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AQA LITB3 Pastoral 6th June

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Reply 20
Original post by rageagainstessays
I'll PM you my email- I can send back an as you like it flow chart of events if that would help?


ooo yes please! something I've been meaning to do :smile:
Original post by emily1995
ooo yes please! something I've been meaning to do :smile:


Cool, I'll PM you now :smile:
Original post by nespix
Woah ok! Feel very bad for you although I don't know where to start! Mine don't particularly make sense on their own but when I read them they tend to just instigate ideas and my own opinions and I just revise based on those!

Here is what my teacher has advised. Basically every lesson we do an in depth detailed analysis of relevant passages. We cover AO2, AO3 and AO4. He said we should pick 6-7 passages around a page or so long, possibly two and REALLY get to know them and learn the quotes and extra ones which are critical e.g. 'psychological phenomena'.

I'm not sure which passages exactly I'm going to pick yet but probably ones which encompass many critical themes.

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I'm really nervous about this exam- I have 5 hours of exams- 2 1:30 papers in the morning then this in the afternoon :frown:
Reply 23
Original post by rageagainstessays
I'm really nervous about this exam- I have 5 hours of exams- 2 1:30 papers in the morning then this in the afternoon :frown:


Aww :frown: I may be able to pm you quite a basic but covering all the main themes spider diagram a bit later. I can attach some of my own thoughts and opinions to it too to give you a few ideas :smile:
Original post by nespix
Aww :frown: I may be able to pm you quite a basic but covering all the main themes spider diagram a bit later. I can attach some of my own thoughts and opinions to it too to give you a few ideas :smile:


Thanks so much and please do if you've got time :smile:
Reply 25
Original post by emily1995
Hey, yeah I'm doing AYLI along with Tess and Post 1945 poetry


Which post-'45 poets are you doing? As You Like It seems easy to write about in comparison with Larkin, Jennings etc
Reply 26
Original post by Francis W
Which post-'45 poets are you doing? As You Like It seems easy to write about in comparison with Larkin, Jennings etc


It's not too bad, the main theme I think I'd struggle with is something like romance! We're doing Larkin, Jennings, Thomas, Maccaig, Harrison (off the top of my head) what about you?
Reply 27
Original post by emily1995
It's not too bad, the main theme I think I'd struggle with is something like romance! We're doing Larkin, Jennings, Thomas, Maccaig, Harrison (off the top of my head) what about you?


We're doing them but Fanthorpe instead of Harrison. Fanthorpe has written some of the worst poems in the anthology, I can't believe she's been included in it. I can remember quotations fairly well but remembering rhyme schemes, meter etc. is something I struggle with. Probably because I don't see it as relevant. Have you been told to use critics in Section B?
Hey guys, Ive just seen this thread and I'm really struggling on what quotes are needed for the pastoral exam :frown: anyone got any ideas or where I could find the most needed??

I'm doing; 'As you like it', Blake and Post 1945 poetry (or whatever date it is)!
Original post by stresshead95
Hey guys, Ive just seen this thread and I'm really struggling on what quotes are needed for the pastoral exam :frown: anyone got any ideas or where I could find the most needed??

I'm doing; 'As you like it', Blake and Post 1945 poetry (or whatever date it is)!


There's no simple answer to this question I'm afraid, the quotes which are needed are whichever ones you think best illustrate the points you are making in your essays. It's not like there are set quotes which you need to learn to get certain marks. Think about the different pastoral elements, and compile lists of quotations which you could use in an essay about each of these. Say for As You Like It some of the elements which you might want to think about would be: escape, liberation vs restriction, the contrast between the court and the forest, conflict (in the court), love, gender/disguise, time, pastoral realism, idealisation, friendship...(some of these will overlap)...

But don't get too caught up in the quotations - yes it is important to have plenty which you know which you can use to illustrate your points. My English teacher told our class yesterday that we were going wrong by jumping straight into listing quotations when she asked us to plan an essay question. Rather than linking the question to isolated quotations, we should first think about which characters/events/settings/recurring ideas in the text will best answer the question, and then think about quotations which will illustrate these points which you wish to make.

Also, it's good if you can learn quotations which give you lots of opportunity to analyse language - don't just give a quotation and then move on, you should analyse the significance of the language used in this quote - and if you can relate to it some form or structure analysis, then even better.

Hope that helps :smile:
Reply 30
woo pastoral, you think its hard trying doing waterland by swift thats a new element to hard. such a confusing story line and so weird to analyse! think yourselves lucky your not doing it! ive done the exam in January and they really really knuckle down on AO3.
Original post by CRSA
woo pastoral, you think its hard trying doing waterland by swift thats a new element to hard. such a confusing story line and so weird to analyse! think yourselves lucky your not doing it! ive done the exam in January and they really really knuckle down on AO3.


Really? I did waterland for coursework and absolutely loved it! I think I enjoyed the story and style so much that it seemed easier... although I can totally understand why people would find it hard. Hope you did okay in the exam :smile:


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Reply 32
Original post by Francis W
We're doing them but Fanthorpe instead of Harrison. Fanthorpe has written some of the worst poems in the anthology, I can't believe she's been included in it. I can remember quotations fairly well but remembering rhyme schemes, meter etc. is something I struggle with. Probably because I don't see it as relevant. Have you been told to use critics in Section B?


Oh yeah we've done some fanthorpe too; I find Stanton Drew a really useful poem in terms of the exam but yeah the others are pretty rubbish. My form and structure comments are always in fleeting, I try to combine it with another AO2 point cos sometimes it's not relevant at all! And no, I've never heard anything about critics? what A0 is that?
Original post by emily1995
And no, I've never heard anything about critics? what A0 is that?


Referring to critics' views can be useful for AO3, but it's not essential. You might want to use a point which a critic has made about one of your texts, or to quote something that a critic has said about the pastoral genre (one which I like using is Roger Sales pastoral fiction is "essentially escapist"). However you can still get high marks for AO3 without referring to a critic, the most important thing is to explore different interpretations and weigh them up against each other.

But note, there is no point referring to a critic just for the sake of it if it doesn't add anything to the course of your essay. According to the examiners' report, you need to evaluate any critics' views that you refer to and explain why it's relevant to the text/your argument. Eg this morning I was doing a question on whether Arden is "a refuge from the evils of civilisation". In my essay I quoted Roger Sales and then explained that this was significant to AYLI with regards to the idea of Arden as a 'refuge' because the characters escape the conflict at the court by going there...can lead in to some language/structure points here eg Celia uses the word "fly" to refer to their departure to Arden, this is a word which holds connotations of escape and freedom... Even better if you can then disagree with/point out the weak points of the critic's view - eg it may be erroneous to say that AYLI is entirely 'escapist' as many of the characters enter the Forest not out of choice but because they are forcibly banished...

Hope that helps :smile:
Reply 34
Hey Guys, I'm doing the LITB3 but I'm studying for the Gothic, I got hold of the Jan 2013 paper and thought I should upload the Pastoral Questions.
Reply 35
Original post by Butterfly9595
Really? I did waterland for coursework and absolutely loved it! I think I enjoyed the story and style so much that it seemed easier... although I can totally understand why people would find it hard. Hope you did okay in the exam :smile:


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Haha wow I found it dead tricky! It was quite tricky to write on it especially in exam pressure! Noo I didn't :frown: have to resit it? Does anyone know a way to structure the essays? :smile:
Original post by zakkaz
Hey Guys, I'm doing the LITB3 but I'm studying for the Gothic, I got hold of the Jan 2013 paper and thought I should upload the Pastoral Questions.


Cheers! :smile:


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Reply 37
Original post by CRSA
Haha wow I found it dead tricky! It was quite tricky to write on it especially in exam pressure! Noo I didn't :frown: have to resit it? Does anyone know a way to structure the essays? :smile:


errr personally for section A I think of three key moments from the text that's relevant to the question and write two paragraphs on each moment. I try to make the second paragraph oppose the first to get some A03 in there.
Reply 38
Original post by iamsherlocked
Referring to critics' views can be useful for AO3, but it's not essential. You might want to use a point which a critic has made about one of your texts, or to quote something that a critic has said about the pastoral genre (one which I like using is Roger Sales pastoral fiction is "essentially escapist"). However you can still get high marks for AO3 without referring to a critic, the most important thing is to explore different interpretations and weigh them up against each other.

But note, there is no point referring to a critic just for the sake of it if it doesn't add anything to the course of your essay. According to the examiners' report, you need to evaluate any critics' views that you refer to and explain why it's relevant to the text/your argument. Eg this morning I was doing a question on whether Arden is "a refuge from the evils of civilisation". In my essay I quoted Roger Sales and then explained that this was significant to AYLI with regards to the idea of Arden as a 'refuge' because the characters escape the conflict at the court by going there...can lead in to some language/structure points here eg Celia uses the word "fly" to refer to their departure to Arden, this is a word which holds connotations of escape and freedom... Even better if you can then disagree with/point out the weak points of the critic's view - eg it may be erroneous to say that AYLI is entirely 'escapist' as many of the characters enter the Forest not out of choice but because they are forcibly banished...

Hope that helps :smile:

Thank you :smile: I don't know if it's a little late to be going into a world of critics now!
Reply 39
Original post by rageagainstessays
Thanks so much and please do if you've got time :smile:


I'm sorry I haven't got round to pm-ing you, I haven't forgotten I will try this weekend!

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