Category Archives: Year 12 VCE English

Analysing and Presenting Argument

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For Mainstream English Years 11 & 12 students studying Analysing Argument and Presenting Argument under the Victorian VCE Curriculum

Scope of the Task for Analysing Argument

Students analyse and compare the ways in which verbal and non-verbal (including visual) language of specified texts is used to persuade readers and viewers to share the point/s of view being presented. 40 marks are allocated to this task with a suggested 800-1000 word count.

Analysing Argument Basics

What are you trying to Analyse with the articles and visuals?

3 Basic Elements

  1. WHAT = What is the argument the author/s are making?
  2. HOW = How are techniques used by the authors?
  3. WHY = Why do the techniques used by the authors affect the audience? What is the Intention of the author to make the audience:
    1. THINK SOMETHING = LOGOS = a logical response = the author uses techniques like appeals to logic / expert opinions / research / reputable sources / statistics / graphs (these are some logical techniques)
    2. FEEL SOMETHING = PATHOS = an emotional response = the author uses techniques like appeals to emotion / attacks or praises / emotive language / figurative language such as idioms, cliches, alliteration, hyperbole, connotations, loaded words / inclusive language / rhetorical questions / appeals to family values (these are some emotional techniques)
    3. DO SOMETHING = ETHOS = an ethical appeal to act responsibly = the author wants the readers to actively lobby governments to act / call to action

Analysing Argument What You Need to Identify in the Articles & Visuals

  1. Identify and Annotate the Main Contention & Arguments
  2. Identify the Language and Techniques used to Persuade
  3. Identify the Intention of what the author wants the audience to Think/Feel/Do Something
  4. Identify the Audience & Tone
  5. Identify the Link between the Visual and Written Piece

Analysing Argument How to Identify Tone in Articles & Visuals

Tone refers to the mood or feeling of the language used by the writer conveying their attitude towards an issue, argument, individual or group.  In an article tone is created by word choices which have 3 main tones:

  1. Positive = reactive / amazed / astonished / quiet / calm / composed / thoughtful / approving / hopeful / caring / compassionate / sympathetic / lively / cheerful / enthusiastic
  2. Neutral = formal / authoritative / balanced / blunt / factual / frank / honest / serious
  3. Negative = passive / apathetic / dejected / apologetic / judgmental / pessimistic / uncontrolled / agitated / alarmed / fearful / forceful / accusing / angry / condemnatory / sarcastic / hateful

Presenting Argument Scope of Task : Oral Presentation

Unit 4 Outcome #2 Presenting Argument students will deliver a 5 minute individual Oral Presentation conveying a sustained and logical line of argument in response to a topic from the media worth 30 marks. 

Students should also write a Statement of Intention to articulate the purpose and intention of decisions made in the planning of the Oral which is worth 10 marks.  The SOI format should follow F/L/A/P/C = Form/Language/Audience/Purpose/Context.  The word count is determined by each school but is normally between 300-500 words.  See my Post on SOI requirement for years 11 & 12 for the full details on the FLAPC format.

(TOTAL FOR THIS OUTCOME 40%)

Students must deliver a 5 minute Oral Presentation demonstrating:

  • An ability to present a sustained and logical argument supported by a range of evidence from a variety of sources
  • An understanding of the power of language to persuade
  • An ability to address and convey the complexity of your chosen issue
  • An awareness of and ability to engage an audience
  • Submit a transcript of your speech and complete a bibliography
  • Produce a Written Statement of Intention articulating the intention of decisions made in the planning process of the oral presentation and how these demonstrate understanding of argument and persuasive language
  • The SAC will be worth a total of 40 marks = 30 marks for the oral + 10 marks for the SOI

 A few tips on writing your speech:

  • Have a CAPTIVATING introduction sentence; use a short, clear and powerful sentence. You can even ask a rhetorical question of your audience to make them think right at the start.
  • Make sure your MAIN CONTENTION is clearly spelled out at the start.  If you are vague about what you are trying to argue then the listeners (the Teachers marking the Oral) will not know what your Oral is about and will mark you down.
  • RELATE to your audience so that it keeps them interested so they actually WANT to listen.
  • If you are taking on a persona, firstly study and UNDERSTAND your character. (A persona is how you present your speech, ie. in a friendly voice, a business type strictly formal speech or using lots of colloquial phrases).
  • Don’t forget your persuasive techniques. Use repetition and rhetorical questions, emotive language and inclusive language.
  • Remember that you are delivering a SPEECH, not an essay. Instill your oral with emotion, varied tone and sentence lengths.

A few tips on your performance:

Memorise your speech

Practice as much as possible; in front of anyone and everyone including yourself (use a mirror).  Keep practicing until you can recite it.  Use your timer on your mobile phone to make sure you keep within the 5 minutes. As for cue cards, use dot points.  Remember to number the cue cards for safety so if you get nervous during the Oral and unfortunately drop them, at least you can pick up the cards and put them back in the right order.

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Dissecting Prompts in Comparative Texts

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 Image result for picture of someone reading a bookThis Resource is for Years 11 & 12 Mainstream English students under the VCE Curriculum studying AOS1  Reading and Comparing Texts

Comparative Texts Prompts have 3 Categories:

Using the example of comparative texts of 7 Stages of Grieving and The Longest Memory

  1. Character-based prompts:

    1. ‘How do characters in both texts explore the idea of belonging?’
    2. ‘Compare the ways in which individual and collective memory affects the lives of characters in both texts’

  2. Thematic prompts:

    1. ‘Compare what the two texts suggest about racial discrimination’
    2. ‘How do the authors of 7 Stages of Grieving and The Longest Memory explore the idea of identity?’

  3. Views and values prompts:

    1. ‘What is the impact of one group assuming mastery over another both on attitudes and lives in 7 Stages of Grieving and The Longest Memory?’
    2. ‘Both 7 Stages of Grieving and The Longest Memory argue that individuals cannot escape the roles that society imposes on them’.

What to do first

  1. Choose a prompt you CAN answer
  2. Dissect prompt words and look them up if needed (use your dictionary)
  3. Is the prompt character based / theme based or a value prompt?
  4. Take the basic idea/message from the prompt and break it down
  5. What are the authors trying to demonstrate about the subject matter?
  6. If the prompt has quotes, work out who said them and in what context and the quotes plus explanations must be included in one or other of the body paragraphs
  7. Look for similarities and differences in the messages of the texts
  8. You need at least 6 quotes to cover ideas in the prompt as your evidence (3 per text per body paragraph) that must be embedded into sentences and not great slabs of quotes by themselves without explanation

Using Comparative Texts Pair Example = 7 Stages of Grieving and The Longest Memory

Prompt: ‘Compare what 7 Stages of Grieving and The Longest Memory say about injustice’

Comparative Text Essay Structure

  1. Introduction = Main Contention & Message of Author/Director
  2. Body Paragraph 1 = Cause/Accept Prompt / Topic Sentence / Text 1 Evidence & Explanations / Transitional Sentence from Text 1 to Text 2 / Text 2 Evidence & Explanations / Link back to topic
  3. Body Paragraph 2 = Response/Develop Prompt Further / Topic Sentence / Text 1 Evidence & Explanations / Transitional Sentence from Text 1 to Text 2 / Text 2 Evidence & Explanations / Link back to topic
  4. Body Paragraph 3 = Consequences / Topic Sentence / Text 1 Evidence & Explanations / Transitional Sentence from Text 1 to Text 2 / Text 2 Evidence & Explanations / Link back to topic
  5. Conclusion = Sum up briefly / Message of Author/Director

What is the Context for injustice?

In both texts the notion of racial superiority, whereby skin colour correlates with intellectual and moral capacity, is a form of justification for both slavery in the American Deep South and the marginalisation of Indigenous Australians in Australia.

What are the Authors Value Statements about injustice?

Both authors demonstrate that injustice is detrimental and its effects are long lasting even generational.  They promulgate the idea that entrenched racism is not merely physically harmful but emotionally devastating as well.

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Ransom by David Malouf

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Brief Synopsis of Ransom by David Malouf 

Ransom

This Resource is for students studying Mainstream English in the Victorian Curriculum with Ransom as a single text. OR students in Year 12 studying the comparative texts of Ransom with The Queen. Year 12 students can use these notes as background information to understand the narrative written by David Malouf.

Ransom by David Malouf is derived from the final section of Homer’s The Iliad

Drawn from a section of the Ancient Greek poet Homer’s The Iliad, David Malouf’s poignant novel Ransom explores the themes of revenge, redemption and fate during the Trojan War.  The common theme of all Greek mythology concerns powerful gods, heroes, mythological creatures and humans. These myths have had major influences in art and culture, and even during modern society today with its teaching of our beginnings, history, morals and lessons for our daily lives.  While The Iliad is heavily focused on the gods and the battles fought amongst the people, Ransom explores a new avenue of human relationships through two main characters: Achilles, the greatest warrior and hero of the Trojan War and Priam, the elderly king of Troy who has lost his son in battle.

The Historical Action of Ransom

David Malouf structured the characters and events of Ransom during the 9th year of the legendary Trojan War in The Iliad (around 1100 BCE).  Where as-yet untold stories might emerge, Malouf created an inner life for his main characters Achilles and Priam that are not told in the Iliad.  The novel plays out over one full day and the following morning, although Malouf has allowed his characters flash-backs and flash-forwards that weave significant events into the narrative.  Ransom commences on the 12th day after the death of the Trojan hero Hector, son of Priam King of Troy who is slain by the famed Greek warrior Achilles in revenge for the death of his loved step-brother Patroclus.

The Human Action of Ransom

In Ransom both Priam and Achilles must face and overcome dilemmas.  Each questions the role he has been playing.  The narrative allows the characters to liberate themselves from a crisis of personal values and a loss of self-esteem, something quite different from the view of human action in The Iliad.   Malouf presents his main characters with moral and imaginative courage in choosing to act beyond the bounds of their normal roles.  Both Priam and Achilles come to a new understanding of what it means to be human.  Priam, dressed simply and with no weapons or crown, pleads with Achilles to release Hector’s body.  He appeals to his humanity and in doing so raises the question of what it means to be ‘human’.  Are the characters ruled by animal instincts, by the influence of the gods or by human reason and feeling?  A blend of all these facets suggests the permeable, open nature of human beings in the novel.

The Importance of Family Affection and Father-Son Relationships

Priam reminds Achilles of the importance of family affection and the closeness of father-son loyalty.  They are both fathers and sons before anything else.  They are also mortals where death is always present.  Priam begs Achilles “… as a father, and as one poor mortal to another – to accept the ransom I bring and give me back the body of my son” (p.182).  Priam wants Achilles to act as both their “… fathers and forefathers have done through all the ages” to show that they are in effect “men, children of the gods and not ravening beasts” (p.183).

Pity and Compassion

Even in the long, harsh war between the Trojans and Greeks, enduring human values emerge.  Malouf has allowed his main characters to express compassion and pity that we see goes beyond social class and political beliefs.  Priam pleads with Achilles as one human to another, since they all die in the end, he argues they should feel each other’s sorrows now and be compassionate.  He asks Achilles to think of his son Neoptolemus, and his father Peleus “Would you not do for him what I am doing here for Hector?  Would your father Peleus, not do the same for you?” (p.184).  Achilles’ personality is influenced by its origins.  We see this in flashbacks in the novel of Achilles expressing his love for his son and his father.  Priam has made Achilles contemplate Hector’s body and his own death with fresh respect.  In pitying Priam as a father, Achilles is reminded of his own son Neoptolemus and changes his view of Hector.  Achilles allows Priam to take the body of Hector in exchange for the ransom of gold in the wagon.  In a key moment between the warrior Achilles and the king Priam, their physical gesture of reconciliation is shown “Quietly, as they ate together, he and Achilles had discovered a kind of intimacy; wary at first, though also respectful” (p.198).

Taking a Chance – Choosing Action

The concept that humans have free will to act and should take opportunities as they come was foreign to the ancient Greeks, who believed that human life is governed by larger powers such as greater destiny or supernatural beings.  Malouf’s narrative allows each of these approaches to work in the story.  We see some of the characters decide to risk action and take a chance, yet they still accept the workings of fate and the interferences of the gods.  The novel invites the reader to ask questions about our own beliefs.  Should we believe in fate or chance?  How should a person decide?

Priam acts in an unexpected way to achieve a positive goal when he decides to follow chance rather than passive customs.  In doing so he must oppose those close to him who expect the king to always be predictable to “… follow convention, slip his arms into the sleeves of an empty garment and stand still”.  Instead Priam steps “… into a space that till now was uninhabited and found a way to fill it” (p.208-209).  He feels “bold” and “defiant” rather than passive and dismissive “sure of his decision” (p.49) to retrieve the body of his dead son Hector from the camp of his enemy Achilles.

Achilles’ reputation, well known throughout the territory, was capitalised by Patroclus to frighten the Trojans and inspire the Greeks to fight on.  Despite the years spent earning this reputation, this would not be what Achilles would be remembered for.  Malouf shows us the raw emotional side of Achilles with his grief for the death of Patroclus.  In fact by dragging the dead body of Hector each morning behind his chariot, Achilles “… breaks daily every rule [his men] … have been taught to live by.  Their only explanation is that he is mad” (p.29).  Achilles tells himself his “half-blind rage” is for Patroclus “But it is never enough.  That is what he feels.  That is what torments him” (p.33-34).  Releasing Hector’s body to Priam is his greatest challenge and act in the novel.  It is Achilles acceptance of his role as a hero-warrior that brings him peace in Part IV.

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Reputation as a Theme in The Crucible by Arthur Miller

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The Crucible by Arthur Miller

The Crucible

‘Reputation’ as a Theme in The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.  One of the most important themes in The Crucible is reputation.

In a theocratic society like Salem, where public and private moralities are one and the same, reputation plays such an important role.  Focused on maintaining public reputation, the townsfolk of Salem much fear that the sins of their friends and associates will taint their names.  Various characters base their actions on the desire to protect their respective reputations.  The protagonist John Proctor’s desire to keep his good name leads him to make the heroic choice not to make a false confession and to go to his death without signing his name to an untrue statement.

Quote of John Proctor in Act IV:

“Because it is my name!  Because I cannot have another in my life!  Because I lie and sign myself to lies!  Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name?  I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”

Explanation of Quote:

Proctor utters these lines at the end of the play, in Act IV, when he is wrestling with his conscience over whether to confess to witchcraft and thereby save himself from the gallows.  The judges and Hale have almost convinced him to do so, but the last stumbling block is his signature on the confession, which he cannot bring himself to give. In part, this unwillingness reflects his desire not to dis-honour his fellow prisoners: he would not be able to live with himself knowing that other innocents died while he quaked at death’s door and fled.

More importantly, it illustrates his obsession with his good name.  Early in the play, Proctor’s desire to preserve his good name keeps him from testifying against Abigail. Now, however, he has come to a true understanding of what a good reputation means and what course of action it necessitates—namely, that he tell the truth, not lie to save himself. “I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” he rages; this defense of his name enables him to muster the courage to die, heroically, with his goodness intact.

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Construction of Meaning & Structure in a Text

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Image result for pictures of writing in a book

This Resource is for students studying the Victorian VCE Curriculum.  For Year 11 and 12 Mainstream English students studying AOS1 Reading and Creating Texts as well as Reading and Comparing Texts it is important to write in your essays how the author constructs meaning and structure in a text.

HOW the Author Constructs Meaning and Structure in a Text

When reading texts to construct meaning, readers increase their understanding by recognising the craftsmanship of the writing and the choices the author made to portray the topic in a certain way.  Readers go beyond the literal [factual] meaning of the words to find significant and unstated meanings and authors rely on their reader’s ability to do so.  The reader’s mind then pieces together evidence to make sense of the text as a whole.

Essentially the reader needs to find out in the texts how the author:

  1. Sees something: their views ie. his/her opinion, perspective, way of thinking, impression or observation.
  2. Thinks about something: their values ie. his/her principles, morals, ethics or standards.
  3. Ways the author uses to construct the text:
  •      Type of text
  •      Setting
  •      Style of writing & language
  •      Narrative structure & plot
  •      Social/historical context
  •      Characters & their relationships
  •      Themes/issues/values
  •      Symbolism & imagery

WHY the author writes his text is his Purpose or Agenda

Depending on the purpose, authors may choose all different sorts of writing formats, genres and vernacular [language].  There are 3 main categories of author’s purpose:

  1. To Persuade = the author’s goal is to convince the reader to agree with the author.
  2. To Inform = the author’s goal is to enlighten the reader about real world topics and provide facts on those topics.
  3. To Entertain = authors write to entertain with a goal of telling a story.

Also consider the Big Picture behind Why the author wrote his/her story.

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Ways into Comparative Texts ‘The Penelopiad’ and ‘Photograph 51’

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Photograph 51 By Anna Ziegler

For Years 11 & 12 students in the Victorian Curriculum studying AOS1: Units 2 & 4 Reading and Comparing Texts with the pairing of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad and Anna Zielger’s Photograph 51 

Task Requirements for Units 2 & 4

The SAC task for Units 2 & 4 is to write an essay comparing two texts (1000 words in length).  Students must write an essay analysing the ways in which the two texts present ideas, issues and themes with similarities and differences chosen by the authors to convey particular perspectives.

Comparative Text Essay Structure to Follow

  1. Introduction = Main Contention & Message of Author/Director
  2. Body Paragraph 1 = Cause/Accept Prompt / Topic Sentence / Text 1 Evidence & Explanations / Transitional Sentence from Text 1 to Text 2 / Text 2 Evidence & Explanations / Link back to topic
  3. Body Paragraph 2 = Response/Develop Prompt Further / Topic Sentence / Text 1 Evidence & Explanations / Transitional Sentence from Text 1 to Text 2 / Text 2 Evidence & Explanations / Link back to topic
  4. Body Paragraph 3 = Consequences / Topic Sentence / Text 1 Evidence & Explanations / Transitional Sentence from Text 1 to Text 2 / Text 2 Evidence & Explanations / Link back to topic
  5. Conclusion = Sum up briefly / Message of Author/Director

Why Compare The Penelopiad and Photograph 51?

Both Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51 and Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad place a great value on the power of story and the importance of a woman’s perspective.  This is suggested by the lack of truth and visibility that have tended to omit women and their achievements from the books.  Ziegler’s play has sparked great interest in how and why important women have been forgotten or not celebrated, leading to settling for half-truths.  Atwood’s novella turns literary tradition on its head and empowers the usually silenced maids and long-suffering wife, Penelope.  Both texts lead the reader/audience to appreciate and question what the real truth really is, especially when everything has come from a male-dominant society.  These texts also challenge us to look at contemporary society and assess the current reality for women – is gender still a barrier? How? When? Why?  Both texts encourage us to examine and question everything we are told, to check for bias, distortion and deception.  Many more people in our society have realized that the truth is very subjective and stories have often been told to us from the perspective of the powerful.  There has been a greater emphasis placed on redressing this imbalance and presenting the voices of those who have been marginalised and/or forgotten.

Values of Atwood and Ziegler

Understanding the values embodied in the texts is important as authors use what they obtain from society, history and culture to influence their beliefs and opinions.  Both Atwood and Ziegler explore widespread misogyny [ingrained prejudice against women] and the ways in which women deal with such an environment. Make sure that your essay contains the ‘Message of Author’ for both texts.

Contemporary Feminist Viewpoint

Both authors have brought a contemporary feminist viewpoint to the task of re-framing narratives they consider misogynist.  Ziegler retells the history of the discovery of the structure of DNA to show it was a female scientist (Rosalind Franklin) whose work was central to winning the DNA scientific race.  Atwood retells a mythological story to give voices to Penelope and the poor marginalised maids.

Both texts interrogate the ways that women’s lives have been historically sidelined and their experiences ignored or dismissed in the past.  Both texts explore the idea that truth is not a fixed entity and that it changes depending on whose lens the events are viewed through.

Texts set in Different Eras

Atwood’s novella and Ziegler’s play are set in different eras, yet readers and audiences recognise the treatment and social expectations of women, gender relations, power and powerlessness, ambition and rivalry and the power of storytelling, that is still relevant today.  As contemporary writers they have crafted their narratives offering multiple perspectives by giving voice to those who have been previously silenced and power to the dis-empowered.

The Importance of the Maids’ Tales in The Penelopiad

Think about why Atwood uses Penelope’s story to tell another story within it (the story of the hanged maids).  Like a true sleuth Atwood explores and expands Homer’s text by giving her readers much more than just the masculine heroics of ‘The Odyssey’. She questions the subversive stories of ‘those naughty little jades” and through their songs and burlesque dramas Atwood speculates on what led to the hanging of the maids and what was Penelope really up to.

The maids haunt the narrative from beginning to end, undercutting Penelope’s confession, blaming her for their death and accusing her of repeated infidelities with the Suitors.  They maintain she connived in their hanging because they knew too much.  The maids refuse to be silenced thus transforming the novella into a polyphonic narrative where their dissident voices counter the authenticity of Penelope’s confession. In the end its the maids voices and not Penelope who have the last word.  They manage to defame the Homer monument to male heroism and female fidelity.

Consider this  – Is the hanging of the maids the main motive for Penelope’s narrative?

The Epigraphs in Photograph 51 – What do they mean?

The first Epigraph is from Ann Patchett’s novel ‘Run’  “Certain things exist outside of time.  It was ten years ago, it was this morning … It happened in the past and it was always happening”.  This suggests that the concept of time and memory are central in Photograph 51.  Time in the play seems elastic with the audience watching the characters in the present but knowing the events surrounding the discovery of the structure of DNA occurred in the 1950’s.  In effect time does not alter the past but can change how the past is seen.  Ziegler’s characters possess varying recollections of key events and the idea that memory is fallible.  “Wasn’t it the girl, after all, who had actually found the key to life?” makes us ask if the men who won the Nobel Prize for DNA even thought of Rosalind Franklin?

The second Epigraph is from Horace Judson’s ‘The Eighth Day of Creation’ “As scientists understand very well, personality has always been an inseparable part of their styles of inquiry”.  The troubled relationship between Rosalind and Wilkins provides a framework to the story of Photograph 51.  Rosalind’s abrupt, contradictory personality, along with her determination to work on her own, affects the working environment at Kings College.  Moreover, first impressions of Wilkins reveal him as sexist, assuming Rosalind will be his ‘assistant’ in ‘the study of the Signer DNA’.  Her response is to tell him clearly “Dr Wilkins, I will not be anyone’s assistant”.

Both The Penelopiad and Photograph 51 explore ideas about:

  1. Power in its various forms, including patriarchal power, power by possessing physical attractiveness, belonging to a particular race or class and supernatural power.
  2. Identity and its connections with physical appearance, self-perception and the expectations of others.
  3. Women’s roles/gender are shown in differing representations of the feminine in various types of characters, including maternal figures, wives, older women, young women and career women and the difficulties of being a woman in both ancient and modern times.
  4. Storytelling and the power of narrative is demonstrated in particular the liberating power of taking control of one’s own story in The Penelopiad for Penelope’s ability to spin her own ‘thread’. However, Rosalind in Photograph 51 who is isolated and vilified, is unable to take control of her narrative.
  5. Truth and Lies is shown as Atwood poses probable deceit by Odysseus as well as Penelope who told clever lies to manipulate others to get what they wanted or just simply to survive. Ziegler’s play suggests that it does matter who found the answer to DNA with Wilkin’s tacit approval of Crick and Watson’s use of Rosalind’s research data is shown in his comment that it doesn’t matter who found the answer.
  6. Personal Challenge by Penelope who must deal with her past trauma, her reserved personality and learning to manage her innate mistrust of others. Rosalind’s personal challenge was to be “always right” and this drove her to become a scientist who paid meticulous attention to detail.
  7. Responsibility for the maids’ death in The Penelopiad is unsure if Odysseus feels responsible but Atwood indicates that Penelope is “haunted” by their death and of her great affection for them. In Photograph 51 the responsibility, ethics and values of Wilkins, Watson and Crick in not acknowledging Rosalind’s research work is questioned and taking the acclaimed discovery of DNA for themselves with no apparent accountability.

Other Ideas, Issues and Themes to Consider

There are other ideas, issues and themes that you could consider such as life & death / performance elements / fulfilment / rumour & gossip / discovery / independence / humour / objectification of women / double standards & hypocrisy / disillusionment / loneliness and injustice.

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Reading & Comparing Texts

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This Resource is for Mainstream English students studying in the Victorian Curriculum in Years 11 & 12 for AOS 1 Reading and Comparing Texts.

Scope of the Task

In this area of study students explore the meaningful connections between two texts.  They analyse texts, including the interplay between character and setting, voice and structure, and how ideas, issues and themes are conveyed.  By comparing the texts, they gain a deeper understanding of the ideas, issues and themes that reflect the world and human experiences.

Students produce a written analysis comparing selected texts, discussing important similarities and differences and exploring how the texts deal with similar or related ideas, issues or themes from different perspectives to reflect particular values.  

60 marks are allocated to this task with a suggested essay of up to 1000 words

What is the best structure for the Comparative Essay?

Before Writing the Essay

  • Read the prompt question carefully
  • Use your Dictionary to define strategic words in the prompt
  • If there is a quote or 2 quotes in the prompt work out who said it and in what context – you must refer to the quote/s in one of your body paragraphs and explain its relevance
  • Understand what the prompt question is asking you – is it Discuss / To what extent? / Do you Agree?
  • Never use 1st person (I agree) always write from the viewpoint of the Author/Text = The author endorses the view that / The text supports the view that / These characters reflect the author’s view that

Comparative Text Essay Structure using TEEL

  1. Introduction = Main Contention & Message of Author/Director
  2. Body Paragraph 1 = Cause/Accept Prompt / Topic Sentence / Text 1 Evidence & Explanations / Transitional Sentence from Text 1 to Text 2 / Text 2 Evidence & Explanations / Link back to topic
  3. Body Paragraph 2 = Response/Develop Prompt Further / Topic Sentence / Text 1 Evidence & Explanations / Transitional Sentence from Text 1 to Text 2 / Text 2 Evidence & Explanations / Link back to topic
  4. Body Paragraph 3 = Consequences / Topic Sentence / Text 1 Evidence & Explanations / Transitional Sentence from Text 1 to Text 2 / Text 2 Evidence & Explanations / Link back to topic
  5. Conclusion = Sum up briefly / Message of Author/Director

What is a ‘Transitional Sentence’ between Text 1 & Text 2 in Body Paragraphs?

Using the comparative texts of ‘The Penelopiad’ by Margaret Atwood and ‘Photograph 51’ by Anna Ziegler as an example, look carefully at the way the paragraph is constructed with a ‘transitional sentence’ that explains the similarity or difference between the two texts and enables a smooth transition from text 1 to text 2. This paragraph is a very brief example only and should be developed further with more evidence and explanations if students are writing this as a comparative essay.

Sample Brief Body Para 1 = Main Contention = Both Penelope and Rosalind’s subjugation result from a discriminatory patriarchal mentality

Transitional sentence is colour coded in Red Text

(Topic Sentence) The subjugation of women in The Penelopaid and Photograph 51 is caused by a discriminatory patriarchal mentality.  (Text 1) When Penelope is 15, Icarius hands her over “like a package of meat” to Odysseus.  Although he behaves as if he reciprocates her love, Odysseus also terrifies her by threatening to cut her “into little pieces” if she is unfaithful.  This illustrates the power of men in ancient Greece to intimidate women into succumbing to their control.  (Transitional sentence) While Penelope is threatened by violence and physical danger, Rosalind is exposed to more psychological forms of intimidation.  (Text 2) Rosalind is barred from the “men only” common room where “scientific discoveries are made over lunch”.  Furthermore, she is called “Miss” instead of “Dr Franklin” by her male colleagues which is intentionally belittling.  The repeated word “beat” in the stage directions also signals the continual awkwardness and tension as Rosalind refuses to stay silent and submissive.  (Link Sentence Back to Topic) While the patriarchy prevents Rosalind from attaining her “rightful place in history”, it does not render her entirely voiceless until the afterlife like Penelope.

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Poetry Analysis Step by Step

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Why Read Poems?

Some people say they don’t like poetry, it’s boring or they don’t understand it.  I think poetry is more like a song, the more you hear it the more you like it.  The words are very similar to poetry; in fact we can break down the verses of songs and see the meaning as poetry.

Poetry doesn’t have to be boring; it can also be funny like limericks.

Start with a Step by Step Analysis

Have a look at this Poetry Analysis Step by Step Flow Chart in PowerPoint to show you the way to read and understand a poem.  Follow it below as well with a full explanation of the Poetry Analysis Step by Step.

Poetry Analysis flow chart

1. Read a poem 2 or 3 times

Each time you read a poem you notice different things

When you read the poem a second time you pick up on ideas and themes that you may have missed the first time you read it.  Also the poet can have ideas hidden just below the surface of the words and as you read it again, the new ideas can jump out.

2. Paraphrase the poem by stanza next to the original text

Writing it in your own words is a good idea to make sense of the poem, so you know what it means in simple terms

Stanza means the verses of the poem just like a song

How the poet organises the stanzas in a poem is often an important aspect of the poem’s structure.  Nothing in a poem is by accident.  Poets choose their words carefully as well as giving careful thought to the form and layout of the poem.  You should ask yourself why the poet has done this or that because there will be a reason and there is an effect for everything in a poem.

3. Answer the 5 W’s

Who? Who is the poet referring to?

What? What is the poem about?

Why? Why is the poet writing about it?

When? When is the poem set, the time period?

Where? Where is the poem, the place the poet is taking about, the setting?

4. Identify the theme, message or topic

What is the poet trying to say? What is the poet’s message in the poem?

What is the point? Is the poet trying to make a specific point in the poem?

5. Identify and Highlight Examples of Literary Techniques

Simile

Definition: Simile is when you compare two nouns (persons, places or things) that are unlike, with “like” or “as.” “The water is like the sun.”  “The water is like the sun” is an example of simile because water and the sun have little in common, and yet they’re being compared to one another. The “is” is also part of what makes this stanza an example of simile. “The rain falls like the sun,rising upon the mountains.”

Metaphor

When something is described in terms of something else, ‘her eyes are the stars in the sky’ is a metaphor as one thing her eyes is being described in terms of another thing the stars. Metaphors are comparisons that show how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way. Metaphors are a way to describe something. Authors use them to make their writing more interesting or entertaining. Unlike similes that use the words “as” or “like” to make a comparison, metaphors state that something is something else.

Imagery

Poets use words to create images in your mind.

Alliteration

This is the repetition of a consonant sound in the words.  For example slippery slithering snake is alliteration.

Personification

This is where human qualities or emotions are given to non human things.  The wind howled in agony all day.  He gazed at the angry sea.

Tone

The overall mood of the poem, the emotions can be sad, optimistic, solemn.

Point of View

From what point of view is the poet writing.

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Poetry of Robert Frost

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Robert Frost

Robert Frost

Frosts poetry is a Metaphor for the ways in which we make sense of our lives

The ways in which people develop their imaginative landscapes, their attitudes and values and how they respond to the world around them are influenced by their sense of place.  In analysing texts the landscape may be seen in literal or metaphorical terms.  Places where we have lived and people we have lived with contribute to our outlook on life and how we respond to particular situations.  For some people these memories stay with them throughout life.  The imaginative landscape derives from the diversity of these experiences over the years.  The physical landscape of a person’s life forms a literal and metaphorical yardstick with which to measure the passage of time and the acquisition of personal characteristics.  The physical becomes intertwined with their imaginative landscape.

Robert Frost’s Imaginative Landscape

Encompasses both the beauty and dark side of the land and of human nature.  While his love of the natural world is evident, inspiring him as a poet and a person, he does not romanticize it, rather he imbues it with strong moral tones, reflecting in his love of rural America.

As well as describing the physical world, Frost is also preoccupied with how the human figures are placed in the landscape and in time.  His characters are aware of where they have come from and their history.  They move in time from the past but also encompass the future.  Frost’s imaginative landscape helps us to construct versions of ourselves by exploring where and who we have come from and who we might become.

‘The Road Not Taken’ Poem by Robert Frost

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The speaker stands in the woods, considering a fork in the road.  Both ways are equally worn and equally overlaid with un-trodden leaves.  The speaker chooses one, telling himself that he will take the other another day.  Yet he knows it is unlikely that he will have the opportunity to do so.  He admits that someday in the future he will recreate the scene with a slight twist, he will claim that he took the less-travelled road.

One of the attractions of this poem is its archetypal dilemma, one that we instantly recognise because each of us encounters it numberable times, both literally and figuratively.  Paths in the woods and forks in the roads are ancient and deep-seated metaphors for life, its crises and decisions.  Identical forks, in particular, symbolise for us the nexus of free will and fate.  We are free to choose, but we do not really know beforehand what we are choosing between.  Our route is, thus, determined by an accretion of choice and chance, and it is impossible to separate the two.

The Fourth Stanza Holds the Key to the Poem with 2 Tricky Words

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference”.

Those who interpret this poem as suggesting non-conformity take the word “difference” to be a positive difference.  There is nothing in the poem that suggests that this difference signals a positive outcome.  The speaker could not offer such information, because he has not lived the “difference” yet.

The other word that leads non-discerning readers astray is the word “sigh”.  By taking “difference” to mean a positive difference, they think that the sigh is one of nostalgic relief.  However, a sigh can also mean regret.  There is the “oh, dear” kind of sigh, but also the “what a relief” kind of sigh.  Which one is it?  We do not know.

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If the the sigh is one of relief, then the difference means the speaker is glad he took the road he did.  If the sigh is one of regret, then the difference would not be good, and the speaker would be sighing in regret.  The speaker of the poem does not even know the nature of that sigh because that sigh and his evaluation of the difference his choice will make are still in the future.  It is a truism that any choice we make is going to make “all the difference” in how our future turns out.

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Brief Synopsis of ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens

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What is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens about?

Set in the 1840s on Christmas Eve, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens chronicles the personal transformation of the protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge, the proprietor of a London counting house.  A wealthy, elderly man, Scrooge is considered miserly and misanthropic: he has no wife or children; he throws out two men collecting for charity; he bullies and underpays his loyal clerk, Bob Cratchit; and he dismisses the Christmas dinner invitation of his kind nephew, Fred.  Moreover, Scrooge is a strong supporter of the Poor Law of 1834, which allowed the poor to be interned in workhouses.

As he prepares for bed on Christmas Eve in his solitary, dark chambers, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former partner, Jacob Marley.  In life Marley was very similar in attitude and temperament to Scrooge: remote, cruel, and parsimonious.  In death he has learned the value of compassion and warns Scrooge to reform his ways before it is too late.  Marley announces that Scrooge will be visited by three more specters: the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come.

The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge back to his unhappy childhood, revealing that the young boy’s experiences with poverty and abandonment inspired a desire to succeed and gain material advantage.  Unfortunately, Scrooge’s burgeoning ambition and greed destroyed his relationship with his fiancée and his friends.

The Ghost of Christmas Present is represented by a hearty, genial man who reminds Scrooge of the joy of human companionship, which he has rejected in favor of his misanthropic existence.

Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears in a dark robe and shrouded in mystery.  Silently, the ghost reveals the ambivalent reaction to news of Scrooge’s own death. Scrooge realizes that he will die alone and without love, and that he has the power and money to help those around him – especially Bob Cratchit’s ailing son, Tiny Tim.  Scrooge begs the ghost for another chance and wakes in his bed on Christmas morning, resolved to changing his life by being generous and loving to his family, employees, and the poor.

Classifying A Christmas Carol

For some readers A Christmas Carol resonates as a gothic ghost story, at times chilling and terrifying and at other times, extremely funny.  Other readers see the story as a time travel narrative.  Dickens in effect blended realism and the supernatural to create a world in which the gothic and the mundane sit side by side.  Dickens himself said he was here taking old nursery tales and “giving them a higher form” (Stone, Harry 1999, ‘A Christmas Carol: Giving Nursery Tales a Higher Form’).  With its dark, chilly setting and its supernatural visitors, A Christmas Carol draws on elements of the gothic novel when Scrooge’s door-knocker turns into Jacob Marley’s face.  The narrator provides a number of descriptions in which gothic elements are interwoven with freezing, icy imagery to emphasise the atmosphere of mystery and to remind us of the protagonist’s icy heart.

A Christmas Carol as a Cultural Myth

According to Juliet John, A Christmas Carol has become a “cultural myth” providing “a parable for the modern, commercial age” (John, Juliet 2011, ‘Dickens and Mass Culture’).  As a morality tale, in which evil is exposed, virtuous characters like the Cratchits are rewarded, and everyone celebrates at the conclusion.  However, there are issues raised in A Christmas Carol that remain unresolved at the conclusion of the novel. The sinister children of Want and Ignorance, do not go away just because Scrooge has been reformed, but the narrator tells us nothing of their future.  Their role is more allegorical than that of other characters. Dickens uses them as an important warning to his readers and to Scrooge as the frighteningly ugly face of 19th century poverty.  Unless social reform takes place urgently, Want and Ignorance will grow into hungry, resentful predators.  The fact that Dickens even raised the issue of the miserable lives of street children at all marks an important attempt by him to make his readers ponder their own social responsibilities.

Historical Context of A Christmas Carol 

While A Christmas Carol is primarily received as a ghost story, it is also a damning expose of social inequality in 1840’s Britain.  Dickens was deeply agitated by what he perceived as the inertia of the British government and wealthy middle classes to help those less fortunate than themselves.  A Christmas Carol was written at the beginning of the ‘Hungry Forties’ a period that encompassed the catastrophic Irish potato famine, as well as intense suffering for the English working classes.  Dickens uses A Christmas Carol to not only attack the Utilitarian philosophy of Jeremy Bentham, who justified the centralisation of Poor Relief in workhouses, but also to lambast the work of Thomas Malthus in his Essay on the Principle of Population.  Whilst in abstract these principles might seem logical, when applied to suffering individuals, their underlying brutality becomes obvious.

Ebenezer Scrooge

For most readers Scrooge represents the worst charactertistics of his society.  Fixated with material goods at the expense of all human connection, particularly with his clerk Bob Cratchit, Scrooge is an allegorical embodiment of the forces of capitalism underpinning Britian’s economy in the 1840’s.  For Dickens, he represented everything that was wrong with society in an increasingly industrialised world where human relations took second place to profits.

Dualism in Dicken’s Writing

The world of the early Dickens is organized according to a dualism which is based in its artistic derivation on the values of melodrama: there are bad people and there are good people, there are comics and there are characters played straight. The only complexity of which Dickens is capable is to make one of his noxious characters become wholesome, one of his clowns turn out to be a serious person. The most conspicuous example of this process is the reform of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol shows the phenomenon in its purest form.

We have come to take Scrooge so much for granted that he seems practically a piece of Christmas folklore; we no more inquire seriously into the mechanics of his transformation than we do into the transformation of the Beast into the young prince that marries Beauty in the fairy tale. Yet Scrooge represents a principle fundamental to the dynamics of Dickens’ world and derived from his own emotional constitution – though the story, of course, owes its power to the fact that most of us feel ourselves capable of the extremes of both malignity and benevolence.

Redemption in A Christmas Carol 

Can A Christmas Carol be seen as a tale about redemption in a man who has ostracized himself from his society?  While the narrative is focused on Ebenezer Scrooge’s learning experiences and his reintegration into the community, his story also forms part of a broader allegory through which Dickens invites his readers to consider Christmas as a time of renewal and hope and to think about how they themselves might redeem and be redeemed.

The ‘Scrooge Problem’ – the Questioning of Scrooge’s Transformation

Elliot L. Gilbert’s essay: ‘The Ceremony of Innocence: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol’ addresses ‘the Scrooge problem’, that is, the critical tradition of questioning the sincerity of Scrooge’s sudden transformation from being mean-spirited to kind-hearted.  Gilbert admits that his support for Scrooge’s change of heart is not free from doubt, as similarly to House and Johnston, he feels that the ease of Scrooge’s alteration is questionable. Furthermore, to accept the overnight metamorphosis of a man who has spent a lifetime bullying clerks, revelling in misanthropy and grinding the faces of the poor, is ‘to deny all that life teaches in favour of sentimental wishful thinking.’

Gilbert’s essay provides a new hypotheses to explain the reader’s misgivings regarding the plausibility of Scrooge’s radical conversion; he is merely returning to his childhood innocence. He explains why he views A Christmas Carol to be metaphysical; it is because it portrays the journey of a human being trying to rediscover his own childhood innocence. Such innocence Gilbert claims is evident in Scrooge’s encounter with the ghost of Christmas past, when Dickens has Scrooge’s fiancé break off their engagement, because the man she sees before her is not the man she first knew. Here, he reveals that Scrooge was not always bitter and mercenary, and therefore not so different from the man we are shown at the end of the novel. Thus, Scrooge’s new self is believable as it is in part his old self.

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