes is an atheist. Rooney keeps meaning to read books, but he doesn’t find the time. He has a lot of respect for Geddes.

When Rooney is working down the mines, he gets trapped with his friend, Geddes, for a few days. They teach each other songs and their bond becomes stronger. Nonetheless, they fall out on two occasions - both related to religion.

When they eventually escape working in the mines, they go to Sloan’s Pub for a few drinks. This doesn’t end well, as Geddes makes to many jokes towards the Virgin Mary and , when Rooney got older, he became ‘more touchy in his piety’ This results in Rooney walking home alone and not talking to Geddes. He doesn’t tell his wife about the argument, but, a week later, dies in his sleep.

Their Relationship - LR, EN, EM, SC

Relationships are an important theme in the short story, “ A Couple of Old Bigots”, as it shows us an insight into the relationship between Willie Geddes and Liam Rooney and how their lives were spent together working in the coal mine. After working together 60 years, their friendship grew and, as they grew old, they spent their days drinking in Sloan’s. Although they had known each other for a long a time, they always ended up arguing about religion, which later led to them falling out and not talking. Later Rooney dies and Geddes doesn’t realise this was the last time they would speak.

Mrs Rooney says to Geddes that “he thought the world of you”.

The Accident - RH, AH, RS

One significant event in the story was the time when Geddes and Rooney were trapped in the coal mine. This was not the first time they had been stuck down the mine. They were trapped for three days and occupied themselves by teaching each other songs and telling stories. The songs they taught each other were ‘Faith of our Fathers’ and ‘The Star O’ Rabbie Burns’. Rooney was continuously mocked by Geddes about his religion. This also occurred when Rooney took out his rosary beads and Geddes scoffed “Christ, dae ye aye carry thae beads wi’ ye?” They drank the moisture that dripped from the roof of the tunnel, but long before they were rescued, they were too weak to move.

Their Argument - LA, PB

Rooney and Geddes ‘were the best of friends’. They worked in the mines together for 60 years. The bigotry and arguing between the two really interrupts their great friendship. A significant turn around in the story is when Geddes brings up the “Virgin Mary” in the pub (Sloan’s). He speaks coarsely about her. Before, when he spoke about her, he was “clever and sarcastic” and ‘jocular and irreverent’.

When Geddes speaks ‘coarsely’ about the Virgin Mary, Rooney says ‘ You’re just an old bigot, so you are. I’m finished wi ye’. When Rooney finishes his drink, he walks out of the pub without saying a word. Geddes thinks he has done nothing wrong. We understand this when Geddes says ‘Canny take a joke’. When the incident has finished, Rooney avoids Geddes and Geddes can’t find him, even though he ‘went to the usual places at the usual times’.

Geddes’ Loss -
AW, LW

One of the key moments in the story is when Rooney has an argument with Geddes and they fall out. Then Rooney dies a week later, leaving Geddes feeling guilty about what he said. The first we see of how this is affecting Geddes was when heard the news from his wife. ‘He replied “Och ay” with Scottish brevity, showing no emotion.” This shows us he’s having a hard time getting over their argument. We can see he’s trying to hide his emotions since he doesn’t know how to react.

Another important scene is when Geddes is staring into the fire, which brings back memories of him and Rooney working in the pit and all the years they spent together. The writer describes how “the fire was refracted through his unfallen tears.” This emphasises his emotion and reveals how much he misses his old buddy.

Geddes’ feelings are relieved when he runs into Rooney’s daughter, who asks him to take the first cord at the funeral. This surprises Geddes. He says, “but that’s no’ my place, that’s for the nearest”, when he thinks of going to a Roman Catholic funeral. She states that Geddes comes before any of her uncles, flattering him.

The Funeral -
PK, AC

The most important part in the short story is when Rooney dies and Geddes finally shows his respect towards Rooney’s religion. The priest in the funeral ceremony was talking in 'Latin in a Donegal accent'. He said a lot of prayers that Geddes could not understand. The writer, Friel, shows us how Geddes reacts towards the death of Rooney. It describes how hostile Geddes is towards Rooney’s religion. Nonetheless, after the coffin has been lowered into the grave, he feels that he isn’t fully committed in the funeral ceremony, so he crosses himself like the others 'in a willing suspension of disbelief' and says, ‘God rest him’, to show that he was ‘as much Liam Rooney’s mourner as any of them’.

This is an interesting conclusion to the short story, because it shows that Geddes finally showed respect for Rooney’s religious views. The sad thing was that he only showed him this respect after he died.

'The Curious Incident...' - class paragraphs on narrative style

2007 / 5. Choose a prose text (fiction or non-fiction) in which a society or a person or a culture or a setting is effectively portrayed.

Show how the writer’s presentation of the subject makes an impact on you, and helps you to understand the subject in greater depth.

Christopher reflects on meeting Siobhan and how she helped him with his Asperger’s and understanding human emotions. This is shown in the story as, ‘When I first met Siobhan, she showed me this picture … and I knew that it meant ‘sad’, which is what I felt when I found the dead dog. Then she drew other pictures: …………, but I was unable to say what these meant.’ The writer uses these sentences to show how Christopher’s Asperger’s Syndrome affects how he lives and understands other people’s emotions. It helps you understand life for Christopher and gives you an insight on how he can only understand certain things. It also shows you how his mind processes information.

The writer uses a different style of dialogue to show the effect of Christopher’s Asperger’s Syndrome. Christopher’s speech is short and quite blunt. He struggles to talk to people and they think he is being cheeky. For example, near the start of the book, the policeman asked him if he killed the dog. He responds without looking at him, saying ‘I didn’t kill the dog.’ The writer uses short sentences, simple words and one word answers to show that Christopher finds it hard to communicate with others. The writer does not use any complicated language, such as similes or metaphors, because Christopher does not understand them. The dialogue in the novel is often highly idiomatic. This highlights a key communication barrier between Christopher and others.

We see very early on in the novel that Christopher, the narrator, describes people and situations in a rather unusual way. In the opening lines, for example, he describes a dead dog, which is lying in a neighbour’s garden with a garden fork through it, as looking ‘as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream’. This comparison shows that Christopher, who is a young boy trying to write a detective novel, is unable to make an emotional response to the scene. In everyday terms, a teenager would be distressed by such an event, however, the author, Haddon, has invented an utterly inappropriate comparison to highlight the emotional difficulties experienced by people with Asperger’s Syndrome, even when they are in some of the most unpleasant circumstances.

Christopher notices a lot of detail due to his Asperger’s Syndrome and describes it more thoroughly than others. Instead of briefly describing what he has in his pockets, when he is taken to the police station after assaulting the police officer, he lists the minor details of everything he has in his pockets – details which do not add much value to the book. For example, he has ‘A Swiss army knife…A key to the front door…’ He does this because he has a photographic memory, recording every detail. This often has no relevance to the main storyline – in this case, when he is in jail. This is effective because it shows us how his mind works and helps us to understand Christopher and the Asperger’s Syndrome.

Another symptom of Christopher’s condition, is the way in which he ‘digresses’ in situations where more average people would be conscious of stress or unpleasantness. Shortly after assaulting a police constable, merely because he touched him, Christopher is arrested and is put in the back of the police car to be taken to the police station. For anyone else, such a situation would be humiliating and distressing, but, as soon as he is in the car, Christopher catches sight of the stars and goes into an explanation of the solar system and our galaxy. This digression, which is baffling to the reader at this stage, gives further insight into the way in which Christopher’s mind works. He just does not respond in the way in which we expect and this unorthodox style makes him unusual and engaging.

The writer uses lots of facts and figures in the text to show how Christopher understands things and that he has an obsessive interest in these details. For example, the chapters are numbered using prime numbers and he lists what is in his pockets. This shows how his brain works with Asperger’s Syndrome. It also helps the reader understand him and his personality. It shows how different he is and how precise with some things. This attention to detail is unusual for the average human being.

In this chapter, the writer shows the reader how Christopher’s brain works compared to an average teenager. This is shown by the way Christopher is arrested and, when he is being taken to the police station, he sees the clear sky and explains the Solar System. It shows the difference because an average teenager would be worried about the consequences of his arrest. The author, Mark Haddon, demonstrates with this digression that, after his assault on the police officer, Christopher’s brain is not focussed on the same concerns as other people.

Through Christopher’s dialogue, the author, Mark Haddon, manages to portray his Asperger’s Syndrome and how it impacts on the social aspects of his life. Haddon achieves this through the way in which Christopher records his conversations with others. Due to his condition, Christopher cannot process facial expressions and body language, which can alter the meaning of a discussion. As a result of this, he uses, ‘And I said…And she said…And I said’ to convey to the reader how the narrator, Christopher, perceives the communication he has with other people.

The narrator uses graphics to explain emotions. His teacher, Siobhan, draws smiley face graphics for Christopher so that he can understand the emotions of other people. This is because he has Asperger’s Syndrome. This helps us to understand how Christopher understands emotions. This is method is used by the writer to show how different people with Asperger’s Syndrome take in information and process it.

'Cloverfield' dir. Matt Reeves (2008)

TASK:

By referring to a film you know well, show how the director made choices and used some of the techniques of filmmaking to produce a film which caught and held your attention.

INTRO

Mention film, genre, director, brief summary and task.

PEAR paragraph 1

Setting

PEAR paragraph 2

Plot / Story

PEAR paragraph 3

Characters

PEAR paragraph 4

Use of Camera

PEAR paragraph 5

Special Effects

CONCLUSION

Mention film, director and task. Give positive response to task.

REMEMBER that for good effect, you should write things like. ‘The writer made some clever choices when it came to use of camera.’ And ‘When the director chose the setting for the film, he gave the story extra impact by choosing Manhattan.’

Links to some information on 'Cloverfield':

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloverfield
http://www.cloverfieldmovie.com/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cloverfield/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvNkGm8mxiM