Western culture the easy way

Slump back and watch

It’s had mixed reviews – positive in America, cynical in the UK - but if you want an easy way to assimilate the core stories of Western culture, it’s worth recording Channel 5’s mini-series on The Bible for those empty, post-Christmas days when it’s cold and miserable and you want a day on the sofa. In 10 hours (shorter if you can skip through interminable adverts) you will get an understanding of some of the core events and people which literature has referenced over the last thousand years.

Assessment Objective 4

A quarter of the marks given at A Level for English Lit. are based on your understanding of: ‘the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received’. Any student who doesn’t know the great extent to which the Bible and classical myths have infiltrated almost every play, novel, poem and even newspaper article you’ll ever come across is hugely disadvantaged. The stories they include and the views they contain have shaped politics, history, society and culture.

• To take a light-hearted example - why is the duplicitous lover in Tom Jones’ famous song called Delilah? You’ll find out from The Bible.
• Why Is Margaret Attwood’s latest bestseller called Maddaddam? She takes endless references from the Bible.

A reason for the season

In the midst of that general feeling of having been over-faced by food, wrapping paper and winter sale adverts, it’s easy to wonder what the festive season has all been about. The narrative of Episode Three of The Bible might also provide a helpful perspective on why the West celebrates Christmas (the clue is in the name).

Ten hours means that, inevitably, some well-known events have had to be left out, but, from what has been released so far, the account of biblical events at least bears a good resemblance to the contents of the Good Book – unlike the BBC Saturday entertainment series Atlantis, which is great fun but plays fast and loose with classical myths.

Of course, for real detail about how context is reflected in the texts you’ll study for Eng. Lit. there’s nowhere better than Crossref-it.info. But to get a grand sweep, why not sit back and enjoy the mini-series (aired Saturdays at 9pm on Channel 5 if you want to record)?

HAPPY CHRISTMAS to one and all!

Our Inevitable End

Free to talk?

In the UK we have freedom of speech. We are happy talking about anything and everything – except that one day we will be able to speak no more. That subject we avoid, despite the fact that it is an experience we will all face. Right now, I am doing what our culture always does – politely skirting around the unmentionable… We don’t want to be morbid do we!

Start engaging with literature and you’ll find previous generations had no such issues. Everybody dies, authors proclaim, get used to it!

> Every parent expected some of their offspring not to make it

> Wives knew that childbirth might kill them one day

> Men frequently found their 50’s to be their final decade

> Illness rarely had a remedy.

Death wasn’t an avoidable ‘unmentionable’, but in your face.

So literature engages with death. It faces it, does not flinch from examining the impact of dying on the person involved and those left behind. Characters ponder what it will be like and what they might expect on the other side of the grave.

Only connect

Earlier this term Crossref-it.info launched Only connect. The Crossref-it.info team have taken a series of themes and then looked at how each runs through and unites various texts, providing hundreds of helpful links to a variety of onsite sources.

This week sees the release of Attitudes to death. It helps students explore how cultures alter through time in the way they approach the end of life. It enables readers to trace how perspectives from the classical world and the Christian Western worldview have affected attitudes reflected within texts. Currently covering the genres of poetry and drama, after Christmas it will also feature prose.

The inescapable cannot, by definition, be escaped, but at least literature can mediate the experience to us. So instead of running or skirting around, why not try connecting?

The Play’s the Thing

A Level Shakespeare texts on stage

If you live within reach of one of the following productions, which are all on exam board syllabuses, do try and get to see ‘your’ play acted live. Some productions are soon to end their run, but others are listed to book for 2014. It is the best way to make the most of the bard’s drama:

Antony and Cleopatra

• RSC Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 7 – 30 November (0870 6091110).    www.rsc.org.uk
• Southend Shakespeare Company, Dixon Studio, Palace Theatre, Southend-on-Sea, 20 - 30 November (01702 351 135).   http://eskape.brinkster.net/home/index.asp

As You Like It

• Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory. The Tobacco Factory, Bristol, 13 Feb - 22 March 2014 (0117 902 0344).

Coriolanus

• Donmar Warehouse. London, 6 December – 8 February 2014 (0844 871 7624).   www.donmarwarehouse.com

Hamlet

• The Faction.  The New Diorama Theatre, London, 4 January – 22 February 2014 (0844 2090344).   www.thefaction.org.uk

Henry IV, pt.1

• RSC. Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 18 March – 16 September 2014 (0844 800 1110).  www.rsc.org.uk

King Lear

• Chichester Festival.  Minerva Theatre, Chichester, 31 October – 30 November (01243 781 312).    http://www.cft.org.uk/
• National Theatre. Olivier Theatre, from January 2014 (dates TBA) (020 7452 3000).   www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

• Propeller. Theatre Royal, Bath, 19 – 23 November (01225 448844); Swan Theatre, High Wycombe (01494 512 000); Lyceum, Sheffield, 23 January - 1 February 2014 (0114 249 6000); Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, 11 - 15 February (024 7655 3055); Theatre Royal, Manchester, 18 - 22 February (0115 989 5555); The Lowry, the Lyric, Salford, 26 February - 1 March (0843 208 6000); The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, 4 - 8 March (01227 787787); Rose Theatre, Kingston, week of 10 March 2014 (08444 821 556); Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, week of 17 March 2014 (01242 572573); Theatre Royal, Norwich, 25 - 29 March (01603 63 00 00); Theatre Royal, Newcastle, 1 - 5 April (08448 11 21 21); King's Theatre, Edinburgh, 16 - 19 April (0131 529 6000); Theatre Royal, Plymouth, week of 5 May 2014 (01752 267222).   http://propeller.org.uk
• Brewery Arts.  The Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, 28 – 30 November  (01539 725 133).   www.breweryarts.co.uk
• London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Pleasance Theatre, Islington, London, 28 November – 5 December (020 7609 1800).  www.lamda.org.uk

Othello

• The Icarus Theatre Collective. Weston Auditorium, Hatfield, 2 December   (01707 281127);   Mumford Theatre, Cambridge, 3 – 4 December  (01223 352932); Millfield Theatre, London, 27 – 28 January 2014 (0208 8076680); Venue Cymru, Llandudno, Wales, 30 January 2014  (01492 872000); Braintree Arts Theatre, 1 February 2014 (01376 556354); Buxton Opera House, 6 – 7 February 2014 (0845 1272190); Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, 10 – 11 Feburary  2014 (01743 281281); Wyvern Theatre, Swindon, 17 March  2014 (01293 553636); Pomegranate Theatre, Chesterfield, 19 March 2014 (01246 345222); The Atkinson, Southport, 20 – 21 March 2014 (01704 533333); Stafford Gatehouse, 24 March 2014 (01785 254653); Hartlepool Town Hall Theatre, 25 March 2014 (01429 890000); Queen's Hall, Hexham, 26 March 2014 (01434 652477); Customs House, South Shields, 27 March 2014 (0191 4541234); Harpenden Public Halls, 7 April 2014 (01582 767525).   http://www.icarustheatre.org/

Richard II

• RSC.  The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 10 October – 16 December; Barbican, London, 9 December – 25 January 2014 (0870 6091110).    www.rsc.org.uk

Richard III

• Nottingham Playhouse and York Theatre Royal. York Theatre Royal, 19 – 30 November (01904 623 568).   www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
• Cambridge University European Theatre Group. ADC Theatre, Cambridge, 14 – 18 January 2014  (01223 300085).   http://www.adctheatre.com
• Bournemouth Shakespeare Players. Priory House Garden, Christchurch, 15 – 19, and 22- 26 July 2014 (01202 534779)  http://www.bshakespearep.org/

The White Devil brought to life

Book now!

Like buses, productions of Hamlet come and go quite frequently. If you miss one, there’s likely to be another fairly soon. The same cannot be said for productions of John Webster’s The White Devil. This gutsy Jacobean tragedy is full of passion, violence and spectacle but performed only infrequently. This is a shame, as it’s a great play, as well as being a set text on the following syllabuses:

• AQA English Literature B
• OCR English Literature
• Cambridge Pre U

As anybody knows, when you are trying to grapple with a printed play text, the best thing you can do is see it brought to life on stage.

Today you have the chance, as booking has just opened for a new production of The White Devil by the RSC. The run is from the end of August to the start of October, which means that realistically a student group can only book between 3rd Sep – 3rd October. If you are studying the play, do let your teacher know, as tickets are likely to run out very quickly. Go to http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats- on/the-white-devil/ for details.

A vivid interpretation

One of the reasons the RSC are staging Webster’s revenge tragedy is because it features two feisty female roles in Vittoria and her maid, Zanche. These women are prepared to defy convention and fight for their rights within a controlling patriarchal society. The play is part of a season focusing on strong women in Jacobean drama.

Judging from the reviews of other recent productions by director, Maria Aberg, you can be confident that she will provide an engaging and powerful drama, full of fresh ways of understanding Webster’s world.

Be prepared

Before seeing it on stage, it really helps to be familiar with the plot of The White Devil. If you want a quick way in to the text, the synopses provided here will quickly give you a handle on the action.

There is much more detail available for when you delve into the play more fully and don’t forget that Crossref-it.info for Google Chrome also has a handy revision/study plan to help you collate everything you know about the text ready for examination.

Gatsby for the Facebook generation

Surface success

Facebook is a competitive environment:

> How rapidly can you update your status and how prestigious can you make it?

> How many friends can you boast of?

> How many wacky photos can you post to prove you’re having fun?

If it had been around in this era, Jay Gatsby (hero of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby) would have been a social media success. His blog would have been followed, his Tweets would trend. Where he was, was where the world gathered.

Of course, Gatsby had the ultimate Facebook profile, presenting the glamorous identity in which he wanted people to believe. But, like many Facebook profiles, it wasn’t entirely genuine. Charismatic Jay’s surprising backstory was that of itinerant Jimmy Gatz from North Dakota.

And just like the insubstantiality of today’s Facebook friends, Gatsby’s death demonstrated how hollow his relationships actually were. Even the idol of Gatsby’s enduring passion – Daisy Fay/Buchanan – could not withstand the weight of real engagement. Like much internet dating, their relationship thrived best at a distance.

Understanding Gatsby’s world

Launched this week is a new A Level study guide on The Great Gatsby. It will help you understand the world Fitzgerald was writing within and the symbolism by which he translated this into his novel. It deals with the Jazz Age’s quest for self-definition and the outworking of its hedonism. Characterisation and narrative are discussed in depth, whilst handy synopses and chapter commentaries will guide you through the text, also online at texts.crossref-it.info/text/the-great-gatsby. And if you need help with coursework assignments or exam prep, you’ll find it.

The Great Gatsby certainly provides a window into 1920s society, but Fitzgerald’s slim novel also provides a perspective on ours.

A fresh start and a new resource!

KS5 - a steep climb 

So – you’ve been back a couple of weeks and the first major assignments are rolling in. The reality of studying English Literature and Language at Advanced / Higher Level is starting to bite…

It has been said for years that the academic jump required between the demands of GCSE and A Level is greater than that between A Level and Undergraduate study, so don’t worry if you are starting KS5 and feeling somewhat swamped – everybody is at this stage!

We do hope that, if your mates and teachers don’t yet know about how Crossrefit.info can help with your A Level studies, you will have mercy on them and share the good news that help is at hand (yes, even teachers need help sometimes!).

Even better, we are about to launch a major new development which will support anyone approaching Literature from a thematic basis, using comparative texts.

‘Only Connect’

E M Forster’s famous adage ‘Only Connect’ (from his novel, Howards End) heads up a new section of the Cross Reference website. In it we have taken a unifying theme and then looked at how that runs through various texts featured onsite.

Most A Level syllabuses have a section where they want you to understand how different writers have dealt with similar ideas, be it the experience of war, the handling of romantic love or the portrayal of ageing. But where to start when there are so many texts and aspects to choose from?

In Only Connect the Crossref-it team have done a lot of the hard work for you, providing hundreds of helpful links to a variety of onsite sources. From next week you can access the following themed collections:

• Parents and children
• Women finding a voice
• Love, lust and marriage

Thereafter a new theme will appear every other month. Look out for ‘Attitudes to death’ and ‘The impact of location’ as term unfolds.

Meanwhile, keep writing, keep reading and above all, however challenging A Level English might seem right now, KEEP GOING!

It’s a boy!

The new prince has arrived at last. Such a tiny scrap of humanity, and yet already people are predicting what his life will be like. A huge weight of expectation rests on his tiny shoulders – how will he measure up?

Judging others & being judged

It doesn’t seem fair that so many judgements are passed on people in the public arena, yet they are. Indeed, we do it all the time ourselves. Often about others, but sometimes about ourselves too.
Perhaps you are waiting for exam results which will let you see how you compare to others. For good or bad, how we think we’ve done doesn’t always tally with how we are assessed by others!

A perspective from Shakespeare

In many of his dramas, Shakespeare examines the gaps between how people see themselves and how others perceive them; at a character’s public presentation of themselves and the reality. This theme is particularly foregrounded in Shakespeare’s ‘problem’ play, Measure for Measure.

Angelo lays down the law, but doesn’t bear examination himself. Can his hypocrisy be shown up by the virtues of Isabella? Is anyone able to shine light into the dark recesses of his heart? At a deeper level the play questions whether any of us have the right to judge another?

Measure for Measure productions

This summer you can still catch some productions of Measure for Measure (see below). If you are studying the play at A Level, there’s also a handy new Measure for Measure study plan (as part of the Crossref-it.info English Literature app for the Google Chrome browser) to help you work through the plot and the issues it presents.

After engaging with the play we might just hold back a little more from criticising or condemning those we know, or those in the public eye. We might just give Baby Cambridge a chance….

Productions

• Steam Industry in association with the Union Theatre and Rosendale Productions. Union Theatre, Southwark, 2 - 27 July.  www.uniontheatre.biz
• Bournemouth Shakespeare Players. Priory House Garden, Christchurch, 16 – 27 July (01202 534779) www.bshakespearep.btinternet.co.uk
• Cotswold Arcadians. Hatherop Castle, Gloucestershire, 29 July – 3 August (01285 898 019). www.arcadians.org
• Oxford Theatre Guild. North Wall Theatre, Oxford, 23 – 26 October (check website for ticket information).  www.oxfordtheatreguild.com

We have a winner!

Who’s won the Nexus 7?

For the last few weeks, whenever you’ve visited Crossref-it.info you will have been given the opportunity to win a Nexus 7 by answering a few brief questions. The competition has now closed and we are thrilled to announce that Lucy from Eastleigh was the lucky winner selected at random to receive the prize. With the summer holidays soon upon us, we hope Lucy can while away her leisure hours exploring the fantastic range of features the Nexus offers. Of course, the mobile version of Crossref-it.info also works beautifully on the Nexus!

A chance to improve

Meanwhile, we will be busy looking at the feedback to the questions we asked. We know people use Crossref-it all round the world to help them make the most of their reading. We want to work out which features of the site you find are most helpful, what you’d like to see developed or expanded and how the information we provide makes a difference. Of course, it’s always nice to find out what we’re doing right too!

Everybody’s response will be noted – we want to make sure that over the coming months we offer all the features you might be looking for as you delve into the riches of English Lit. or the complexities of the English Language.

Let us know

Even if you didn’t take part in our survey, we’d love to hear from you. Whether it’s about your experience of Crossref-it or what you are getting out of your reading, just leave us a comment. And if there’s any info you think we need to know (a brilliant drama production, a helpful web page or cultural event) do share it with us!

Austen’s mature work

What’s your favourite?

For anyone who is hoping to read English at university, a typical interview question may be to ask which your favourite texts are and why. (Handy hint for those who will be facing interviews next term, or who might encounter them in clearing: the interviewee hopes you are going to have engaged with more than just the works you studied for A Level!)

When I was applying to study English, my response about favourites would at some point include the works of Jane Austen. I had read them all over the years and particularly enjoyed Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, though struggled with the passivity of Fanny in Mansfield Park.

But which, questioned the interviewer on one occasion, did I think might have been Austen’s personal favourite? Hmmm.

Austen’s favourite?

Doubtless she was proud of all her output, but it seemed to me then, as it does now, that Jane Austen would most favour the endeavors of Anne Elliot in Persuasion. Anne, who is overlooked, has lost her dreams and is getting to the critical position of being ‘on the shelf’ in Regency society, yet who is wise, generous, quiet fun and astute in her assessment of others.

Anne is surrounded by the family from hell yet makes the best of it. She is fussed over by good friends but not taken in by them. She knows that she’s losing the charm of youth yet sees through the flattery that someone else in her situation might cling to.

Above all Persuasion is a story of hope and romance, played out by characters who have ‘been around the block’ and know what is worth holding on to. It is conjectured that Austen herself was engaged in a romance with a family connection, Tom Lefroy, that ultimately faltered. Persuasion could be seen as a literary re-write: one where the heroine does not have to sacrifice her personality in order to wine society’s prize: a story that allows a gentle - yet perceptive, under-confident - yet radiant, older woman to finally attain the man of her dreams.

Why not remind yourself?

This month’s Persuasion revision plan release from Crossref-it.info will guide you through Austen’s slim novel. If you think you remember it well, why not try out your skills on the quiz? Alternatively, you might be trying to gather together the thoughts and notes from a year of studying and would really benefit from seeing how it all fits together in a variety of essay plans. However you approach it, why not try Persuasion for yourself and see if you agree that Austen might have liked it best?

Getting to grips with Christina Rossetti

Last minute revision

We know that this is crunch time – AS students are in the middle of year-end exams whilst A2 papers are just around the corner. Our thoughts are with you!

At this stage, any little helps, so do check out the revision plans that Crossref-it.info have been producing. To date you can get help on each of the following texts:

Drama

• Dr Faustus
• The White Devil
• The Winter’s Tale

Prose

• Frankenstein
• Jane Eyre
• Wide Sargasso Sea

Poetry

• The Pardoner’s Prologue & Tale
• The Wife of Bath’s Prologue & Tale
• NEW The selected poems of Christina Rossetti

All these study plans are available through our Chrome English Literature app - this can be installed into your Chrome browser here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/english-literature/mchmjdjgeenheaobgcdcmgoajknooalk

The latest study plan, on the poetry of Christina Rossetti, has just been released. For 79p there are questions to direct your understanding of how her poems work, as well as three ‘typical’ essay questions covering theme, mood and language in a wide variety of poems. Have a go at testing yourself on what you would include, then check your response against some expert answers.

Rossetti is not always easy to comprehend unless you get into her world. It’s never too late in the day to look at an excellent guide which specialises in explaining all the background references to the social and religious context with which her original readers were familiar: The Poetry of Christina Rossetti - free text guide.

Before you get to the exam hall

If you are panicking about your exam technique, and can’t recall what your teacher has been telling you, check out the advice about how to do your best in our guide on how to write a good English exam answer. Some questions will be based on an extract you’ll need to analyse – Crossref-it.info also has some handy hints on how to approach passage-based questions.

Get some rest

Next week is half term for most – remember that you need at least some time of refreshment within a revision-packed nine days, and don’t work too late into the night – an exhausted mind is not going to operate effectively when the invigilator starts the clock ticking.

Best wishes, the Crossref-it.info team

The pastoral tradition: spring and sex

Botticelli's Primavera or Allegory of Spring, 1482

At last!

After a long cold winter, it seems as if spring in England has gathered all its energies and, beckoned by sunshine and warmth, exploded into activity. The birds are busy with nests and mating, the bees are humming over forget-me-nots in the country and massed bluebells at Kew and it feels good to be alive.

Within 24 hours a nearby cherry tree has been transformed from essentially twiggy with only one brave blossom, to a mass of frothy pink. The silver birches have burst from bud to leaf. What was bare has become verdant at an astonishing pace.

Shakespeare captures this transition from bleakness to vibrancy in The Winter’s Tale, when the rouge Autolycus bursts onto stage with a song:

When daffodils begin to peer,
With heigh! the doxy over the dale,
Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year;
For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale.

The lark, that tirra-lirra chants,
With heigh! with heigh! the thrush and the jay,
Are summer songs for me and my aunts,
While we lie tumbling in the hay. (Act 4 sc 3)

Awakened passion

The two verses quoted here also allude to the other association of spring’s new life – that of awakened sexual passion. When hot blooded desire takes over, ‘tumbling’ is natural next step. Whilst Shakespeare’s noble characters, such as Perdita and Florizel in The Winter’s Tale, or Orlando and Rosalind in As You Like It, might allude to their romantic love, it was essential that they remained chaste. It was the rustics like Mopsa and Dorcas, or Touchstone and Audrey who were allowed to be more overtly carnal, as the song sung for the latter couple indicates:

It was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o'er the green corn-field did pass
     In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
     When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding:
     Sweet lovers love the spring.

Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino
These pretty country folks would lie,
     In the spring time..

This carol they began that hour,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that a life was but a flower,
     In the spring time..

And therefore take the present time,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino;
For love is crowned with the prime,
     In the spring time.. (Act 5 sc 3)

Essentially, the song’s message is that nature teaches lovers to ‘seize the day’ in consummating their passion!

A warning note

But Shakespeare’s message is never quite as simplistic as that. In both The Winter’s Tale and As You Like It the nuptials of those who have waited and tested their love, such as Perdita and Rosalind are genuinely joyous. However, the hasty coupling of Touchstone and Audrey is judged ominously by the god of marriage to be as ‘sure together / As the winter to foul weather’, whilst melancholic Jaques gives their relationship ‘two months’ and predicts that it will end in ‘wrangling’ (Act 5 sc 4).

Safer perhaps just to contemplate the blossom…

Win a Google Nexus 7!

Today we're pleased to be launching a competition that gives you the chance to win the Nexus 7 tablet - Google's fantastic answer to the iPad. On the Nexus 7, the Crossref-it.info mobile website is a joy to use, and of course you have access to thousands upon thousands of apps.

Usually, the Nexus 7 would set you back £159 + postage, but by taking part in this little competition it can be yours for free.

How to take part

Taking part is easy, simple and quick. All you need to do is click the link at the bottom of this page to take part in a short survey we are doing of our users. The survey is very short and its aim is to help us understand you, the Crossref-it.info community, better. This will help us improve the site.

So, if you want to help us improve Crossref-it.info, have a short moment to spare, and want to win a Nexus 7, what are you waiting for?

Please note: we are only able to ship the Nexus 7 to a UK address, but international users are still welcome to give us their views in the survey! By clicking the link to the survey, you accept the terms and conditions outlined below.

Take part in the survey and win a Nexus 7!

Terms and Conditions

Please read these competition rules carefully. If you enter this competition, we will assume that you have read these rules and that you agree to them. 

• To enter the competition you must be a UK resident. This competition is for UK users of Crossref-it.info
• This competition is not open to employees (or members of their immediate families) of Crossref-it.info
• No purchase necessary.
• Only one entry per person
• No responsibility can be accepted for entries that are lost or delayed, or which are not received for any reason.
• The winner will be randomly selected from the entrants.
• Crossref-it.info reserves the right to amend the competition end date at any time.
• If you win the competition, we will notify you by e-mail.
• You can find out who has won the competition by sending an email to info@crossref-it.info.
• By entering the competition the winner agrees to participate in such promotional activity and material as Crossref-it.info may require.
• No part of the prize is exchangeable for cash or any other prize.
• Incorrectly completed entries will be disqualified.
• This competition is being run by Crossref-it.info.
• Please read our Privacy Policy which tells you how we use any personal information we may collect about you by entering a competition.
• Crossref-it.info reserves the right to amend these rules at any time. If we do this we will publish the amended competition rules and/or specific competition rules on the relevant competition page.
• Crossref-it.info will endeavour to send prizes within a month of the competition end date.
• To enter the competition you must be 18 years old or over at the time of entry.

A text for the weather!

As snow still lingers across Britain into April, it only seems appropriate that the next revision study plan from Crossref-it.info is on Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale! This text strikes balance between cold / decay and the restoration / hope of spring and summer to come. Bring it on!

Help at hand

The app covers all sorts of areas:

> Easy multiple choice questions so that you can be confident you’re familiar with the play

The revision app tells you how you’ve done and gives you the chance to try again if you get something wrong, pointing you in the right direction to find the correct answer.


> Directed note-making on important aspects of each scene

It’s like having your own personal teacher, shining a light onto the key points you need to think about.


> Useful essay questions on character, narrative and theme, with examples of how you might answer

From this point of the academic year onwards, you need to gather together all the strands of what you’ve learnt and weave them into coherent arguments. The app shows you how (and for more advice about essay and exam writing, check out the ‘How to..’ section at Crossref-it.info).

Access point

First install the free Crossref-it.info English Literature app from the Chrome Webstore using the Google Chrome browser. Once you’ve signed in, for just 79p you can get guided revision help on The Winter’s Tale. And don’t forget those all-important bronze, silver and golden quills waiting to be added to your account. How far will you go?

Fancy a Nexus 7?

Next week visitors to Crossref-it.info will have the chance to win Google’s fantastic answer to the iPad (which would otherwise set you back by £159) by answering 10 quick and easy questions about the site. Your feedback will help Crossref-it.info keep improving.

So keep your eyes open and put in a bid for the prize!

Are you a poet?

It may be a cliché, but typically many teenagers privately try and condense the strong emotions they experience into a concise form of meaningful words – a poem.

What they write may not rhyme or have a clear beat, but it qualifies as a poem, particularly if it’s something which has been shaped and modified in order to most aptly convey or make sense of the situations that have impacted them.

Why do we do this?

Poems and/or song lyrics have a way of summing up an experience, of making it count. The thrill of attraction, the powerful crush of isolation, the anger and confusion when a family splits up, the wing-beat desire to escape our circumstances – in situations like these which threaten to overwhelm us, writing a poem enables us to find a voice. Very often we never share what we have created but it serves as a marker of what we have come through.

Shared experience

Of course, if we do ever pluck up the courage to let others see what we’ve written, we usually discover that they can relate to it. Our voice may be unique, but our humanity is shared. Last week’s World Poetry Day (21.3.13) highlighted this very idea.

According to the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova:

‘Poetry is one of the purest expressions of linguistic freedom. … poetry is a journey – not in a
dream world, but often close to individual emotions, aspirations and hopes.’
But Bokova stresses that poems go beyond individual experiences:
‘Poetry is a component of the identity of peoples .. [it] gives form to their dreams and
expresses their spirituality in the strongest terms - it emboldens all of us also to change the
world.’

Poetry at A Level

When we study poems written through the centuries, what we encounter are voices declaring what
the writers feel are vital messages, poets reaching out to connect to their original audience and
subsequently to us:

• Wordsworth wants us to experience the sublime
• Herbert wants us to encounter God
• Blake wants us share his protest over hypocrisy
• Hopkins wants us to understand both ecstasy and the Dark Night of the Soul.

Each are seeking some way to renew their culture and ‘change the world.’

Although some references are now opaque to us (which is what Crossref-it.info tries to address), their human voice is as immediate and important as the contemporary experience we pour into our own poems.

Add your voice

Last week’s message was that the ‘power of poetry is transmitted from generation to generation, in the hallowed texts of great authors and in the works of anonymous poets.’ Poetry is ‘a source of linguistic wealth and dialogue’ that ‘embodies the creative energy of culture, for it can be continuously renewed.’

So let’s add our voice to that stream of powerful expression. Let’s keep – or start – writing!

Studying Frankenstein?

Crossref-it.info has released another reading plan to help you get thoroughly up to speed with Mary Shelley’s gothic masterpiece, Frankenstein.

Where to go

You’ll need to access the Crossref-it.info Google Chrome app. To do this, you must first install the Crossref-it.info English Literature app from the Chrome Webstore using the Google Chrome browser. Once you’ve signed in, you can do any or all of the following, earning virtual rewards as you go:

• Test yourself on what happens in each chapter with easy multiple choice questions
  For example, in Vol. 1 ch. 3, what does Frankenstein study in order to understand the cause of life?
  Is it:
  • a) How bodies decay
  • b) Electricity
  • c) Childbirth or
  • d) Gaseous exchange
    
    You can find out if you got the right answer below, but, even if you don’t get everything accurate first time, the revision app tells you how you’ve done and gives you the chance to try again, also pointing you in the right direction to get the correct answer.

• Go up a level and investigate what connections you can make to the novel
  • Of course it is how you interact with Shelley’s novel which really demonstrates your skill as a student. But where do you start when you need to make your own notes? The investigative questions at this level will help you focus on what is important, so that when you look back at your answers you’ll have a really helpful summary for revision.

• Pull what you know together by working through thought-provoking essay questions, then check how well you do against a professional answer.
  The Frankenstein revision and reading plan tests how well you can make use of your knowledge on three key areas:
  
  • The impact of the novel’s original social and political context
  • Mary Shelley’s use of analogies between Satan, Adam and Prometheus and characters in the story
  • The characterisation of - and relationship between - the novel’s framing narrators
    
    Perhaps you need help with one of these areas right now!

You can do it!

Working through the Crossref-it.info Frankenstein reading plan might well seem a challenge, but there’s also lots of help on hand – and all for just the cost of an average iTune (79p). Why not see how well you do?

And by the way, well done to anyone who realised that the correct answer to the first question was

a) How bodies decay!

Studying English at Uni

Surfing the net recently I came across a fantastic resource from Leeds University - www.theenglishfaculty.org. Created by the English Faculty there, it aims to bridge the gap between Advanced and Degree level English.

If you are studying particular texts, check out the podcasts which use the skills of lecturers on BA courses to address A Level issues and analysis.

The following supplement the Crossref-it.info guides on Frankenstein and Great Expectations, but there are many more:

• http://www.theenglishfaculty.org/a-levels/item/275-frankenstein-in-context-pt1
• http://www.theenglishfaculty.org/a-levels/item/306-are-traditional-texts-always-what-they-seem?-great-expectations-pt21
• http://www.theenglishfaculty.org/a-levels/item/303-are-traditional-texts-always-what-they-seem?-great-expectations-pt22

If you are studying Language, there are podcasts on linguistics and grammar. There is also a wealth on info about the skills required for literary and language analysis.

For those of you hoping for a place at uni to study English, it’s also worth checking out the advice about what’s expected in a BA course and how to make the transition from school to college.

Meanwhile, we hope the contextual info at Crossref-it.info will help you get those grades...

It's arrived!

Not only has the New Year arrived, but also the latest initiative to help you develop your chances of success at English A Level! Last term this blog flagged up an opportunity to help you improve your knowledge of the texts you will be examined on at AS/A2 Level (perhaps you are doing mocks right now). Now you can see it for yourself.

Learning to drive through literature

Just as there are CDs and apps you can buy to help you get to grips with the driving theory test, so Crossref-it.info has produced some English Literature revision apps to help you drive confidently through the intricacies and implications of six key exam texts. Each month will bring another text app on road until coverage equals that of the regular Crossref-it.info.

You’ll need to access the site via the Google Chrome browser. For the cost of an i-tune (just 79p) you can:

• Test yourself on what happens in each scene or chapter
• Go up a level and investigate what connections you can make to the work you are studying
• Pull it all together at the third level by working through thought-provoking essay questions, then checking how well you did against a professional answer.

Brain jam

Everyone has moments when they feel like they’re getting nowhere quickly. When giving up just feels like the easier option. We’ve been there and know that encouragement can make all the difference.

So, as you work through each level (only as many as you wish), your personal account will keep track of your progress and show you how just how successful you’ve been. What’s more, at each stage there are virtual rewards to win. If you are the competitive type then you might even want to compare your achievements with those of your mates. Which of you might be the first to hit gold?

Thorough knowledge = success

Ultimately the goal is academic success and, just like a driving test, thorough knowledge is key. Every examiners’ report stresses the importance of knowing every part of the text. The new Crossref-it.info study apps are just giving you a better chance…