Friday 27 June 2014

YEAR 12 into 13..June 23rd/26th 2014
















Great to have you lot back in the classroom for some soul food. Sorry about the timetable issues. Nowt to do with me as I have been really looking forward to our post-exam reunification!  The person responsible for the timetable chaos is living in a karmic universe so justice will be served. Anywayzzzz....the first two sessions considered the concept of THE CANON of ENGLISH LITERATURE and offered an INTRODUCTION TO THE GOTHIC LITERARY TRADITION.
Students were asked to consider the VALUE of canonical authors such as Blake,Wordsworth, Shakespeare and Dickens. Students were then asked to consider the value of authors such as KATIE TEMPEST and JOHN COOPER CLARKE. Class discussion considered the LITERARY VALUE of Clarke and Tempest. Can they be considered canonical? Is the CANON an outdated concept? The discussion broadened to discuss the purpose and value of LITERATURE.

In Thursday's session students continued to discuss issues relating to the CANON and discussed Charles Bukowski's THE LAUGHING HEART. Students also considered the thematic nature of  Poe's TELL TALE HEART and Maupassant's WAS IT A DREAM? Class discussion considered the content and stylistic features of these narratives with the aim of developing an understanding of the nature of 'gothic' literature.

HOMEWORK: Read the two 'gothic' short stories as we will continue to discuss their content on Monday. Read all the poems that I gave you last week.

Here are some links to the texts that we have discussed in the last two sessions:
KATIE TEMPEST:
http://becuriouslit.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/resources-for-year-1213-thursday12th.html
JOHN COOPER CLARKE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4qN9pduox0
EDGAR ALLAN POE:
http://becuriouslit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/edgar-allan-poe-tell-tale-heart.html