Refuge: Surprise
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
University tutor
Bolton School Entrance Examination Tip One: English Tuition
The Bolton School Entrance Examination gives students a timed opportunity to explore an essay question creatively and resourcefully under pressure. I have tutored many students over the years for entrance… Read More »Bolton School Entrance Examination Tip One: English Tuition
'Black Marigolds' translated from Sanskrit by E Powys Mathews: A favourite Love poem of Carol Ann Duffy.
Even now If my girl with lotus eyes came to me again Weary with the dear weight of young love, Again I would give her to these starved twins of… Read More »'Black Marigolds' translated from Sanskrit by E Powys Mathews: A favourite Love poem of Carol Ann Duffy.
The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy: Retrospect and Spots of time?
I do like this breadth and the looming intimacies made accessible perhaps through this breadth. Human beings are so perversely paradoxical that sometimes intimacy is most intensely experienced when we… Read More »The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy: Retrospect and Spots of time?
Bees by Carol Ann Duffy in her latest collection: The Bees!
Bees Here are my bees, gold blurs on paper, besotted; buzzwords dancing their flawless airy maps. Been deep, my poet bees, in the parts of flowers, in daffodil, thistle,… Read More »Bees by Carol Ann Duffy in her latest collection: The Bees!
Promise: Katherine Mansfield's Final Adventure?
Promise: Katherine Mansfield’s Final Adventure. These pieces were scattered about on my blog and I felt they needed uniting with each other in order to make more sense and coherence… Read More »Promise: Katherine Mansfield's Final Adventure?
Refuge: Rose’s Mother.
Rose’s mother was called Carol and she spent most of her day in a large airy office at the top of the house, guarded from her family by a stained glass… Read More »Refuge: Rose’s Mother.
Reflections on Writing The Face in the wall and Katherine Mansfield too!
I wrote The Face in The Wall as a sketch a few years ago on the Tusitala blog, under the category Writing Demeter. This category has a whole series of fragments… Read More »Reflections on Writing The Face in the wall and Katherine Mansfield too!
Carol Ann Duffy's The Bees! New book of poetry from the poet Laureate.
A courier knocked at my door just after midday and presented me with the slim parcel that revealed itself as Carol Ann Duffy’s brand new collection-The Bees. Hurrah for ebay… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's The Bees! New book of poetry from the poet Laureate.
Living with autism by Lorraine Farrimond
So Many routines and rituals bring you comfort. Yet they throw the world of others into chaos . Everything is black and white. Right or wrong. You are protected… Read More »Living with autism by Lorraine Farrimond
OXFORD ELAT English Paper example: Robert Lowell’s ‘Father’s Bedroom’.
Father’s Bedroom In my Father’s bedroom: blue threads as thin as pen-writing on the bedspread, blue dots on the curtains, a blue kimono, Chinese sandals with blue plush straps.… Read More »OXFORD ELAT English Paper example: Robert Lowell’s ‘Father’s Bedroom’.
Dickens' The Signalman: the ambiguity of signs! by Alison Ridyard.
‘The Signalman’ – the kids at my old school enjoyed it (year 10 set 3). It’s a good story for discussion because it raises more questions than it answers. Dickens’… Read More »Dickens' The Signalman: the ambiguity of signs! by Alison Ridyard.
English Tutor Manchester, Bolton and Bury: Rose meets the boy at the stile.
Three steps ahead of her lay an adventure. It just needed a shape. She set off down the lane towards the sea, pleased with her boots. Bees and wasps attacked the… Read More »English Tutor Manchester, Bolton and Bury: Rose meets the boy at the stile.
Cath Corri and Gillman's Yellow Wallpaper: A Nightmare Destined for…?
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer. A colonial mansion, a hereditary… Read More »Cath Corri and Gillman's Yellow Wallpaper: A Nightmare Destined for…?
ELAT English Entrance Examination: Practical Criticism tests your close reading confidence?
Here is the rubric from an ELAT sample paper: Select two or three passages(a) to (f) and compare and contrast them in any ways that seem interesting to you, paying… Read More »ELAT English Entrance Examination: Practical Criticism tests your close reading confidence?
So you want to go to Oxbridge? Tell me about a banana…
UCAS application season is upon us. I have been reading the Sunday Times’ Guide to British Universities today( more on that tomorrow) and was inspired to seek out the very… Read More »So you want to go to Oxbridge? Tell me about a banana…
Waiting for connection in Susan Hill’s Strange Meeting:A short analysis.
Here we go with a close reading and analysis of Susan Hill’s Strange Meeeting, where the two protagonists, Hilliard and Barton discover, and create, a deep and enduring connection. … Read More »Waiting for connection in Susan Hill’s Strange Meeting:A short analysis.
Strange Meeting by Susan Hill: why the word 'ahead' lifts the novel out of despair?
Susan Hill’s beautiful and most affecting novel Strange Meeting ends with the word ‘ahead’- a very poignant conclusion to her tenderly composed exploration of friendship during the first world war.… Read More »Strange Meeting by Susan Hill: why the word 'ahead' lifts the novel out of despair?
Waking up with the Master and Margarita-Bulgakov's helter skelter tapestry of fantasy and pantomine.
I first read The Master and Margarita at Liverpool University when I was studying Russian Studies with English. My tutor Professor Arnold McMillin found my reaction slightly bizarre. as I… Read More »Waking up with the Master and Margarita-Bulgakov's helter skelter tapestry of fantasy and pantomine.
D H Lawrence's Odour of Chrysanthemums by Cath Corri!
The small locomotive engine, Number 4, came clanking, stumbling down from Selston with seven full waggons. It appeared round the corner with loud threats of speed, but the colt that… Read More »D H Lawrence's Odour of Chrysanthemums by Cath Corri!
Lorraine Farrimond:Ahead
My life so far stilted, Duty bound. Wondering if that once,untamed energy Would ever be found. A longing to learn, To have knowledge, To be bright To put pen… Read More »Lorraine Farrimond:Ahead
Cath Corri:Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights
WANDERING THROUGH (mothering) – WUTHERING HEIGHTS! It has only just struck me, that if writing is inevitably about life/lives and living – the birth of the novelist, historical documentation and… Read More »Cath Corri:Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights
Leo Marks-Yours
The life that I have Is all that I have And the life that I have Is yours The love that I have Of the life that I have Is… Read More »Leo Marks-Yours
Cath And Jen Corri talking about Toni Morrison's Beloved.
Cath Corri What novel/novelist has inspired or touched your life most and why? For me it is Toni Morrison’s BELOVED ………… unique in its style and works with history, language… Read More »Cath And Jen Corri talking about Toni Morrison's Beloved.
Wilfred Owen's Spring Offensive: a healing pause.
Halted against the shade of a last hill, They fed, and, lying easy, were at ease And, finding comfortable chests and knees Carelessly slept. But many there stood still To… Read More »Wilfred Owen's Spring Offensive: a healing pause.
Salome by Carol Ann Duffy: the ‘soul-lessness’ of cliche?
I’d done it before (and doubtless I’ll do it again, sooner or later) woke up with a head on the pillow beside me -whose? – what did it matter? Good-… Read More »Salome by Carol Ann Duffy: the ‘soul-lessness’ of cliche?
Cath Corri: Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient
The English Patient ‘If I gave you my life, you would drop it. Wouldn’t you?’ Set in post-war Italy, The English Patient focuses on four survivors coming to terms with… Read More »Cath Corri: Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient
Carol Ann Duffy's You from Rapture: Commentary
This poem, ‘You‘ begins Carol Ann Duffy’s sequence of love poems, unambiguoulsy called Rapture! Aliosn Ridyard’s commentary on this blog is excellent and discusses the techniques by which Duffy communicates… Read More »Carol Ann Duffy's You from Rapture: Commentary
In Mrs Tilscher's Class
CAROL ANN DUFFY (1955–present) In Mrs Tilscher’s Class You could travel up the Blue Nile with your finger, tracing the route while Mrs Tilscher chanted the scenery. Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum.… Read More »In Mrs Tilscher's Class
Crush by Carol Ann Duffy reviewed by Barry Wood
Duffy’s “Crush” One of the consequences of the publication of Carol Ann Duffy’s Rapture has been—at least so far as I’m concerned—to review her early love lyrics. The reception… Read More »Crush by Carol Ann Duffy reviewed by Barry Wood
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