Overview of the English A: Language & Literature Course

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English A: Lang&Lit (HL) - Caribbean

Analyse, compare and contrast the two texts. Include comments on the similarities and differences between the texts and the significance of context, audience, purpose, and formal and stylistic features.

Text 1

A United Fruit Company travel poster from 1922.



Text 2

SQUATTERS TAKE ON DEVELOPERS
October 15, 2007 Miami Herald, The (FL) Edition: Final
Section: Business Monday
Page: 12G
Author: BENJAMIN SHORS

ISLA CARENERO, PANAMA -- In the late 1980s, Nicasio Jiménez built two listing shacks with mangrove beams, a roof of scavenged tin, and rough floor planks that allowed Caribbean breezes and tsetse flies to flit through the cracks. Jiménez, a 61-year-old retired banana pruner who earned $1 an hour, did not own the waterfront land. Like hundreds of other low-income people living in Bocas del Toro, a stunning archipelago once relegated to some of Panamas poorest residents, he instead relied on "squatter rights" written into the countrys law.

Now, as foreign investment transforms these languid islands, Jiménez family faces eviction from a Naples developer who claims he bought the property from a third party. "Before, nobody wanted this land," said Feliciano Santos, Jiménezs 36-year-old son-in-law. "You didnt need documents. This was a garbage disposal area. We are the ones who cut our feet and got dirty working the land."

For centuries, this Caribbean island has been a beautiful place to be dirt poor. But in recent years, a booming real estate market has brought American entrepreneurs into direct conflict with AfroCaribbean and indigenous Indians who occupy these once-isolated isles.

Now, developers have targeted an emerging demographic: retirees from America and Europe. Although American expatriates have been a part of the funky vibe in Bocas since the 1990s, they remained a relatively minor note in the Caribbean town. But as development in Panama City boomed -- construction permits last year topped $1 billion -- investors pushed into more remote reaches of the country.

Now, critics say, the size of the new developments threaten to displace hundreds of low-income island residents, many of whom live on prime oceanfront real estate.

In the past year, the conflict has spiraled. Armed private security guards patrol disputed beaches. A powerful union of construction workers has leveled charges of "colonialism" against several developers. Homes have mysteriously burned and been torn to the ground.

"There is this tremendous lust for the coastline," said Osvaldo Jordan, executive director of the Alliance for Conservation and Development, a Panamanian nonprofit based in Panama City. "Developers and speculators will use any means necessary to get the land from the people."

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English A: Lang&Lit (HL) - Craft Master

Analyse, compare and contrast the two texts. Include comments on the similarities and differences between the texts and the significance of context, audience, purpose, and formal and stylistic features.

Text 1

Text 2

so you want to be a writer?

if it doesn't come bursting out of you 

in spite of everything, 

don't do it. 

unless it comes unasked out of your 

heart and your mind and your mouth 

and your gut, 

don't do it. 

if you have to sit for hours 

staring at your computer screen 

or hunched over your 

typewriter searching for words, don't do it. 

if you're doing it for money or 

fame, 

don't do it. 

if you're doing it because you want 

women in your bed, 

don't do it. 

if you have to sit there and 

rewrite it again and again, 

don't do it. 

if it's hard work just thinking about doing it, 

don't do it. 

if you're trying to write like somebody 

else, 

forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of 

you, 

then wait patiently. 

if it never does roar out of you, 

do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife 

or your girlfriend or your boyfriend 

or your parents or to anybody at all, 

you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers, 

don't be like so many thousands of 

people who call themselves writers,

don't be dull and boring and

pretentious,

don't be consumed with self- 

love.

the libraries of the world have 

yawned themselves to 

sleep over your kind. 

don't add to that. 

don't do it.

unless it comes out of

your soul like a rocket,

unless being still would

drive you to madness or suicide or murder,

don't do it.

unless the sun inside you is burning your gut,

don't do it. 

when it is truly time, 

and if you have been chosen, 

it will do it by 

itself and it will keep on doing it 

until you die or it dies in you. 

there is no other way. 

 and there never was.

-- From sifting through the madness for the Word, the line, the way
by Charles Bukowski.
 Copyright © 2003 by the Estate of Charles Bukowski.

Find out how you can produce a high-scoring commentary for this Paper 1 exam. Contact us.

English A: Lang&Lit (SL) "What is Poverty?"

In each session you can look forward to detailed, analytical discussion of a Paper 1 passage or extract and solid guidance on commentary writing from an experienced tutor. You also receive criterion-based feedback on your drafts.

Try your hand at this Paper 1. Then contact us for a session.

Write an analysis on the following text. Comment on the significance of context (if appropriate), audience, purpose and formal and stylistic features.

From the essay "What is poverty?"
Jo Goodwin Parker
1971

You ask me what is poverty? Listen to me. Here I am, dirty, smelly, and with no "proper" underwear on and with the stench of my rotting teeth near you. I will tell you. Listen to me. Listen without pity. I cannot use your pity. Listen with understanding. Put yourself in my dirty, worn out, ill-fitting shoes, and hear me.

Poverty is getting up every morning from a dirt- and illness-stained mattress. The sheets have long since been used for diapers. Poverty is living in a smell that never leaves. This is a smell of urine, sour milk and spoiling food sometimes joined with the strong smell of long-cooked onions. [...] It is the smell of the mattresses where years of "accidents" have happened. It is the smell of milk which has gone sour because the refrigerator long has not worked, and it costs money to get it fixed. It is the smell of rotting garbage. I could bury it, but where is the shovel? Shovels cost money. [...]

Poverty is dirt. You can say in your clean clothes coming from your clean house, "Anybody can be clean." Let me explain about housekeeping with no money. For breakfast I give my children grits [1] with no oleo [2] or cornbread without eggs and oleo. This does not use up many dishes. What dishes there are, I wash in cold water with no soap. Even the cheapest soap has to be saved for the baby's diapers. Look at my hands, so cracked and red. Once I saved for two months to buy a jar of Vaseline for my hands and the baby's diaper rash. When I had saved enough, I went to buy it and the price had gone up two cents. The baby and I suffered on. [...]

Poverty is staying up all night on cold nights to watch the fire knowing one spark on the newspapers covering the walls means your sleeping child dies in flames. In summer, poverty is watching gnats and flies devour your baby's tears when he cries. The screens are torn and you pay so little rent you know they will never be fixed. Poverty means insects in your food, in your nose, in your eyes, and crawling over you when you sleep. Poverty is hoping it never rains because diapers won't dry when it rains and soon you are using newspapers. Poverty is seeing your children forever with runny noses. Paper handkerchiefs cost money and all your rags you need for other things. Even more costly are antihistamines. Poverty is cooking without food and cleaning without soap.

Poverty is asking for help. Have you ever had to ask for help, knowing your children will suffer unless you get it? Think about asking for a loan from a relative, if this is the only way you can imagine asking for help. I will tell you how it feels. You find out where the office is that you are supposed to visit. You circle that block four of five times. Thinking of your children, you go in. Everyone is very busy. Finally, someone comes out and you tell her that you need help. That never is the person that you need to see. You go see another person, and after spilling the whole shame of your poverty all over the desk between you, you find that this isn't the right office after all - you must repeat the whole process, and it never is any easier at the next place. [...]

I have to come out of my despair to tell you this. Remember I did not come from another place or another time. Others like me are all around you. Look at us with an angry heart, anger that will help you help me.

Guiding questions

• Comment on the use and effect of stylistic devices, such as sensory details and the first and second person 

• How do you understand the purpose and provocative nature of this essay? 

[1] Grits: coarsely ground corn commonly served in the American south

[2] Oleo: a vegetable oil spread used as an alternative to butter

P1 English A: Literature (HL) - Cider With Rosie

For Paper 1 at Higher Level, you will be given the choice of two texts. One will be a passage from prose (fiction or non-fiction) and the other a poem. There are no guiding questions.

Try your hand at the prose (non-fiction) passage below. Then ask us for detailed discussion and feedback.

Write a literary commentary on the following:

I was set down from the carrier’s cart at the age of three; and there with a sense of bewilderment and terror my life in the village began.
     The June grass among which I stood was was taller than I was, and I wept. I had never been so close to grass before. It towered above me and all around me, each blade tattoed with tiger skins of sunlight. It was knife-edged, dark, and a wicked green, thick as a forest and alive with grasshoppers that chirped and chattered and leapt through the air like monkeys.
      I was lost and did not know where to move. A tropic heat oozed from the ground, rank with sharp odours of roots and nettles. Snow-clouds of elder blossom banked in the sky, showering upon me the fumes and flakes of their sweet and giddy suffocation. High overhead ran frenzied larks, screaming, as though the sky were tearing apart.
      For the first time in my life, I was out of the sight of humans. For the first time in my life I was alone in a world whose behaviour I could neither predict nor fathom: a world of birds that squealed, of plants that stank, of insects that sprang about without warning. I was lost and did not expect to be found again. I put my head back and howled, and the sun hit me smartly on the face, like a bully.
      From this daylight nightmare I was awoken, as from many another, by the appearance of my sisters. They came scrambling and calling up the steep rough bank and parting the long grass found me. Faces of rose, familiar, living; huge shining faces hung up like shields between me and the sky; faces with grins and white teeth (some broken) to be conjured up like genii with a howl, brushing off terror with their broad scoldings and affection. They leaned over me – one, two, three – their mouths smeared with red currants and their hands dripping with juice.
      “There, there, it's all right, don't you wail anymore. Come down 'ome and we'll stuff you with currants.”
      And Marjorie, the eldest, lifted me into her long brown hair, and ran me jogging down the path and through the steep, rose-filled garden, and set me down on the cottage doorstep, which was our home, though I couldn't believe it.
      That was the day we came to the village, in the summer of the last year of the First World War. To a cottage that stood in a half-acre of garden on a steep bank above a lake; a cottage with three floors and a cellar and a treasure in the walls, with a pump and apple trees, syringa and strawberries, rooks in the chimneys, frogs in the cellar, mushrooms on the ceiling, and all for three and sixpence a week.
      I don't know where I lived before then. My life began on the carrier's cart which brought me up the long slow hills to the village, and dumped me in the high grass, and lost me. I had ridden wrapped up in a Union Jack to protect me from the sun, and when I rolled out of it, and stood piping loud among the buzzing jungle of that summer bank, then, I feel, was I born. And to all the rest of us, the whole family of eight, it was the beginning of a life.

                                                     


-- Cider with Rosie by Lauri Lee (1959 Chatto and Windus)

Text-Type: Travel Writing

After studying a variety of different fiction and non-fiction text-types, you may decide to write a WT1 assignment using travel writing genre. Understanding the conventions of this text-type will therefore be important.

What exactly is travel writing? Here is one definition:

“Writing of a non-fiction type, typically recording the experiences of travellers in some interesting places and circumstances. It includes vivid descriptions, illustrations, historical background, and

possibly maps and diagrams."

Though an accurate description of the genre, how helpful is it for distinguishing this genre from other, very similar ones? Memoir, for example is a personal account which may feature travel or life in a particular location. Many journalistic essays feature interesting circumstances and vivid description.

There is indeed, a "grab-bag" quality to travel writing, which makes it difficult to define but which makes it a very rich one to write in. Let's have a look at a rather more detailed and perceptive description of this genre in an effort to tease out what makes it a distinct category:


“The travel book [....] incorporates the characters and plot line of a novel, the descriptive power of poetry, the substance of a history lesson, the discursiveness of an essay, and the–often inadvertent–self-revelation of a memoir. It revels in the particular while occasionally illuminating the universal. It colors and shapes and fills in gaps. Because it results from displacement, it is frequently funny. It takes readers for a spin (and shows them, usually, how lucky they are). It humanizes the alien. More often than not it celebrates the unsung. It uncovers truths that are stranger than fiction. It gives eyewitness proof of life’s infinite possibilities.” (Thomas Swick, “Not a Tourist.” The Wilson Quarterly, Winter 2010)


Note three words: "alien", "displacement" and "revels in the particular". There is a distinct sense in all travel writing of encountering "the other", a key element of the genre and also one of the main sources of enjoyment for many readers. Three important ideas are beginning to emerge:

Voice, narrative, and the ‘other’ or alien.

Travel, journey or displacement of one kind or another is usually the most obvious feature of travel narrative — though, by itself, not a defining one. Other, closely-allied genres like memoir, narrative-journalism, personal essay, descriptive storytelling can involve travel, displacement or life in foreign or interesting circumstances. What makes travel lit distinct will become more apparent when we consider aspects and purpose of this genre.

Travel is undertaken for many purposes and many of these journeys end up being recorded in journals, diaries, and short accounts, as well as long narratives that the writers want to share with a wider audience. Of all purposes, the writing impulse may be the strongest force of all. Here are a few more reasons for writing in this genre:

• to find oneself. As Iyer notes in the epigraph above, some journeys are about finding something about oneself, or ‘finding oneself’. Very often, the writer will reveal that the journey has elicited or pushed them to some new perception about their own life, choices and history. Paradoxically, the self is treated and discussed as 'the other'.

• curiosity. Very early in the history of travel narratives, a great many accounts were driven simply by curiousity and fascination with places not yet experienced by outsiders or even described. Wanting to know, or even to understand, the ‘other’ certainly produces as vast an array of travel accounts as does the search for the self.

• religion. Spiritual journeys also account for a good many travel narratives. Whether to the Christian Shrine of Compostela or on the Islamic haj to Mecca, travellers follow their devotional impulses and often record them. 

• the search for family roots. Another for travel and for accounts of them arises from the desire to search out the roots of one’s family and origins. Often, this search is allied with genealogical research, the study of family connections and beginnings. Allied to this form is the ‘return to roots’ account, such as can be found in Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta

• to write in an informed way. This is writing which involves travel and (in many cases) emerges from a political angle on the place visited. A good example of this is Elisabeth Hardwick’s ‘Sad Brazil’ from Bartleby in Manhattan and Other Essays, which combines vivid and concrete impressions of place with acute political analysis.

One central feature of travel-writing is voice. Most often the travel narrative will be told by the ‘I’ who makes the journey. This univocal voice can sometimes be joined by another. Sometimes the voice takes on a persona. In The Adventures of Geoffrey Crayon (1835) Washington Irving employs the persona of Mr Crayon to describe a 19th century American travelling in Europe. Mark Twain does much the same in A Tramp Abroad, but goes one step further and combines his persona with a companion by the name of Joseph Harris. Together they explore the continent, presenting their views of the people and cultures they meet.

As we saw from the extracts, travel-writing can be presented in something as short as an essay or as long as a substantial novel. Longer examples of travel lit can usually be described as having a defined beginning, middle, and end. These narratives tend to be circular: they begin at home, embark on and pursue an itinerary which may be highly organized or somewhat spontaneous, and are completed by a return home. It can entail an ongoing journey with stops and descriptions or reflections along the way — or one that involves a journey to a particular place in which the bulk of the work is centered.

Finally, the issue of subjectivity, objectivity, and whether an account is a mix of fact or fiction is also likely to arise when looking at this genre. Whereas a tourist brochure or guide concentrates on the factually accurate and true, travel lit is not bound by such convention.

Below is a passage taken from a popular travelogue. Which of the elements discussed so far can you discern?

City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi

‘Our village was famous for its sweets,’ said Punjab Singh. ‘People would come for miles to taste the jalebis our sweet-wallahs prepared. There were none better in the whole of the Punjab.’
     We were sitting on a charpoy at International Backside Taxi Stand. For weeks I had been begging Balvinder’s father to tell me the story of how he had come to Delhi in 1947. A stern and sombre man, Punjab would alsways knit his eyebrows and change the subject. It was as if Partition were a closed subject, something embarrassing that shouldn’t be raised in polite conversation.
      It was only after a particularly persistent bout of badgering , in which Balvinder took my side, that Punjab had agreed to relent. But once started, he soon got into the swing of his story.
     ‘Samundra was a small and beautiful village in District Lyallpur,’ he said. ‘It was one of the most lovely parts of the whole of Punjab. We had a good climate and very fertile land. The village stood within the ruins of an old fort and was surrounded on four sides by high walls. It was like this.’
      With his hands, the old man built four castle walls. From the details that he sketched with his fingers you could see he remembered every bastion, every battlement, every loophole.
      ‘Our village was all Sikh apart from a few Hindu sweepers. Our neighbours were Mahommedan peoples. We owned most of the land but before 1947 we lived like brothers. There were no differences between us …’ Punjab stroked his beard. He smiled as he recalled his childhood.
      ‘On the 15th August 1947 the Government announced Partition. We were not afraid. We had heard about the idea of Pakistan, but we thought it would make no difference to us. We realized a Mahommedan government would take over from the Britishers. But in our Punjab governments often come and go. Usually such things make no difference to the poor man in his village.
      ‘Then, quite suddenly, on the 10th of September, we got a message from the Deputy Commissioner in Lyallpur. It said: ‘”You people cannot stay. You must leave your house and your village and go to India.” Everyone was miserable but what could we do? All the villagers began loading their goods into bullock carts. The old men were especially sad: they had lived their whole lives in the village. But we were young and could not understand why our grandfathers were crying.

                                                                  — William Dalrymple (1993)

Notice the use of setting, narrative, dialogue and voice to convey a vivid sense of the ‘other’. The sense of the new and exotic is both explicit and implicit -- from the foreign-sounding words to Punjab himself (a rather Marlowe-like figure, would you not say?) and the sense that we readers in the rest of the world are being introduced to another time and place, remote from our everyday lives and concerns. We are also learning some history of a place (India just at the moment of Partition, and more particularly, Delhi) conveyed through the eyes of others, doubly so, as this is a frame-narrative. In this way, Dalrymple maintains his authorial presence (a voice and perspective) as he gives Punjab the floor. 

Toward Assessment

You will need to demonstrate a good grasp of this text-type in your WT1 as well as a clear purpose for using it -- you are, after all, demonstrating knowledge and understanding of a particular topic learnt from the course. Here are some practical considerations as you write:

- Travel literature includes the traditional trio found in all narratives: plot, character and setting. The plot in many of these works is the story of movement and then of discovery. Is the discovery of a place, a people or a deeper sense of the self, is something else?

- Who are the characters of the narrative? How many are there? Do the characters hope to explore the landscape, the people and their ways, architecture, the influence of colonialism or imperialism and the possibilities for trade? There can be a multitude of such purposes, giving a frame or structure to the writing.

- Will the voice be singular, univocal? Will more than one voice be heard? There are many opportunities in travel writing. 

- Tone, tense. Tone, so much a part of voice, will have a significant role in any travel narrative. There is a great range of possibilities here, and the traveller’s attitudes toward what he experiences will critically affect the reader’s impressions and judgments both of the voice and of the treatment of the ‘other’. Such tones, conveying these attitudes, can cover a whole spectrum from admiration and wonder, to irony, self-deprecation and even dismissiveness. Through tone the writer may well convey a desire to identify, or at least empathize, with people they encounter, or they may objectify them. In addition, whether the narrative is in the present or the past tense can affect the reception of the travel tale.

- Travel takes people places and so, of course, the handling of setting will be a crucial element to such narratives, whether the travel is to a single place or a succession of places. Within the place, will the self be foregrounded? Or will the speaker recede into the background and give way to the presentation of people and/or setting? Different people will also foreground different aspects.

Tips for writing

• center on a key event. 
• use background information that builds up to this event.
• incorporate research to enhance the background information
• describe vividly the location and focuses on elements that are key to the story or experience.
• describe clearly any important people so that readers feel as if they know them a little.
• use dialogue where possible to help the story “happen” for the reader.
• mix reflections on the experience with the retelling to help the reader see the importance of the experience.

If you need more guidance in this convention or for your assignment, contact us.

Commentary Notes for "Jaguar" by Ted Hughes

Good, detailed notes are a vital starting point to oral or written commentary. Examiners urge candidates to spend at least a quarter of exam time creating notes and planning their commentaries or responses. This is time well-spent. In this article, we show what form these notes might take for a poem by Ted Hughes.

Note: This is not a model of how you would approach and conduct an interactive oral commentary! You can ask us for more details.

Jaguar

The apes yawn and adore their fleas in the sun.
The parrots shriek as if they were on fire, or strut
Like cheap tarts to attract the stroller with the nut.
Fatigued with indolence, tiger and lion

Lie still as the sun. The boa-constrictor’s coil
Is a fossil. Cage after cage seems empty, or
Stinks of sleepers from the breathing straw.
It might be painted on a nursery wall.

But who runs like the rest past these arrives
At a cage where the crowd stands, stares, mesmerized,
As a child at a dream, at a jaguar hurrying enraged
Through prison darkness after the drills of his eyes

On a short fierce fuse. Not in boredom—
The eye satisfied to be blind in fire,
By the bang of blood in the brain deaf the ear—
He spins from the bars, but there’s no cage to him

More than to the visionary his cell:
His stride is wildernesses of freedom:
The world rolls under the long thrust of his heel.
Over the cage floor the horizons come.




Subject: 

• The poem dwells on a particular animal, the jaguar, whose power is registered largely through making comparison with other, 'inferior' creatures. 

Important aspects of content:

• The opening two stanzas of the poem focus on animals other than the jaguar, which are depicted as lazy, disengaged or conceited. The apes seem to spend their time picking fleas and tiger and lion “Lie still as the sun,” in a passive, nonchalant state. The parrots are compared to “cheap tarts” in their rather desperate attempts to attract the attention of “the stroller with the nut” and the comparison of the boa constrictor's coil to “a fossil” seems to represent the seemingly empty, shallow existence of all these creatures. They seem reduced to a purely biological condition, uninspiring, without energy and without any sense of character.

• The introduction of the jaguar in stanza three represents a dramatic point of contrast. The crowd is “mesmerised,” compared to a “child at a dream” as the people watch a creature that seems everything the aforementioned animals are not. The phrases “hurrying enraged / Through prison darkness” and “He spins from the bars” convey the jaguar's energy and restlessness, as well as providing him with an emotional life in “the drills of his eyes / On a short fierce fuse.” The jaguar is portrayed with a kind of vitality and spirit that the cage it is in almost fails to contain. Hughes writes, “his stride is a wilderness of freedom” and in the line “The world rolls under the long thrust of his heel” his power is presented such that he seems almost to have dominion over the whole world.

• The poem makes use of the setting of the zoo and its cages, as well as the anonymous human crowd to reinforce the individuality of the jaguar. In all respects the creature is set apart. The poem becomes an attempt on the part of the narrator to write himself into the 'life' of the jaguar, to imaginatively interact with its physical, almost metaphysical presence. In this way, the poem is both objective description and more subjective, imaginative celebration. 

• The language of the poem is rich and detailed. Diction is chosen carefully to communicate the physical characteristics of each creature. Verbs such as “yawn”, “shriek” , “hurrying” and “spins” actively depict the essential character of each animal, and these are reinforced with adjectives such as “breathing”, ”fierce” and “blind”. Both human and animal worlds are described in very tangible ways, so that we can feel, hear and see them. 

• The structure is regular in its four line stanzas, and as we move through the poem so we move from one cage to the next until, like the crowd, we are asked to stop in front of the jaguar. Lines are a mixture of end-stopped and run-on so that there is a sense of organization, as well as fluidity in the lines. The speaker comments with an almost scientific precision on what he sees, and yet allows himself moments of more spontaneous expression in response, for instance, to more unpredictable traits of the animals.

• There is a host of literary elements to the poem. Hughes makes use of figurative language and imagery throughout. The “shriek” of the parrots is compared to “fire”, tiger and lion “Lie still as the sun” and the crowd stands “As a child at a dream”. The similes reveal the speaker's imaginative operation as he seeks to find a language through which to describe these animals. This sense of empathy really takes off when he comes to the jaguar. The “drills of his eyes” in the “prison darkness”, for example, use metaphor to capture the the creature's sinister, determined nature. A the end of the poem, the phrase “Over the cage floor the horizons come” suggests that the cage no longer exists, and the jaguar becomes one with the wilderness. There is considerable visual and aural imagery in the poem's exploration of the physicality of each animal.

• Other literary features worthy of comment might include the use of features of sound. There is alliteration in the phrases “bang of blood in the brain” and “Stinks of sleepers”, and in “prison … drills” and “world rolls ...long”. These examples each illustrate the way the poem seeks to describe the animals as vividly and as 'real' as possible, and thereby once again convey the speaker's imaginative connection with the creatures. 

• Finally, the tone of the poem varies as the speaker moves from one animal to the next. Monosyllabic diction in the earlier part of the poem conveys the speaker's sense of boredom and lack of interest in the first group of animals, but by the time he gets to the jaguar the rhythm of the lines picks up and more complex, polysyllabic diction gives expression to the vitality of the jaguar. He seems to regard the animal with wonder and admiration, as well as almost a sense of fear in response to the jaguar's power and potential. The superlative expressions in the last stanza, where he is “More than “ the cell that seeks to contain him, elevate the jaguar's status to the point where the speaker's imagination and the jaguar itself are almost united at the end of the poem. It is as if the rest of the world has ceased to exist. 

From these notes, some thoughts of a possible commentary thesis might be emerging. See if you can complete the two below and offer a third:

a. This poem elevates the status of the jaguar above all other creatures, including humans. Its central concern is ...

b. The poem's main strength is its use of imagery and figurative diction to communicate ...

c. (your thesis) ...

Now use these notes to create an effective, high-scoring commentary!

Don't forget to contact us for paper 1 and IOC exam practice, well in advance of exams.

In the Spotlight: "Things Fall Apart"

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) tells the story of a small Igbo village’s first encounter with white Europeans, in the latter half of the 19th century. The first half of the novel paints a vivid portrait of the religion, economy, oral storytelling traditions, and social framework of pre-contact Igbo society; the second half explores the effects of the arrival of Christian missionaries and colonial European rulers.

Below we offer leads into your next FOA, IOP, WT assignments. Use these ideas to inspire your own topic or take them just as they are.

"[I]n its classical purity of line and economical beauty it provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict between the individual and society."

FOA / IOP

• Analysis of a key passage or extract. Choose a key passage. Explain its meaning and significance in the relation to the rest of the work. For example, how does the opening stanza of William Butler Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming,” (from which the title of the novel is taken), act as an epigraph to the novel?

• A presentation on the role of weather in the novel. How does it work, symbolically or otherwise, in relation to important elements of the novel such as religion? Are rain and draught significant? Explore the ways in which weather affects the emotional and spiritual realms of the novel as well as the physical world.

• Interview with Achebe (radio). Make sure you have a clear focus of discussion. For example: “Is Okonkwo a hero?”; “How relevant is Things Fall Apart to our times?”; “What contributes most to things falling apart in Umuofia?” Use the BBC World Bookclub podcast, below, as a model for the format. Include interesting questions from the audience.

• Class Discussion: Animal imagery abounds in the folktales and proverbs circulated among the clan members. What is the significance of some of the animals they discuss? What does the prominence of animal figures suggest about Igbo culture and about Achebe’s larger goals?

• Presentation. The role and significance of music. Throughout the novel, drums, music, and the town crier’s voice punctuate the narrative at key moments. What are the implications, for example, of Unoka’s taking his flute with him to the Evil Forest when he dies?

• Watch and listen to sample student IOPs for this novel.

WT1

• Tabloid sensationalizing Okonkwo’s suicide or the cold-blooded murder of his adopted son or marriage to several women (polygamy). The rationale can explain how the language and content of the tabloid propagates stereotypes of Africans and African culture.

• Report. How would the Commissioner’s report (in full) have looked had it been empathic?

• Advertisement. Base your ad on the Igbo concept of chi.

• Diary entry. A diary entry in which reveals his thoughts and feelings about another character or any aspects of the action of a literary text. This could be one of the missionaries describing his understanding of the source and nature of resistance to conversion.

WT2

• Power and Privilege: "How and why is a social group portrayed in a particular way?" Women suffer great losses in this novel but also, in certain circumstances, hold tremendous power. What role do women play in Things Fall Apart and how is their particular power portrayed?

• Text and Genre: "How has the text borrowed from other texts, and with what effects?"  Achebe includes stories from Igbo culture and tradition, proverbs, and parables. What is the significance of Achebe’s integration of African (oral) literary forms with that of Western literary forms?  How does the novel counter Western stereotypes of Africa and Africans? How effectively does it achieve this aim? Check out Achebe’s lecture “An Image of Africa” (included above).

• Reader, Culture, and Text: "How could the text be read and interpreted differently by two different readers?" This novel would be a source of positive reinforcement for many young African (-American) readers whereas for many White European readers it could challenge their values and beliefs (imagine a Victorian reader of the 1870s … Inspiration from Achebe’s famous lecture “An Image of Africa”

Need more ideas? Need help with starting or completing your assignment? Contact your tutor or, if you don’t have a tutor yet, contact us.

Resources:

• An Interview With Chinua Achebe (podcast) – the renowned author talks about optimism, activism and the meaning of life.
• BBC interview (podcast)
• “An Image of Africa” (transcription)– a famous lecture given by Achebe that explains the problems with the way Africa has often been represented in Western literature (including a scathing attack on Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness)

Need help with your project? Contact us.

The Unspoken Rules of Reading

When reading you might find yourself asking: “How do I know what is important?” Rules of notice refers to the hidden narrative conventions which writers and readers rely on for generating meaning. According to narrative theoretician and practitioner Rabinowitz they are crucial to interpretation and “serve as a kind of assumed contract between author and reader — they specify the grounds on which an intended reading should take place.” (Rabinowitz) 

Click each asterisk (*) to find out more.

Rules of Notice 

Attending to the most important details *

Rules of Signification

Assigning larger meanings to details *

Rules of Configuration

Perceiving the text's developing shape *

Rules of Coherence

Finding systems of unity among the details *

Overview of the Written Task 1

All students of English A Language and Literature must complete at least two written tasks based on the different parts of their course. The WT1 is not an essay: it is an imaginative exploration of a linguistic or cultural element studied in class, using a carefully-chosen text-type to accomplish this. What follows is a basic introduction to this assignment.

The basics

The task, not including the rationale, must be 800–1,000 words in length.

The rationale should be 200–300 words in length.

The task

The Written Task 1 is your chance to choose an imaginative way of exploring an aspect of the material studied in your course. It must show a critical engagement with an aspect of a text or a topic. Please note: A formal essay is not an acceptable text type for any Written Task 1.

The content of each task must relate to a different part of the course. Therefore, at least one task must relate to part 1 or part 2, and at least one task must be based on a literary text from part 3 or part 4. Students at HL will be required to produce, in addition to this, at least one other type of written task, the WT2, which is an essay.

Once you have decided on an area of study and a particular title, you are free to produce any text type that is appropriate to the task. Below is an example, a written task discussing the representation of an aspect of gender from part 2, written as a newspaper editorial. Another example might be an imagined journal entry from a character in one of the novels studied.

Course section	Topic	Text type	Learning outcomes:	Title of Written Task
Pt 2	Stereotypes - the representation of gender in advertisements for household goods.	Newspaper editorial	Political and ideological influence of the media. The way mass mediause language andimage to inform, persuadeor entertain	“Mother, Wife, Career Woman and Maid—What is a Woman’s Work?”

The rationale

The rationale is not included in the word count (800–1,000 words) for the written task and should be 200–300 words in length. Text titles and topics must be clearly stated here.

In your rationale you must explain:

• how the content of the task is linked to a particular part of the course (something from class?)
• how the task is intended to explore particular aspects of the course (see the learning outcome!) 
• the nature of the task chosen 
• information about audience, purpose and the varying contexts in which the task is set. 

For example, the rationale above would identify the newspaper’s stance and the way language is used to present an opinion.

Your rationale should not only include knowledge about the text or topic studied, but also about the formal conventions of the text type produced and how they relate to the aims of the task. See some examples of the rationale.

Remember to acknowledge all sources used!

Examples of possible Written Task 1:

• A newspaper article in which are shown the dangers of stereotyping particular social groups. 

• An additional episode that takes place before the beginning of a novel and provides context for the opening sequence.

• A letter from one fictional character to another, which reveals a change in the relationship between the two characters.

• An opinion column that emphasizes the pervasiveness of advertising and how certain brands are promoted for the purpose of raising company profits.

• A short story exploring a minor character’s view of the main action of a literary text

• A public information document explaining the effects of new legislation on a community

• A diary entry or blog in which a character from a work of fiction reveals his or her true feelings about another character or any aspects of the action of a literary text.

• An episode from a literary text rewritten to place the action in another setting.

Need help getting started on your WT1?  Contact us

Discovering a thesis

How do I come up with a line of interpretation – a thesis?

There is no easy answer to this but try to think of a thesis as the washing line on which the rest of your points are going to hang.  Hopefully, the following might provide you with some starting points:

• Identify the most important feature of content and ask yourself what is being suggested about that feature of content. 

• Alternatively, what is the most important aspect of style? You could point to imagery and structure in some instances as contributing a great deal to the way a particular theme is presented. 

• Look for contrasts. More often than not, short extracts will make use of significant oppositions – whether between ideas, sections of the text or perhaps such things as strands of imagery. 

• Development: is there an underlying sense of transition in the poem or extract – whether in terms of its ideas, the content, or its language and style? 

• Conflict: our interest in prose, poetry and drama very frequently comes from the establishment of some kind of central tension, whose resolution (or lack of it) is often responsible for maintaining our interest. 

• Why, in essence, do you think this is a good piece of writing?

Struggling with discovering or writing a thesis?  Contact us.

What's in a rationale?

Although the rationale is worth only 2 of the 20 points for the written task 1, the perceived success of your whole assignment largely depends on it.

In this article, we explain the purpose of the rationale and what aspects to include in this brief statement of intent.

The rationale is 200-300 words in length.

"In their rationale, students must explain:

• how the content of the task is linked to a particular part of the course 

• how the task is intended to explore particular aspects of the course 

• the nature of the task chosen information about audience, purpose and the varying contexts in which the task is set." 

The rationale should not only include knowledge of the text or topic studied, but also of the formal conventions of the text type produced and how they relate to the aims of the task.

-- English A: Language and Literature Guide (2015)

The purpose of writing a rationale, then, is to

(1) place your written task in a particular context, so that the examiner understands what you wanted to achieve with your written task. Explain in the clearest terms possible your task’s (2) purpose and (3) target audience and (4) what you accomplished.

The rationale should not only include (5) knowledge about the text or topic studied, but also about the (6) formal conventions of the text type produced and (7) how they relate to the aims of the task.

Now, let’s see how this translates into practice. Below are three rationales written by students. Decide how well each conforms to the aims of the rationale outlined above. A discussion and evaluation is given for each.

Here is how the first student wrote the rationale to his WT1 on a Part 2 Mass Media topic (The internet).

Rationale (1)

The Internet is a phenomenon we studied in depth in our English course. Our teacher introduced us to the article by Clifford Stoll in class. The goal of this creative assignment is to write a letter to Clifford Stoll where I confront him as an Internet consumer with the changes that have taken place since 1995, the year in which the article was published. The purpose of this letter is to show Clifford Stoll that some of the points he made in his article in 1995 are not valid any more, I also want to convince him that the Internet is not as bad as he makes it seem. For instance, in the letter I write that there is a future in telecommuting: “In the U.S more than 40% of the working population has the opportunity to telecommute from home using the Internet”.

Writing this written task has allowed me to place the theory we learned in class into actual context which made me realize how great but at the same time how careful we have to be with the Internet. There are many opportunities to be explored, but we shouldn’t become over-dependent on the Internet.

Discussion:

Though this candidate identifies a purpose (To show Stoll that some of his points are not valid anymore), names the text genre he will be writing in (letter), and claims that the task has allowed him to place theory taught in class into practice, he actually reveals very little beyond the obvious. He fails to make a connection between this task and the outcomes of the course; nor does he explain why a letter is the best form to reveal knowledge and understanding of the Part 2 topic. The focus of the Language and Literature Part 2 is how meaning is created and conveyed through and by media –thus the concentration on contexts of production and contexts of reception. This candidate gives no indication that he has understood the main focus of the course. In fact, the candidate’s rationale meets none of the requirements for this part of the WT1.
Score: 0/2

Rationale (2)

This written task relates to my study of the mass media and, in particular, to our focus on the language and structure of newspaper stories.

In addition, my written task is informed by my study of the ‘language situation’ in Quebec, Canada. In this part of my course, we considered the politics of English, studying a range of situations and contexts where speaking English was either advantageous or disadvantageous. Quebec is a francophone part of Canada. French speakers, I have learned, are often at an advantage in Quebec, whilst speakers of English are sometimes discriminated against.

I have learned that ‘language matters’, and that language cannot be separated from other aspects of social, cultural, and economic life.

Accordingly, for this written task, I have written a newspaper story that is intended to be included in The Toronto Star. This is an English language newspaper, Canada’s biggest selling ‘daily’, and is ‘left leaning’ (supporting reference required). I have assumed that the editorial position of the newspaper would support a plurality of languages in Canada. Whilst, I believe, the newspaper would recognize the particular importance of English and French in Canadian life, it would be critical of discriminatory practices based on language.

My news story tries to convey this ideology. In the story, I discuss the (imagined) case of a man who claims to have been discriminated against for his refusal to speak French during job interviews.

The newspaper story is intended to look and read authentically. Thus, for example, I have included a range of features typical of this text type. It has a headline, a sub-heading, a byline, and a lead. Paragraphs and sentences are short. Words are simple. Quotations (‘accessed voices’) are included. ‘Naming’ is also significant, not least because of the way it tries to ‘skew’ the story.

word count: 300 words

Discussion 2:

 (Decide how well rationale 2 conforms to the criteria. Then read the examiner comments below.)

Rationale 3

I was inspired to write this written task after watching a few extracts from Michael Moore’s films, Bowling for Columbine and Roger and Me. We watched them in class in order to understand propaganda, media, and violence, but we ended up talking about Michael Moore as a person. I thought it would be plausible for him to speak at his old university for the school of journalism.

I was particularly interested in propaganda, sensationalism and the correlation between media and violence. In the case of the latter, our class found some research on media and violence that proved Mr Moore’s unscientific experiment wrong. Studies have actually proven that people who consume violent media are more likely to commit violent acts. Moore, however, just wants to create counter-propaganda, as I have him say in my written task. I also included a reference to Moore’s encounter with Phil Knight in Roger and Me, since this scene exemplifies how Moore is good at creating biased and sensational situations.

I studied speeches in class and learned about ethos, pathos and logos. I have Moore to tell us why he thinks he has been invited (ethos), why the students may have to bend the rules of journalism (logos), and why they should care about good journalism (pathos). The text type lent itself well to my purpose, because it allowed me to explore all of these things that were so relevant to the media and culture unit that we were studying in class. The text’s target audience, a group of university graduates, eager for good advice and inspiration, suited its purpose.

All in all, I learned a lot about Michael Moore, propaganda and speech-writing.

Read the samples below. How well does each fulfil the requirements of the rationale?

wordcount:  278 words


Discussion (see below)


*Discussion for rationale 2.

This rationale fulfils almost all the expectations of the rationale as described by the IBO. Where it falls a little short is in detail. The student could have described in more detail how language and image as well as layout is used to represent discrimination and “left-leaning.” The score of “2″ is a generous estimate; however, it is conceivable that the student could be awarded “1″ for missing these details, vital to an appreciation of what she has learnt in the course and accomplished in this task. Score: 2/2

*Discussion for rationale 3

The candidate adequately addressed the terms for writing the rationale, though should have justified the choice of text type for the assignment.  Score:2/2



Finally, here is a checklist for your own rationale:

“In my rationale, have I…”

☐ Established a connection between my piece and the course?

☐ Stated and explained the main ideas I am exploring and how I have developed them?

☐ Explicitly identified the intended audience and purpose?

☐ Explained my genre selection, language choices and narrative devices in relation to audience and purpose?

☐ Stayed within the 200-300 word limit?

Having difficulty starting or writing your WT or rationale? We’ll help you. Contact us.

More resources:

Here is a 10-minute video on writing the rationale
 

Sample 1

For my 'language and social relations' unit, I have decided to write a letter from the editor of Ebony Magazine to its readers. This letter responds to a lot of the hype surrounding the DEA's (Drug Enforcement Agency) decision to hire 9 translators for Ebonics. Ebonics is the vernacular language of many African Americans in the United States and is rarely seen as a separate language. In critical columns, opponents of Ebonics argue that it is nothing more that 'ghetto' English. In my letter from the editor I respond to their arguments, suggesting that Ebonics can be quite poetic, expressive and part of Black history. While I suggest that African Americans should master standard English to be successful in the United States, I also encourage a level of appreciation for the vernacular. Finally, I state that the DEA's decision to hire Ebonics translators should be seen separately from these cultural issues. They are simply responding to a need to understand the people they arrest. Instead of focusing on the DEA's decision, I argue that speakers of Ebonics need to stop committing crimes. It gives the language a bad reputation.

Word count: 189

Sample 2

This written task covers "Part 2 - Language and mass communication" in the course, and consists of an analysis of a MacDonald's advert in the format of an opinion piece in the style of English author Will Self. Having read and analysed Self's column in the New Statesman called 'Real Meals', where the writer reviews food franchises and tells his humorous experiences at the restaurants, I thought it would be interesting and challenging to try to emulate such a characteristic writing style. I thought it therefore appropriate to talk about a MacDonald's advert, which Self would assuredly have seen with much contempt and cynicism. The analysis of the MacDonald's video as a media text is integrated throughout the column. I highlighted the themes of the American Dream, family values and tradition, as well as honesty and simplicity, which are all present in the video. The language of the text is also described as contributing to generally clichéd and tasteless phrases. The idea that the advert is carefully constructed to attempt to convince the audience of the truth behind MacDonald's, when under the surface it is quite artificial and forced, is also emphasised throughout, and even exaggerated by the attempted imitation of Will Self's writing. Will Self's writing style can be described as having a droll tone, imaginative descriptions, and an inventive use of puns and similes. I have included all of these characteristics within the task, as well as the forced pretentiousness Self displays, and several cultural references. These characteristics of Will Self's style were challenging in the way that I had to merge it with my analysis of the media text to create a sort of exaggerated opinion, which I believe would match Self's own views. Appended is an example of Will Self's Real Meals, demonstrating the author's writing style.

Word count: 300

Sample 3

My written task is based on George Orwell's anti-totalitarian novel 1984. I have added an additional chapter to the book introduced in the story, 'The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism.' The purpose of this book is to explain to the reader the three slogans the government uses:

War is Peace
Ignorance is strength
Freedom is Slavery

I realized tht the last chapter, 'Freedom is Slavery' is missing as Winston is caught by the Thought Police before he gets to it. I have analyzed the slogan in the same frame as the previous two chapters were written in. My language is analyticl and persusasiv in order to mimic Orwell's style seen in the other chapters. The whole piece gives an insight to the structure and the mindset of the Party leaders. I have used examples from the text such as the purpose of Africa in the newly established world or the role of thought criminals within the three superpowers. This additional chapter allows the reader to have a full picture of the real aims of the Party and means by whcih they achieve it. My text gives an insight to the life of the society from the perspective of the Inner Party members. I have evaluated the structure of the society in the context of this specific slogan, just as it was done in the previous two chapters.

Word count: 228 words

Sample 4

In class we studied In Pharaoh’s Army by Tobias Wolff. I wanted to examine and respond to the text and its key features and structure. As a result, I decided to write a review for the New York Times Sunday Book Review on the 15th anniversary of the book’s release, as award-wining American literary critic, Michiko Kakutani. Writing this review made me look critically at the literary features of the book. I examined some of its major themes, including Wolff’s loss of innocence. I also mentioned its structure, including the way that it was split into three distinct parts and was written in media res, saying what effect this had on the book. This Written Task therefore links to both the first and third learning outcomes of the course: explore literary works in detail and understand and make use of appropriate literary terms. Writing as Michiko Kakutani, a leading critic for the New York Times, I also examined carefully the conventions of book reviews as well as her specific writing style. After reading several of her reviews on other memoires, including “Remembrance of Flavors Past” and “From an Artist of Anxiety, An Ink-Stained Memoir,” I noticed that Kakutani often started the review by talking about something related to the book’s topic or author, but not yet specifically mentioning the book in review. She also often mentioned authors’ previous books or books by other authors in comparison to the one under review. I applied these same tactics in my introductory and concluding paragraphs. As per the conventions of book reviews, I tried to use quotes sparingly and suggest whether or not the book was enjoyable without giving away the entire story. Overall, this task has made me think critically about the structure and literary features of In Pharaoh’s Army.

Not sure how to write the rationale? Contact us.

Key concepts: Form and Structure

These terms are often used interchangeably, resulting in the loss of a very useful distinction. It is worth keeping these concepts apart. Knowing the difference will allow you to 1) gain analytical precision and 2) perceive aspects of a poem or passage that may otherwise remain hidden. This short article will help clarify the different usage.

Form

... relates to the external shape of a text, determined by how it is presented on paper, organised by stanzas/paragraphs, lines, syllables, rhyme, justification – best thought of as a silhouette. It is a simpler thing to comment on because it is usually visible.

Structure 

... is more interesting because it goes beyond the visible – it is a matter of the internal development and relationship between parts: structure is about the internal skeleton and organs – best thought of as an X ray or CT scan, displaying the organic relationship between ideas, feelings and attitudes within a text. 

Example of the distinction:

The form of a sonnet is its 14 line length, its 8 line/6 line division and its rhyme scheme. Within that form the structure may be 8 lines of description leading to 6 lines of reflection, generalisation, resolution; or the mood may go from neutral to sombre, or from sombre and resentful to accepting.



Still not sure how to discuss structure and form in your commentary? Contact us.

WT2: Patek Philippe

Q.2 If the text had been written / composed in a different time or place or language or for a different audience, how and why might it differ?

For advice or guidance on any aspect of the written task, contact us.

WT2: Stihl

Q.3 How and why is a group represented in a particular way?

For advice or guidance on any aspect of the written task, contact us.

Body paragraphing (for comparative essays)

Coherence is created when ideas appear to meld, following each other logically and seamlessly.  A lot of the coherence that you achieve in your P2 essay will be from linking ideas between paragraphs,but also within paragraphs. Here we show how you might structure internally.

A single paragraph may look like this:

1. The first sentence needs to tell the reader as clearly and in as few words as possible what the focus of the paragraph is going to be. Make sure that it directly addresses the question. If your essay is very well structured then you should be able to summarise it by reading the first sentence of each paragraph. The first sentence is vital in signposting what the paragraph is going to be about. Some teachers call this the topic sentence: others refer to it as the point.

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2. The second sentence should include your first piece of evidence. This will usually be a quotation from one of the texts. The rule of thumb for quotations is that they should be as short as possible: you should quote only the sections that you intend to discuss and, in an essay like this, they should never be longer than a couple of lines of poetry or a prose sentence. They should also be embedded – the sentence should read naturally and flow continuously if you were to take the quotation marks away.

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3. The next part of the paragraph will usually be two or three sentences of analysis of the first quotation. In these sentences you should write about the writer's diction, structure and form. You will need to quote certain words again in order to focus on them and to show how and why the writer has used them. You should use technical language in your analysis to show that you understand how and why the writer uses various literary devices.

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4. You will need to link into the next section of the paragraph which will often be a comparison with another text. This will usually be one sentence and will often use a linking word of phrase. Some examples of these are similarly, nevertheless, In keeping with this idea of X...etc

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5. You now need to provide some evidence from the text you are comparing, so you will normally include another quotation here. Follow the advice given in point 2 above.

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6. Once again you will analyse the quotation, following the advice in point 3 above. In this section of the paragraph you may draw the two texts together and write about the similarities and differences between the two pieces of evidence you have selected.

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7. It may be appropriate to end the paragraph with a sentence which brings the reader back to the point of focus set out in the first sentence. However, if you have stuck to the point of the paragraph and focused on answering the question throughout, this may not be necessary.