Lost in Austen?

Some lucky students are still enjoying the Easter holidays, not due to go back until next Monday. This gives a little extra time for chilling / revision / coursework catch-up - according to kind of student you are ;-).
Meanwhile many teachers are madly planning lessons and resources for the coming term (such is a teacher’s ‘holiday’).

Last month a new student guide was released on the web to help pupils get to grips with Jane Austen’s Persuasion, which features on the OCR and Cambridge Pre U Eng. Lit. syllabuses. Now there is imminent help for stressed teachers – a series of downloadable teaching ideas and resources to help your students find their way into a better appreciation of the novel, which will be shortly available.

• Find out whether Austen felt her heroine Anne Elliot just a little too good to be palatable.
• Discover what Austen and Thomas Hardy have in common (apart from being English novelists that is!).

Where?

Both guide and downloads are to be found on Crossref-it.info. This web resource is regularly getting almost thousands of visits a day, as more and more students discover how it can help them succeed at AS, A2 and even undergraduate study.

If you are a regular subscriber to this blog you already know this. You know you have got all the support you need as you face the examination season.
Why not make yourself feel even better – perform an act of kindness and pass the link on to someone who doesn’t.

A Metaphysical perspective on Easter

Easter is a funny old celebration. For some it is just about the up-surging of Spring (cue bunnies, lambs and chicks) and of an appetite for chocolate (cue eggs)!

Rejoicing in the new life seen in nature reflects the idea that Christians believe new life is on offer through the person of Jesus, who was witnessed alive 38 hours after having been tortured and killed by the Romans, 2000 years ago.

And there’s the oddness – that a celebration of life is only achieved by confronting pain and death. There is an about-turn in the emotions experienced in the seven days leading to Easter Sunday: of victorious cheering, then fearful rejection; of despair and grief, then joy and certainty.

George Herbert captures these jumps in perspective in his 1633 poem, Easter Wings. In both the shape and the mood of his verse he reflects the downward - then upward - move of the heart experienced by those who hold the Easter story dear.

Easter Wings by George Herbert

        Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,
            Though foolishly he lost the same,
                Decaying more and more,
                    Till  he  became
                        Most poore:
                        With  thee
                    Oh  let  me  rise
                As larks, harmoniously,
            And sing this day thy victories:
        Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

        My  tender  age  in  sorrow  did  beginne:
            And still with sicknesses and shame
                Thou didst so punish sinne,
                    That  I  became
                        Most thinne.
                        With   thee
                    Let  me  combine
                And feel this day thy victorie:
            For,  if  I  imp  my  wing  on  thine
        Affliction  shall  advance  the  flight  in  me.

It is as if Herbert is saying that celebration is more meaningful when it has come through pain, rather than being cheaply won.To get a better insight into Herbert’s poem, check out Easter Wings by George Herbert on Crossref-it.info

Meanwhile, enjoy the break – and those eggs!