Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar
How far does this book serve to perpetuate Sylvia Plath’s cult status as doomed genius and feminist icon? Does the book unexpectedly amuse us too with its incisive exploration of… Read More »Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar
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.
MM: Enfolding
Time was when waking meant routine steps to and from the damp eyes and damp pants of ‘reception’, enlivened by the freeing chimes of minature milk bottles to a place… Read More »MM: Enfolding
Netting Dragons: Long John Silver was once a girl?
The boy and his red haired friend shared stale onion breath and would try to stand very close to girls in my class. At break time they would try to pick… Read More »Netting Dragons: Long John Silver was once a girl?
I only want to be with you: Shelby Lynne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocDiTH8G7kI&feature=related A cracking interpretation of Dusty’s classic. Mellow, low and yearning. Fabulous!
MM: Resurgam!
Belated “hello!” You introduce yourself so openly and with such warmth! Glad you felt like sharing your special early experience of love. The reach of the woman’s embracing spirit has… Read More »MM: Resurgam!
Am I the same Girl? Dusty Springfield
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPMWEgz-BWI Dusty girl Power! Love this song- her voice is like a soulful whisper that soars and blossoms. Such a tone! Pure suggestiveness- what an oxymoronic high!
sinead O'Connor: Nothing compares to you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRfVM9f4nuU&feature=related All my brother’s wonderful family were around for Xmas and New year and amidst the joyful sharing of baby smiles and rascally impish toddlers, this shone out as a… Read More »sinead O'Connor: Nothing compares to you
Wallace Stevens: Stars at Tallapoosa
The melon-flower nor dew nor web of eitherIs like to these. But in yourself is like:A sheaf of brilliant arrows flying straight,Flying and falling straightway for their pleasure, Their pleasure that… Read More »Wallace Stevens: Stars at Tallapoosa
whimsy
…under her skin, deep down within her bones, there once lived a very small whimsy named hope, who insisted upon surfacing once in a while to remind she-who-forgot-herself that there was… Read More »whimsy
Jack Johnson:Upside Down
Who’s to say What’s impossible Well they forgot This world keeps spinning And with each new day I can feel a change in everything And as the surface breaks reflections… Read More »Jack Johnson:Upside Down
Morning:JL
She parted the curtains and watched all her life’s ‘ifs’ go trudging off down the road, wearing boots that were ill fitting, garish and just bloody useless. She didn’t bother… Read More »Morning:JL
Life in Dialogue: by MM
So, tell me about you and I’ll tell you about me. Fair trade don’t you think? Of course with differing degrees of creativity we all make an entrance… Read More »Life in Dialogue: by MM
Chapel-en-le-frith by Janet Lewison
Perhaps a beginning ‘space’ that was motherly and enduring, might be my first teacher with flaming red hair who had a son called Edward and a Land Rover that made… Read More »Chapel-en-le-frith by Janet Lewison
Resistance Poem by Leo Marks for Violet Szabo
A Code Poem For The French Resistance The life that I have is all that I haveAnd the life that I have is yours.The love that I have of the… Read More »Resistance Poem by Leo Marks for Violet Szabo
Pablo Neruda
Your Laughter Take bread away from me, if you wish, take air away, but do not take from me your laughter. Do not take away the rose, the lance… Read More »Pablo Neruda
Amy Bloom; Scandalous Mourning?
Scandalous mourning in the work of Amy Bloom In bereavement counselling they use the term- complicated grief and I often wonder what other kind there is. Well of course… Read More »Amy Bloom; Scandalous Mourning?
Toni Morrison: Jazz and the City
Yet the sense of place in Jazz, as Eudora Welty defines it in her essay “The Eye of the Story,” [1] is a fledgling, tentative one which only timidly heralds… Read More »Toni Morrison: Jazz and the City
Eudora Welty reviewed by Glendinning: Perfect Criticism?
The Eye of the Story By VICTORIA GLENDINNING THE EYE OF THE STORY Selected Essays and Reviews.By Eudora Welty. n this invigorating selection of her reviews and essays, Eudora Welty… Read More »Eudora Welty reviewed by Glendinning: Perfect Criticism?
While my guitar gently weeps: George Harrison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKy73uTOhDc&feature=related I look at you all see the love there that’s sleeping While my guitar gently weeps I look at the floor and I see it need sweeping Still my… Read More »While my guitar gently weeps: George Harrison
Toni Morrison:Love
The day she walked the streets of Silk, a chafing wind kept the temperature low and the sun was helpless to move outdoor thermometers more than a few degrees above… Read More »Toni Morrison:Love
Jazz by Toni Morrison
“Sth, I know that woman,” the novel begins. “She used to live with a flock of birds on Lenox Avenue. Know her husband, too. He fell for an 18-year-old girl… Read More »Jazz by Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison
All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.
Rapture by Carol Ann Duffy : You
YOU Uninvited, the thought of you stayed too late in my head. so I went to bed, dreaming you hard, hard, woke with your name, like tears, soft, salt, on… Read More »Rapture by Carol Ann Duffy : You
George Michael: Amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGbwbTlplcI&feature=related I was mixed up when you came to meToo broke to fixSaid ‘daddy get you gone, I’m missing my baby’Still missing my baby… I was stitched up by the… Read More »George Michael: Amazing!
Moby: Why does my heart? and Natural Blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBCkoDJkIOc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6RWu9h2Ma0 Faith, loss and love-longing. Moby visits the big three of being? Ever since first heard ‘why does my heart feel so bad’ ( is it a… Read More »Moby: Why does my heart? and Natural Blues
Skellig: David Almond
var registeredImages = new Object(); var numberToPreload = 6; var preloadCount = 0; function registerImage( id, image, html, caption ) { registeredImages[id] = new Object(); registeredImages[id].image = image; registeredImages[id].html =… Read More »Skellig: David Almond
Rule the World: Take That!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW0HouUCZHg You light the skies, up above meA star, so bright, you blind me, yeahDon’t close your eyesDon’t fade away, don’t fade away- Oh Yeah you and me we can… Read More »Rule the World: Take That!