Ode To The English Exam

Ode To The English Exam So here is my ode To the English exam The one that I've dreaded And tortured, and crammed. I've honestly tried To faithfully study. But it's much more fun To laugh with my buddy. So early this morning Through red, bleary eyes I reach for my book And wearily revise. The exam starts at 9, A hot chocolate I drink I review all my notes As I start to think. I know that late night Was really not wise. Sometimes I am stupid I now

  • Word count: 94
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Limbo Evaluation

Limbo How does the poem 'Limbo' reveal Brathwaite's ideas and feelings about the culture and traditions he is writing about? The poem describes the similarities between the limbo dance and the journey the African Slaves went through while they were travelling to America and the West Indies. Throughout the poem you get the impression of possession which would have been the white people having possession over the African Slaves. On line 43 of the poem it says 'and the dumb gods are raising me' this could refer to the Slave Drivers raising them up because they have successfully completed the journey; it also refers to them as 'Dumb' so this emphasises the barrier between them. The word 'Limbo' has many different meanings including: * The dance where you were expected to bend backwards and walk under a low lying pole. * A place for lost and neglected things * Roman Catholics believed it was the place for unbaptized but innocent or righteous souls such as infants and virtuous individuals (place between heaven & hell) The meaning of the word 'Limbo' relates to the poem because the African Slaves were neglected while aboard the ship taking them to the West Indies and America. Also while on the ship they were made to perform the Limbo dance in order to stay alive. The ship's atmosphere was quite 'hellish' and so would relate Limbo being a place between heaven and hell. The

  • Word count: 1332
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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How Successfully The Writer Of An Unknown Girl Presents Her Feelings About The Countries She Visited

An Unknown Girl – How Successfully The Writer Of ‘An Unknown Girl’ Presents Her Feelings About The Countries She Visited ‘An Unknown Girl’, a poem detailing an English women’s experience in India, focuses on the themes of cultural identity and the contrast of east and west. The Englishwoman whom this poem is centred around appears to be fascinated by the native Indian culture she encounters during her time in the country. The western invasion of the east is a key theme in this poem and is produced by regular contrast of tradition. For example the writer describes the dummies in the shop windows to have ‘western perms’. The dummies, which are designed to display desirable and new style, all have ‘western perms’ showing that this new style is now considered not only normal but fashionable in India, despite it contrasting with more traditional hair styles. The personification of these dummies also helps to further the point of the west invading the east. The infiltration of the west into traditional eastern society is portrayed in a negative light in this poem. The references made to western things are often things that are not natural such as the western perm of the beauty pageants where the competitors wear make-up. The presentation of the West as unnatural helps to reinforce the idea of the West ruining traditional Indian culture. Feelings of loss are

  • Word count: 408
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Analysis of Poem 'Digging'

Analysis of the Poem 'Digging' The famous Seamus Heaney has yet again impressed us with his many meaningful and skillful poems. After having written the poem "Follower", which describes his childhood dream, he had written up "Digging", which explains the events that followed after. Digging is a metaphor for the work Heaney had done. When he was young, he was inspired to become a laborer like his father and grandfather, but then, things changed and he eventually became a writer. The last stanza: "Between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests. I'll dig with it," shows that he would still continue his father and grandfather's tradition of skill and hard work by using a different kind of tool - a pen. Even though Heaney will make a living with by writing, he'll still be able to connect with his father and grandfather, for instead of using the spade to dig up earth; he will use a pen dig up words and express it in his writings. It is clearly seen, that the mood and effect the author wanted to project, should have a positive atmosphere. The author wanted to show a happy memory of him when he was admiring the works of his father and grandfather. It can be seen in the lines such as: "My grandfather could cut more turf in a day than any other man on Toner's bog. Once I carried him milk in a bottle corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up to drink it, then fell to right

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  • Word count: 618
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Analysis Of the poem 'Limbo'

The Poem 'Limbo' is based upon slave trade. Men and women from Africa were captured and taken to America to become slaves. The term Limbo has three different meanings: a state of uncertainty, being on the borders of hell, and a traditional west Indies dance where the dancer has to bend over backwards to dance under a stick. All of these meaning are explored within the poem. The limbo stick in line 1 represents the sticks used to beat and whip the slaves in punishment, pushing them down both physically and metaphorically by breaking the slaves down psychologically by humiliation and subjugation. The poem is written in free verse and structured to a drum beat, like a traditional limbo dance as well as representing the drum beat in which the slaves had to work to and beaten to. The chorus 'limbo, limbo like me' is repeated throughout the poem representing the constant beatings and oppression which the slaves endured. In line 7 the term 'long dark night' represents the loneliness and despair of the slaves; they felt isolated and alone, in a state of darkness or uncertainty which is another meaning for the term 'limbo'. The slaves were also socially isolated due to being unable to speak English (line 7) 'the silence in front of me'. In line 16 alliteration is used to emphasise the slaves' anger and frustration of subjugation and oppression and the loss of their identity.

  • Word count: 415
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Compare and contrast the presentation of a winter scene in Wordsworth's extract from the Prelude and the extract from Cider with Rosie

Compare and contrast the presentation of a winter scene in Wordsworth's extract from the Prelude and the extract from Cider with Rosie The two extracts I am going to compare and write about are The Prelude and Cider with Rosie. The Prelude is written by William Wordsworth from before 1914 and is written in the style of poetry. Cider with Rosie is from 1959, it is in prose. Before 1914 nature was an important part of life, it was seen as magical and very romantic. Wordsworth used many techniques and styles to make the reader feel this feeling of sublime. Cider with Rosie is very different, it was not written in a time when nature was sublime, it is written simply to recap a memory that the author (Laurie Lee) has. Laurie Lee (Cider with Rosie) uses a lot more imagery in his writing than Wordsworth does in his poem; it allows you to see what he is remembering. The opening line 'it was a world of glass, sparkling and motionless', is in the past tense and is quite effective as it makes the world sound very fragile and isolated. Later on in the 11/12th line he describes the pond 'Then we saw it; black and flat as a tray, the skaters rolling round it like marbles' I believe it is quite sinister the way he portrays the pond, the word 'black' gives a feeling of darkness quite different from the opening line. The second part of the sentence '...rolling round it like marbles' gives

  • Word count: 1075
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Poetry English language

Study a selection of War poetry. What are the poets' attitudes to the War? Wars have been around for many years, in fact, they have been around as long as humans have been around. When you come to think of it, Warfare means solving problems by force (fighting, War). The problems that might result to War could be: to gain land (this could be to gain power), to get resources from another country (oil, gold, and diamonds). Religion (this is the War that we are fighting now), to support another country who is lured (maybe reluctantly) into War, this is known as supporting an ally. I think that the scale of Warfare has changed; firstly, the weapons used in War these days have become more sophisticated. Today we use auto reload rifles, bullet-proof vests, bombs with sensors etc. back in World War 1 (WW1) they used rifles, bayonets and had no knowledge of the machine guns that were used by the German army. As a result, more people will be killed. Secondly troops can be moved from long distances much easily; before if you were in the English army (in the middle ages especially) you were shipped off to your location of War and you would march to wherever you were ordered to fight. Nowadays you are transported in helicopters or jet planes, so the soldiers can get to the battle-zone more easily, so the job will be done much quicker as a result. Most governments have now ensured that

  • Word count: 9003
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Analysis of Richard Cory

These different articles about Richard Cory presented to us show us three different viewpoints of the same story. The three different articles cover the same information, but the way they use the characteristics of writing to convey us their message is uniquely different. The first article is a newspaper article; this article is based around a typical tabloid story. The second piece of writing is the poem, "Richard Cory" it's self, and this article of writing seems to be almost like a fable, and it wants you to dig deeper into the sublimed meaning of it. The third piece of writing that we are presented with is the medical examiner's report. This report does not seem to be like a typical medical report, and it seems to be a extremely graphical description of the death, but it does not give any other information besides the method by which he was killed or present us with any background information of Rickard Cory, unlike the other two pieces of writing. One can infer from the fact that each of the articles are presented from a individual perspective, and a new perspective needs to be created, with the information presented to us in the other articles, we can piece together a complete story without information solid as a gridlock. Starting with the newspaper article, the article seems to be a short summary of the events that occurred to Richard Cory the night he shot

  • Word count: 1320
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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English Coursework - Diverse Cultures

Diverse Cultures Coursework The Great Depression was a worldwide economic breakdown. It was the largest and most important economic depression in modern history, it began in the United States on Black Tuesday with the Wall Street crash of October 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. It lasted about a decade, ending in the early 1940s. During this decade many people were living in poverty, in need of food and shelter. Banks, stores, and factories were closed and left millions of people jobless and without any money. Many had to rely on charity and the government to stay alive. This is why many men had to leave their families in search of jobs. Many men like George and Lennie went to California because there were a lot of jobs for them to do on ranches. From the opening chapter we learn the George and Lennie are the typical itinerant workers. They have just got fired from one job and are travelling to go another one. George shows his frustration of having to move constantly to find work. He accuses Lennie of keeping him 'shovin' all over the country all the time.' This shows how hard it was to keep moving around and having no home to go to fell safe. They have to sleep outside in the cold with no protection. Steinbeck shows us how life during the depression was hard. The workers had no real luxury's they could enjoy, when George and Lennie were eating beans and Lennie says 'I

  • Word count: 1288
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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English Poetry Coursework

I have been assigned to write an English poetry coursework, I was given a range of two poems to choose to analyse. The two poems I was given to choose to analyse are the following: Firstly, "I am not that Woman", which is written by the Asian poet Kishwar Naheed, the poem was translated in to English from Urdu. And secondly "Once upon a Time", this is written by Gabrael Okara. I have chosen to analyse the essay on the poem "I am not that Woman. Kishwar Naheed was born in Bulandshahr, which is situated in India, in 1940. She is one of the best-known feminist poets of Pakistan, even at this present moment, her mother tongue was Urdu so many of the poems were originally written in Urdu. It also says that she has written ten collections of poetry, one of them poems is written on the state of women in the early days. The poet experiences the situation that the women in the past had no rights and were tortured, in other words women were discriminated. The poet has a purpose of the poem, the theme of the poem is to convey the message that Asian women are not that type of women who were unable to do things, for example, money weren't given to women to spend on either necessities or anything, they were also locked up in rooms and simply saying that their lives were just ruined. The feeling of the poet are at first distress that it makes a female reader feel extremely

  • Word count: 1080
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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