Foot prints
It had started to rain. Grey lonely rain that stirred up the earth below the garden and coated Mercy’s old boots. Each step muttered something about the past; promises, feuds,… Read More »Foot prints
English Resources
Rilke
‘Oh, to whom can we thenturn in our need? Not to Angels or men,and the knowing animals knowwe are not very securely at homein our interpreted world.’ Rilke, ‘The Duino… Read More »Rilke
The Quality of Mercy: Shakespeare
The quality of mercy is not strain’d,It droppeth as the gentle rain from heavenUpon the place beneath: it is twice blest;It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:‘Tis mightiest… Read More »The Quality of Mercy: Shakespeare
Make a Friend of Your Mind!
Read through the extract from Act3,Sc4 l.1-48. Work in small groups of 4 with one person being the spokesperson and note-taker. Imagine that you are using this section of the… Read More »Make a Friend of Your Mind!
Keats and negative capability from BBC web site
The Romantic1 poet John Keats (1795-1821) coined the phrase ‘Negative Capability’ in a letter written to his brothers George and Thomas on the 21 December, 1817. In this letter… Read More »Keats and negative capability from BBC web site
King Lear: Three Essay Questions
1) ‘Because the Lear stories concentrate upon the masculine predicament of Kingship and Fatherhood, and the dangers in relinquishing both forms of authority, it is dramatically necessary that the… Read More »King Lear: Three Essay Questions
Thomas hardy: Darkling thrush
I leant upon a coppice gate, When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter’s dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled vine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken… Read More »Thomas hardy: Darkling thrush
King Lear Three: 'Yet Edmund was beloved.'
1) Examine again the eye gouging scene in Act 3. What does this scene contribute to the drama of the play and is it necessary? What is created aesthetically? Consider… Read More »King Lear Three: 'Yet Edmund was beloved.'
Mercy-a beginning.
Mercy watched the sea from her room. Brine and seagulls. Her hands moved over the damp coldness of the ancient sill, drawing her name. She was aware of the secret weight… Read More »Mercy-a beginning.
Home is so sad: Larkin
Home is so sad. It stays as it was left, Shaped to the comfort of the last to go As if to win them back. Instead, bereft Of anyone to… Read More »Home is so sad: Larkin
MM: Shiny Wet Words
Sharing thoughts and words is as good as fanning a great warming blaze. Wonderful. Looking back, thinking about ‘my’ blond haired boy in long shorts with seemingly permanently tanned skin brings… Read More »MM: Shiny Wet Words
Lear two: Post your questions?
King Lear Two: ‘Edgar I nothing am.’ (Act 2, sc3) 1) In groups of four/five discuss your reaction to Lear’s first two Acts. Explore your chosen quotations… Read More »Lear two: Post your questions?
Duffy: Mercy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KE2orthS3TQ&feature=related Makes me think of the Italian Job and all those mini coopers racing through Turin with the ever laconic Michael Caine directing his ‘mob’ – presided over(at a presidential… Read More »Duffy: Mercy
lunch
Mud calmed her these days. And she had also pledged to read the Fall of the Roman Empire before he came back from Gaul. Everyone at school seemed to think… Read More »lunch
Introduction
King Lear One. 1) Look at the stage directions for the entrance of Lear and the implications of the first line he utters. Is there any ambivalence in… Read More »Introduction
Found this on an abandoned blog. It's true!
‘No body but me has this memory. Thismemory has no body but me.’ Roy Fisher
King Lear
King Lear: Who is it that can tell me who I am? Lear is primarily a text about identity: specifically a text about disorientation and identity; about blindly losing one’s… Read More »King Lear
The Bell Jar: Sylvia Plath by Cath Corri
Is there such a thing/person/reality of/as a doomed genius – the tautology is simple? Take out the doomed, for we are all that, but maybe less perpetuated (although feminist in… Read More »The Bell Jar: Sylvia Plath by Cath Corri
red flare love
suddenly there when you speak lower
Alpha
…coil in her head called potential
Sunday dessert
She first saw him one Sunday afternoon when she was remembering those magnolias. She had finished with the paper and was sitting as neatly as she could(angles were important to… Read More »Sunday dessert
The Barrier Reef
He was Australian they said and wore shorts that touched his knees. She couldn’t remember his name but today she watched her friend’s hands moving quickly over the kitchen and… Read More »The Barrier Reef
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
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?
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
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!