Poetic form – layout (part 2)

Last week we looked at how the way a poet sets out the text on the page is a way of conveying meaning. We thought about the questions:

• Why does the poet use shorter or longer lines?
• What is the impact of dividing up the work into stanzas of particular lengths?
• Why might some lines be indented before they commence? etc.

Hardy’s wintry poem Snow in the suburbs was posted as an example.

What did you come up with? Check your ideas against the ones given here, which you are free to take issue with!

• As the snow accumulates, so the lines of the first stanza grow wider
• The long lines and enjambement of l.5-6 demonstrate the meandering, circuitous journey taken by some of the snow-flakes
• l.7-8 are more solidly part of the main shape of the stanza, indicating the solidity of the snowy fence
• The white space between l.8-9 conveys the blankness of a still, white landscape, until it is broken by the sudden movement of the sparrow
• L.11-12 are longer than l. 9-10, indicating the greater size of the snowball relative to the sparrow
• The shortness of l.13-14
• increases the pace and highlights the drama of the event
• creates a visually small bundle of words, bound between the lines above and below, just as the lump of snow almost buries the tiny sparrow
• L.16 sticks out, just as the consequent fall of snow cascades more widely through the tree
• The white space between l.16-17 again conveys the cessation of movement and return to still whiteness
• L.17-8 create a steep climb up for the cat
• The cat’s colour (black?) and movement is isolated in the snow, as is l.19 in the white space
• The indentation of l.20 and the sudden ending of the stanza, capture the safe ‘gathering in’ of the hungry cat.

As you can see, there is quite a lot to see when you start looking!

Poetic form – layout (part 1)

The way a poet sets out the text on the page is a way of conveying meaning. When analysing a poem, it always helps to look at the visual impression it makes and ask:

• Why does the poet use shorter or longer lines?
• What is the impact of dividing up the work into stanzas of particular lengths?
• Why might some lines be indented before they commence? etc.

Below is a very seasonal example of a poet’s use of layout to convey meaning.

Next week there will be a few thoughts from www.crossref-it.info to check yourself against, but meanwhile have a look at Hardy’s poem and make a few jottings about its impact on your understanding of the situation:

Snow in the suburbs

Every branch big with it, 1

Bent every twig with it; 2

Every fork like a white web-foot; 3
Every street and pavement mute: 4

Some flakes have lost their way, and grope back upward when 5
Meeting those meandering down they turn and descend again. 6

The palings are glued together like a wall, 7
And there is no waft of wind with the fleecy fall. 8

A sparrow enters the tree, 9
Whereon immediately 10

A snow-lump thrice his own slight size 11
Descends on him and showers his head and eyes 12

And overturns him, 13
And near inurns him, 14

And lights on a nether twig, when its brush 15

Starts off a volley of other lodging lumps with a rush. 16

The steps are a blanched slope, 17

Up which, with feeble hope, 18

A black cat comes, wide-eyed and thin; 19

And we take him in. 20

Thomas Hardy, 1840-1928

Last minute exam help

If you have managed to make it into school and are sitting any English modules this week, well done and good luck! Hopefully last week’s snow meant that you got in some uninterrupted revision time.

Select your detail

This may be your first time of needing to write an exam answer at a greater level of detail than previously. Knowing this, it is tempting to put in as much as possible, but DON’T!

The examiner knows that you are answering under pressure of time and can’t include every example – instead they are looking for you to select the most relevant instances, and to ruthlessly ignore anything that is not pertinent to exactly what you are being asked. So keep reminding yourself of the question!

Time management

The best way to lose marks is to fail to regulate the time you spend on each answer. In a paper of four equally weighted questions, one extensive piece that gains you 25% won’t make up for the fact that you only half do the third question and don’t even get to the last – that’s 37.5% lost without even trying and no-one can afford to do that!

Believe in yourself and what you have been taught – and while it snows, keep revising…

NATE digs Crossref-it.info

Those of you who teach English in the United Kingdom will know what NATE is. To keep teachers in the loop about the latest developments in the field, The National Association of Teachers of English publishes the NATE Classroom magazine, the latest issue of which has a nice spread about your favourite English Literature website!

NATE have kindly agreed to let us share the article with those of you who don't yet subscribe to their magazine:

One for the Teachers

It’s that final December slog for English teachers – getting through the text before the end of term, setting the assignments, writing reports, helping with the school production, covering for absences, rehearsing for the staff ‘skit’, preparing readings for the Christmas concert and final assemblies – oh, and maintaining a personal life!

It’s at times like these that any extra help is welcome. As you get more tired so your brain gets fogged and coming up with inspiring lesson ideas becomes ever harder. You probably already know that NATE’s associated Teachit! website contains a range of ideas and practical support. You may not yet know that there are some new teaching resources on www.crossref-it.info.

The two most recently featured texts are now accompanied by free, downloadable worksheets. Written by an experienced Head of English, these cover a range of themes and approaches to ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ by Thomas Hardy and the ‘Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale’ by Geoffrey Chaucer. You can use them to create a series of lessons, or just take individual aspects and link them in to existing work. Just what you need when the brain fog threatens to swamp you!

Please let us know how you get on and feel free to contribute your own tried and trusted suggestions!

The world of Chaucer

Whichever part of The Canterbury Tales you may be studying for A Level English, you will discover helpful information about the world Chaucer inhabited and for which he wrote, at www.crossref-it.info.

A recent addition to the site is The world of Chaucer. It provides answers to intriguing queries like why death seems to play on people’s minds. It helps explain the weekly routine of medieval life. If you need to make sense of the expectations of women in the era, you can read about courtly love and women’s economic status.

Although there were significant shifts in society as a result of the Black Death, one of the key concerns in medieval society was keeping harmonious social order. This was founded on the idea of there existed a ‘chain of being’ which predetermined a person’s ‘position’ in life. This ‘chain’ started with God at the top, as the creator of all life, and ended with stones at the bottom. Take a look at The world of Chaucer > Making sense of the intangible world > The chain of being for more info.

Within human society, deference was to be paid to those in authority because it was believed that they had been raised to that position by God, who had ultimate authority. Each person’s status, or ‘degree’, needed to be recognised. Those who rose ‘above their station’ were regarded with unease.

We might baulk at such a concept today, but the actual economic and social difference between the wealthy and the poor was far narrower in medieval times than the extreme gap between the rich and poorest in most western societies which exists today.

Things ain’t wot they used to be

Change is something we’re used to. Our grandparents’ experience of being a teenager was probably very different to what it is like today. Life as reflected by Hollyoaks is a world away from the radio programmes, books and magazines they read.

The A Level syllabus you are studying has built into it a concern that students really grasp how texts are the product of their times. But how much do you really need to know to make sense of an author’s output?

• It helps to find out what were the key events of the era
• The tangible world of transport and technological advances, political change and social upheaval affected how people survived
• The intangible world of philosophy, faith and ideas shaped people’s expectations about life – expectations shared by both author and reader
• The existing literary world influenced how any text was received by its original and subsequent audiences

www.crossref-it.info has focussed on all these areas to help students get the most out of literature created in other eras. You don’t need to spend too long reading the material before it starts to make ‘difficult’ works seem much more accessible.

Some things don’t change

So some things are very different. What does not change however, is what writers throughout the ages have chosen as their subject matter: human nature. Love and anguish, greed and fear, the desire for power and protection – English Literature is full of human struggles we can identify with whatever times we live in.