AQA LITB3 - Elements of the Pastoral - June 2014

I predicted both journeys and nostalgia! :P

I did Journey's for Tess but diverted from my original plan (slightly) -

Line of argument - Journeys in Tess often are literal; they all seem to converge upon her ultimate destruction
1) "moonlight journey" from Tranridge, Edenic imagery... suggests she is destined to fall
2) journey to Talbothays - "fly on a billiard table - linked that President of the Immortals and the idea that again she is destined and Kingsbere -> "useless ancestors"
3) Angel's retreat and return - "too late"

I did the nostalgia one for section B

Line of argument - a lot of pastoral texts show elements of nostalgia; not always positive
1) Tess of the D'Urbervilles - the may-day dance (when "cheerfulness and may-time were synonyms") -> Hardy sympathetic here but the "ideal and the real clashed" -> it has no real purpose anymore AND the D'Urberville family -> "her useless ancestors", the effigies in Kingsbere church was "torn", "defaced" and "broken", Alec steps on the vaults and they give a "hollow echo" -> critical of John Durbeyfield whose nostalgia for his ancestral "skellingtons" leads him to idiocy -> giving away money, "triumphal chariot" and drunkard behaviour

2) As You Like It -> "fleet the time careless as they did the golden world", "like the old Robin Hood of England", "hath not old custom made this life more sweet than that of painted poem", "how well in thee appears the constant service of the antique world" -> Orlando and Adam have a symbiotic relationship of service that seems so unlike the corruption of the court, it is of a better age

3) Poetry (post-1945) --> Fern Hill - "heydays", "green and golden" BUT "time held me green and dying" --> it was all an illusion --> the fact that it was all "Adam and maiden" and he was "prince of the apple towns" creates an Edenic setting which must lead to a fall

Welsh Landscape --> nostalgia is stifling progression amongst the Welsh people

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That is what I wrote, it is terrible but I did my best.

moo

I predicted both journeys and nostalgia! :P

I did Journey's for Tess but diverted from my original plan (slightly) -

Line of argument - Journeys in Tess often are literal; they all seem to converge upon her ultimate destruction
1) "moonlight journey" from Tranridge, Edenic imagery... suggests she is destined to fall
2) journey to Talbothays - "fly on a billiard table - linked that President of the Immortals and the idea that again she is destined and Kingsbere -> "useless ancestors"
3) Angel's retreat and return - "too late"

I did the nostalgia one for section B

Line of argument - a lot of pastoral texts show elements of nostalgia; not always positive
1) Tess of the D'Urbervilles - the may-day dance (when "cheerfulness and may-time were synonyms") -> Hardy sympathetic here but the "ideal and the real clashed" -> it has no real purpose anymore AND the D'Urberville family -> "her useless ancestors", the effigies in Kingsbere church was "torn", "defaced" and "broken", Alec steps on the vaults and they give a "hollow echo" -> critical of John Durbeyfield whose nostalgia for his ancestral "skellingtons" leads him to idiocy -> giving away money, "triumphal chariot" and drunkard behaviour

2) As You Like It -> "fleet the time careless as they did the golden world", "like the old Robin Hood of England", "hath not old custom made this life more sweet than that of painted poem", "how well in thee appears the constant service of the antique world" -> Orlando and Adam have a symbiotic relationship of service that seems so unlike the corruption of the court, it is of a better age

3) Poetry (post-1945) --> Fern Hill - "heydays", "green and golden" BUT "time held me green and dying" --> it was all an illusion --> the fact that it was all "Adam and maiden" and he was "prince of the apple towns" creates an Edenic setting which must lead to a fall

Welsh Landscape --> nostalgia is stifling progression amongst the Welsh people

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That is what I wrote, it is terrible but I did my best.

Haha wow - that's far from terrible! Sounds like you aced it.

My journeys essay was so chaotic, the concept of 'journey' was almost too simple in my mind that I struggled to grasp a line of thought/argument.

1) The journey of the natural world going from something with "perfect beauty" to something that is ruined a.k.a. Talbothys comparison with Flintcomb Ash
2) Followed on from previous point with pastoral idea of ecofeminism and how as the natural world goes on its journey of destruction, as does Tess. Wrote mostly about the closing of Phase the First and the moment when she's raped and how this is her journey from being a pure and virginal woman to a mere creature ruined. Also tagged a point on which I think is pretty irrelevant now that as she's being raped the natural world seems indifferent to the act, and so this could be interpreted that Tess' journey of destruction happens much more coercively than with the natural world's journey.
3) (worst point I could ever have made) but talked about the journey on the way to her death and the fact that Hardy chooses the penultimate setting to be Stonehenge which revives pagan ways and gives Tess' journey a sense of positivity, so her journey isn't entirely a dismal tragedy.
And then I don't really remember how I concluded, but something along the line of these journeys being negative and this points to the fact that Hardy attests to only one thing: that human life is a constant struggle and that we are inconsistent. Feeling very meh

Do you think anybody answered on the 'significance of displacement' question!? It sounds like a pretty dreary question to me.

You sound like you did absolutely fine. If you were always linking it back to "journeys" then you were answering the question and there is nothing for them to challenge you on. I've found that when you keep anchoring any points in into the key words - for me it was "journeys" and "nostalgia" - then you are on track and they can begin rewarding you highly for it.

Hmm I really don't know, thank you though. I've got full UMS in my other three units so I think I only need an E/D grade in this exam to get an A overall, but I'd love an A* so I just hope this exam hasn't put me out of the chance of getting one! I think I was mentioning journeys throughout - I can't really remember now - but I'm pretty sure I tied up the end of every paragraph by linking it to a journey somehow. I guess all we can do now is hope for the best..good luck!

Very nice! I got full marks in my A2 coursework, so I'm not in a bad position but like you, I'm a bit weary of how things will work out. My teacher was telling the class that our exam papers are going to be marked by the senior examiner this year - that should be fun!

Hopefully it'll work out for the both of us then; your responses to both questions sounded sick though so I'm sure you'll fly through. Are you studying English at uni or nah?

I was just wondering whether you think the examiners will quibble and mark me down for a couple of slight misquotations? I used "slow" instead of "slowly" and "lying in mist" rather than "lying misty" for Section A. I think my other quotes (albeit limited in number) were accurate though.

That sounds absolutely fine. The examiner's reports say that they don't mind if you misquote slightly as you did. This is what they said - "Slight errors in quotations can often be overlooked in assessing an answer but there is a vast difference between occasional small errors and constant misquotation or vague approximation which just suggests lack of knowledge or laziness."