AS Lang Lit Writing Introductions

Structuring Your Essay

Remember to organise your writing using the framework approach. You will have:

• an introduction where you give a contextual overview of each text and comment on the main subject of the poem and the other text
• a section on discourse and structure
• a section on lexis and semantics
• a section on grammar
• a section on phonology

Refer to your poetry framework as this is relevant for both texts! See here

Writing the overview:

Make sure you comment on the following (GRAMPS):

Genre - what type of text is it? Fiction? Non-fiction? Literary? Crafted? Where is it from? Where would you find it?

(W)riter - when were they writing? Male? Female? Is this important?

Audience - who is the text aimed at? Why would they want to read the text?

Mode - is it written? Are there spoken elements?

Purpose - what is it for? What does it do? Does it have more than one purpose?

Subject - this is the most important bit! What is the text about? What are the key themes, ideas and attitudes presented in the text?

Task: Compare the way in which the writers present ideas and attitudes about place in 'Spellbound' and an advertising feature about Iceland.

Write an introductory paragraph.

Using Quotations

It is important to embed quotations correctly. Aim to integrate them into your writing. Remember your quotations will need some context if it is not evident what the context is! Here are a couple of examples:

Example 1

Bronte creates a depressing tone through the image of the trees "bending / their bare boughs weighed with snow." The use of the dynamic verb "bending" creates a sense of downward movement, suggesting a feeling of heaviness and being weighed down. This links to her idea of being rooted to one spot. The alliterative use of the plosive 'b' sounds adds to the feeling of heaviness, along with the steady rhythm created by the monosyllabic lexical choices.

Example 2

Irwin draws the boys attention to the type of student they will be competing against at their Oxbridge interviews; boys and girls from a much more privileged social and educational background to them. Irwin suggests that the boys should "hate them" because they "have been groomed like thoroughbreds for this one particular race." The simile highlights the competitive nature of a higher social class, the use of the noun "thoroughbred" shows they are part of the elite, with connotations to horse racing and being a superior animal. The dynamic verb "groomed" has overtones of being pushed to present themselves in an attractive way, the verb also recalls the headmasters concerns that the boys lack presentation or as Mrs Lintott suggests ironically "a sprig of parsley."

Developing your skill

Now aim to continue your analysis of Song and the Iceland text - following the framework approach and integrating quotations effectively.


Finally - the table you did as a class outlining the framework features of different text types See me for copies of the texts you explored.

A2 Language and Literature Obituary Writing

An obituary is a text found in newspapers and, increasingly, online which outlines the life and achievements of someone who has recently died.

As with all texts, there are some key linguistic and stylistic features which are common to this form of writing:

Purpose: to inform the reader about someone's life and achievements; to show respect for a person's life and to give a truthful account of their life.

Audience: reader interested in the life of that person - often well known; can be interesting to find out about people you didn't know about; part of the newspaper - towards the back - adult audience - broadsheet reader.

Structure & Discourse: written mode; introductory paragraph with the name, age, date / reason of death, overview of what they were well known for (this can be over a couple of paragraphs before starting the chronological account of a life); predominantly past tense. Present tense used to describe the family left behind e.g he is survived by...../ he leaves a wife and two children....; paragraphs reflect different aspects of the person's life; clear discourse markers to denote a chronological structure e.g then. after that, in 2006; starts with birth and parentage > education> marriage / relationships> key jobs > key interests>reference to the funeral; third person.

Lexis & Semantics: proper nouns with names and places important in the person's life; lexical field of family; lexical field of area person was involved with e.g business, art etc; positive use of lexis; adjectives to describe character and achievements; modified formal - accessible lexis. Not reliant on imagery.

Grammar: declarative in mood - informative in tone; use of embedded clauses to add information about the person; starts sentences in a variety of ways e.g with subordinate clauses; sometimes use of quotation in direct speech; no contracted forms;

Phonology: an obituary in a newspaper might have a headline - alliterative, pun (if appropriate) but phonological features are not a specific feature.

Task 1: Find an example of an obituary and identify as many of the features as you can. You can use a copy I have in class or follow the links here:  Peaches Geldof Obituary Sargy Mann Obituary

Task 2: Using a House in Corfu by Emma Tennant from the start of the second paragraph to ...."any sense of a gloomy haunting" (page 285), write an obituary for Emma's father for an English newspaper. He is not named in the text so you can make up a name for him.

Work out key dates, family ties, important places, key events etc from the text.

Task 3: Write a commentary - explain how you structured your piece, the key lexical choices you made and why; what type of mood you were trying to create through your grammar choices etc.

The Collar by George Herbert

George Herbert was well born but socially responsible, educated but devout, experienced in the ways of the world but fully committed to the ways of the church, and knowledgeable about both the pains and joys of spiritual life. Herbert is known as a metaphysical poet. Metaphysical poetry explores the themes of love and religion, exploring and questioning our place in the world. The pain and difficulty of being loyal to God are explored in Herbert's most famous poem 'The Collar'.

The poem is an emotional outburst after a momentary loss of faith for the narrator. He has had enough of being tied in to serving a God and longs to be free and to have control of his own life and destiny. However, it is very questioning in tone and the reader gets a sense of his uncertainty all the way through in his doubt and possible rejection of God. The narrator wants to escape and break free from the constraints of life as a whole - be free from responsibility. It is a very personal response and the reader gets a real sense of the speaker's voice. We need to look at some of the techniques Herbert uses to show the reader the argument the speaker is having with himself about the struggle he is having with his faith.

Structure and Discourse:

How is the poem structured? What does it look like on the page? What could this suggest about the speaker's thoughts?  Can you find examples of phrases that sound very spoken in style? How does Herbert achieve this? What conjunctions are used to show this is an argument?

Lexis and Semantics:

This is an emotional outburst.  Can you find the verbs, nouns or adjectives that show his emotions and explain the effect they have?  You could explore: anger, frustration, regret, sadness...

The title has a couple of connotations. A collar can be seen as restrictive - not particularly harmful but does have references to being tied to something. There is also a religious reference to collar, as that is what the Christian clergy wear around their necks. What other words and phrases can you find that show restriction?

There is a sense in this poem of the speaker doubting God and feeling tired of serving him. How is God represented in the poem? Can you find some lexical choices that make him seem someone with authority? 

At the end of the poem, the lexical choices point to madness rather than a rational argument against God. Which words show this? What type of words are they?

How is God presented at the end of the poem when he says 'Child'? What sort of relationship is suggested here? How do you think the speaker feels at the end of the poem?

Grammar:

What is the effect of all the interrogatives? How do they add to the tone of the poem?

What is the effect of the exclamatory sentence? 

The speaker also uses an imperative tone as he tries to convince himself to unbind himself from God and life - can you find an example of that?

The speaker also tries to sound convincing through the use of the modal verb 'will' e.g. 'I will abroad' (which he repeats twice). Are you convinced by his wanting to leave the comforts of what he knows?

What are the effects of the minor sentences?

Phonology:

There is plenty of rhyme in this poem but it is quite unstructured. Why is this do you think?

Look at the rhyme at the end of the poem wild / child and word / Lord - why have these been rhymed? How do they fit with the end of the poem and the speaker's reconciliation with God?


Key poetry terminology: Poetry Glossary

Revision Framework for Poetry: Poetry Framework

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.