This Resource is for Year 12 Students studying the VCE Curriculum in Victoria and who are preparing revision for the Year 12 English Exam on Tuesday 28^th October, 2025.

Revision Strategies

There is no doubt that everyone learns and studies differently and the best revision plan is to find what works for you and not anyone else.  The important element in revision is to start planning on the September school holidays and your revision then should continue when you return to school for Term 4 for the last 3 weeks. 

Don’t leave your revision until the week before the English Exam. Unless you have a photographic memory, and not many people do, you will be just cramming knowledge into your head and possibly confusing yourself instead of using a sustained revision plan.

My Suggested Revision Plan is:

1. Re-read the texts again from Reading & Creating Texts – if one of your texts is a film, then watch the film again
2. Read past exam papers from VCAA with the Assessor’s comments for Sections A & C and look carefully at the high-level essays and what the Assessors said about why they were of a high standard. https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/vce-assessment/past-examinations/Page
3. Hand-write your notes, don’t type them, then you can practice writing as the Exam is 3 hours of writing so you need to build up your hand writing skills.
4. For each text or film start with summarising the plot / characters / themes / ideas / values of the authors/directors / narrative structure / language / symbols & motifs / film techniques / memorise at least 10 quotes from each text under themes.
5. Look at as many prompts for essays as possible.  I suggest you look at resources such as Insight / VATE / NEAP / ATAR for prompts on topics you have not written essays on before.
6. Plan an essay topic – then walk away and come back later to hand-write the essay without looking at your plan.  Make sure you stick to the 1-hour time limit.  Put your mobile phone timer on and keep to the time.  Then get your Plan out and see if you missed important issues in your essay.  That means you need to learn those elements carefully (self-assessment).
7. You will have sat a Trial Exam from school either in the last week of Term 3 or one of the weeks over the September school holidays. This is a good dry run for how you will be prepared for the real exam in October. Make sure you take note of the Assessor’s comments for each section when you get your Trial Exam paper back. If there are problems, such as in Section B not sticking to the framework or not incorporating the title and stimulus into your piece, then address these issues NOW.
8. Don’t try to write several 3-hour exams – it is better to break the essays up into 3 separate hours – if you keep on sitting 3 hours exams you can burn out by the time the exam takes place.  Please don’t do this.  Think more holistically about your own brain and body and then you will not stress or burn out before the exams. When you feel more confident then sit a 3-hour trial exam.

The English Exam

Consists of 3 Sections that takes 3 hours to complete (plus 15 minutes reading time at the start of the exam).  Make sure you have a watch that you can put on the table and note the times you will use for each essay – 1 hour each.  To score well in the exam you need to demonstrate your skills and knowledge in each of the Sections.  Section A will be knowledge and understanding with analysis of the topic prompt for your single text studied.  Section B will be writing a creative piece that meets the criteria for your specific Crafting & Creating Texts Frameworks. Section C will be understanding of the arguments presented and language and visual features presented to persuade.

My suggested plan to attack the Exam is:

1. During the 15 minutes reading time:
   1. Go to Section A and look at the 2 prompts.  Pick one that you are familiar with the topic and in a brief 2 minutes plan what you will write for the essay in your head.
   2. Go next to Section B and look at the titles and stimulus statements relevant to your Crafting Text Framework.  In a brief 2 minutes plan in your head how you will incorporate the title and stimulus statement into your creative writing you have pre-prepared for the exam.
   3. Go lastly to Section C and read the ‘Background Box’ on the first page and then read the article for a first reading.  Next reading look at where the Main Contention is and the arguments and language around the arguments.  Pay attention to the author and the title, tone and if it changes, persuasive techniques and how they are used by the author to position readers and pay close attention to the intention to persuade.  If there are visuals look at where they are placed in the article and what argument are they next to.  Establish the main contention of the visual and how it aligns with the author’s article.
2. When the 15 minutes reading time is up and you can ‘pick up your pens’:
   1. Go to Section A and pick that prompt you decided on – take 3 minutes to write a brief plan (which you had thought of in your head in the reading time and now you can write the plan properly) that includes your 3 ideas from the prompt – at least at this stage the plan will still be in your head and will definitely help when you get to Section A – don’t write anything else or waste too much time at this stage
   2. Go to Section B and note the title and pick the stimulus statement you decided on – take 3 minutes to write a brief plan how you will incorporate the title and stimulus statement into your pre-prepared piece (which you had thought of in your head in the reading time and now you can write the plan properly) – at least at this stage the plan will still be in your head and will definitely help when you get to Section B – don’t write anything else or waste too much time at this stage
   3. Go back to Section C and read the article again, this time with your pen, annotating the arguments (MC= Main Contention / A1 = Argument 1 etc), language, techniques and how the author positions the readers to Think (Logos) / Feel (Pathos) / Do (Ethos) something.
   4. Keep to the time for each essay and try to not go ‘overboard’ with Section C first and cut yourself short for the other 2 essays.  Check your watch, have you stayed within the first hour so you can then go on to Section A and write that essay, check your watch again, then go on to Section B and write that creative piece. OR Write your Section B piece after Section C as you know it well and you can write it faster than an essay from your text in Section A. This plan is entirely your choice as to what works for you.
   5. If you finish ahead of the 3 hours, go back to each piece of writing and make sure you have written a proper Conclusion for Section A.  If you are short of time when writing the essay in Section A then dot point your Conclusion.  At least the Assessors will know what you wanted to say for your Conclusion.  If you have an empty space, the Assessors can’t mind read what you wanted to conclude.

TO ALL MY YEAR 12 STUDENTS I HAVE TUTORED THIS YEAR

ALL THE VERY BEST FOR THE EXAMS

IT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE TO TEACH YOU

All Resources created by englishtutorlessons.com.au Online Tutoring using Zoom for Year 12 VCE Mainstream English Students in the Victorian Curriculum

Are you a Maths and Science loving student for whom English is a weak point? 

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My knowledge of the texts for years 11 & 12 is comprehensive.  This knowledge will help you to explore the depth of skills required for Units 1 & 2 for Year 11 and Units 3 & 4 for Year 12 with Crafting Texts,  Creating Texts Frameworks and Reading & Responding to Texts in 2025.

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My Melbourne based online English tutoring service provides the one-on-one attention that may be missing from school. 

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 English does not have to be difficult 

Using a tutor can help.  With a strong grasp of English you can enhance your academic performance across many other subjects and this knowledge will transfer into your further studies and future career paths.

 Would you like to know what makes a good essay? 

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Are you stressed about writing essays for Units 1-2 and 3 Creating Texts & Unit 4 Reading & Responding to Texts? 

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Do you need help in Analysing Argument in Years 11 and 12 English?

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Contact me to discuss a tailor-made program just for you:

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This Resource is for students studying ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ play by William Shakespeare in Analytical Text Response, in the Victorian VCE Mainstream English Curriculum

Human Emotion and Psychology

Usually classified as a romantic comedy, William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is both a love story and a ‘much darker and stranger play’ (Dobson 2011/The Guardian).  The play is a study in human behaviour, of psychological power and abuse; it is a critique of social structures; it hides some of the ugliness of human behaviour behind a veil of light comedy, ambiguity and fast-paced wit.

In the process of all of this, the plot of Much Ado About Nothing also just happens to include two budding romances built on the tenuous grounds of perception and deception.  In exploring human emotion and psychology, Shakespeare draws ambiguous connections between love and loathing, desire and distrust, union and destruction, honesty and deception, trust and doubt, malice and forgiveness.  Shakespeare’s pairing of antithetical themes in Much Ado About Nothing highlights how people can be inconsistent in their approach to relationships and romantic unions, deceiving themselves as well as others.  

The Fatal Flaw

Much Ado About Nothing also explores desire, and people’s need for reciprocal love; how we respond when we believe we have attained love, and how we rail at our (sometimes perceived) rejection.  Shakespeare’s contrast of the relationship between Hero and Claudio with that of Beatrice and Benedick suggests that genuine affection only comes from seeing your partner as a whole person: flawed, the product of their environment or context, and with strengths and charms.  Many of Shakespeare’s characters have this ‘fatal flaw’, a defect in their personality, that taken to extreme, can lead to their downfall.  Each character has their own ‘fatal flaw’ that shines light on some of the darker characteristics of humanity.

Marriage According to Beatrice & Benedick

Beatrice and Benedick do not simply revile marriage for the sake of being contrarians; such a justification would be disappointing in otherwise complex and interesting characters.  They are older and they lack the social status of other characters such as Hero and Claudio; they see the absence of meaning in life and therefore in marriage, yet they enjoy the cut and thrust of their intelligent witticisms.  They understand that marriage does not augment their enjoyment of life or contribute to some greater existential meaning. 

That Shakespeare’s characters, at times unknowingly, make much ado about nothing perhaps reflects the playwright’s view that life is ultimately pointless.  Benedick’s conclusive justification for requiting Beatrice’s alleged love is that ‘the world must be peopled’ (II.iii.p.61), and the song of Balthasar ‘Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more’ exhorts the ladies merely to: … be you blithe and bonny, Converting all your sounds of woe, Into hey nonny nonny (II.iii.p.53).  The song addresses the main manipulators of trickery and deceit, the men.

Perspective of the Text – Romantic or Cynic?

Beatrice & Benedick

There are two broad ways of experiencing Much Ado About Nothing: as the romantic and as the cynic [sceptic].  One need not wholly subscribe to only one or the other.  Looking at the 2 relationships, it is easy to view Hero and Claudio in a cynical manner and for Beatrice and Benedick, a more romantic view.  Beatrice and Benedick’s love is so pure because it comes without the baggage of inheritance and class, and the false notions of romance which conceal obligation.  Their cutting remarks have stripped each other and they have nothing left to hide.  Beatrice gives as good as she gets when it comes to the sort of male banter Benedick engages in.  Here is a couple who will argue, they will not grind their lives away under the deceptively heavy shade of pleasantries and a false concern for the other’s feelings which in truth is used simply to avoid conflict; Benedick and Beatrice need not fear conflict, they thrive off it.

Claudio & Hero

Interpretations of the values and attitudes surrounding the relationship between Claudio and Hero are much more ambiguous.  Given that ‘Shakespeare takes shape through our interpretations’, how do we interpret the easy susceptibility of the Count, the Prince and the Governor to the malignant trickery of the Prince’s ‘bastard brother’ Don John?  One interpretation is that Claudio’s behaviour is unforgivably unacceptable.  (For a contemporary #MeToo audience, so he gets off far too lightly).  Another is that it is patriarchal social values that are at fault, and another that the fault lies with codes of masculinity in which male bonding is cemented with misogynist jokes and banter.

Or perhaps the shocking metaphorical ‘death’ of Hero is generated by the ‘comedy’ of mistaken perception, and we forgive the gentlemen their bad behaviour because the near-tragedy is a plot device, a structural necessity of the romantic comedy genre.  However, no reading of the play can excuse the brutality of [Claudio’s] treatment of Hero, but the conventional comic action does demand that he be forgiven.

Title of the Play

The title of the play is open to various interpretations.  The most straightforward explanation; that much ado is made over allegations that hold nothing of the truth, suggests the play is a comment on people’s rash judgment and disproportionate responses, particularly to gossip.  This relates to the interpretation which replaces ‘Nothing’ in the title with ‘Noting’, a near homophone and colloquialism for ‘noticing’ or ‘gossip’, which connects the title to both pairs of lovers: Beatrice and Benedick base their conscious acceptance of their feelings on overheard misinformation, and Claudio is twice deceived by the snake-like whisperings of Don John, comments that the play is ‘most appositely titled’ because of its reference to the ‘nothingness’ of life.

Style of the Play – Comedy or Tragedy?

While all stories, even comedic ones, need some kind of complication and climax, Shakespeare certainly puts the drama in dramatic structure.  He heightens the climax of Much Ado About Nothing to the point where it could have toppled into tragedy.  This sets the play apart in the world of comedy, as the stakes are so high and dire circumstance so nearly realised; though it begins and ends with merry wit, there are dark issues explored as the life-threatening action of the play takes place.

Analytical Text Prompts

1. What role do deceptions play in Much Ado About Nothing?
2. How does Shakespeare present love and marriage in the play?
3. In Act 2, Scene 1 (p.43) “Come, you shake the head”.  How does Shakespeare present Don Pedro in this extract and elsewhere in the play?
4. How does a modern context affect our interpretation of the Hero-Claudio relationship?
5. “I will assume thy part in some disguise/ And tell fair Hero I am Claudio” (i.i.p.17 Don Pedro).  We accept the deceptions in the play because mostly the characters’ intentions are benign.  To what extent do you agree?
6. How does Shakespeare use comedy in Much Ado About Nothing to explore serious themes and values?
7. “… yet sinned I not/ But in mistaking.”  Forgiveness is too freely given in Much Ado About Nothing.  Discuss.
8. Much Ado About Nothing is a joyful play which celebrates human relationships.  Do you agree?
9. The women in Much Ado About Nothing are the true holders of power.  Discuss.
10. Shakespeare’s characters hide their insecurities behind innuendo and metaphor.  Discuss with reference to at least three characters in Much Ado About Nothing.
11. Don John is the only example of authenticity in Much Ado About Nothing; all the other characters wear masks of some sort, at some time in the play.  Do you agree?
12. “I speak not like a dotard, nor a fool/ As under privilege of age to brag” (v.i.p.133 Leonato).  It is their privilege that makes the behaviour of characters in Much Ado About Nothing all the more reprehensible.  Discuss.
13. Much Ado About Nothing is supposedly a comedy but the play contains many darker, more tragic elements than a typical comedy.  In what ways is this play tragic?
14. A central theme in the play is trickery or deceit, whether for good or evil purposes.  How does deceit function in the world of the play, and how does it help the play comment on theatre in general?
15. Language in Much Ado About Nothing often takes the form of brutality and violence. “She speaks poniards, and every word stabs,” complains Benedick of Beatrice (II.i.p.37).  What does the proliferation of all this violent language signify in the play and the world outside it?
16. In some ways, Don Pedro is the most elusive character in the play.  Why would Shakespeare create a character like Don Pedro for his comedy about romantic misunderstandings?
17. In this play, accusations of unchaste and untrustworthy behaviour can be just as damaging to a woman’s honour as such behaviour itself.  What could Shakespeare be saying about the difference between male and female honour?’

All Resources created by englishtutorlessons.com.au Online Tutoring using Zoom for Mainstream English Students in the Victorian VCE Curriculum

This Resource is for students studying ‘False Claims of Colonial Thieves’ poetry collection by poets John Kinsella and Charmaine Papertalk Green in the Victorian VCE Curriculum.

The Title ‘False Claims of Colonial Thieves’

Refers to the legacy and residue of past wrongs carried out by colonialism that the poets consider were literally ‘colonial thieves’ robbing the Indigenous people of their land under the guise of Terra Nullius [land legally deemed to be unoccupied or uninhabited].  The ‘false claims’ of the title are revealed as colonial misinformation which white-washes the crimes of the past.

The Poets

John Kinsella                  Born in 1963 in WA is non-Indigenous man who has Anglo-Celtic origins and has written over 30 books based on the WA landscape, colonisation, mining, family and conservation.  He supports Indigenous rights, land rights and says he is a ‘vegan anarchist pacifist’.  His dedication is to Kim Scott a prize-winning WA Indigenous author of ‘That Deadman Dance’.

Charmaine Papertalk Green        Born in 1962 in WA is an Indigenous Yamaji woman who speaks Badimaya and Wajarri.  ‘Papertalk’ is her mother’s maiden name.  Her message is to restore her ancestors’ histories and stories as ‘paper talks everywhere now’.  She exposes the concept of colonisation through her lived experiences and family stories.  Her dedication is to her brothers who died to cast relief on Aboriginal mortality rates that are 11.5 years lower than white males.

Both Poets want to know “Who are the real rulers of Australia?”

The collection of poetry identifies itself as political and a serious postcolonial discussion of two poets collaborating to warn of environmental impacts of mining and to track the relationship of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in regards to ‘country’.  They both actively interrogate injustices, cultural cruelty, cultural genocide and the pain left behind by colonisation.  They seek to challenge the myth of Terra Nullius and rewrite the colonial history of Australia by identifying the colonists not as heroic adventurers into an uninhabited new land, but as plunderers.  Through their poems they question the dominant narrative and its instruments of power that fog and irradiate [expose] a land of ‘invisible victims’.

The Ambition of the Collection

The ambition of the collection is the ‘beautiful conversation’ (‘Simply Yarning’ p.97) which is proudly postcolonial; from its title to its references, it invites readers to move beyond the constricting myths of the colonial past and into a more equitable future.

The Structure of the Text

The structure of both the collection and the individual poems is an important part of ‘False Claims’. The collection begins and ends with poems written by the two authors together, ‘Prologue’ by Kinsella and ‘Prologue Response’ by Green which appear on the same page and ‘Epilogue’ which is attributed to the poets jointly.  There is thus established a sense of the combined purpose and project of the collection which frames the text, so that even in those sections when there are several poems by one poet, before Kinsella’s voice is again heard, the collaborative nature of the text cannot be forgotten.

‘Prologue’ and ‘Prologue Response’

The repeated language in ‘Prologue’ and ‘Prologue Response’ reinforces the shared project of the poets.  This is most clearly apparent in the repeated bitter accusations of negligent ‘environmental scientists’, but it is also evident in the echoed notion of unthinking and unsustainable consumption, appearing in the metaphoric [symbolic] ‘on a platter’ in the first poem, and the more literal ‘plastic bottle’ of the second.

The first poem by Kinsella is longer, the lines are extended, and the text is broken into two verses.  The second poem by Green focuses on the obliviousness of the general population raised by Kinsella with the line ‘Stygofauna speak up through the land; some listen, more don’t’ (p.xi).  Green repeats the idea of ‘blindness’ through her shorter, more abrupt and accusatory poem, condemning those who refuse to see beyond their ‘privilege’.  The structure of these poems, both as they complement each other and as they differ, is a useful reference point for ‘False Claims’.  Kinsella and Green share some views, and each poet operates within the context of contemporary poetry, but they are not the same.  Green’s poetry is more direct, and her tone is more often angry.  Kinsella is more regretful and more likely to consider institutional causes of social and environmental malaise [sickness], rather than referring to personal responsibility.

Language and Style

• Call and response—the whole collection exists as a dialogue between the poets as they negotiate the ‘third space’ of shared understanding.  Some of the poems speak directly to each other, and some poems are written in parts, which the poets write in sequence.
• Colloquial (Australian) language (including expletives)—both poets sometimes use recognisably Australian language features in their poems, which creates authenticity in dialogue, and functions to locate the poetry in its Australian regional context.
• Dedications—the collection and some of the poems are committed to the honour of particular people or peoples.  Like titles, these dedications can provide insight into the focus and ‘agenda’ of poems and poets.
• Ekphrastic [work of art]—both JK and CPG respond to artworks in poems, a clear knowledge of the artworks (where possible) will assist in understanding these poems.
• Enjambement—when sentences in poems run over lines, a sense of inevitability can be created, either positively or negatively.  Both poets use this style feature in some of their poems, and significance of run-on lines should be considered.
• Intertextuality—both poets refer to other texts in some poems, notably in ‘The Wild Colonial Boy’ (pp.135-137 / ‘A White Colonial Boy’ pair (pp.138-140).  As well as placing their works into the wider community of poetry and literature, these references indicate the power of texts to shape attitudes.
• Line breaks, stanzas and stanza breaks—indicated with a ‘/’ in quotation, are strategically used by both the poets to create either continuity and flow in poems, or disjointedness and discontinuity.
• Non-Standard English—CPG particularly uses some non-Standard English phrases of spoken Indigenous English, recognising the validity of this patois.
• Pun—the poets, particularly JK, play with words, linking distinct ideas together, challenging assumptions, and creating irony.
• Punctuation / lack of punctuation—JK is strategic in the way he deploys punctuation in some of his poems; reading aloud and following punctuation cues will help recognise the strategic ways in which the poet shapes his longer sentences. CPG often writes without punctuation, depending on rhythm and line breaks to shape the reading experience; this can often create a sense of uncontrolled urgency in her poetry.
• Repetition—both poets use repetition throughout their poetry to create emphasis and sometimes to enhance rhythm; significantly both poets sometimes repeat a line or series of lines from the other poet, indicating their co-operation in the construction of the collection, but also suggesting alternative perspectives to an idea.
• Rhyme—although the poets write largely in free verse, both internal (within a line) and external rhyme (rhyming words at the end of lines) appear in the collection, enhancing or breaking rhythm, associating ideas, creating inevitability.
• Rhythm—poetry is an oral form, so reading poems aloud in class can help students understand the poems, especially when meaning might appear obscure, upon a first (silent) reading. The rhythm of a poem can often become more apparent when poems are read aloud.  As with rhyme, rhythm can hold disparate ideas together in a poem, showing the connectedness of different notions.  A rhythm can also create urgency, or a mournful tone or a feeling of inevitability, or inescapability, if the rhythm is compelling or almost compulsive.
• Simile, metaphor, personification, symbol, synaesthetic description [figurative language that includes a mixing of senses], alliteration [occurrence of same letter or sound at the beginning of words], sibilance [hissing sound with repetition of ‘s’ sounds]—the poets use various figurative devices which enhance the reach of their poetry, making it more vivid, linking apparently disparate ideas, and evoking landscape.
• Titles—titles of poems, express the way in which a poet directs a reader, from the start of a text.  The title of this collection is important as it places all the poems in a postcolonial, revisionist context.
• Use of language—both JK and CPG move into Indigenous languages (Noongar and Wajarri respectively) throughout the collection.  This subverts the hegemony [domination] of English and indicates the limitations of English in terms of understanding the subjects the poets write about.

Issues and Themes

The issues and themes are interconnected not only to land, its peoples, cultures, history, stories and art, but the voices of the poets reinforce the connectedness of peoples, stories and histories and the free flowing discussion of the two poets in all the poems in the collection. A commonality between the two poets is the injustice of people and the environment, particularly the destruction of mining, which is not separated in the poems, rather the suffering of both is explored as one country suffering together.

Central Ideas/Issues & Themes Covered in the Collection are:

• Colonisation and Reconciliation
• History and Crimes of the Past
• Redressing Historical Injustices by Reconstructing our Notion of the Past
• The Myth of Terra Nullius (the Colonial Thieves)
• Secrets and Silences of Australian Culture
• History and Memories and their Importance to Individuals
• The Environment and Social Effects of Mining on Country and Individuals
• Exploitation of Mining on Country and Individuals
• Country, Destruction of Country and Landscape
• Family, Friendship, Nature of Loss in Family and Country
• Recognising Important Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Family Members
• Language and Culture of Indigenous People
• Dangers of Cultural Appropriation and Erasure
• The Stolen Generation
• Black Deaths in Custody
• Close the Gap Campaign
• Aboriginal Mortality
• Poetry, Art and the Power of Both
• Racism , Social Justice and Race Relations Between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous People
• Our Responsibility to each other as Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Peoples in Australia
• Social Issues Pertaining to Contemporary Indigenous People
• Stories and Storytelling (Yarning)

Analytical Text Response Topics

1. ‘False Claims of Colonial Thieves is more positive about the future than it is negative about the past.’ Discuss.
2. ‘Memory is shown to be the most important aspect of culture in this collection.’ To what extent do you agree?
3. How do the authors of False Claims of Colonial Thieves show that the natural environment is vulnerable and needs protection in this collection?
4. “I won’t pretend it’s easy / Living in an intercultural space” (‘I won’t pretend’, CPG, p.62) ‘Despite the idealism of the collection, False Claims of Colonial Thieves suggests that cultural harmony is impossible.’ Discuss.
5. “And the dead are loud in their graves.” (‘Edges of Aridity’, JK, pp.82-4) “Arrived as colonial thieves / Remain as colonial thieves” (‘Always thieves’, CPG, pp.127-8) ‘There is no recovery from colonisation.’ Discuss with reference to the poetry in False Claims of Colonial Thieves.
6. How do the poets of False Claims of Colonial Thieves create hope in their collection?
7. “How can I but take up the call, / Charmaine, and yarn right back at you – / it’s what we do when we connect” (‘Yarn Response Poem’, JK, p.98) ‘The poems in the False Claims of Colonial Thieves reveal that we are shaped by our relationships with others.’ Discuss.
8. ‘The strength of this collection rests in its political agenda.’ To what extent do you agree?
9. How do John Kinsella and Charmaine Papertalk Green convince their readers of the healing power of poetry in False Claims of Colonial Thieves?

All Resources created by englishtutorlessons.com.au Online Tutoring using Zoom for Mainstream English Students in the Victorian Curriculum

This Resource is for students studying William Wordsworth’s Poetry from ‘Poems Selected by Seamus Heaney’ in the Mainstream English Curriculum.

Seamus Heaney’s selection consists largely of the poetry considered to be Wordsworth’s best, written in the decade 1797 to 1807.

Introduction & Themes

Many of Wordsworth’s ideas and values, in the poems in Seamus Heaney’s selection, are concerned with Themes such as:

• our relationship with Nature / life’s circularity / Nature nurtures & wellbeing
• religion / loss and death
• the significance of childhood experiences / wisdom & splendour of childhood / nurturing parents
• family & community / connectivity / wanderers & wandering / humanity & empathy for people less well off in society
• the connection between clear thinking & nourishment of one’s soul in solitude & silence / transcendence
• memory & personal growth / the self & individuality / the power of the human mind
• irrational fear and death / vision / sight / light
• the effects of materialism & industrial change / destructiveness of industrialisation / urbanism
• the pros & cons of political protest / revolutionary activism / rebellion / need for reform
• the problem of social inequality / need for change

Most radically, he viewed natural landscapes as emblematic of the mind of God, and as central to the wellbeing of humans.  Wordsworth believed that God was in every aspect of the natural world and so much of his poetry explores nature in a sacred and religious sense presenting goodness and naturalness as synonymous, so nature is a living, divine entity, that if ignored, was at humankind’s peril.

Born in 1770 at Cockermouth on the River Derwent, which is in the Lake District of England, the natural elements of this landscape would come to be immortalised in his poetry.  He was a prominent member of the group of poets called ‘Romantics’ that broke the traditional way poetry should be written, believing the poet’s role was to guide others through the transforming power of the poetic imagination.

The Romantic Movement 1798-1832

The Romanticism movement was founded during the Industrial Revolution in 1750 where poets like William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Blake were concerned that people had grown away from nature towards industrial cities and modern mechanisation of mass manufacturing. The Romantic poets had specific ideas that were radical at the time, moving away from traditional poetry, towards breathing imaginative life into all human experiences.  Romanticism was an emotional and passionate reaction against the Industrial Revolution, the Age of Enlightenment, urbanisation and its corrosive effects on the individual, community and the landscape.

The Romantics saw landscape and peasant people, ‘folk’ songs and traditions, as representing a simpler time.  They regarded the legends, myths and folk traditions of a people as the wellspring of poetry and art, the spiritual source of cultural vitality, creativity and identity.  The Romantics agreed with French philosopher and novelist Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s idea that feelings are the human essence, that ‘our sensibility is … prior to our reason’.  Abstract reason and scientific knowledge, they said, are insufficient guides to knowledge.  Reason and science provide only general principles about nature and people, failing to penetrate to ‘what really matters’, the uniqueness of each person, tree, cloud or lake.

Wordsworth said “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”.  He viewed poetry as being “the image of man and nature”.

Reading Wordsworth poems reveals a poet with a social conscience

One who believes that Nature provides the inspiration for the interior life.  He repeatedly returns to the idea of the cycle of life, and expresses both fear and acceptance of death.  He looks to Nature for a sense of immortality, although he doesn’t move far from the idea, as in all three ‘religions of the book’, that the earth is infused with, or created by, something beyond the material.  Wordsworth was on the side of the ordinary person, and against the authoritarian regimes in power.  The theological and social ideas in the poems imply values such as concern for the poor and support for equality and social justice sit alongside the centrality of the individual self.  Another interesting element of Wordsworth’s poetry is his presentation of children and how he saw the child as possessing a kind of essential wisdom, allowing them access to truths that were barred to adults.  As well as being free from sin, the child was privileged with great insight into the human condition, a gift that was lost in adulthood.  Wordsworth suggests that the innocence of children shows us a fresh truth, a new way of seeing.

Nature is central to Wordsworth’s romantic view on life

Writing in an era dominated by the corruptive elements of industrialisation, Wordsworth sought to reinstate Nature as a central focus of human concerns that was increasingly vulnerable.  The poet in Seamus Heaney’s collection is Wordsworth himself delighting in the aesthetics found through the environmental grandeur of Nature, presenting it as a source of joy and wonderment.  He embraces the language of the ‘common man’ that provokes readers to lament the impact of modernity has had on humanity’s capacity to appreciate natural sensations.  For Wordsworth the antidote to the threat posed by the industrial societies that surrounded him lay in the natural world he exalted in both his youth and adulthood.  By positioning Nature and by extension, human nature centrally in his poetry, Wordsworth directs individuals to discover deeper truths about themselves and thus humanity as a whole with a focus on the ‘self as subject’.  Overall, by concentrating on the sublime [inspirational] elements of the natural landscape, the poet’s collection of childhood epiphanies and philosophical reasonings reveal that immersion in rustic settings is able to guide humanity into a purer state of mind and spirit.

Example Introduction for a Prompt about Grief and Loss

Prompt          “How soon my Lucy’s race was run”. While much of Wordsworth’s poetry celebrates the joys of nature and human life, he also focuses on human grief and loss.  Discuss.

Use quote in essay “How soon my Lucy’s race was run” = One of the ‘Lucy’ poems “Three years she grew in sun and shower”

Introduction / Main Contention /Message of Poet

Through images and descriptions of the natural world, poet William Wordsworth celebrates the joys of human life, but he is always mindful of the personal elements of grief and loss.  By using nature, and men and women within nature, as the inspiration for his imagination, Wordsworth is able to portray a range of human emotions.  The complexity of Wordsworth’s poetic vision is apparent when he uses recollections of experiences in the natural world to explore feelings of happiness in living things.  In the poem ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ the speaker’s joy of his experience seeing daffodils is transposed into an almost spiritual transcendence of his understanding of the joy that nature brings to human life.  However, in a natural extension of his poetic sensibility, Wordsworth is able to contrast this joy of life in the natural world with a sense of grief and loss in his series of ‘Lucy’ poems that are seen as a sober meditation on death, grief and loss.  Moreover, imagination and memory, Wordsworth suggests, are powerful tools that present the possibility of transcending loss and allow us to gain a more complete understanding and acceptance of human life through nature.

Analytical Text Response Prompts

1. How does the poetry in this collection explore the interdependence between humans and the natural environment?
2. “The child is father to the Man” How does Wordsworth explore the idea that childhood experiences are significant in shaping the adult life?
3. ‘Although the poems show concern for others, they seem more concerned with the self.’ Discuss.
4. To what extent does Wordsworth’s poetry suggest that natural rural landscapes must be preserved despite the needs of commerce?
5. “… and I grew up/ Fostered alike by beauty and by fear.” ‘Wordsworth’s poetry is animated more by fear than by awe.’ Do you agree?
6. “Not without hope we suffer and we mourn” How does Wordsworth’s poetry explore this idea?
7. “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!” What ideas and values about youth are revealed in this collection of Wordsworth’s poems?
8. ‘The poems reveal an ambivalent attitude towards the social changes of the time.’ Discuss.
9. “… with an eye made quiet by the power Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, We see into the life of things.” How does Wordsworth’s poetry ‘see into the life of things’?
10. “The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers” ‘The poems in this collection condemn materialism, suggesting that it destroys the life of mind and spirit.’ Discuss.
11. “Whither is fled the visionary gleam?” ‘Despite the sense of loss in the poems, the poet more often expresses hope and joy.’ To what extent do you agree?
12. ‘Wordsworth shows us that the contemplation of nature can be a way of lightening feelings of melancholy and despondence’.  Discuss.
13. Wordsworth refers to “a higher power than Fancy”.  How does he demonstrate the dynamic power of the imagination in his poems?
14. “Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie/Open unto the fields”.  ‘Wordsworth successfully marries the contrasting ideas of unfettered nature and the edifices we have constructed’.  Discuss.
15. “Behold her, single in the field/Yon solitary highland lass”.  ‘Wordsworth uses varied images of simple rustics to highlight the heroic and ordinary human life’.  Discuss.

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This Resource is for English students studying in the Victorian Curriculum.  Racism is an important theme comparison between the memoir ‘The Hate Race’ by Maxine Beneba Clarke and the film ‘Charlie’s Country’ by Rolf de Heer.

Why Compare ‘The Hate Race’ and ‘Charlie’s Country’?

Introduction

Maxine Beneba Clarke’s memoir ‘The Hate Race’ and Rolf de Heer’s film ‘Charlie’s Country’ explore the shifting experiences of racism in Australia. The texts foreground the complex and traumatic impact of racism on individuals, as well as the broader social ramifications of institutionalised racism. Beneba Clarke and de Heer shine a light on the corrosive and unexpected impacts of racism, and the way that this can shape an individual’s experience of the world around them. The texts reveal fundamental truths about the role of racism in contemporary Australia.

A comparison of ‘The Hate Race’ and ‘Charlie’s Country’ offers insight into the common experiences of people of colour, whilst also highlighting the unique experiences of First Nations people. The texts focus on modern day events, dispelling any notions of the elimination of racism in modern Australia. They share a grounding in the historical evolution of racism on both national and global scales. They offer insight into two very distinct geographical locations, again revealing the varied manifestations of both institutional and interpersonal racism.

The pain that is central to the experience of the protagonists in both texts is reflected through the prisms of the memoir and film respectively. Beneba Clarke’s work chronicles the experience of a child through the reflective lens of an adult. Conversely, de Heer’s film showcases the cumulative impact of racism on an adult.

‘The Hate Race’ Memoir is an Autobiographical Work

‘The Hate Race’ is an autobiographical work, a factual yet subjective narrative of events, experiences and emotions from the author’s own life. Specifically, the book is a memoir, since it does not reflect on Clarke’s whole life but on a particular and significant period of it – her childhood. The narrative illuminates how this period would inform the rest of her life (as suggested by the Prologue and Epilogue) when the adult Maxine undergoes experiences intertwined with the discrimination she faced for years as a young person. The book can also be considered a form of bildungsroman or ‘coming of age’ narrative that charts the social, emotional, and psychological growth and development of its protagonist.

‘The Hate Race’ situates the experience of an individual childhood within a broader social landscape. Beneba Clarke’s use of the memoir form allows her to paint a vivid picture of the social and historical forces that shaped the experiences of the author and her family. ‘The Hate Race’ offers an account of an Australian childhood that is distinctly recognisable—a fact that makes the characters’ experiences of racism all the more uncomfortable and undeniable.

The Title ‘The Hate Race’

The title signifies for minorities in Australia, life is constantly akin to a race. There is no rest, no comfort, and no sense of home when your mind is preoccupied with all the ways you don’t belong. Being denied a firm sense of self, and constantly being forced to justify one’s own existence is not easy, and becomes a ‘race against time’ to see who can cope and rise above, and who will be swept away along with the tide. If people of colour stop running, they run the risk of being consumed by the hatred themselves and become so cynical and disillusioned that they forget their culture and accede to the Anglocentric, white majority.

Structure of ‘The Hate Race’

The text follows a largely chronological structure, which has the effect of simulating the cumulative nature of Maxine’s experience of racism. There is an acute sense of the role that racism plays in ensuring childhood and adolescence are experienced differently by children of colour. The carefully placed layers of trauma may not have been fully comprehended by the author as a child, but the adult Beneba Clarke reflects the depth and extent of her wounds through a story told ‘just so’ (p. 3). The chapters of the memoir offer vignettes; seminal moments from Beneba Clarke’s childhood to reflect unflinchingly the toll on a life lived as a person of colour in Australia. Again, as Beneba Clarke notes in the text’s acknowledgements, these memories are about a ‘very specific’ (p. 257) aspect of her life. Racism alone is not her life story, but equally her life story cannot be told without understanding racism.

‘Charlie’s Country’ Film is a Fictional Drama

In contrast to ‘The Hate Race’ which is a factual memoir, ‘Charlie’s Country’ is a fictional drama that incorporates some details from life and some elements of the story that comes from the life of the main actor protagonist Charlie played by David Gulpilil. However, de Heer did not want the film to be interpreted as ‘being about one particular (real) individual’ but rather as ‘being about issues much more widespread, much more representative of many individuals’ (de Heer 2014). In this way, ‘The Hate Race’ and ‘Charlie’s Country’ approach some of their common themes from different directions. While the autobiographical genre of ‘The Hate Race’ concentrates on ideas central to the protagonists’ life, ‘Charlie’s Country’ is more interested in the impact of broad issues on an individual.

Rolf de Heer’s ‘Charlie’s Country’ is a stark, fictional film that adopts many of the hallmarks of documentary filmmaking; this is a film that aims to heighten consciousness about the plight of Aborigines impacted by the Australian Government’s intervention, in 2007, in the Northern Territory. The injustice of institutionalised racism is at the heart of this collaboration between Rolf de Heer and David Gulpilil. Their film focuses on the life of one Aboriginal man, Charlie, whose struggles to find a way to live in the modern world whilst staying true to his cultural identity are constantly thwarted by local, white authority figures.

The Title ‘Charlie’s Country’

The title of the film reflects a simple reality – this is Charlie’s country. Rather than a ‘country’ de Heer speaks of the Indigenous notion of connection to and respect for one’s traditional lands and country. Nurturing this connection is a sacred responsibility and the film reminds us that, despite Charlie’s many trials and tribulations, the land on which he lives is truly his own.

Structure of ‘Charlie’s Country’

The film adopts a chronological structure, tracking Charlie’s decision-making in regards to his attempts to regain meaning and purpose in his life as he tries to return to a more traditional way of relating to his environment. The structure of the film is also circular, Charlie ends up back in the place where he began, and seems in a similar state of something like static, confined despair. There is little sense that his journey has been moving forward, rather the places he finds himself (bush, hospital, prison) seem a series of sideways stumbles with no plan or intention. This echoes Maxine’s journey in ‘The Hate Race’, which begins and ends in the adult Clarke’s life, with matching scenes of discrimination, suggesting that her experiences repeat themselves over and over.

Charlie’s Country can be divided into 3 parts:

• Part 1 – Intervention
• Part 2 – Bush
• Part 3 – Jail

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This Resource is for English students studying in the Victorian Curriculum.

The Author Erich Maria Remarque

Erich Maria Remarque was born in Osnabruck, Germany in 1898. He joined the German Army in 1916 to fight in World War 1, and was wounded. After the War ended in 1918, Remarque published his novel ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ – ten years later in 1928.

The novel is very realistic about the harsh realities of being an ordinary soldier in war, including none of the usual glory propaganda. It was a firmly anti-war novel and became an instant international success. In 1930 a film based on the novel was released. As the German Nazi party rose to power and prominence, the novel was being attacked as being anti-German or unpatriotic in 1931, and the film was banned. In 1932 Remarque and his wife fled to Switzerland for protection and by 1933 the Nazi Party banned Remarque’s books and burned them on bonfires.

The fact that ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ is based on the German soldiers’ experiences during War highlights the universal suffering and futility that War brings.

The Novel in Context of World War I – 1914 – 1918 (Estimated 9.7 million military soldiers died)

The First World War was one of the biggest wars that had ever been fought and saw the introduction of weapons of mass destruction such as gas, as well as other new war technology. There are many reasons for the outbreak of World War I, however the trigger was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian student. Other factors included diplomatic fall-outs, irrational nationalism, and a build-up of military might.

Europe was split into two opposing camps. France, Russia and Great Britain were in the Triple Entente and Germany, Italy and Austria/Hungary were part of the Triple Alliance. On July 28, 1914 Austria/Hungary declared war on Serbia, so Russia began to get ready for war, and then Germany declared war on Russia and (later) France. However, when Germany invaded Belgium – a neutral country, Britain joined the war for fear of follow-up attacks. Later the United States joined the Allies.

After Germany moved into France, the trench warfare began. This was a new method of warfare that had never been tried before and had been a military officer’s brainchild. It meant that both sides had dug trenches underground, and the middle became known as “no-man’s land”. The conditions in the trenches were horrific, especially as they were always wet and muddy and filled with rats, lice and disease. There was shelling and firing by guns all day and night, and no protection from the heat or winter cold. Many soldiers not only died from being hit by guns and grenades, but also from the diseases that were rampant in those conditions or deadly poison gas. The War also caused much mental anguish and suffering for the soldiers.

Propaganda in WWI Why Men Enlisted to Fight – Both British & German

If we look back to the time of the break out of World War 1 – 1914 and before this, the world was a much different and slower place. Mass communication, electronic media and global travel were barely available and this may explain the success of war campaigns to lure young men, some still in school, to sign up and fight for their country.

The values of the time were that:

• It was an honour to fight for one’s country in a war
• Those who did not fight were cowards and should be punished
• People who went to war were heroes
• There was much glory and pride in being a soldier

At the time, there were people who were ‘conscientious objectors’, who did not believe in war, but standing out for this cause was seen as a betrayal. Thus, we see that in ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, all of Paul’s class signed up to fight in the war, even though they were so young. The older men in the community were at first seen as too old to fight, so the first soldiers chosen were teenagers and those in their early twenties. The love of country and patriotism was valued highly, even though no one really knew about the horrors of war, back at home. Whilst there were official war photographers, artists, and reporters, most of what they were allowed to report back and produce would have been censored by their governments. All countries used propaganda to create fear amidst their citizens about the enemies, and to reinforce the need for men to sign up as soldiers.

The Truth about the Horrors of War

The truth about the horrors of World War I began to unfold as the soldiers realized they were just fodder for a huge killing machine that was war. Trench warfare was a new ‘idea’ that was being tested, and it allowed for massive amounts of death and disease. Paul and his friends realise when it is too late that there is no glory in this killing machine; they are just here to die. The fact that ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ is written by a German soldier reflects the universality of the horrors of war.

Poetry about War – Wilfred Owen

The same sentiments and experiences are also found in Allied writing, art-works and poetry written by those who were there – for example poems by Wilfred Owen such as ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ about the horrors and pity of war. Owen’s poetry presents the utter brutality of trench warfare truthfully. The experience for the soldiers was a shocking one especially as many of the soldiers were just young teenagers who had been fed propaganda about how noble it would be to fight for one’s country in the War. In fact, the common saying was “How sweet and noble it is to die for one’s country”, but the soldiers quickly realised they had just been sent to killing fields.

Plot Summary of the Novel

Paul Baumer, 19 joins the German Army to fight in World War 1. Several of his friends from his class were inspired to join the War by their patriotic school master, Kantorek. They feel they have been tricked after a few weeks at war, as the soldiers are subject to cruelty, brutality, and suffering, often leading to death. In fact, after just two weeks, Paul’s company of soldiers’ experiences losses of over 50% of the men. One of Paul’s friends Kemmerich, also a classmate is in hospital with gangrene and dying. Another friend Muller becomes pragmatic and hopes for Kemmerich’s boots when he dies.

Life is made very unbearable by the cruel and sadistic Corporal Himmelstross. Life in the trenches is disgusting and many men are struck down by disease or death. Soon there are only 32 of Paul’s company remaining alive. Not only is war hell but Paul realises that when he has leave, he feels nothing and is just numb. When he has time to go home on leave for a few weeks, Paul finds he cannot relate to others. However, he goes to visit Kemmerich’s mother and tells her that her son’s death was painless. This lie makes her happy.

Back at war, Paul is forced to stab a French soldier to death and he is filled with remorse and guilt. He realises that the enemy is just another victim of war like all soldiers. Looking through his identification, he learns the man’s name was Gerard and he has a wife and two children, which upsets him even more. By 1918 just before the War ends, Paul is the only original member of his company left. Paul is killed in October 1918. The novel ends with a statement from the Army report for this day as ‘All quiet on the Western Front’.

The Narrator of the Novel

Who is telling this story? The novel is written mostly in the First person from the perspective of Paul Baumer until the end of the book, where it changes briefly to Third person – as a report excerpt. As such the reader follows the rise and fall of Paul’s sense of life and enthusiasm. We feel his betrayal and despair, his inability to feel pain as it may overwhelm him.

Structure of the Novel

It is divided into twelve chapters, where there is some overlap, reflecting the confusion and loss of time. The reader goes on Paul’s incredible journey from innocent adolescent to jaded and despairing ‘hollow man’ who has lost everything. The last few chapters especially reflect the desperate chaos that ensued once America joined the war and Germany was clearly losing the war. Due to the lack of resources and younger men, the dying soldiers were now being replaced by older men, and the pace became even more frantic and destructive. When Paul dies, and his death is objectively reported in the third person of a military report – “All quiet on the Western Front.”

Themes of the Novel

The Horror of War – The novel presents the horror and brutality of war, which was a sharp contrast to War literature before this novel. Traditionally war books, poems, songs etc. glorified war as a patriotic honour and duty. The novel presents war from the point of view of the ordinary soldier so it cannot hide the truth and the horror of the immense suffering. World War I was a complete shock and introduced a ‘new’ method of French warfare – long, drawn out battles, new technology/weapons, which increased the death toll. The novel ends with all the major characters dead – including the protagonist and narrator, Paul.

Nationalism – The novel depicts the lies behind nationalism, exposing it as a powerful tool. Paul discovers that war has nothing to do with ideals, but rather it becomes a fight to stay alive. Moreover, there is no real sense of fighting an enemy. The enemy becomes the government and authority figures that sent them to the War.

The Effects of War on Soldiers – Clearly millions of soldiers died or were seriously injured by the War. Those that did not die and managed to return home would never be the same again. Months or years of constant exposure to physical danger constant attacks and living with fear had severe consequences on their nerves and emotional well-being. To add to this burden, the trenches were filthy, rat-infested and damp/water logged habitats. The soldiers were also dealing with lice infestations and diseased/decaying corpses all around them. Sleep was disrupted; food was lacking or of poor quality and medical care was very limited and poor. This is a toxic burden that made life for the soldiers unbearable. To survive, many of the soldiers had to disconnect from their feelings. As Paul discovers, although this leads to a general numbness that becomes all pervading, it protected the soldiers from mental anguish to some extent. The men became somewhat desensitized to the suffering and deaths all around them.

Friendship Bonds – The bonds between friends and sticking together seemed to be the only thing that kept the men alive and sane, and sometimes even this was not enough. It is especially touching to see how the more experienced soldiers looked after the new recruits who had never seen so much death and suffering. In Chapter 4, a shell-shocked young recruit seeks comfort from Paul and begins to cry as he is supported and told he will soon get used to it. Throughout the novel, Paul and Kat are very close and have a rare moment of intimacy and celebration of friendship as they eat the goose. (Chapter 5) Paul is constantly watching others die, but at this moment with Kat he acknowledges the humanizing power of friendship and relationships.

Betrayal and the Loss of Innocence – These two themes belong together because when the young men, filled with life and hopes for the future entered the war, they had been encouraged to do so by the very people who had guided them their whole lives – parents, teachers, and other authority figures. As soon as they arrived at the war, they were shocked into the reality of what the war was and the first thing they lost was their innocence, and it would have been impossible to feel betrayed by those they had trusted. In fact, Paul and the others see right through the lies and become quickly aware of the reality, and that they are just part of a giant killing machine, and need to be sacrificed to make the governments ‘plans’ a reality. The horror of war is never-ending and the recruits just keep on coming and being sacrificed for some lofty ideals.

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