Homework, 6th December, 2016

I'm not actually going to set you any homework today. Instead I will give you a copy of Lord of the Flies on Friday to read over Christmas. I appreciate that you might be too busy to read the whole thing, but get through as much as we can as we are only going to have half a term on this when we get back. At the very least, please make sure the book comes back!

Homework, 2nd December, 2016

Hi,

This week I would like you to complete the reading comprehension activity in your homework folder. I'm not in school today, so I can't provide a copy of it here, but hopefully your cover teacher will remember to hand you your folder in the lesson!

Homework, 29th November, 2016

As everyone had quite a few boxes missing on the table they had to fill in for homework last week, this week I would like you to fill in those boxes. For each one, you need to study the Act and Scene summary sheet and script more closely!

This is due on Thursday. 

Homework, 22nd November, 2016

Hi,

This week I would like you to fill in the theme/quote/Act and Scene/Character table. You will need to skim through a full version of the script in order to do this. You can use the printed version in your homework folder, or use the following online version (which is actually better as it has some translations and explanations in it):

http://kenstonlocal.org/fodor/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Romeo-Juliet-Script-.pdf

Once again, this will force you get to grips with the play as a whole, which will be important when you come to answer the 25-mark question in the exam. 

As always, this task is due on Thursday. 

Good luck!

Homework, 15th November, 2016

Hi,

You are going to go through the first three scenes of the play using the scene summary booklet and, for each one, write down which characters are in it and which themes are covered. You can use the list below to help you, but if you think of any themes which are not on the list, feel free to add them. 

This is due on Thursday, 17th (I put the 16th on the cover sheet in your HW folder, but this is a mistake). 

Themes and characters in Romeo and Juliet

Themes Love Death Rivalry Conflict Magic/superstition/religion Power Nobility Hate Potions/medicine Fate Tradition Violence Family Authority Youth Loyalty The individual versus society

Characters Prince Escalus Paris Montague Capulet Romeo Mercutio Benvolio Tybalt Friar Laurence Lady Montague Lady Capulet Juliet Nurse

Homework, 1st November, 2016

Hi,

This week, I would like you to think about the characters in Romeo and Juliet and how important each one is. I have given you a list of nineteen characters which I would like you to number in order of how important each one is. You then need to explain why the top three characters you chose are important. Try and write 100 words for each character. 

There is a catch though: you cannot put Romeo and Juliet in your top three!

The characters are:

Friar Laurence
Friar John (a friend of Friar Laurence)
Gregory (a Capulet servant)
Samson (a Capulet servant)
Balthasar (Romeo's servant)
Abraham (A Montague servant)
Tybalt
Benvolio
The Nurse
Mercutio
Prince Escalus
Paris
Lord Capulet
Lady Capulet
Lord Montague
Lady Montague
Juliet
Romeo
Apothecary

This is due on Thursday. 

Good luck!

Half term homework, October 2016

Hi,

I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to revise the acts and scenes of Romeo and Juliet again, as the only way you will ever remember all of it is to do it several times. We are also going to be focusing more on 25 mark questions after half term, for which you have to be familiar with the whole play. 

You should have the summary of acts and scenes in your homework folder, but if you can't find it, here is a link to it:

http://mrproulx.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/8/1/12816005/romeo_and_juliet_activities.pdf

I will test you again on this after half term. 

Sorry!

Homework, Tuesday 11th October, 2016

Read the extract from Act 1, Scene 4 below, which is a soliloquy (a character talking to the audience as a way of getting his/her thoughts and feeling across).

1.     Go through it and analyse it, line by line. You can do this by annotating it or writing notes down on a separate piece of paper.

2.     Write a 300 word answer to the following question:

                   How does what Romeo says in this extract foreshadow the

                   events of the story?

Focus on the following:

·        The reference to the stars

·        The ‘despised life’ he refers to

·        The use of the word ‘He’ with a capital ‘H’ (why is a capital used here?)

·        What he says in the last line

ROMEO:

          I fear too early, for my mind misgives

         

          Some consequence yet hanging in the stars

         

          Shall bitterly begin his fearful date  

         

          With this night's revels, and expire the term

         

          Of a despised life closed in my breast

         

          By some vile forfeit of untimely death.

         

          But He that hath the steerage of my course

         

          Direct my sail!—On, lusty gentlemen!

This is due on Thursday, October 14th. 

Homework, October 4th, 2016

Hi,

I have given you a paper copy of the following extract to annotate as homework, based on the question:

How is love addressed in the following extract? What does it tell us about Romeo’s attitude towards love at this point in the play?

BENVOLIO

It was. What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?

ROMEO

Not having that, which, having, makes them short.

BENVOLIO

In love?

ROMEO

Out--

BENVOLIO

Of love?

ROMEO

Out of her favour, where I am in love.

BENVOLIO

Alas, that love, so gentle in his view,
Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!

ROMEO

Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still,
Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will!
Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here?
Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all.
Here's much to do with hate, but more with love.
Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire,
sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?

Due: Thursday, October 6th. 

General information

Hi,

It has just occurred to me that I haven't yet provided you with an overview of the course, so here it is!

The exam board we use is Eduqas, which is the English branch of the Welsh Board, otherwise known as WJEC. The exam consists of two papers and there is no controlled assessment.

Paper 1: ·         40% ·         2 hours ·         Section A: Shakespeare. One extract question and one essay question ·         Section B: poetry from 1789 to the present day. Two questions, one of which involves comparison

Paper 2: ·         60% ·         2 hours, 30 minutes ·         Section A: Post 1914 prose/drama. One source-based question ·         Section B: 19th Century prose. One source-based question

Reading List

(please be aware that the list of prose and plays might change as we progress through the course)

For the Shakespeare section of the first paper, we will study:

·         Romeo and Juliet

·         Macbeth

For the poetry section of the first paper, the exam board’s anthology consists of the following titles:

·         A Wife in London by Thomas Hardy

·         Afternoons by Philip Larkin

·         As Imperceptibly as Grief by Emily Dickinson

·         Cozy Apologia by Rita Dove

·         Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney

·         Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

·         Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes

·         Living Space by Imtiaz Dharker

·         London by William Blake

·         Mametz Wood by Owen Sheers

·         Manhunt by Simon Armitage

·         Ozymandias by Percival Shelley

·         She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron

·         Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

·         The Prelude by William Wordsworth

·         The Soldier by Rupert Brooke

·         To Autumn by John Keats

·         Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy

Questions about any of these poems could come up in the exam.

For the Post 1914 prose/drama section of the second paper we will study:

·         Lord of the Flies by William Golding

·         The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time play script by Simon Stephens (adapted from the novel by Mark Haddon)

For the 19^th Century Prose section of the second paper, we will study:

·         War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

·         The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

 For the 20^th and 21^st Century poetry section of the second paper, there is no prescribed list as the poems will be unseen, but the exam board recommends using works by the following poets as stimuli:

·         Fleur Adcock

·         John Agard,

·         Moniza Alvi,

·         Maya Angelou,

·         Simon Armitage,

·         James Berry

·         Eavan Boland

·         Wendy Cope

·         Tony Curtis

·         Carol Ann Duffy

·         Rita Dove

·         Jen Hadfield

·         Tony Harrison

·         Ted Hughes

·         Jackie Kay

·         Philip Larkin

·         Liz Lochhead

·         Roger McGough

·         Robert Minhinnick

·         Andrew Motion

·         Grace Nichols

·         Sean O’Brien

·         Seamus Heaney

·         Adrienne Rich

·         Jo Shapcott

·         Owen Sheers

·         Derek Walcott

·         William Carlos Williams

·         Benjamin Zephaniah 

Please note that all of the above texts, with the exception of the poems for the poetry section of the first paper, are subject to change based on how well the pupils respond to them and the availability of resources.

Homework, 27th September, 2016

Hi,

In order to write a good essay on Romeo and Juliet in the exam, you are going to need to have a pretty in-depth knowledge of the play as a whole – this means you will need to be able to quote key lines from memory and be able to refer to specific acts and scenes.

We will focus on important quotes later on in the course, but, for now, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to memorise what happens in each act and scene in preparation for a test on Friday. You can use the ‘Act Summaries’ booklet to help you; you don’t need to memorise it all word-for-word, but you will need to be able to give a very brief overview of what happens in each scene in your own words. An online version of the booklet can be found here:

http://mrproulx.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/8/1/12816005/romeo_and_juliet_activities.pdf

Good luck!

Homework, 20th September, 2016

This homework is due tomorrow (Wednesday). 

Romeo and Juliet - Prologue

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Activities

1.      Demonstrate your understanding of the prologue by rewriting it in modern English so that it would make sense to someone who had never studied Shakespeare.

2.      Think of all the themes we discussed in class, e.g. love, death, conflict, etc. and choose one colour for each. Go through the original version of the prologue and, wherever you think one of those themes is referred to, underline it in the appropriate colour.

3.      Choose one of the themes and write a short explanation of how it is covered in the play as a whole, and how it is covered more specifically in the prologue. Try and relate it to the social and historical context of the storyline.

Example:

The theme of death is covered in the play as certain key characters (Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio and Tybalt) end up dead, and these are major turning points in the plot. The reason Shakespeare made death central to the play, as he did in many of his plays, is probably because it was so common in Elizabethan times that it was never far from people’s minds and was therefore fascinating to them. People may even have felt somehow reassured that death could affect nobility just as much as it affected the poor.

In the prologue we are told that two ‘star-cross’d lovers take their life’. Death, in this sense, is therefore inevitable, bound up in fate, so the question is not so much what will happen to them, but rather, how it will happen. Ultimately, their death is for the greater good because it helps to ‘bury their parents’ strife’, so it is being presented as something that is not as tragic as it might at first seem.

Mr Q's first ever English Literature blog post!

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the English Literature blog. You have already had an email from me telling you about this blog (you wouldn't be here if you hadn't!), so this is really just a message to say hi and to let you know that the link has worked. Once we start the course properly in September, there will be lots more on here, but for the meantime, enjoy your summer holiday and get started on the things I told you about in the email.