What colour is sadness? What colour is passion? What colour is joy? Patrick Ness and David Almond both use a form of graphic novel to explore the profound sadness of… Read More »Patrick Ness' A Monster Calls and David Almond's The Savage: The Graphics of Grief
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness , illustrated by Jim Kay and inspired by an original idea by Siobhan Dowd, has recently been (uniquely) awarded both the Carnegie AND the… Read More »A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness: Analysis and Review-Sometimes only Rage will do!
Today’s dream. Something small and soft brushed against my legs as I was about to open the door. Two black eyes looked up into mine and a beak opened and… Read More »The Quail, the crow and the walnut wardrobe: English Tutor/tuition Manchester, Bolton and Bury.
Last week I was lucky enough to teach a session on David Almond’s Skellig for the MA in Children’s Literature at the University of Bolton. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening… Read More »English Tuition Bolton, Manchester and Bury: David Almond’s ‘Skellig’- analysis one.
Daphne du Maurier knew a thing or two about obsession. Her writing often makes us intimate with people so alive to their own point of view that any other viewpoint… Read More »Daphne Du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel: Analysis Two-Believing something does not make it TRUE!
One of my favourite books of ALL TIME is by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez, entitled Perfumes:The A-Z guide. This is THE ‘bible’ to scent and is so readable that… Read More »Creative Writing Bolton/Manchester: The Power of Scent! (Arabian perfumes one)
Here’s one of my favourite examination tips and it works for all levels of exam when students are writing analytical essays, doing close readings of texts and even writing creative, descriptive pieces. As you… Read More »GCSE/GCE English Tutor/Tuition, Bolton, Manchester, North West: A favourite examination tip!
Charlotte Mew’s poem, The Farmer’s Bride leaves this reader rather glad to be alive in this age rather than the oppressive time of the poor Farmer’s Bride, whose voicelessness is brilliantly captured… Read More »Charlotte Mew’s The Farmer’s Bride-commentary and afterthought!
It was a mean house nowadays. Even when the rooms were filled with visitors, laughing and eating, there was this deposit of smallness on everything, like cold fat after cooking.… Read More »English Tuition, Bolton, Manchester and Bury: The Face in the Wall-Meanness Defeated.
How can you successfully answer an examination question on a poem, whatever the poem may be, even with bad headache and no confidence?! This short blog will help you tackle… Read More »James Fenton, In Paris With You: An analysis.
This is an analysis of Mametz Wood, stanza by stanza: For years afterwards the farmers found them – the wasted young, turning up under their plough blades as they tended the land… Read More »Owen Sheers: Mametz Wood: A Short Analysis
The tiny red hand lifted the bottom blind and watched the boy trying to pick up a worm on the path. He looked happy for once and the hand let… Read More »English Tutor Bolton, Bury and Manchester: The Face in the Wall- Climbing Tiles.
It was late July. Summer Sturridge was watching her brother, Stephen, eat an ice cream for the first time in nearly ten years. Aside from their surname and the fact that their father had… Read More »English Tutor Manchester Bolton and Bury: The Face in The Wall-The Sturridges.
Reading a poem can challenge you. It can take you away from the certainties associated with your understanding. and this can be uncomfortable and exasperating. What is the point you may say?Sometimes however, although… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy’s Hour: An Analysis-finding the key to a poem?
Tightly-folded bud, I have wished you something None of the others would: Not the usual stuff About being beautiful, Or running off a spring Of innocence and love – They… Read More »Philip Larkin’s ‘Born Yesterday’: An Analysis-GCSE English AQA.
Today is a day when we may all feel the hint of the ‘away and see’ part of life. Already at 8-30am there is a soft glow of slow sunshine… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's 'Away and See': An analysis to feed creative writing!
I am not sure if this is a great poem, I rather think it too abrupt and unfinished to linger on in the mind, as great poems tend to do. … Read More »Mary Coleridge's The Moment: An Analysis
The cemetery car park was choked with cars. Everyone was patient though most of Caroline’s friends were not patient by nature. But this was a sad afternoon and besides that, everyone… Read More »English tuition in Bolton, Manchester and the North West: Caroline's Do.
I have an affinity with rage on this blog! Medusa gets lots of attention and so does Miss Havisham and even David Almond’s The Savage. Perhaps it is the most… Read More »Dylan Thomas: Do not go gentle into that good night(Revisited)
Over the next month this site will start selling Tusi Notes on Amazon Kindle and also as pdf downloads on this site. There is already a very stimulating and powerful… Read More »Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped: Choosing black or white words?
‘ Why is reading so important?’ This question needs a direct answer as it is one of the most important activities any human being, let alone ‘student’ can enjoy. Of course… Read More »Private English Tuition Bolton and Manchester: Why reading Dickens helps writing.
Studying English Literature for GCSE can sometimes signal the death knell for reading for pleasure. For whilst reading may be regarded as fun, perhaps the detailed analysis of texts may corrode enthusiasm,… Read More »GCSE English Literature: A reader's dilemma?
Reading can be a sneaky business. Even now, I still get told, come on let’s DO something sometimes when I am ‘caught’ reading, as if reading is somehow a squandering… Read More »Nine Writers who changed my life: English tutoring Manchester and Bolton
Tuesday 7th February was Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday. Bolton School, Girls’ Division,celebrated the UK’s most famous novelist’s birthday in style, as all the pupils and the staff, came to school,… Read More »Dickens' Great Expectations: An analysis at Bolton School.
Unlike so many books that explore the betrayal of friendship and of trust, this book upholds the precious sanctity of love that transcends even death. I can never read this… Read More »Private English Tutor/Tuition Manchester, Bolton, Bury: Shena Mackay's The Orchard on Fire: Descriptive Writing at its best!
I was just playing with the google search engines when I saw this entry about Carol Ann Duffy’s Education For Leisure on page two. Sometimes when I write something and… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy’s Education for Leisure: An Analysis Revisited
I am revisiting this analysis as I have just been reading through the AQA English Anthology and this Carol Ann Duffy poem is included in the ‘relationships’ section. The poem… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Hour’ An Analysis Revisited
Pip is a very susceptible and vulnerable young man, who reads his emotionally sabotaging companions, Miss Havisham and Estella, very hopefully indeed! I have talked in another blog post about… Read More »Dickens' Great Expectations Chapter 29(BkII,Chapter10)Brief Analysis- Pip misreads his destiny!
PART ONE. On Saturday I was enjoying a thoughtful discussion of Susan Hill’s novel, The Small Hand. We were analysing the opening line of Susan’s Hill’s ghost story, and exploring several… Read More »AQA/WJEC/Undergraduate English Literature: Analysing a text
Rooms are places of deep psycholgical unrest in Dickens. People feel trapped in spaces where age old drama are played out again and again. Repetition signifies deadly stasis and sterility.… Read More »Dickens' David Copperfield: A brief analysis of rooms.
