My students asked, so I provided…here is an analysis based on quotes from the novella that I could find online, showing that it can be done fairly quickly. This took me about 45 minutes to complete. Do not forget, no direct copying of this without saying where you got it from. Plagiarism leads to disqualification. I have had to do that as a teacher before now and it was the saddest day of my career. Enjoy!

How does Steinbeck portray Curley’s wife in Of Mice and Men?

Of Mice and Men is a novella set in and around the Californian landscape of Salinas in the 1920s at the time of the Great Depression in American history, a time of great financial and emotional struggle, where concepts of family life and societal hierarchies are stretched to the limit in an attempt to keep society afloat and prosperous. Its title comes from a Robert Burns poem that says “all the best plans of mice and men” …. come to nothing,” meaning that whatever anyone in this story plans, all their best laid plans will come to nothing in the end and the reader who is informed of this expects this to be the case.

Of all the characters in the novella, Curley’s wife is the one that shows this to be the case in the most pointed and poignant way. She enters the action as a vulnerable young married woman and leaves the plot in a manner that does not befit her dreams and aspirations in this life. She wants to be the Hollywood actress, have all the fame and glory that comes with it and ends up in a brutal and utterly hopeless marriage with a man who possesses her and a father in law known for being just as brutal. She is the only female on an otherwise, all male ranch and so, she is the one true victim in this tragic portrayal of life at that time. It is, one can say, a societal comment for the time it was written.

We first see her described as wearing her summer dress and bright red lipstick, asking the men some questions, which is meant to make the reader identify her with a certain type of female, one that is loose with her ways and willing to flirt. Indeed, Candy says “she’s got the eye,” meaning she has an eye for the more handsome man about the ranch. By writing like this, Steinbeck is painting and image in the reader’s mind to ensure that it is remembered as the novella progresses. But this may not have been his intention, for he has stated elsewhere that he sees her in a positive light, as someone who is trying to climb out of the rut she is in, a feisty example of American womanhood at the time. So to blindly read her as the “slut” or worse would be the wrong thing to do. Indeed, it is more than likely that a man reading this novella would see her in a certain light whilst a female reader may see her more considerately. The same might be true of a young reader and one who is middle aged and seen more of the negativity that exists in this life of ours.

Throughout the novella, Curley’s wife is seen to be talking openly with George and the rest of the men. She is the sole lady on a ranch full of men. She is a product of a society that is male led, not working properly because of the Great Depression and is feeling the pressure that such a life brings. So when the reader sees words like she “had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up” the reaction is instant. Lennie even calls her “purty” showing the vernacular of the time, but it is the terse response from George who calls her “poison” and “jail-bait” that really shows the image up well. Steinbeck creates in her the personality of one who is oppressed but always hopes, always wishes for her dreams to come true, always wishes for the freedom that in America, would not come for another thirty or forty years after this is set.

But she is equally negative towards others as well, for later, in chapter three, the reader sees that she has attitudes towards certain members of the ranch staff. She knows her position. She is the wife of the boss’ son, so she should get some respect from the enlisted men, but her attitude to them leaves a lot to be desired. For example, she says to the Blacksmith Crooks that she could get him “strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.’ She clearly has the typical disdain for the black man at that time and in that area. Crooks’ position is a lowly one, but instead of having and showing compassion towards him, she shows a certain  level of disdain and malice. It is a malice that is not just levelled at the lower ranged men on the ranch either for she has a similar dislike of her husband, for she says “he got it comin’ to him’ referring to when Lennie crushes Curly’s hand in the fight. She knows her husband well, possibly has been on the receiving end of that anger and frustration, although that is never explicitly said by the author, and sees his current position, with mangled hand, as being something he rightly deserves for being the bully he is.

In chapter five we see a further side to her character when she says “I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” This alone shows her real plight on this ranch, surrounded by men who do not want to have anything to do with her for fear of incensing Curly, unable to have a real conversation about things she wants to and unable to work through issues like her future. She adds “I could made somethin’ of myself…Maybe I will yet,” reflecting her dreams and that of the American people, who are trying to live their American Dream in their own way. She says that she believes she “coulda been in the movies.’ Again, this indicates that she is a woman full of emotions, full of dreams and one that is yearning to get away from the ranch and be the person she wants to be, but instead, she finds herself unable to move, unable to breathe, unable to think about anything positive. She is a product of the system, her relationship to Curly and her father in law and the failure of the American Dream at that time.

Eventually, through no fault of her own but by sheer vulnerability and naivete she ends up being the victim in this tragedy, a victim who shows the reader that in this dream, there is no winner. Just as much as Lennie and George might be the caricature of the downtrodden worker, with the boss and Curley being the corporate owners and their managers, so too is Curley’s wife, with Lennie, the innocent victims of a system that has let them down. They are both victims of a society that is failing, a society that believes that anyone with a disability is not normal and must be treated harshly and a system of belief in what a woman can and cannot do; they are victims of the possessive male fixation on dominating the female in their midst. She, in the end, is symbolic of the sadness and the bitterness that exists even to this day in the society in which we live showing that very little has changed in some parts of the world.

Developing The Skill Set

I was recently told by someone that he wanted to have the ability to think quickly and write down things in a clear and meaningful way. That is the life skill he wanted to develop. I was asked for help and guidance in how to develop this.

There are a number of ways but the one trick I have learnt over the years is simple; make it so that your brain and your hand are working in unity with each other.

The first thing you need to consider is that how you speak something, assuming you speak clearly and reasonably well, is usually the way it is best to write the thing down. Imagine being asked to write a letter to the Prime Minister in the exam asking him to make some positive changes in your area. What would you put? Would you be the one sitting there on the day thinking “well I know what I would say to him in person, but have not got a clue how to write it down?”

If this is the case then I think you have missed the point.

Try this task in your own time. Get from somewhere, a recording device, an ipod, or tape player, anything that can record, even a phone nowadays can do that. Then begin with “Dear Prime Minister” and carry on as if you was speaking to him in person. Then save it to the device.

Then, word for word, write it out, but before you do, add underneath the comma at the end of “Dear Prime Minister,” these words: “I am writing to you to ask your permission to make a change in my area.” Then word for word, add your words.

Does this make sense yet?

When done, re-record the whole letter and you will see that apart from the beginning bit, which needs to be formal, the rest is you being you. End it with a “Yours sincerely”, leave a 6 line gap and then add, in capital letters, your name [which should not be at the top of the letter]. There, one letter written.

When you read it back, if it is done correctly, you will see that the words you say are the words you write. That is the one secret I can think of, but then there is the added pressure of the exam and that awful moment when you run out of words.

I can hear you shouting “Help!!!”

Try to remember that the words coming from your mind have to be the words you have written down. There is no point in thinking “Heaney’s poem is a tour de force of human emotion” and then not writing it. That would be silly. Write the thing using exactly the words flowing from your mind.

Treat your body like a vessel. The idea emerges in your brain. You think a sentence. That sentence flows down your arm, through your hand, gets to the tip of your fingers and then you put pressure on the pen nib and hey presto, the word appears creating sentences, just as it was in your mind a fraction of a second before.

The worst thing you can do is think one thing and try to write another. That is a mistake.

This kind of skill that has taken me years to perfect, at the same time perfecting a 2000 word an hour typing speed. My fingers are moving at the same speed as my mind and my thoughts. That is what you need to cultivate in order to “think quickly and write down things in a clear and meaningful way.”

Have a go – you will love it when you get to doing it well. For you, writing will become a joy, just as it has for me.

RJ

Here is one of the exam tasks from 2013 from the 4705/9715 syllabii.

Question 21
Read the following passage and then answer Part (a) and Part (b).

Text from Of Mice and Men

A tall man stood in the doorway. He held a crushed Stetson hat under his arm while he combed his long, black, damp hair straight back. Like the others he wore blue jeans and a short denim jacket. When he had finished combing his hair he moved into the room, and he moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen. He was a jerk line skinner, the prince of the ranch, capable of driving ten, sixteen, even twenty mules with a single line to the leaders. He was capable of killing a fly on the wheeler’s butt with a bull whip without touching the mule. There was a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all talk stopped when he spoke.

His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject, be it politics or
love. This was Slim, the jerk line skinner. His hatchet face was ageless. He might
have been thirty-five or fifty. His ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow
speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought. His
hands, large and lean, were as delicate in their action as those of a temple dancer.
He smoothed out his crushed hat, creased it in the middle and put it on. He looked
kindly at the two in the bunk house. ‘It’s brighter’n a bitch outside,’ he said gently.
‘Can’t hardly see nothing in here. You the new guys?’
‘Just come,’ said George.
‘Gonna buck barley?’
‘That’s what the boss says.’

Slim sat down on a box across the table from George. He studied the solitaire hand
that was upside down to him. ‘Hope you get on my team,’ he said. His voice was
very gentle. ‘I gotta pair of punks on my team that don’t know a barley bag from a
blue ball. You guys ever bucked any barley?’

Part (a) – In this passage, how does Steinbeck present Slim? Refer closely to the passage in your answer.

Part (b) – In the rest of the novel, how does Steinbeck show that some people on the ranch are considered more important than others? How does this reflect the society in which the novel is set? (30 marks) SPG: (4 marks)

You have to note a few things. Firstly, there are two parts of equal proportion, so your timing has to be as exact as possible. If you have 90 minutes and have to answer on OMAM and another text [Woman in Black?] then each task has 45 minutes attached, so this task would be 45 minutes in length. Do not go over this time. Take off the watch at the beginning and place it in front of you – to time yourself and keep on task.

Secondly, one part is on Slim, as a character and the latter part is on the rest of the novella. If I asked you to write an essay on Slim, I would expect you to use a section of the novella, like this, and then write about how he is presented. Then I would expect you to write about the rest of the novella, how Slim is different to others etc. I would be expecting you to cover both parts of this task in one essay but this exam task asks you to do it in 2 separate sections, so beware of answering part 2 in part 1. This can happen and you get zero marks for the effort.

So, how to answer it….

Again, use the structure showed earlier….Intro, Point 1, Point 2, Point 3 and conclusion. But because it is two short answers rather than one large one, use one quote for each midsection in each one. Ergo, you still have answers with structure. Because there are SPG marks here, if each section is one paragraph, then providing they are written properly, indented beginning and no lines missed, all will be well.

How does Steinbeck present Slim? – Strong, team leader, man of authority, capable man, knows his place…etc – a great quote to use would be “he moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen.” This shows the reader the sort of man he is.

How does Steinbeck show that some people on the ranch are considered more important than others? – Curley, the Boss, The blacksmith etc, Each have position, each have some degree of authority in comparison to others [even Lennie is ruled by George].

How does this reflect the society in which the novel is set? – In society, there are hierarchies. There are those in charge [the boss], their deputy managers [Curley], the middle managers [Slim], the workers [George], the mentally deficient [Lennie] and the victims [Curley’s wife] who pay the price for the way society is made up. In the 1920s when there was little work in America due to the Great Depression, this novella becomes what is termed a “Social commentary” on the nature of society and how we seem to have got something wrong.

All of the above and some more of your ideas, are what I would expect to see in your answer, if you wanted an A*.

AQA has a separate syllabus that is an English Literature syllabus. One of the things you have to do if taking this course is sit a Literature exam [which is why the 4700 syllabus is so much easier].

Here is a question from last year, from the Higher tier paper…you usually get a choice of two questions where you have to write as much as possible on only one of them [do not try to do both].

Question: How does Hill create tension and suspense in the second chapter, A London Particular? (30 marks with 4 extra marks for SPG – spelling, punctuation and grammar]

or

Question: How does Hill present children in The Woman in Black? How do you think the children add to the sense of horror in the novel? (30 marks plus 4 marks for SPG]

Looking at it, which would you take? Which do you think is the easier to answer, or write about?

This is how I would choose to answer from this choice, albeit not a good one.

The first question asks ‘How does Hill create tension and suspense in the second chapter, A London Particular?’ It is based on one chapter, so you can if you so choose, write about the single chapter and every now and again, you would add bits in from elsewhere in the novella. It asks you to think of the creation of suspense and terror, which means writing about the use of foreshadowing and pathetic fallacy. In essence, it is not that bad when it comes to an exam question. This is what would make me choose it, because it is centred on one single chapter.

The second question asks ‘How does Hill present children in The Woman in Black? How do you think the children add to the sense of horror in the novel?’ This is an interesting question and one that means you could write quite a lot, especially about how the children are fascinated by this mysterious woman dressed in black, but the answer needs to come from the entire book, which would make this answer the harder of the two. By using the entire novella, you need to know by heart where the sections are that detail the children. The obvious place to start would be the children at the funeral and how they fit into the Gothic nature of the novella and the horror element.

But be careful. If you mention the young boy called Nathaniel appearing from out of the marshes, you are mentioning something that happens in the more recent of the two films. This will get you zero marks. The task is about the written word, not the filmic depiction of the same. It is so easy to drop into that mistake, to use bits from films, because we use films in class to show you the plot line. Your revision for this task [and I type this the day before one of mine takes his Y11 mocks] has to include nothing but the text.

Have you decided which one you would take?

For me it would be the first one as I find writing about one chapter easier than a whole text. Plus, the children question is more difficult to locate and use appropriate quotations in the correct manner [as shown on this blog earlier].

But there is one thing that can happen; you may get half way through the exam answer and then think this is rubbish, I need to do the other task and begin that. Don’t do it! When you have made your choice, stick to it.

So, if I think of that first exam task, which I would choose, how would I set it out to give it structure? In answer to this, I follow a very simple plan, for all my essays, as follows:

Introduction – the details of the second chapter about the Pea Souper in London [look up the definition of Pea Souper] and that this beginning brings tension and suspense to the reader’s mind as they read.

Point 1 – the creation of tension – throughout the chapter, using quotes and PEE chains

Point 2 – the creation of suspense in the chapter – again using quotes and PEE chains

Point 3 – because this is a two part task, this third part would be how they both work together to make the reader want to read on in chapter 3

Conclusion – here I would note the effect of the whole chapter on the reader – reader response theory is something you need to look up.

With this in mind, if I write it as accurately as I can, the answer is one that has structure, quotes, PEE chains used correctly and is one that does what it is asked to do.

But be warned: I always tell my students that answering an exam question [or a CA] is like taking a train journey. You set off at Point A and you arrive at Point B. If the tracks change by mistake, or error, then you arrive at Point C. This is what happens with your writing if you are not careful. Enjoy the exam and the process of testing, but above all, do not panic.

Happy writing! Luck is for the ill prepared.

AO4 Writing

One of the things that lets students down is their writing. They can have all the brilliant ideas but when they pen it and put it down on paper, mistakes come in plentiful supply and wallop, a huge set of points is lost and those points can be the difference between an A and a B, or a C and a D.

This is what AQA ask you to do in anything you write. Let’s look at them one by one.

1. • Write to communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, using and adapting forms and selecting vocabulary appropriate to task and purpose in ways that engage the reader.

Clear communication. Hmmm, clear and consistent gets you into the C band. Effectively and imaginatively gets you the B and engagement with the reader gets you the A and the A*. If you are not sure what I mean, ask yourself a question about the last good book you read. Why could you not put it down? Appropriate vocabulary simply means the right words for the right occasions, but the more adventurous words get the higher marks. Every teacher I know hates the word “NICE” when you can use “wonderful” or “fantastically superb” to describe something.

2. • Organise information and ideas into structured and sequenced sentences, paragraphs and whole texts, using a variety of linguistic and structural features to support cohesion and overall coherence.

This one is where the C/D brigade [you know who you are] let themselves down. Think for a moment about paragraphing. When hand writing something, miss no lines and indent each paragraph [see earlier post on here] so that there is uniformity. Neatness is rewarded by the examiner. Think of your day yesterday. You got up and had breakfast. You then went to school or college. You then went home. And so on. If you was to write about your typical day, the start of each paragraph would depend on the new thing happening. New paragraphs always start because of a change in time or subject matter. This brings “coherence,” or a clearness to your writing and makes it of a higher grade. With the right kinds of sentences all mixed in well, expect an A*.

3. • Use a range of sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate punctuation and spelling.

What does a “range of sentence structures” mean? It is simple. A story might begin with a very short sentence. One I read began with “This was the end.” Post modern nonsense I know, but then the sentences got longer and shorter and varied, before returning to a short one for dramatic effect. Your writing, even when analysing a poem or play or prose, has to do the same thing. If it does and it is accurately written, then it will get the A*. If you are not sure what I mean, pick up Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and read Stave 2 especially looking at how the food; the fruits and the vegetables in the shops are described. Utterly fantastic read! Mesmerizing. By the time I had read it 5 times with 5 different classes one of my pupils asked me “Sir, how many times have you read this?” He was asking because I was hardly looking at the page any more. I knew it by heart. I loved that book when I was teaching High School.

The last line there is so important. Accurate spelling and punctuation. LEARN how to use semi colons and colons. Learn how to spell those simple words [you know the hard ones funnily enough] and get things right. Check out all the HOMOPHONES you can. Get the WRITE/RIGHT and the THERE/THEIR/THEY’RE spot on. If you can master those then you will do well in June.

God bless you all.

One of the popular questions that is asked is based on Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men and it usually asks to discuss the characterization of Curley’s wife, whether it be an exam question or a CA, or Controlled Assessment.

Here is a question, or task title, followed by some notes as to how AQA would want you to answer it.

Title: Heroes and villains: Explore Steinbeck’s portrayal of Curley’s wife. (pages 53-54)

Then AQA say you should use these notes to create your answer. Have a go as practice in your own time. Send it to this blog in a message and I will see if it is good enough to be published.

1. from what she looks like and the ways she acts, what kind of a woman does she seem to be?
2. How do George and Lennie react to her?
3. Explain why you think the writer used the following words to describe her:
‘’heavily made up’. ‘a nasal brittle quality’ ‘she said playfully’
Read pages 122 – 129 in Chapter 5. In this scene Curley’s wife finds Lennie in the barn, talks to him and ends up being killed. Answer the following:
4. What do you find out about Curley’s wife that you did not know in previous sections of the novel? Support your answer with some quotations from the novel
5. Is there anything in these pages that shows the writer wants you to think differently about her? Support you answer with some quotations from the novel
6. Explain why some knowledge of life in 1930s America might help readers understand the significance of Curley’s wife’s dream.

I am sorry, but I had to…..

The Right Word [in honour of Imtiaz Dharker]

Outside the door,
Lurking in the shadows,
Is a maniacal Moggie.

Is that the right way to describe him?
Outside the door,
taking his shelter in the shadows,
Is a mad puss cat.

I cannot have this right.
Outside, waiting for me to shout,
Is a lonely, shivering cat.

Are the words we use merely a tool
To label and to besmirch?
Outside your door,
Watchfully waiting for you to arrive,
Is a symbol of love personified.

God help me, but I need to say it;
Outside, defying every shadow he can,
Stands a magnificent, feline, fur ball.
I can see his face.

There are no words for me now.
Just outside the door,
Lost in the shadows of your garden,
Is a feline who looks just like mine.

One word for you.
Outside my door,
His paws outstretched in affection,
His eyes twinkling in the moonlight,
Is a companion that will love you.

I open the door.
Come in I say.
Come in and love us.

Gus the Puss steps in
And carefully, at my door,
Washes his paws contentedly.

This analysis is based on the following question: How does Hill present Arthur Kipps and his reaction to his first visit to Eel Marsh House in Chapter 5, Across the Causeway? What follows below is how I would write such an essay. It is by no means completely covering the chapter and only uses some quotes. It has been placed here for you to use, to get ideas from, so if you decide to use any section of it, then I expect credit to be given to this site. If not, you are plagiarizing and cheating and good luck with that one! Take notice of the structure of the thing and glean ideas from it. Good luck.

How does Hill present Arthur Kipps and his reaction to his first visit to Eel Marsh House in Chapter 5, Across the Causeway?

In the novella, The Woman In Black, by Susan Hill, the author, uses a variety of techniques to allow the reader to feel the sensations that Arthur Kipps, the chief protagonist in the plot, feels. In doing so, Hill takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of emotions and this is seen particularly well in chapter 5, entitled where he crosses the causeway to Eel Marsh House.

Before the chapter begins, Kipps has been summoned to Crythin Gifford to sort the affairs of the late Mrs Drablow, who lived in the remote Eel Marsh House, across a causeway of land and in this chapter, Kipps endeavours to visit the old house for the first time. He has seen local residents quieten when the conversation has turned to Mrs Drablow’s affairs, has sensed a conspiracy of silence between them based and emerging out of fear and as he goes to the house, he is quite optimistic that he can get his job done efficiently on his own, thinking the fears of the locals are mere superstition.

Hill uses the five senses throughout the chapter, both in Kipps and in the reader, who in turn, senses Kipps’ feelings as he experiences them. By beginning with a simple sentence, for effect, of “no car appeared,” she is making the reader anticipate that something mysterious is about to happen. Then she develops the next few more complex sentences, using words like “worn” and “shabby” to describe the pony and trap. In essence, this can be seen as symbolic of the village and of the house he is about to visit, as if they are linked together in some kind of way. Age and decay seem to be prevalent in Crythin Gifford, both in the architecture and in the attitudes of the locals.

As he begins his travels on the pony and trap, with Keckwick across the causeway, Hill has him describe how “delighted at the sight” he is, showing his sense of progression and that his work is continuing apace. So at the beginning of the chapter, Kipps is confident, happy to be there and doing what he is paid for, content with his surroundings and the people he has met so far. Although he remembers “the ill-looking young woman,” he also sees that there is a beauty in the weather and the surroundings and as the journey to the house continues, there is an optimism in the words “all was bright and clear.” But then, as he gets closer to Eel Marsh House, the reader senses the change in him, in what he sees, in what he feels and hears. As “soil” gives way “to rough grass,” and he hears the “weird cries” all around him and “the water” gleams “like metal,” Kipps begins to sense danger approaching.

At this point there is the sense that Kipps is sharing positive and negative emotions and thoughts and as such, the reader senses these as well, feeling them with him, feeling his sense of dread. But it is when he sees Eel Marsh House for the first time and describes it as “a tall, gaunt house of grey stone with a slate roof” that the reader, with a knowledge of Gothic literature and its use of weather and archaic architecture, sees and feels the danger approaching as well. It is written this way to give the reader the sensation that something mysterious and dark is brooding over or near the house. It is a typical ghost story venue, an old run down house and most readers would be able to see this as they read.

Kipps describes it as “the most astonishingly situated house.” Clearly, this is also part of the genre and Hill is using a house set in an isolated and remote place to set the events before the reader. It is created thus, on purpose, to lure the reader into the narrative further, to allow the reader to feel the growing uneasiness and sense of positive and negative emotions now surging through Kipps. Hill uses this technique exceptionally well. Negative words like “isolated” and “uncompromising” are used to keep the reader on edge and they are extremely effective words to use in such a setting as this. Used with the title of the house, Eel Marsh House, one begins to see and feel the mystery, the weirdness of the house. Eels are slippery, mysterious creatures. A marsh is usually desolate and isolated, so the naming of the house is perfect in creating this scene, which is now set as Kipps arrives at the house.

Kipps says that he is “fascinated by it,” meaning the house, showing his sense of adventure, another Gothic element in literature, and Hill has him sharing that he is “aware of a heightening of every one” of his senses, something the reader is experiencing also. It is these sensations that Hill is trying to capture in this chapter as the house is set as a venue for what is going to happen later in the novella. Kipps even begins to “romanticize a little about how it would be” for he and his wife to live there.

But positivity turns to negativity as the chapter progresses and because of the weather, again used by Hill to make such a change in direction happen, Kipps becomes “conscious of the cold and the extreme bleakness and eeriness of the spot.” It is this eeriness that the reader is expecting because of the description of weather and isolation. The reader is expecting something bad to happen next and Hill does not disappoint, for Kipps sees once again “the woman with the wasted face.” When he does so, his whole mood changes to one of fear. The language at this point is quite poetic in its style as he stares at the woman until his “eyes ached in their sockets.” It is such a vivid description and one that brings the reader into the same sensation of dread, “surprise and bewilderment.”

In a way, Hill is using words to describe the woman and Kipps together, but also to describe and show how the reader should be feeling too; the resulting sensation of a “desperate, yearning malevolence.” This closeness to detail is alarming to the reader, allowing them into the sharing experience and even though Kipps is still a little unsure as to what actually is happening, the reader shares in the experience that fills Kipps with fear. He is described as never knowing the sensation before of being “gripped and held fast by such dread and horror and apprehension of evil,” which is a magnificent way of describing the terror he must be feeling at this point, so much so that he then adds that he feels he would “drop dead on that wretched patch of ground.” The reader is meant to associate these feelings as they are reading and as the reader responds in like fashion, it develops the sense of adventure and of mystery.

Throughout the rest of the chapter, where positivity turns to negativity, again using description of place to add to the mystery, the reader sees Kipps trying to rationalize out the things that have happened to him. This is something that we as readers would be doing also, so it is a very clever technique used by Hill as Kipps thinks things through from his eventful day. He has to think why he feels that every drop of energy is draining “out of [him] rapidly,” and why he “needed reassurance” after these events take place. Kipps remarks that “it is remarkable how powerful a force simple curiosity can be,” showing the reader just where their curiosity has got them in reading the novella in the first place.

It is only at the end, when Kipps is able to fully rationalise his feelings and experiences and when he decides not to wait for Keckwick and return to Crythin Gifford, that the reader sees and experiences his sense of combatant desire to overcome what is happening to him. In doing so, Hill successfully incorporates some of the elements of gothic literature into this single chapter to show the turning sensations and fears that her protagonist is going through. It is a turning point for Kipps in the plot structure just as much for the reader and one that is written very well and for dramatic effect.

This has to be one of my favourite poems ever written. I used to teach it to year 8 and get them to read it, discuss it and then write a 50 word [no more and no less] poem called THE BATTLE. Have a go at that in your own time. I dare you.

In teaching it, I trawled somewhere I cannot remember now and ended up with these notes. I hope they help.

Explanation: “The Charge of the Light Brigade”

Lines 1-4

The beginning lines of the poem throw the reader into the centre of action, with a rousing chant that drives the reader, both in its description and in its galloping rhythm, toward the battle. A “league” is approximately three miles long: charging horses could cover half a league in a few minutes. The audiences of the time of the poem would have been familiar with the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, upon which the poem is based, and would have known from the beginning that they were charging to their own doom. (As the poem soon makes clear, the six hundred cavalrymen of the Light Brigade were aware of this themselves.) The poem suggests that it is these moments before the battle has begun that are the Brigade’s greatest glory. The phrase “Valley of Death” refers to an episode of John Bunyon’s Pilgrim’s Progress and to Psalm 23 from the Old Testament of the Bible: in both of these sources, faith makes people brave when they are faced with death.

Lines 5-8

In the earliest published version of this poem, printed in the London Examiner on December 9, 1853, the command to charge forward was attributed to Lord Nolan, a well-known military figure of the time. In changing the speaker to an anonymous “he,” the poet shifts the focus of the poem away from individual actions and decisions onto matters of record, and onto the roles played by followers and leaders in military situations everywhere. In addition to obscuring the identity of the speaker, this final version of the poem changes the command given from “Take the guns” to “Charge for the guns!” This heightens the sense of the danger of the charge, while leaving unstated the reason for charging into the blaring gunfire.

Lines 9-12

No sooner does line 9 repeat the shouted command that sends the Light Brigade to their doom than line 10 makes the reader wonder whether any of the soldiers were stricken with fear upon hearing the command. Although we currently closely associate the word “dismay” with “shock,” its actual meaning includes a loss of courage. By raising this issue as a question and then answering that no, there was no fear, Tennyson gives the reader a moment’s pause to let the full extent of the soldiers’ bravery sink in. Line 11 and line 12 tell the reader without question that every member of the Brigade knew that this order was a mistake. This contradiction — the fact that the soldiers knew they were likely to die because of a “blunder” in military strategy, yet charged forward without fear anyway — gives the poem a psychological depth that would be lost if it merely celebrated the loyalty of soldiers who were unaware of the faulty command they were following.

Lines 13-17

Lines 13 through 15 repeat each other, in the way they phrase the rules these soldiers live by. The style suggests the regimented, militaristic way the members of the Light Brigade think as they ride ahead, and the effect of the strong use of repetition is to drown out concerns about the blunder mentioned in the previous stanza. “Theirs but to do and die” says that the soldiers are actually supposed to die — this might seem contrary to the purpose of fighting, but Tennyson makes it clear that this is the belief of the charging soldiers, for whom such a fate would be the ultimate expression of loyalty. In lines 16 and 17, the perspective shifts from what the soldiers think of their mission to a view of the overall battle situation, again repeating the image of the “valley of Death.”

Lines 18-21

The first three lines of this stanza are virtually identical, changing only the location of the cannons, presenting the layout of the battlefield visually, instead of simply stating the fact that there were cannons all around. By repeating the phrase three times, the reader is not only given information about the tremendous odds against the Light Brigade, but the poem gives the feeling of being surrounded.

Lines 22-26

“Stormed” in line 22 extends the image of “thundered” from the line before it, making the barrage of cannon fire aimed at the cavalrymen appear almost like a force of nature. Line 23 makes a point of mentioning that the soldiers of the Light Brigade were brave, but also that they rode their horses well. Their skill is mentioned almost as an afterthought, though, and this is the only place in the poem that it is brought up. The reason for this is that this poem makes its reader analyse the battle almost entirely in terms of attitude, not ability. In lines 24-26, Tennyson expands the phrase that was used to end the first two stanzas: instead of the geographic “Valley of Death,” he uses the metaphor “jaws of Death,” and extends this metaphor with “mouth of hell.” Treating death as the same thing as hell, and making both as real as an animal’s attack, the poem heightens the viciousness of death on the battlefield.

Lines 27-38

This stanza celebrates the Light Brigade’s control over the battle at its beginning. They ride into the enemy, using their sabres against opponents armed with cannons and pistols, and are able to break through the front line of defence. The pistols and rifles of the day would have been useless to the members of the Light Brigade because they required reloading with a very complicated procedure that involved measuring gunpowder and pellets, which would have been impossible for a man on horseback. Sending a cavalry unit into the confined space of a valley against guns was so obviously hopeless, that it may be this, and not the brigade’s initial success, that is referred to when the line “all the world wondered” appears in the middle of a vivid battle scene. In this stanza, the Light Brigade takes such complete control of the situation that their opponents, the Cossacks and Russians, find their defensive line torn apart (“shattered and sundered”) and have to retreat, while the six hundred cavalry members, who have by this time stared into the barrels of cannons and guns, continue to press forward bravely.

Lines 39-49

The first five lines of this stanza override any optimism the reader may have gotten from the Light Brigade’s initial success. By using the same words as were used in stanza 3 (except that now the cannon are behind instead of in front of them), the poem takes the reader back to the same sense of hopelessness that was established before the battle began. The brief victory that was gained in the fourth stanza has made no difference in the overall scope of the battle. The first time these words were used (lines 18-22), though, they ended with a claim of the soldiers’ boldness and skill: this time, they end with the soldiers (referred to directly as “heroes” ) being shot down. The path that the Light Brigade charged into — the jaws of death, the mouth of hell — is mentioned again as the survivors make their escape. Anthropologists and sociologists have observed that going into hell and then returning is a common motif in the mythology of many of the world’s cultures, including one of the best-known myths of Western civilization, the labours of Hercules. The survivors of this battle are thus raised to heroic status by the words that this poem uses to describe the valley’s entrance.

Lines 50-55

The focus of the poem shifts in this stanza, from describing the battle scene to addressing the reader directly. In using the description “wild” to marvel at the charge, Line 51 implies that thoughtless bravery is to be admired in and of itself, regardless of concerns about strategy or success. Repeating the line “All the world wondered” in line 52 adds to the idea that what the soldiers have done goes beyond the average person’s comprehension: the soldiers are following rules that those who rely on intellect over loyalty might not understand. Although a close reading of the tone of this poem can leave little question about how we are meant to feel about these cavalrymen, the poem does not rely upon a reader’s understanding of the subtleties of tone, but directly tells the reader in line 53 and line 55 to honour these soldiers. That the poem is so straightforward about its intent is an indicator that it was written for a common, often uneducated, audience, to celebrate the actions of common soldiers who understood what they were being asked to do better than the blundering military strategists who planned the attack.

Analyse this…..if you can.

MEETING SEAMUS [Heaney]

It was one of those moments
That you cherish in life;
A memory that can never fade,
An event of complete magnitude
That will remain with me for all time.
I was nervous, excited and drinking rapidly
As he entered through the door
Into my world of dreams and thought.
I had read about the man.
I had read some of his poetry
And yet, as I stood drinking,
Our eyes met across a crowded hall.
My glass stopped, half in and half out
Of my trembling mouth,
As the recognition occurred.
He did not know me, but I knew him
Above any other person in the room.
As our eyes met, it was electrifying;
Like one of those special moments
Between two people attracted to each other.
My attraction was one of sheer admiration
For a man who I had never met.
A shiver shot down my spine as I looked;
Eyebrows raising in an arc of surprise
As eye met eye and soul met soul.
For a moment, he nodded in my direction;
A greeting from one Celt to another.
It was a moment I will never forget!
Two years on, the memory still remains
Of that eventful evening in London.
As memories come and go,
This one never seems to fade,
Never wanes or dissipates; is always strong.
It shines like a beacon in my heart,
The memory of meeting Seamus.