I am! I am! yet what I am none cares or knows, My friends forsake me like a memory lost; I am the self-consumer of my woes, They rise and… Read More »John Clare, 'I am' or 'Written in Northampton County Asylum': Analysis.
Are you writing something a little bit disturbing? Do you want to improve your descriptive writing or to think about setting and atmosphere? Thriller writers like John Connolly and James Lee Burke are… Read More »The Burning Light by John Connolly: Analysis and first thoughts.
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!
David Almond’s Skellig is a novel very much concerned with the experience of community and communion explored through the eyes of a young narrator called Michael who finds his life radically changed when his… Read More »Skellig by David Almond: Analysis of Chapter 42
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.
I have written before about the value of ‘scent’ in descriptive writing. And I mentioned Luca Turin’s scintillating book about the A-Z Perfume and now of course I should also mention the famous thriller about ‘Grenouille’… Read More »GCSE/GCE Descriptive Writing: AL Rehab Perfume Review!
‘Falling in love is glamorous hell’ writes Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy in her poem ‘You’ collected in Rapture. Madeleine Miller’s novel The Song of Achilles has recently won the… Read More »The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller: Analysis of Desire Part One.
The visitor had been sitting on the step since George had left the house with his dog. It was peculiar to watch him without speaking, but the visitor had no choice. The boy and… Read More »The Face in The Wall: The woman who would not look away.
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!
Introduction. Daphne Du Maurier’s novel My Cousin Rachel is a compelling novel to read. It explores sexual longing, intense jealousy and finally the act of murder as the ultimate resolution… Read More »English tutor/tuition Manchester, Bolton and Bury: Daphne du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel- review and analysis.
Had I not been awake I would have missed it, A wind that rose and whirled until the roof Pattered with quick leaves off the sycamore . And got me… Read More »English Tuition Bolton and Manchester: Reading matters!
Effective writing engages the reader because they feel involved. In this way all writing must persuade the reader of something and one of the most vivid ways to engage a reader is… Read More »GCSE English Essay Writing Tip: Sensory Impressions!
Shelley’s Ozymandias is a striking poem about the abuse or the futility of power. I say striking because it contains images that remain with you and will not go away.… Read More »Shelley’s Ozymandias:An Analysis Revisited of the AQA Poem-character and voice!
Shelley’s Ozymandias is a striking poem about the abuse or the futility of power. I say striking because it contains images that remain with you and will not go away.… Read More »Shelley’s Ozymandias:An Analysis Revisited!
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!
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 a disturbing poem, not least because the speaker, who we assume to be the ‘farmer’ narrates the story of the unfortunate’bride.’ I say unfortunate as she has no… Read More »Charlotte Mew, The Farmer’s Bride: An Analysis of sexual repression, fear and violation?
This is a disorientating poem. It communicates a profound sadness and despair through its choice of language, images and sounds, all combining to produce an elegy for a loss that extends far beyond… Read More »Stevie Smith, ‘Come on, Come back.’ An Analysis-the mind gone walkabout?
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
We are on the verge of the GCSE English examinations once more, so I thought I would look again at Carol Ann Duffy’s Hour, a poem originally collected in Carol Ann… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's 'Hour': Goldfinger, Midas and the ecstasy of Love!.
Years ago there was a song by The Smiths’ Morrissey with the happy sing-a-long line ”shyness is nice”.It might have been catchy but I didn’t agree with him at all,… Read More »English Tutor/tuition Manchester, Bolton and Bury: How to be shy and enjoy it! Part One
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 burnt him. Stung at his open eyes. And even if he found he could blink away the sharp grains, the room still looked odd, far away. He felt tired… Read More »English Tutor/tuition Manchester, Bolton and Bury: The Face in the Wall and the sand.
Someone famous had once turned their face to the wall and died because they had run out of the words they cared about. The face couldn’t recall who they were and perhaps… Read More »English tutor/tuition Manchester, Bolton and Bury: The Face in the wall remembers George.
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.
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.
Sometimes as you approach the Easter holiday break, the texts you studied seem distant memories, and you feel less confident about your knowledge and essay writing. If this is you… Read More »English GCE, GCSE Revision Bolton, Manchester and Bury.
George leant against the old chair and spoke to the wall. His voice was quiet. Careful. Everyone was asleep, though he could smell smoke from somewhere outside. The eyes watched him,… Read More »English tutoring/tuition Manchester, Bolton and Bury: The Face in The Wall-Smoke and Dust.
