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AQA English Literature A - Love Through the Ages June 2011 Exam :D

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Yes i also think my teacher is talking bull. What does your teacher think of your essay plan? does she think its succesfull, as its similar to mine.
Also, does narrative perspective come under form/structure?
and what form/structure points can you write about in plays? i know there are many but im having a mind blank! would it be like sticchomithia, variation in turn length ext?
in some respects poetry would be easiest for A in my opinion, as long as it is ok to interpret!!!
and ye, i think the exam board are definatly prone to chucking in some shakespeare, which isnt too bad in my opinion if youve got a good shakespeare play in your wider reading you can relate comparison and analysing techniques to.

thanks for your quick reply :smile:

Reply 141

Pthaos

Original post by ElizaM

Honestly, I'm not sure about structure/form points for drama myself. Speaking honestly I have no idea what sticchomithia or variation in turn length are. This is something I need to revise up on myself. I have an extended session with my English teacher tomorrow so will report back if she says anything interesting about form/structure in drama.

What I'm worried about with drama is if they actually USE my shakespeare wider reading (The Winter's Tale) As an unseen extract! Very small chance of that happening I guess, but if that happens it would make things pretty awkward as I'd have to move onto my other Wider Reading drama, Streetcar named desire. I chose the two as they are almost completely different, so having to compare one to the other could be a pain. Still, small chance of that happening :smile:

Reply 142

Cast.Iron

Original post by carnationlilyrose

I do agree that students are phased by older texts, but you can rest assured that Chaucer won't be one of them and I really don't think they would go back before Marlowe - that really would be too specialist for A level. Anything much earlier than that would be in Middle English and far too difficult to tackle unseen.

Early days to say the exam is notorious for curved balls, as it's only the third paper this time, but it certainly is challenging. However, as I said earlier in either this thread or the other one one on the topic, if they pitch it wrong, then although you will have an unpleasant two and a half hours in the exam room, the outcome will merely be the adjustment of grade boundaries to maintain the same number of grades as usual. The first paper last June was, indeed, an absolute stinker, but my students got A*s and As out of it when at first glance it seemed impossible that they should do so. It is unfortunately possible that they may go the other way this time and underpitch it, although the January paper didn't suggest that, and if they do, then the grade boundaries will go up. However, the overall outcome will still be that those people at the top of the pile will get their A*s even if they wouldn't have done so on last year's grade boundaries.

That's true. You obviously know more about this exam than I do so I'll take your word for it.

If I recall correctly, there was some furore over a text of an English translated French text? I can see how that would throw some people, however I think it'd also be quite an interesting text to compare as well as the wealth of contextual links which it would have no doubt engendered due to its origins.

I don't mind whether the grade boundaries go up or down as long as I achieve what I need :biggrin:

Reply 143

Rachel_Leah

I know the plays 'Measure for Measure', 'Tis Pity She's A Whore', and 'A Streetcar Named Desire' really well, and I have some quotes from other extracts. Is there any other drama pieces which people find particularly valuable, which I could swot up on tomorrow? x

Reply 144

Letterbomb31

Original post by Rachel_Leah

'A Doll's House' by Henrik Ibsen is a good one for marriage/partings. 'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde is another good text to know.

Reply 145

username368993

Could anyone please advise me - for my wider reading, I only have the following:

Prose:

The Great Gatsby (1925)
Far From the Madding Crowd (1874)
Birdsong (1993)

Drama:

King Lear
Hamlet
A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

Poetry:

Sonnet 116 - Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Sonnet 130 - My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
Daddy - Sylvia Plath (1962)
Warming Her Pearls - Carol Ann Duffy
Funeral Blues - WH Auden

Do you think this is enough?

Reply 146

Letterbomb31

Have you tried any mock papers and, if so, have you been able to make connections? If the answer to that is yes, then you have enough. If the answer to that is no, then you don't. As long as you know each of those texts well and are able to quote from them when relevant, that should be enough :smile:

Reply 147

briesandwich

I apologize in advance for what probably is a very stupid question and one which has most likely been asked before.. But in terms of making reference to wider reading, must we give quotations for the texts we mention, or can we simply outline the theme/message/technique of that text? I've obviously memorized quotations but for select texts only.

I'm so rubbish at explaining, :frown:

but for example, if I were to mention that e. e. Cummings expressed the importance of emotion and physical connection in romantic love in the poem 'since feeling is first', would I be able to just expand on that, or would I have to prove it with a quotation?

Sorry again for a stupid question. :sigh:

Reply 148

username368993

Original post by briesandwich

Not a stupid question - I was wondering the same thing earlier but I think, as someone else has said, you can't exactly quote for structure/form but you can through language and should quote where possible or appropriate. So you could say, for example, that "cummings expresses how only 'a fool' disregards the physical aspects of love whereas Shakespeare presents the alternative view that love is a 'marriage of true minds' "

Hope this helps :smile:

(and correct me if I'm wrong, anyone!)

Reply 149

username368993

Original post by Letterbomb31

Thanks, it that case I think I'm ok - just seeing everyone with long lists is slightly offputting but I think the majority of my texts are fairly versatile. :smile:

Reply 150

briesandwich

Ah thank you. :yep:

That's made me feel a lot less silly. +1!

Reply 151

Pthaos

Original post by briesandwich

As far as I know, quotations aren't required. You can provide evidence for your point through simply knowing the text and referencing ideas within it. (Remember GCSE English? :wink:

Point - Evidence - Explanation. Still works <3)

That said, from what I've heard, having quotes for poetry is particularly helpful. With Prose and Drama, you can refer to an "area" of the extract in detail to provide evidence for your point. Evidence that suggests Joe is an unreliable narrator in McEwan's "Enduring Love" can be found throughout the book, including the 'Ice-cream parlour incident'. With a poem, you don't have this liberty as they're usually fairly short and sweet (Especially with Love through the ages where every other bloody poem is a sonnet) so quoting is helpful. Thankfully, it's often a lot easier to remember quotes for poetry.

Reply 152

Yay For Jay

Original post by Cast.Iron

I don't buy into all of this AO business, I just think abstractly and write my thoughts.

...

The key, I find, to Lit is not to treat it so methodically (although I appreciate that this doesn't work for everyone). The subject allows you to be exuberant in your prose. Look at the text from different perspectives and squeeze every possible meaning out of any poignant sentences.

This is excellent advice for how to do Lit well. I'm convinced that, given the number of methodical, carbon-copy essays they read, the examiners appreciate a bit of verve and an individual approach.

I commend you for being a fellow AO sceptic, sir!

Reply 153

Cast.Iron

Original post by Yay For Jay

Hear hear.

Reply 154

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by Pthaos

Speaking honestly I have no idea what sticchomithia or variation in turn length are.

You don't need to know the technical terms, merely observe that the lines are short and shared between the speakers in a way which makes the scene fast paced, or say that some characters speak more than others because they are in control of the scene or whatever. Say what you see and don't leave things out because you think there's a fancy term for it which you don't know. Technical terms are fine and dandy, but they are only an aid to analysis, not the be all and end all of the job. Be careful not to use them like an I Spy checklist or Pokemon and try to get them all in.

Reply 155

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by Cast.Iron

That's true. You obviously know more about this exam than I do so I'll take your word for it.

Well, I certainly hope so, as I teach it, but the truth will out on results day! Last year was brilliant, but as they say in financial services ads, past performance is no guarantee of the future! :biggrin:

Reply 156

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by Letterbomb31

Excellent advice. :biggrin:

Reply 157

iloveusernames

Hey guiiise. I just read through this thread, and y'all are so much better than me :'( I'm just going to fail this exam so much because I had the worst English teaching this year. I barely know any quotes, urgh. BUT ANYWAY. I came here to ask, is the exam morning or afternoon? And you know in the question where you compare two proses, you only link them to other prose you've read? It excludes drama/poems right? Urrgh, my class never tells me anything. So thanks for any help :smile:

And seeing as everyone else has done it, I may as well tell y'all my wider reading ^.^

Novels
Jane Eyre
The Magic Toyshop
The Story of an Hour

Plays
The Homecoming
Waiting for Godot
She Conquers All (i think its called)
Pygmalion

Poems
The Flea
To his coy mistress
To catch a falling star
The Garden
How do I love thee
My mistresses eyes
Air and Angels

Reply 158

Cast.Iron

Original post by iloveusernames

Are you referring to Sonnet 130? Probably best to know the actual 'names' of your sonnets :smile:

.

You seem a little light on Shakespeare?

Reply 159

~Elle~

Original post by iloveusernames

Hii exam is at 9:00 (:

Question a) is going to be two unseen extracts of the SAME genre. For this question, you can only link it to wider reading of the same genre. So yes, if it's prose and prose, you will only be credited for linking to prose wider reading.

Question b) is two unseen extracts of the REMAINING genres. So if you had prose first, then you'll get drama and poetry for the second question. In this question, you can link to ANY genre, prose poetry or drama.

Hope that helped (:

Also want to stress like many of the other people here - don't get too stressed out about wider reading!!! It's only worth at the most, 30%, the focus is on your analysis of the unseen extracts.

The examining board says you should have minimum THREE wider reading references - one from each genre.

I've been taught that they prefer FEWER but MORE DETAILED references, rather than loads and loads of minor comments. For example, if the unseen extract is about homosexual love, a minor comment might be - similarly, Hall explores homosexual love in her novel "A Well of Loneliness".

What I do for wider reading (and remember, you can make references about anything, whether it's a similar theme, linguistic technique, form, structure...) is to say something along the lines of: Similarly, blah blah also does this....I'll then DEVELOP that by giving more details (e.g., perhaps what the effect of the linguistic technique does for the poem, or through what characters is the theme explored etc etc) and then give a quote etc.

Remember you can also contrast - but not something silly like "In the [unseen extract], blah blah uses repetition, enjambement, and symbolism. However, in [wider reading reference], blah blah uses none of those"

If I were to contrast, I'd probably say that an author etc would have used a similar technique, form, structure, or explored a similar theme, but in a DIFFERENT way.

I've only got 15 wider reading references, and not all of them are in loads of detail (i.e. form, structure, lang). I think you shouldn't go beyond around 15 in detail...tbh, I think 9 would be the minimum amount, with 3 in detail for each genre.

Good luck every body! :smile: