http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p03yqt7y/glastonbury-2016-pj-harvey
John Donne reference...20 minutes into the performance....NO MAN IS AN ISLAND...
Yesterday at Glastonbury, PJ Harvey read this poem to the crowd. WHY? Why is an innovative contemporary musician reading a seventeenth century poem to a twenty-first century audience?
This was a BIG lesson because we discussed the structure of the course. Next year's course will involve TWO EXAMS, each worth 40% of the course, and two pieces of coursework, each worth 10%.
PAPER ONE is CLOSED BOOK and contains THREE QUESTIONS.
The first two questions relate to Othello and the third question will be a comparison of Death of a Salesman and the poetry of Keats.
PAPER TWO is OPEN BOOK and contains THREE QUESTIONS.
The first question will be an analysis of an unseen text, the second question will expect students to explore issues linked to the novel THE KITE RUNNER, and the third question will expect students to construct a comparative response linked to the poetry of TONY HARRISON and CHARLES DICKENS' novel HARD TIMES.
The coursework will consist of two 1500 word essays. This work will link to the Critical Anthology.
My group will be looking at the section of the Anthology that explores the notion of the canon and linking the work of a poet to the ideas being explored in the essays within the Anthology that explore the idea of literary value. BHS will be exploring a different section of the Anthology and will be concentrating on a prose text rather than the work of a poet.
In today's session we looked at Larkin's THE OLD FOOLS and Ted Hughes' WIND. YOU NEED TO DECIDE WHICH POET YOU WILL BE USING AS THE FOCUS OF YOUR COURSEWORK. STUDENTS WILL BE EXPECTED TO EXPLORE THE NOTION OF THE CANON THROUGH TWO POEMS. Who will be your poet? YOU NEED TO DECIDE as this poet will be the focus of your coursework.
IT IS ESSENTIAL that students are READING the texts that will determine your A Level grade. Students need to have read The Kite Runner and Hard Times before we return to work in September.
Students also need to familiarise themselves with a poem titled V written by TONY HARRISON. This is a very controversial poem and caused a great deal of comment when released in 1985. Below is a filmic representation of the poem that was shown on Channel Four in 1987.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPutBM7zfv8
Part Two:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htVdIq8ID_g
Part Three:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgsJSAJwmOQ
Part Four:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtEaDEdh2zE
There are a few other TONY HARRISON poems that we will also be considering but V is the poem that I expect you to confront before we look at his shorter poems. V adopts the form of Gray's ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCH YARD which was published in 1751. Why does Harrison use Gray's famous poem as the template for his own poem? How does V reflect the form and themes of this famous eighteenth century poem? What is Harrison's aim with the allusion to this famous English poem?
Here are some other resources that link to Harrison.
Exploring V..BBC Radio 4 documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW49WJ0F2HM
Simon Armitage interviews TONY HARRISON:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXV4v1oAeOA
HOMEWORK: Read the CANON section of the CRITICAL ANTHOLOGY and read the poetry anthology that I gave you three weeks in the past! I will expect students to be able to explore issues within the AQA critical anthology through the poems in my poetry anthology. STUDENTS MUST BE ABLE TO DISCUSS THE NOTION OF VALUE AND THE CANON THROUGH SPECIFIC TEXTUAL REFERENCE.
I will definitely be discussing Bukowski's LAUGHING HEART, Imtiaz Dharker's BLESSING, Larkin's THE OLD FOOLS, Ted Hughes' WIND and THOUGHT FOX, and the work of Russ Litten.
However...you can refer to ANY poem in my anthology if it allows you to present a specific and precise critical argument.
I may also refer to Allen Ginsberg's HOWL..written in 1955. This is a beautiful filmic representation of a very controversial and challenging poem. Is this a canonical text?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM9BMVFpk80
I will be expecting students to refer to TS Eliot's PRUFROCK. Below are some links that may allow you to develop an understanding of this poem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2DeqZ9ryT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT503LDDaMc
READ THE POEM....I discussed how this poem was an attempt to develop a new poetic form to reflect the complexity and confusion of the MODERN industrial world. Here is a painting created by Picasso in 1903 and a painting created in 1909.The 1909 painting is Picasso attempting to discover a new form to capture the complexity of being human and it is this painting, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, that I feel is similar to the form of Eliot's Prufrock:
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