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.
This is an old entry revisited where I ruminate over Carol Ann Duffy’s popularity in terms of her ability to make us feel nostalgic about experiences we may not have… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Stafford Afternoons: An another analysis-or why is Carol Ann Duffy so popular?
How many times in our childhoods are we asked the question: ‘Where are you going?’ And here in Carol Ann Duffy’s evocative recollection of an afternoon adventure, we re-enter the… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Stafford Afternoons: An Analysis Revisited.
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
Revisitation! Medusa’s infamous stare reduces all who come near her to stone. I can imagine that such power at certain points of my life might have been useful, but for… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Medusa: An Analysis
A Revisitation! Carol Ann Duffy’s poem Havisham was the very first poem I taught as a Private English Tutor and was the first poem I encountered from the AQA Anthology.… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy’s Havisham: An Analysis. FREE VIDEO!
I read this poem just now and found myself listening to its sounds : rather like the pulse of a human heart or the ticking of a clock in the corner… Read More »Louis Macneice's The Sunlight on the Garden: Accepting life's simple pleasures. :
Carol Ann Duffy’s bleak retrospect below on a finished love affair, justifies very clearly the title of the poem and collection: ‘Mean Time’. The loss of love’s ‘light’ and time’s… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Mean Time: Night walks for hearts.
She asked me to luncheon in fur. Far from the loud laughter of men, our secret life stirred. I remember her eyes, the slim rope of her spine. This is… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Oppenheim's Cup and Saucer: the erotics of lunch!
Lock the door. In the dark journey of our night two childhoods stand in the corner of the bedroom watching the way we take each other to bits to stare… Read More »Close by Carol Ann Duffy: Intimacy lost and found.
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?
In 2008 I published a long essay on Carol Ann Duffy’s powerfully erotic poem, Warming her Pearls, comparing it not unsurprisingly to Sarah Waters’ tantalising Neo-Victorian Thriller, Fingersmith. The essay… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's Warming her pearls: Revisiting my review.
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?
George wanted some one to answer his question about love and Demeter, but his Aunt was dead and no one else knew his soul. So he leant against the kitchen… Read More »Writing Demeter: Looking for Sydney Carton
”We few, We happy few, We band of brothers.” Agincourt beckons and Shakespeare’s King Henry V is trying to rally a beleagured English army before they they face the French who… Read More »Tusi-bites: Henry V and the rule of three by Janet Lewison
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.
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?
In the dining room of Isambard Dunstan’s School for Wayward children, all was not well. Shards of lightning blasted from a black morning sky and burst upon the heath outside.’… Read More »Bolton School Entrance Examination 11+ Tip Four: Are you word rich or word poor?
Readers remember books primarily because of the characters they meet within the pages. Many times have I sat in a seminar or book group listening to heated arguments about characters… Read More »Bolton School Entrance Examination Tip Three: Constructing a character!
Private English tuition works because it allows the student full attention, a luxury impossible to sustain in any school class room or university or college seminar setting. This attention can… Read More »Private English tutoring-why it works.
Rose Tremain takes us to France in this novel. Rural Cevennes where a collection of rather unhappy characters have assembled to start again, though not necessaily with the consent of… Read More »Rose Tremain’s Trespass: Secret hatreds in rural France.
On they went together. Rose and this strange boy and his dog. It felt like a pilgrimmage somehow, but no one had a notion why they had decided to take… Read More »Refuge: Surprise
