I am a highly approachable Independent Expert Private English/English Literature Tutor located in Greater Manchester with over twenty years teaching and tutoring experience from Secondary to Postgraduate Degree level.
I have been a huge fan of Dr Who since I was a child marvelling at Patrick Troughton and his tartan Victorian disguise. Lots of dark heavy furniture too… I… Read More »Elizabeth Bowen’s Demon Lover and Dr Who’s crack in the wall.
THIS IS HOW is MJ Hyland’s third novel and continues her acute analysis of adolescent—in this case late adolescent— disaffection. Family dysfunction is less prominent than in her earlier novels;… Read More »Barry Wood's review of M J Hyland's THIS IS HOW.
Zero Hour Tomorrow all the trains will stopand we will be stranded. Carshave already been immobilisedby the petrol wars, and sitabandoned, along the roadsides.The airports, for two days now,are closed-off… Read More »GCSE Welsh Board: Unseen Poem, Zero Hour by Mathew Sweeney
Essays matter. Examinations matter. Students today know perhaps more than ever before, that the results they obtain for their essays will either help them realise their dream university or college… Read More »How can I get better marks or grades for my essays?
Everyone dreams of a special place of escape. A place we can escape to when the confines of the world seem weighty and suffocating. I am always curious about car… Read More »Finding your own voice: W B Yeats and his Lake Isle of Innisfree!
QUIS EST ISTE QUI UENIT “I ought to be able to make it out,” he thought; “but I suppose I am a little rusty in my Latin. When I come… Read More »M R James: Oh, whistle, and I”ll come to you, my lad.
‘…Full of scorpions is my mind’ cries Macbeth in Act Three of Shakepeare’s play. He knows his consciousness is plagued with destructive thoughts, all extracted from a word pool none… Read More »Macbeth and the word pools we would NOT like to swim in!
George stood on the door step and smelt the sea. He took one of his famous long breaths and tasted salt on his tongue. Shutting his eyes he started to… Read More »Word Pools: The pantry
Move him into the sun – Gently its touch awoke him once, At home, whispering of fields unsown. Always it woke him, even in France, Until this morning and this… Read More »Word Pools in Wilfred Owen’s futility.
Maybe there were silent traces of space visitors all over Peru? My dad thought so…. And maybe those Egyptian workers had more help with the pyramids than we imagined? Well… Read More »First Word Pools in Chapel-en-le-frith and Marple by Janet Lewison
I have been a tutor for many years and frequently hear students trapping their potential growth and happiness through their repetition of cul-de sac words, whose word pools are stagnant… Read More »Word pools that feed us.
You can die for it– an idea, or the world. People have done so, brilliantly, letting their small bodies be bound to the stake, creating an unforgettable fury of light.… Read More »Word Pools Two: Mary Oliver’s Sunrise
All my life,so far,I have lovedmore than one thing, including the mossy hoovesof dreams, including’the spongy litterunder the tall trees. In springthe moccasin flowersreach for the cracklinglick of the sun… Read More »Word pools and Word pooling with Mary Oliver's Moccasin Flowers!
A bird bath that gives hope to the garden stands watch over the brown horse who lingers here in the grass…
As silver drops hit the ground, Others fail this life’s game, Which people take for granted…
Trees that listen – when humans don’t, gather round-but don’t talk -as humans do…
Walking along Anglesey’s coastal path I found the rhythm of walking and the freshness of the air encouraged all sorts of words to join me, to come strolling along besides me… Read More »Word Pools
The gulls are listening to the kite, And I have walked into words like cove, lichen, Bracken. Barefoot feeling April’s Centuries Stepping into the sunshine, This beach. Hope.
Somewhere holy and ancient, Your tiny, competent hands, Are blessing stories In the sunshine…
it takes me to slate shale and corroded boat bottom bolts, rolling gentle, this way and that, as rhythmic lovers in lost rockpools where the broken strength of iron fills the nostrils… Read More »Wales: a prose poem!
Sitting on the garden steps, We bartered over our pound sunglasses, Watched over by Holy island’s Inky blue Shape. And twenty two white statues, Secretly blessing us.
I see you step out Of the blue sky Taller than these tulips, Laughing across basking dandelions, talking of churches And hope and love.
Katherine was reading a small book waiting for her visitor whose wet hair she could not live without. Behind her the girl in the wall was giggling again and if… Read More »Suncatcher
There are owls in the garden tonight, and a dog barking. After so many fevers and such loss, I am holding you in my arms tonight, as if your whole… Read More »Daylight by Elaine Feinstein
Katherine kept forgetting to talk to people. Words felt like grey pebbles in her mouth. Her dry lips sand-papered away syllables and the maid would pause at the door confused… Read More »Katherine Mansfield and Jaques.
I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered… Read More »Ozymandias by Shelley: The futility of power? Analysis-the importance of metonymy.
THE night is darkening round me, The wild winds coldly blow; But a tyrant spell has bound me And I cannot, cannot go. The giant trees are bending Their bare… Read More »The Importance of Synthesis: Emily Bronte, Michael Neill and NLP!
THE night is darkening round me, The wild winds coldly blow; But a tyrant spell has bound me And I cannot, cannot go. The giant trees are bending Their bare… Read More »Emily Bronte’ Spellbound/The Night : For Rivington Walks and Reads
Katherine Mansfield’s Kezia always makes me SMILE!!! Whenever she appears in a story I want to stand up and applaud her instinctive kindness, courage and resourcefulness too. She lives in… Read More »Kezia Burnell in Katherine Mansfield’s stories about New Zealand
