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Loss in Poems

A comparison of different types of loss in the poems Cousin Kate * Loss of trust *Loss of innocence, loss of trust, 'He changed me like a glove' *Loss of social status "Call me an unclean thing" However, the speaker articulates a strong sense of injustice and victimization.  First 3 stanzas sound like a typical lament, direction you expect the speaker to say 'My life over, everything is rubbish, I might as well as kill myself" *End of poem the tone and the direction changes to one of triumph and implicit criticism of the narrow demeaning views of society. * Ballad style , (like a song) rhyme scheme - make the reader again expect this to be a simple tale of woe, yet at the end the speaker reveals that she in fact is not devastated anymore by her experience. Rather, she is triumphant and rejoices that she has a child. She seems to have the moral victory *Imagery - 'who might have been a dove' - accident/chance/potential that was robbed from ...

Loss

Theme: Loss Many plays and poems are concerned with the nature of loss. Sometimes this is the loss of love, sometimes this is the loss of life or loss of innocence. Choose a situation where there is loss in a Shakespeare play and link it with the way loss is presented in the poems you have studied.  Poetry selection (Page numbers refer to the WJEC GCSE Poetry Collection.) Cousin Kate: Rossetti (p. 6) Holy Sonnet 17: Donne (p. 11) Long Distance II: Harrison (p. 11) Catrin: Clarke (p. 12) What Has Happened to Lulu: Causley (p. 14) Mid-Term Break: Heaney (p. 15) On My First Son: Jonson (p. 19) My Heart is Like a Withered Nut!: Norton (p. 21) Sweet 18: Pugh (p. 23) They Did Not Expect This: Scannell (p. 33) Havisham: Duffy (p. 36) Song of the Worker’s Wife: Gray Jones (p. 46) The Hunchback in the Park: Thomas (p. 48) Refugee Blues: Auden (p. 52) MCMXIV: Larkin (p. 58) Sample tasks Task 1: • Examine how Shakespeare presents the way Juliet loses her innocence and matures during Romeo ...

Women essay

What does IAC reveal about attitudes to women in 20 th century Britain? Summarise how Priestley uses characterisation to portray his views of women. Mrs Birling 1) epitomises sexist gender roles of early 20 th century: she is completely happy to be defined by her husband’s position in society. ‘You know my husband was Lord mayor….’ 2)has very fixed roles on class, ‘girls of that class’…she despises the lower class, seems to see girls such as Eva as whorish… thus Priestley uses her to expose the snobbery and hypocrisy of the upper class. 3)Priestley presents her as absurd.  Very confident at the beginning/completely exposed at the end. Her speech gradually becomes more fragmented as she learns the full extent of her son’s crimes against his own father and against Eva. ‘No – Eric- please’ >>> She falls into a trap of her own making, condemning Eric and then realising that he is guilty. Therefore, Priestley uses her to show how outdated and fragile traditiona...

Inspector Calls: Notes on Characters and Techniques

An Inspector Calls Character Notes Key quotations Key language & structural features Priestley’s Ideas MR BIRLING “I’m talking as a hard-headed practical man of business” ‘you’ll hear some people say war is Inevitable … fiddlesticks!’ ‘The Titanic – she sails next week…and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.’ “I gather there’s a very good chance of a knighthood” “A man has to make his own way – has to look after himself – and his family too, of course” “( rather impatiently ) Horrid business. But I don’t understand why you should come here.” “you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up like bees in a hive – community and all that nonsense.” “I was an alderman for years – and Lord Mayor two years ago – and I’m still on the Bench – so I know the Brumley police offers pretty well” “there’s every excuse for what your mother and I did” “Probably a...