Mary Coleridge's The Moment: An Analysis
I am not sure if this is a great poem, I rather think it too abrupt and unfinished to linger on in the mind, as great poems tend to do. … Read More »Mary Coleridge's The Moment: An Analysis
University English
The Red Plasticine Figure: Carla's Revenge.
The red plasticine figure crouched besides the clock. She had taken her time to get here. But she had lots of time now she was reforming. Her shape and size… Read More »The Red Plasticine Figure: Carla's Revenge.
Dylan Thomas 'The Hunchback in the Park': An Analysis
The hunchback in the park A solitary mister Propped between trees and water From the opening of the garden lock That lets the trees and water enter Until the… Read More »Dylan Thomas 'The Hunchback in the Park': An Analysis
English tuition in Bolton, Manchester and the North West: Caroline's Do.
The cemetery car park was choked with cars. Everyone was patient though most of Caroline’s friends were not patient by nature. But this was a sad afternoon and besides that, everyone… Read More »English tuition in Bolton, Manchester and the North West: Caroline's Do.
Dylan Thomas: Do not go gentle into that good night(Revisited)
I have an affinity with rage on this blog! Medusa gets lots of attention and so does Miss Havisham and even David Almond’s The Savage. Perhaps it is the most… Read More »Dylan Thomas: Do not go gentle into that good night(Revisited)
English tuition Bolton and Manchester: Bolton School, Jane Eyre and Rebecca!
A frosty sunshine made the fields glitter this morning as we drove to school up over the tops of Horwich and then down through Old Kiln Lane , passing silent… Read More »English tuition Bolton and Manchester: Bolton School, Jane Eyre and Rebecca!
Private English tutoring in Bolton, Manchester and Bury: Katherine Mansfield’s At The Bay.
I was walking Frankie, one of my dogs today and met a grandfather out with his brightly adorned grandaughter, who spotting ‘Frankie’ on her lead, held up her string-gloved hands… Read More »Private English tutoring in Bolton, Manchester and Bury: Katherine Mansfield’s At The Bay.
A Dangerous Method One: A Film Review by Mark Wrigley
A Dangerous Method is an enjoyable film, especially in the context of today’s multiplex teen fodder; it fairly successfully manages to dramatise a clash of ideas and personalities, although it… Read More »A Dangerous Method One: A Film Review by Mark Wrigley
Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped: Choosing black or white words?
Over the next month this site will start selling Tusi Notes on Amazon Kindle and also as pdf downloads on this site. There is already a very stimulating and powerful… Read More »Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped: Choosing black or white words?
The Plasticine Men Five: Nylon and Brahms.
That Saturday afternoon George had gone to Buxton with several friends and his Aunt in her last blue mini. They had stopped on the long hill leading down in Buxton’s centre, and… Read More »The Plasticine Men Five: Nylon and Brahms.
Private English Tuition Bolton and Manchester: Why reading Dickens helps writing.
‘ Why is reading so important?’ This question needs a direct answer as it is one of the most important activities any human being, let alone ‘student’ can enjoy. Of course… Read More »Private English Tuition Bolton and Manchester: Why reading Dickens helps writing.
Carol Ann Duffy's 'From Mrs Tiresias' An Analysis.
Carol Ann Duffy’s After Mrs Tiresias is a very popular poem at live readings. Females in the audience enjoy the spirited irony of the joke about a man who becomes a… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's 'From Mrs Tiresias' An Analysis.
Carol Ann Duffy's Valentine: An analysis before a Tusi Note!
Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy is the most searched for Duffy poem on Google. The poem is a cyber space megastar and today I felt I would examine the poem… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Valentine: An analysis before a Tusi Note!
Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men-How Do we read the ending? A Short Analysis and Tusi Note!
Steinbeck’s final moments of his short novel, Of Mice and Men are both tragic and yet hopeful. The reader recognises that Steinbeck is offering a glimpse of an equal, potential… Read More »Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men-How Do we read the ending? A Short Analysis and Tusi Note!
Carol Ann Duffy’s Medusa Analysis: Rage as petrification-FREE VIDEO!
Medusa has been explored several times on this blog and I will be writing a full length, Tusi Note on the poem in the next few days. However Carol Ann… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy’s Medusa Analysis: Rage as petrification-FREE VIDEO!
The Plasticine Men: The Changeover Day.
The face in the wall heard voices through the old plaster. Hoarse voices whose breathing came slowly and hard as if time was short. Houses like these carried memories deep… Read More »The Plasticine Men: The Changeover Day.
Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Before You were Mine’: A Tusi Note – Buy it Now!
Tusi Notes Just the ideas you need to be different! ”This tender and elemental love poem to our first and most enduring love, that of the mother and child, is… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Before You were Mine’: A Tusi Note – Buy it Now!
Whitney Houston: The Voice that soared!
Whitney Houston could bring down the rafters of her listener’s soul. I loved the sheer exuberance and innocent energy of her early singles; gospel had come to MTV and a… Read More »Whitney Houston: The Voice that soared!
Nine Writers who changed my life: English tutoring Manchester and Bolton
Reading can be a sneaky business. Even now, I still get told, come on let’s DO something sometimes when I am ‘caught’ reading, as if reading is somehow a squandering… Read More »Nine Writers who changed my life: English tutoring Manchester and Bolton
Carol Ann Duffy's Last Post: An Analysis Revisited.
Sometimes, not all times because Carol Ann Duffy is human and works hard and perhaps writes more than her energies allow, Duffy finds a word that changes everything in a… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Last Post: An Analysis Revisited.
Dickens' Great Expectations: An analysis at Bolton School.
Tuesday 7th February was Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday. Bolton School, Girls’ Division,celebrated the UK’s most famous novelist’s birthday in style, as all the pupils and the staff, came to school,… Read More »Dickens' Great Expectations: An analysis at Bolton School.
Robert Browning’s ‘My last Duchess’ : An analysis of this AQA poem-revisited.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of exploring this poem in the AQA Anthology, where it is enjoying the attention of today’s students once again. It has a very particular, if… Read More »Robert Browning’s ‘My last Duchess’ : An analysis of this AQA poem-revisited.
Private English Tutor/Tuition Manchester, Bolton, Bury: Shena Mackay's The Orchard on Fire: Descriptive Writing at its best!
Unlike so many books that explore the betrayal of friendship and of trust, this book upholds the precious sanctity of love that transcends even death. I can never read this… Read More »Private English Tutor/Tuition Manchester, Bolton, Bury: Shena Mackay's The Orchard on Fire: Descriptive Writing at its best!
Carol Ann Duffy’s Education for Leisure: An Analysis Revisited
I was just playing with the google search engines when I saw this entry about Carol Ann Duffy’s Education For Leisure on page two. Sometimes when I write something and… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy’s Education for Leisure: An Analysis Revisited
Jane Eyre's first encounter with Rochester:Chapter 12- A short Analysis on the irony of retrospect!
Jane Eyre is one of my favourite books, with one of the most feisty and resourceful heroines in English literature. Virginia Woolf found the emotional lives of the characters in… Read More »Jane Eyre's first encounter with Rochester:Chapter 12- A short Analysis on the irony of retrospect!
Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Text’ from Rapture: An Analysis
Human intimacy can be fraught with misunderstanding and misgiving. We all feel D-R-E-A-D at times! This media age, with its obsession with texting, has escalated the dread of rejection, and… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Text’ from Rapture: An Analysis
An Analysis of Carol Ann Duffy's Disgrace revisited.
Yesterday I explored AQA’s Anthology poem Quickdraw from Carol Ann Duffy’s Rapture collection. I did express my disappointment with that poem and perhaps its rather self conscious contrivance.The row didn’t… Read More »An Analysis of Carol Ann Duffy's Disgrace revisited.
Dickens' Great Expectations Chapter 29(BkII,Chapter10)Brief Analysis- Pip misreads his destiny!
Pip is a very susceptible and vulnerable young man, who reads his emotionally sabotaging companions, Miss Havisham and Estella, very hopefully indeed! I have talked in another blog post about… Read More »Dickens' Great Expectations Chapter 29(BkII,Chapter10)Brief Analysis- Pip misreads his destiny!
AQA English Anthology: Analysis of Carol Ann Duffy’s Quickdraw.
(For a stanza by stanza analysis and commentary on Quickdraw please click here. ) This poem is taken from Carol Ann Duffy’s collection Rapture, for which she won the T… Read More »AQA English Anthology: Analysis of Carol Ann Duffy’s Quickdraw.
AQA/WJEC/Undergraduate English Literature: Analysing a text
PART ONE. On Saturday I was enjoying a thoughtful discussion of Susan Hill’s novel, The Small Hand. We were analysing the opening line of Susan’s Hill’s ghost story, and exploring several… Read More »AQA/WJEC/Undergraduate English Literature: Analysing a text