What do we really know of others or ourselves? I may sometimes complacently profess ‘self knowledge’ but very often I surprise ‘myself ‘ and I do believe we are all… Read More »Sheenagh Pugh's The Bereavement of the Lionkeeper poem
For a change I will write underneath each stanza of Carol Ann Duffy’s Crush and discuss the poem in this way. My main concern with this method is that it… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Crush: Analysis and thoughts revisited.
Reading by Moira Eribenne (revisited 18/12/2011) Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer utters itself. So, a woman will lift her head from the sieve of her hands… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Prayer’ : Analysis and Revisitation by Moira Eribenne
A Saturday Morning revisitation. The exotic security of primary education is superbly captured in this poem. This seemingly oxymoronic combination fosters learning of the most enduring kind, as the… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy’s In Mrs Tilscher’s Class Analysis and thoughts: Revisited! FREE VIDEO!
I spoke yesterday about the casually cold tone of the poem. The tone is essential to the poem’s message and meaning as it is suggestive of the voice of the speaker… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Stealing: Analysis of First Two stanzas
This is a cold poem in more ways than one.The subject matter is seasonally icy and so is the tone of the speaker. The insouciant delivery suggests pride and even aggressive… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy’s Stealing -An Analysis and thoughts.(Part One)
I read this shortly after W H Auden’s famous poem Funeral Blues -both deeply moving poems about monumental loss. Both poems suggesting that (like Mansfield’s story, The Life of Ma Parker) ‘There was nowhere’ left… Read More »Sheenagh Pugh: The Bereavement of the Lion- Keeper An Analysis
(I read this last night as part of a WJEC GCE past English paper. A lovely gift of a poem). I love this poem’s intimacy. The speaker grumbles his way… Read More »WH Auden: Roman Wall Blues Analysis and thoughts.
”Where I lived-winter and hard earth. I sat in my cold stone rooom choosing tough words, granite, flint, to break the ice.My broken heart- I tried that, but it skimmed,… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Demeter and Miss Havisham's room.
Great Expectations is being shown over Christmas. It’s a new version with Gillian Anderson playing Miss Havisham. I was struck by a comment about Ms Anderson’s portrayal, made in a Telegraph… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Medusa, Demeter, Havisham and Mrs Lazarus- Stones, Mourning and Identity!
Carol Ann Duffy’s poetry features on many GCSE, A Level and Undergraduate courses. Her poems are some of the most searched for on Google and on Amazon underlining her justifiable… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy Selected Poems: Analysis, Notes, Ideas.
This is one of my favourite Carol Ann Duffy poems. It appears in Mean Time and has a witty pathos all of its own. Even as the poet receates… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Litany: An analysis revisited.
Pablo Neruda’s poem embraces the suffering endured by human beings because they choose to differentiate themselves so keenly and resolutely from one another. The I/thou relationship so fraught with misunderstanding,… Read More »Pablo Neruda: Too many Names- a tusi bite.
Poe’s words are uniformly despondent here. His word pools create a relentlessly gloomy atmosphere that defies nature’s capacity for renewal. His tone is monotone, his visions those of darkness and… Read More »Edgar Allan Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher
Someone might have come along that way who would have asked him his trouble, and might have cheered him by saying that his notions were further advanced than those of… Read More »Jude The Obscure Book One Chapter IV: Hardy's own bleak house of despair?
‘I once more smell the dew and rain.’ This is a truly rejuvenating poem, acknowledging human error and frailty, yet also celebrating the power of spiritual connection; the healing of perception through… Read More »George Herbert's The Flower: An Analysis and Tusi bite.
And here you come with a shield for a heart and a sword for a tongue and your girls, your girls. Wasn’t I beautiful Wasn’t I fragrant and young? Look… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Medusa: The last stanza revised..
Beyond all this, the wish to be alone: However the sky grows dark with invitation-cards However we follow the printed directions of sex However the family is photographed under the… Read More »Philip Larkin 'Wants': A an analysis
Now as at all times I can see in the mind’s eye, In their stiff, painted clothes, the pale unsatisfied ones Appear and disappear in the blue depth of the… Read More »The Magi by W B Yeats: The Endless dissatisfaction of Desire?
Jeanette Winterson’s reading of her new book, Why be happy when you could be normal? at the Royal Exchange on Sunday 30th October was wonderful in the most real sense of… Read More »Jeanette Winterson's Rapturous visit to Manchester's Royal Exchange!
One of the most useful and practical techniques advocated by NLP involves taking responsibility for your life and behaviour at cause rather than at effect. Jimmy Petruzzi’s new book about… Read More »Excel in English: Are you performing at cause or at effect?
O quam te memorem virgo… STAND on the highest pavement of the stair— Lean on a garden urn— Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair— Clasp your… Read More »T S Eliot's La figlia Che Piange: Baffling the reader for beauty's sake?
Hour Love’s time’s beggar, but even a single hour bright as a dropped coin, makes love rich. We find an hour together, spend it not on flowers or wine, but… Read More »AQA Carol Ann Duffy's 'Hour' – love's timely bargaining?
I love devouring anecdotes and ‘bits’ of real stories as they feed into all sorts of experiences and writings. Serge Lutens creates wonderful perfumes and the ‘genesis’ tale of his… Read More »Private English Tuition Manchester/Bolton/Bury: The scent of a good story
”Such a staircase, with its accessories, in the older and more crowded parts of Paris, would be bad enough now; but, at that time, it was vile indeed to unaccustomed… Read More »Charles Dickens’ Masterclass on place in A Tale of Two Cities.
A lonely country house with roving wild animals. A rampaging, ill tempered medical man with a beautiful step daughter he cannot abide. Mysterious, violent death is stealthily moving towards a… Read More »Tusi-bites with Janet Lewison: The Speckled Band of Conan Doyle.
A Wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great… Read More »The enigma of identity: Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.
I have read The Doll’s house. It’s one of my favourites. I love its timelessness – haven’t we all been told of children we aren’t to play with because of… Read More »Tusi-bites with Alison Ridyard: Katherine Mansfield' The Doll's House.
Everyone has a taste for villainy in fiction or films. Even good characters have flaws or imperfections so that they do not seem too far away from us. Shakespeare gave… Read More »Bolton School Entrance Examination Tip Five: Create a Villain!
Private English Tutoring improves your learning. It empowers you as it gives you the opportunity to ask any questions you want and to get individual advice and attention for your… Read More »Private English Tuition: How can you enjoy better marks and grades for your English studies?
