YEAR 13 Mon 24th April 17

Today's session explored the issues within TONY HARRISON'S..

• DIVISIONS
• WORKING
• MARKED WITH D

Class discussion considered the nature of the crude male working-class stereotype being offered to the reader in Divisions and WHY Working is such an important poem. Below are two versions of the famous folk song that represents the experience of PATIENCE KERSHAW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YRqLwtZ20Q

This is a resource that offers a link to the testimony of PK:

http://www.nourishingobscurity.com/2010/11/the-testimony-of-patience-kershaw/

WORKING is such an important poem because it includes evidence of Harrison's doubt when considering the value of his poetry and concludes with a couplet that illustrates WHY he bothers to construct his work: 'the job's breaking the silence of the worked-out-gob.' This links to the belief that 'the tongueless man gets his land took' and illustrates the idea that Harrison is creating poetry that reflects working-class experience. He is presenting his culture to an audience that may not be familiar with the working-class experience. He is capturing the history, language, dignity, and struggle of working-class culture. He is providing a poetic voice for people denied a poetic or literary representation; very similar to Wordsworth in The Lyrical Ballads. This is the idea being expressed in the epitaph in V. He is providing a poetic voice for the voiceless.

This lesson also considered MARKED WITH D and the influence and inspiration that Harrison finds in the memory of his Father and the fact that he wishes to give a voice to 'the tongue that weighed like lead'. The idea of providing a poetic voice for a culture often denied a presence within literature is an idea that is central to Harrison's work. His work challenges the view of the teacher in THEM and [uz] when the teacher suggests that there is a cultural hierarchy and Harrison's cultural origins are inferior when compared with 'the Receivers'.

HOMEWORK: Some students need to send me an essay ASAP. READ Harrison's poetry and consider content within the context of the question that I gave you at the end of the session. This essay title will be our next written task. Thanks to Patrick and Harry who were superb in our session at the end of the school day. Great work. Keep it up.
I expect ALL students to be reading HARD TIMES and HARRISON in order to develop an informed and coherent understanding of content that will allow us to compare and contrast the ideas of Dickens and Harrison in the coming weeks. WHAT IS THE MOTIVATION OF EACH AUTHOR? WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THEIR PROTEST? WHAT IS THEIR AIM? WHO IS THEIR AUDIENCE?

YEAR 12 4th/7th April 2017

These two sessions considered Shakespeare's Othello. The Tuesday session included a 30 minute written response to a past paper and the Friday session considered the question:

WHY IS THIS MOMENT FROM THE TEXT [OTHELLO'S FINAL SPEECH IN ACT 5 ACENE 2] SO SIGNIFICANT AND HOW DOES THIS MOMENT ENHANCE THE TRAGIC NATURE OF THE PLAY?

• Consider the presentation of Othello.
• Consider the significance of the dramatic setting
• Consider other relevant aspects of dramatic tragedy.

Class discussion of the issues that could be considered when approaching this question was excellent. Obviously, student perception of Othello as a character and the tragic nature of the play will be informed by how this moment is perceived. THIS IS A KEY MOMENT. This question expects students to focus upon this textual moment but also broaden the response to consider aspects of the whole play.

HOMEWORK: We now have the TWO WEEK Pagan Festival so students need to complete this essay AND READ the texts. I expect ALL students to READ THE GREAT GATSBY and continue to WATCH/LISTEN to OTHELLO. This is a massively important period as the reading will provide the foundation for our final push toward the exam. Students will only be able to offer an informed and sophisticated response if they are familiar with the nuance of the text. Remember...OTHELLO is a closed book exam..GATSBY is open book.

You have been magnificent this term, and throughout the course, I appreciate your hard work, fierce intellect, and good humour.....NOW IT'S TIME TO READ LIKE BEASTS. Any issues, drop me an email. I am in school the WED/THU of the second week.

Tally ho.....and toodle pip....

YEAR 13 Monday 3rd April 2017

Today's session considered the question:
WHAT ARE THE KEY CONCERNS WITHIN THE POETRY OF TONY HARRISON?

Class discussion, thanks mainly to Ellie and James, was OUTSTANDING. I have tried to shape a potential essay structure based on the content of the class discussion.

• The introduction needs to briefly summarise the key themes being explored by Harrison and why he explores these issues. Harrison is concerned with providing a poetic voice for a class of people often denied a presence within poetry. His poetry deals with identity and culture and how education is used to promote the idea of cultural superiority. An idea that Harrison reacts against in a defiant manner. His poetry also explores the conflict of division within society and the conflict that Harrison himself feels as his education and role as poet seems to alienate him from his own family and culture.

• The first paragraph needs to deal with the significance of FORM in Harrison's work. The poem V uses the iambic quatrain and the 16 line Meredithian Sonnet form in Them and [uz], Working, and Marked With D. The fact that Harrison uses a form of the sonnet that does not conform to the more traditional and more recognisable 14 line Shakespearean Sonnet form is somehow symbolic of his desire to defy convention and accepted notions of literary convention. The quatrain links Harrison's work to the literary traditions of Greece, Shakespeare and canonical works such as Gray's Elegy. How does this use of form link to the content of Harrison's poetry? Why is the quatrain the structure used to amplify the concerns of  social division and class disaffection and unemployment in V? Why use the form of classical literature to provide the framework for the content of his poetry? Why use the form associated with canonical poetry to illuminate and consider the nature of post-industrial working-class experience? Students must link Harrison's use of form to meaning. THIS IS A FEATURE THAT STUDENTS MUST COMPREHEND TO ACCESS THE HIGHER GRADES.

• The next paragraph needs to consider how Harrison explores the theme of conflict in V. Harrison presents a society that appears fractured ['These Vs are all the versuses of life..the unending violence of US and THEM personified in 1984 by Coal Board MacGregor and the NUM..']. He seems to present a poem that amplifies a sense of outrage with the divisive state of Britain in the late twentieth century. STUDENTS NEED TO SHOW ME PRECISE TEXTUAL REFERENCE TO ILLUSTRATE HARRISON'S OPINION AND POETIC AIM. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF HIS PROTEST?  Harrison desires disaffected unemployed youth, symbolised in the figure of the 'skin', to be given a sense of hope. In Gray's Elegy, this canonical poem presents a pastoral representation of a pre-industrial England that is not having to deal with the blight of unemployment,  and 'useful toil' is at the heart of the poem. This is a poem rich with the idea that work provides dignity and purpose for people denied 'the pomp of power.' WHY DOES HARRISON ALLUDE TO THE CONTENT OF THE ELEGY? The skin in V states that ' ..ave got about as much scope to aspire above the shit they're dumped in, cunt, as coal aspires to be chucked on t'fucking fire.....Me I'll croak doing t'same nowt ah do now as a kid.' Gray refers to 'Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire' and figures who '..no more the blazing hearth shall burn' and these images of light and fire are present in V as Harrison suggests that unemployed youth, just like the coal beneath the graveyard and the coal at the centre of the mining strike, need a spark to ignite potential. V is littered with the imagery of coal and this is a key symbol that links to the theme of human potential. SHOW ME YOU WERE LISTENING. Harrison clearly wants the 'skin' to move beyond his disaffection and feel that his existence has value. WE HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING V FOR THREE SESSIONS...NOW IS THE TIME TO SHOW ME YOU WERE LISTENING TO THE CLASS COMMENTARY....'For vast, slow, coal-creating forces that hew the body's seams to get the soul..'

• The next paragraph needs to deal with the internal conflict that the narrative voice [We have to be careful about assuming the narrative voice is Harrison] experiences due to his selective grammar school education having distanced him from the working-class culture of his familial origins in Leeds. His role as a poet clearly causes him some distress as the skin is dismissive of the value of poetry: 'This pen is all I have of magic wand...They'll chisel fucking poet when they do you and that, yer cunt, 's a crude four-letter word.. a book yer stupid cunt 's not worth a fuck..Don't talk to me of fucking representing the class yer were born into any more..it's not poetry we need in this class war...Who needs yer fucking poufy words..' The cultural alienation that the narrative voice explores reflects the alienation his father experiences in Leeds as his local community is transformed into an environment that he struggles to comprehend. It is quite ironic that the only link with his father is a shared sense of cultural alienation. V is a poem within which the narrative voice questions his purpose and considers why he actually bothers writing poetry. The epitaph at the conclusion of V confirms the narrator's view that he writes poetry to present the experience of the working-class people of Leeds to a poetic audience that may not be familiar with the cultural experience explored within Harrison's poetry. The poem concludes with the narrator stating that 'poems can grow from [beat you to it!] SHIT' and urges the figure visiting his grave to look at the city of Leeds as the people in this city are his poetic inspiration. Harrison recognises that his work may be futile but he will continue to provide a poetic presence for people who may not themselves view value in poetry. WHY DOES HE BOTHER WRITING POETRY? THIS CONFLICT IS A CRUCIAL ELEMENT WITHIN HARRISON'S WORK.  Remember...in National Trust the narrative voice states that 'the tongueless man gets his land took.'

• The conclusion is ALL YOURS! Try and use a critical quote to weave into your conclusion. Is this poetry valuable? Offer a personal reaction to his work. Is he relevant? Is he artistic? Crude? Creative? Unique? Synthesise my resources. The Radio Four resource below is SUPERB. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW49WJ0F2HM&t=130s 

Students have lots of resources. I expect a sophisticated response. You do not have to follow this structure...but I think you would be a 'mug' to ignore this framework for our first Harrison essay. I expect to receive this essay next week. I will be in school on the THURSDAY of the second week from 12 til 2. Students will be welcome...if they have sent me an essay. DO NOT BOTHER ATTENDING IF YOU HAVE NOT SENT ME AN ESSAY. The essay is your entry ticket. I will hand you the marked essay on Thursday. THIS ESSAY IS IMPORTANT.

HOMEWORK: Complete the HARRISON essay and send it to me before the Friday of next week. READ DICKENS and HARRISON. In the Thursday session I will be comparing both texts.

YEAR 12 Tue 28th/Thu 31st March 2017

These two sessions involved a discussion of tragedy within Othello before attempting a written response within the framework of timed conditions. Students were handed an exam paper and a chill spread through the class as students became aware that the exams are nearly upon us. The written work on Tuesday was good and Friday's session involved producing a 30 minute response to the question:
HOW DOES IAGO'S USE OF LANGUAGE AND SOLILOQUY ENHANCE THE TRAGIC NATURE OF THE PLAY?

The aim of the last two sessions has been to provide students with an understanding of the importance of structure when creating a critical written response and provide an opportunity to discuss possible content before offering a timed response. Consider it a gift!

HOMEWORK: COMPLETE THE OTHELLO ESSAY....