Comparative Commentary Writing

• Review of the features of a nature documentary script.
• Write a script using one of the clips from 'The Hunt' - see previous post for link
• Using the framework here write a commentary highlighting and explaining the language choices you made for each of your spoken pieces. Remember to give examples and explain the effect you were trying to achieve.
• This will help to remind you of some of the key features of the introduction to a radio broadcast: Ozymandias and Radio Broadcast Link

Don't forget your homework - a comparison of Ozymandias and the article on the statue of Saddam Hussein. Compare and contrast the ways in which the writers present powerful figures. This is for next Tuesday.

There is some extension reading on the difference between tabloid and broadsheets for you. Please collect and you can use it to inform your understanding of the linguistic and stylistic features of news articles.

God's Grandeur and Writing a Voiceover

God's Grandeur by Gerald Manley Hopkins

God's Grandeur is a poem a written in sonnet form (Italian - 8 lines then 6 lines) exploring the relationship people have with nature and God. It is an extremely dense and complicated poem, with lots of interesting use of language and it is not very positive about people! The speaker seems quite distant from others around him (or her).

The speaker of the poem is very critical of the way people treat the earth and the world around them, and aims to remind the reader about the glory of God and his role in creating and managing the world, at a time when Man seemed intent on destroying it (think about the massive growth in industry over the course of the nineteenth century. The speaker believes the earth is heading for destruction and is essentially temporary. However, nature does seem to have a capacity for continuation, night turns into day, because God is there to protect.

1. What type of sentence is the opening line? What mood does it create? What is the effect of the verb 'charged'? What are its connotations?
2. What does the speaker suggest will happen to the world in lines 2 & 3? What is the effect of the imagery used?
3. What type of sentence is used in line 4? Why? What are the connotations of the noun 'rod'? What word does 'reck' make you think of that could also be relevant in the context?
4. Why has Hopkins repeated 'have trod' in line 5?
5. How does Hopkins show the reader how critical he is of how people are living in lines 6 & 7? What are the key lexical choices? How does he use sound to capture this too? How does he show his distaste for Man?
6. How does he demonstrate how he feels about our destruction of the earth and how relationship with nature in line 8?
7. What is the shift in line 9? What conjunction does he use? What does 'spent' mean? Does it link to any other words in the poem?
8. What type of word is 'dearest'? What does he mean by 'deep down things'? What does this suggest about how he thinks people normally live their lives?
9. He use 'and' to start the line again (line 11). Why does he do this?
10. How does he describe the cycle of night and day in lines 11 & 12? What effect does the dynamic verb have?
11. Why is there a cycle of day and night? How does he present God as a protector of Earth (despite the fact that it is 'bent' what does this suggest?) and make God sound like someone who nurtures?

Nature Documentary Voiceover: Creative Writing

Watch two examples from the series of nature documentaries called 'The Hunt' narrated by David Attenborough. You need to watch 'The Silent Assassin' and 'Fast Food.' Read the scripts and answer the questions about the stylistic and linguistic features of the text.

Nature Voiceover Script and Questions

Nature Documentaries

Choose another one of the clips and write your own voiceover!

Writing Articles

The aim of today's lesson is to explore the stylistic and linguistic features of different articles.

The first article is from The Guardian online and is a news article:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/14/japan-earthquake-kyushu-people-feared-trapped-under-rubble

The second article is from a home improvement magazine.  House Renovation Text

What is the context of each text? Comment on audience, purpose, mode of delivery, subject matter, level of formlity etc - see guide for full list! Framework and Context Guide

Make notes on the key stylistic and linguistic features of each text. Ensure you think about structure & discourse, lexis & semantics, use of grammar. Link your points back to the context of the texts. Us the framework for some language prompts if you need it.

Choice of task:

EITHER

Write a newspaper article about the fire in Lily Brett's coop building. Use the whole piece as your source text.

OR

Write an article for a house renovation magazine about the renovation of the house at Shanzu.

Use from page 295 (When we first saw....) to page 296 (....whose forte is conversions); from page 297 (the house was tailormade....) to page 297 (....the air throughout the house); from page 299 (Our white bedroom...) to page 299 (....penetrating this haven).

Use this resource to help frame our writing: Barefoot at Shanzu

Extension: Find two more examples of article writing for your file / write a commentary for your text.

Poetry and Prose

Starter: Review of imagery from 'To Autumn'

Discussion:

What are the key linguistic and stylistic differences between poetry and prose?

What are the key linguistic and stylistic features of autobiography?

What are the key linguistic and stylistic features of the extract from 'Bearded Tit'?

Main Task:

How do John Keats in 'To Autumn' and Rory McGrath in the extract from 'Bearded Tit' present ideas about nature?

Remember to use the language levels:

Introduction and overview: what type of text is each piece? What are they about? What are the key themes and ideas? What is the overall tone of the writing? Who is the audience?

Structure and Discourse: How are the texts organised? What person are they written in? How are ideas developed? Is there any dialogue?

Grammatical Choices: What type of sentences are used? What mood of sentences are used eg imperative? declarative? What tense are they written in?

Lexical Choices: How are verbs used? How are adjectives used? What sort of nouns are used? Is there any imagery? How formal is the writing?

Phonological Choices: How important are sounds in the pieces?

Aim to write a developed comparative paragraph for each language level. Remember your points always have to link back to the idea of nature. Make your topic sentence about the presentation of nature and then explore your idea through language examples.