Katherine Mansfield: The Stranger
IT seemed to the little crowd on the wharf that she was never going to move again. There she lay, immense, motionless on the grey crinkled water, a loop of… Read More »Katherine Mansfield: The Stranger
Janet Lewison
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.
Miss Brill By Katherine Mansfield
On her way home she usually bought a slice of honey-cake at the baker’s. It was her Sunday treat. Sometimes there was an almond in her slice, sometimes not. It… Read More »Miss Brill By Katherine Mansfield
And still I rise? Resurrection in Mrs Lazarus by Carol Ann Duffy
Mrs Lazarus I had grieved. I had wept for a night and a dayover my loss, ripped the cloth I was married infrom my breasts, howled, shrieked, clawedat the… Read More »And still I rise? Resurrection in Mrs Lazarus by Carol Ann Duffy
Scary house by Clara
rotten leaves, rusty pipes, bandaged ghosts!
Sweet tooth by Clara!
Once upon a time there was a mouse who lived in a dump! It had paper clips and pencils and all dirty rubbish! So, Pop decided to move into a… Read More »Sweet tooth by Clara!
KM
I was to borrow everything. This come back kid was home and raring to get out there but my ‘form’ just needed a little tweaking. I hadn’t worn clothes of… Read More »KM
Transylvania
Countess, your mouth, always my hunger…
Ian Rankin's Exit Music: Comfort for colds!
It’s the season for catarrh! Children are back at school and the supermarkets are selling lots of boxes of cheap tissues and of course, anti-nit shampoo. Today I am… Read More »Ian Rankin's Exit Music: Comfort for colds!
Lonely hearts: Count Dracula
Lonely insomniac, seeks lively, versatile companion!
Lonely hearts: King Lear
Aged bankrupt wltm respectful widow – soon
Lonely Hearts:Elizabeth Bennett
Spirited beauty seeks wealthy, solemn enigma!
Lonely hearts by Mark Wrigley : Pip and Miss Havisham In Great Expectations
Gentleman with high hopes seeks star! Hurt lady seeks susceptible listener’s heart!
Lonely Hearts by Mark Wrigley: Macbeth
Ambitious Scottish Soldier wltm Killer Queen!
Lonely hearts: Noddy by Claire Aindow
Toyboy seeks bellringer. Big ears optional.
Lonely hearts: Iago in Othello
Secretive ‘editor’ seeks non-scene ex-soldier…
aquarium
There were three fish in the aquarium today and Miriam was glad. Yesterday she had worried about the smallest pink fish and had tried to tell her mother that she… Read More »aquarium
Oscar Wilde's The Importance of being Earnest!
A Perfect candyfloss of a play or is there something more important lurking about its fringes?! ”’Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can’t get into it… Read More »Oscar Wilde's The Importance of being Earnest!
bandit two
‘Hot tea is so rare for me these days.’ The darkest brown eyes lingered on mine and her top lip lifted into a smile. Her hands held the cup as… Read More »bandit two
Carol Ann Duffy's Mrs Lazarus and the savagery of loss!
Mrs Lazarus I had grieved. I had wept for a night and a dayover my loss, ripped the cloth I was married infrom my breasts, howled, shrieked, clawedat the… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Mrs Lazarus and the savagery of loss!
Bandit
Ghosts have wet hair in the morning like the rest of us. There I was lighting up like Belmondo when this rivulet came down my arm and this pale woman… Read More »Bandit
pulse
fountain laughter showers, smiling toes kiss
polka
It was the air around her. It felt peppery, electrical, complicit. Chris kept stumbling around this woman as if involved in some ancient pageant or dance. Her own breath mingled; spearmint and… Read More »polka
Twelfth Night Act One: Revitalising Language!!
Twelfth Night Act One: Night language? Twelfth Night reminds us how we can fall in love! One moment we are going about our daily lives rearranging details, assuming contentment; the… Read More »Twelfth Night Act One: Revitalising Language!!
Avalon One
She made him want to say words like fustian and yeoman. Sedge and samite. Everything was texture with him. His skin, his clothes, his breath, his words as they leaked… Read More »Avalon One
In Mrs Tilscher's Class by Carol Ann Duffy continued from earlier blog
You could travel up the Blue Nilewith your finger, tracing the routewhile Mrs Tilscher chanted the scenery.Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswan.That for an hour, then a skittle of milkand the chalky… Read More »In Mrs Tilscher's Class by Carol Ann Duffy continued from earlier blog
Carol Ann Duffy's Education for Leisure ban-the lunatics are taking over the asylum!
Apparently AQA examination board have taken the very difficult decision to ban Carol Ann Duffy’s dramatic monologue ‘Education for Leisure’ after the dizzying pressure of THREE complaints… Maybe irony has… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Education for Leisure ban-the lunatics are taking over the asylum!
September – new beginnings, so much newness!
Secondary school signals a time of great change for all children and their families. This is especially so for children with ASD’s as ‘change’ so often gives rise to seemingly… Read More »September – new beginnings, so much newness!
Katherine Mansfield's Journal
‘I haven’t written a word since October and I don’t mean to until the spring. I want much more material: I am tired of my little stories like birds bred… Read More »Katherine Mansfield's Journal
Extract from Tusitala's Review of Bleak House
Like so many relationships, Bleak House begins in the fog: ‘Fog everywhere. Fog up the river…fog down the river…chance people on the bridges…with fog all round them.’ Repetition breeds a… Read More »Extract from Tusitala's Review of Bleak House
Carol Ann Duffy on Creating a poem's beginning…
”The beginnning of a poem is always a moment of tiny revelation,” she explains, “a new way of seeing something, which almost simultaneously attracts language to it – and then… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy on Creating a poem's beginning…