English Language and Literature (spec B)

[raven]

First of all - Hannah, my love, my darling, light of my life (do you think we ought to see other people?), I'm sorry. So sorry. Fundamentally sorry from the core of my being, down on my knees in apology, holding up these couch cushions - much as they did in Biblical times! - as a symbol of my sorrow and regret. I'm sorry. Please forgive me.

Moving on. English. Thank you so much for all the good luck wishes. They came in very handy, especially as things didn't start well, with trains being cancelled all over the place and my being distinctly afraid I wouldn't get into school at all. But I did reach there, which may nor may not have been a good thing, and had time for a cheese pasty and small bowl of strawberries and cream before one o'clock.

English exams take forever to get started, because the English department need to get round everyone and frisk their anthologies. I never annotate mine too much, so I was okay; but I can't remember a time when anyone's actually had their anthology taken away from them. It would be unspeakably cruel, I must say. Besides, by this point, your anthology is a safety net. It's battered and scribbled on and has been being mistreated since September, but it's yours. Mine is the AQA/NEAB anthology, and it's purple and has a shiny cover. Small things make exam candidates happy.

The first module was the more difficult one - they give you an hour and a half to write two essays, one on the poetry and one on the prose. The poetry one came first and it was awful. It really was. The question was, "How do poets evoke memory?" and the given poem was the one I was talking about a few days ago, In Which The Ancient History I Learn Is Not My Own, from Eavan Boland (In a Time of Violence). As I said then, I adore that poem but find it nigh on impossible to write about. They wanted you to compare with one other poem. It would have been a good question if any of the poems were actually about memory. In the end, I plumped for Them & [uz] (Tony Harrison), because it does have some past tense in it, and scribbled.

Looking back, I know I wrote rubbish. Complete tripe, and unstructured, badly-thought-out tripe at that. As I was saying to Hannah before, this course is slightly different from most English courses. It isn't a linguistics course, where you talk about gender and power and all that; nor is it a literature course with contrasting themes and all that. Instead, the focus is conveyed attitudes, values and ideas, and the way language is used to bring them across. In fact, if anyone remembers the DVD commentary meme where everyone took their fics and worked their way through them explaining how and why they wrote what they wrote, my English course is exactly like that. We are told to write almost in points - make a point, give an exemplifying quote, and finish with a comment, ie:

"In 'In which the Ancient History...' (Eavan Boland), the poet conveys a sense of memory by her use of stylistic devices that bring to mind the voice of a child. Her use of assonance in "wooden batten on... knotted cotton" echoes the rhythmic chanting of childhood, thus conveying the idea that her current attitudes and values were formed when she was a child."

Etc, etc. A load of tripe, as I said. Most of my points were like that - irrelevant, tautological and difficult to follow. And they followed no logical pattern.

Moving on. The second essay was far better. This time, the question was: "How do writers persaude/influence an audience?" Easy, GCSE stuff almost. I didn't pick the Christian Brothers Prospectus like most people did, mainly because I hate it and can't write about it, and instead chose Francis Bacon's essay Of Studies and an extract from The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley, called, fittingly enough, The Examiner-of-all-Examiners. Bacon is very fond of pontificating in triplicate ("Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability") and like many minor Victorian classics, The Water Babies has a distinctly moralising tone to it. I wrote happily about Latin rhetoric and subtextual persuasion, and while it still wasn't a particularly elegant piece of writing, hopefully it served its purpose.

The second module, only one essay but still an hour and a half, followed immediately with no break. As an aside, I did pity those poor people who got extra time. I believe they got an extra fifteen minutes per hour, meaning they were in the hall for nearly four hours. Urgh. Three hours was bad enough.

The second module, as I was saying, involves discussing the use of linguistic devices in Utopia and Brave New World. It's a closed book exam, but that's not much of a hardship, as they give you two extracts to discuss and ask you to put them in context and nothing more. And the question is the same every year, only the extracts change, and I felt like I'd written this self-same essay hundreds of times before. Which can only be a good thing, I suppose, and I filled my answer book down to the last line, something I'd never done before.

But by quarter past four, I was just about sick of writing. I worked out I must have written in excess of twelve sides. Urgh. I was in dreamy, hyper-observant mode as they collected in the papers, and noticed that the first thing everyone does as they stand up is pull their tails straight. Mine managed to twist themselves round into an impossible position while I was sitting there, and it's apparently a universal phenomenon.

I made my way home through the sunshine quite safe in the knowledge that I have finished with AS English. Coursework was one module; these two exams were the others. There. Done.

My next exams are on the eighth, ninth and tenth of June. Which gives me about two weeks of study leave and revision for Chemistry, Biology and Politics. Yay, etc.

Comments

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Their tails?! Are you extra-evolved individuals or do have a very bizarre school uniform? I'm confused!

But hurray for bearable exams! Well-borne!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

We're both!

Seriously, I do indeed have tails. They're long lengths of blue fabric with tassels that I wear wrapped round my waist so they hang down at the back of my skirt. Amazingly enough, they are a sixth form privilege; you're only worthy enough to deserve them once you've got your GCSEs. I only recently discovered how bizarre they sound - I went up the school looking upon sixth formers as grown-up people, and tails accorded respect. Or something.

Very weird, I know.

And exams are over! For a while. :)

[fragility-lily.livejournal.com]

Hope you did well on this one and good luck on the others!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thank you! The thought is much appreciated. :)

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

...this course is slightly different from most English courses. It isn't a linguistics course, where you talk about gender and power and all that; nor is it a literature course with contrasting themes and all that. Instead, the focus is conveyed attitudes, values and ideas, and the way language is used to bring them across. In fact, if anyone remembers the DVD commentary meme where everyone took their fics and worked their way through them explaining how and why they wrote what they wrote, my English course is exactly like that.

Huh, that's interesting. While I was reading the first part of your explanation, it sounded very different from what we do in my classes. We're neither linguistic nor really thematic; we just sit around and talk about the language itself, word choice and metaphor and motif, the endless refrain of how does language create meaning? Which works really well for me, because the focus is on ideas* only as they are transmitted through vocabulary, which is how I process literature anyway. I guess that's just a difference in focus-- your course is concerned with the same things, but maybe in the reverse order.

The second part of the explanation, though, about the DVD commentary meme... that sounded very familiar. Because that's exactly, but exactly, what we do here. Instead of organizing your paper by ideas, you organize it parallel to the text you're analyzing. You work with the grain of the text, is the way I like to think of it, instead of against it. (Right, so obviously I am far too obsessed with this topic.) And apparently that's atypical of English courses in the US as well. The IB is supposed to be based on a European model, but from what you've said, the normal European model sounds a good deal like the normal American model, neither of which is much like what we're doing.

Shutting up now. I apologize. My last day of school is TOMORROW, and I am OUT OF MY MIND.

*Sometimes "attitudes," I guess, if that's can be read as similar to "tone," but not "values" -- they hate "values" in my English classes! *grins*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Whenever I read about your English classes, they seem more... advanced, for lack of a better word, than mine. It's interesting to know we do similar things albeit in a different order. :) Although, I have to admit to finding the question how does language create meaning? very interesting, much more interesting than the endless attitudes and values I complain about. Oh, and they're big on tone, too.

What you say about the European model - you may well be right, because we're not really European up here. The British are a law unto themselves, as they say. Having said that, the DVD commentary meme was, more or less, what I did for coursework. Write piece, comment. Ta-da.

Oh, don't apologise. I have no idea what it feels like on the last day of school ever! Congratulations!

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

I love "How does language create meaning?" There are some days I think it's been imprinted on my brain. I find myself asking it of younger students who come to me in the Writing Center, or of Kib when she asks me random homework questions. (The younger students nod indulgently; Kib says, "Shut up and answer the question.") I love it because the implication is that every nuance of your meaning isn't preexistent, isn't present when you start writing, but actually grows organically out of the process.

you may well be right, because we're not really European up here. The British are a law unto themselves, as they say.

True, and I guess I should've kept that in mind. Even us ignorant Americans know that much!

Write piece, comment. Ta-da.

OH. I didn't realize that was what you meant -- you mean you sometimes analyze your own writing?

I have no idea what it feels like on the last day of school ever!

Neither do I! I'm trying to figure out what it feels like. It feels like apocalypse and deliverance and the second coming... most of all, though, it feels like a major chocolate rush. ;) The reality of it hasn't even really hit me yet, and probably won't until Friday, when I turn in my last final project.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

You have a Writing Centre? Wow. Really, wow. That sounds like writing is actually taken seriously, as opposed to here where it's a necessary evil of teaching English Literature.

Meaning growing organically is something I'm very familiar with; it's best exemplified when someone else finds something in your writing you know you never put there. You go back, and find that yes, it could be interpreted like that, and why didn't you ever notice?

OH. I didn't realize that was what you meant -- you mean you sometimes analyze your own writing?

Not often - we generally analyse the anthology poetry and prose - but for coursework specifically, you write a piece and then write a commentary to go with it. It's hard to explain it properly - I still have mine on disk, if you wanted to see them.

most of all, though, it feels like a major chocolate rush.

Hee! I am insanely jealous of you at the moment. My last day isn't till next May, and it's the first proper Muck-up Day we get, so I'm looking forward to it.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

Yes. It's not as impressive as it sounds-- it's just a centralized place where underclassmen come to get peer tutoring in writing from upperclassmen at lunch. It's a good way to get community service hours, anyway.

It's hard to explain it properly - I still have mine on disk, if you wanted to see them.

I would, if you wouldn't mind. I am insanely jealous, because I'm just egotistical enough that I want that sort of assignment.

it's the first proper Muck-up Day we get

Muck-up Day?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

It still sounds cool. And a much more fun way of getting community service. It dawned on me last week that I have forty-five hours left to get. Oh, the humanity.

You shall shortly be getting some coursework bits and bobs in your inbox. Don't say I didn't warn you. :)

Muck-up Day is the last day for the Upper Sixth, upon which they generally set out to cause as much chaos as possible. In the past, they've put treacle in the loos, barged into first-year classrooms and sprayed them liberally with water, removed all the board rubbers, window poles and clocks, hung an inflatable sheep off the flagpole, started playing Queen and David Bowie at top volume every time Mrs Bush starts pontificating about Beethoven...

You get the picture. They also give each other awards. I remember two years ago, lilka decided the time had come to go round wearing a "Slasher" t-shirt. Becca has already decided that my superlative award should be Most Likely To Commit Suicide In Dramatic And Bloody Fashhion.

Which I find fundamentally disturbing, to be honest.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

Oh, now I want a Muck-up Day. The closest we come is Senior Prank, which is almost always uninspired. I'm not even sure what ours was, but a few years ago, the seniors painted the statue of the RM Rocket (our mascot) so that it no longer was phallic only in shape.

Have received the email. I'm going to read it tonight, because I've promised myself to study again for History before I go into school today. I also need to go read that fic you posted and comment.

Becca has already decided that my superlative award should be Most Likely To Commit Suicide In Dramatic And Bloody Fashhion.

If you committed suicide in dramatic and bloody fashion, I would kill you.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

no longer was phallic only in shape

Oh, dear. That made me giggle, which probably speaks volumes about my sense of humour.

Your mascot is a rocket? *blinks*

also need to go read that fic you posted and comment

Urgh. As I said to senza, I should not be allowed to write fanfiction in the middle of the night. Blah, depressing, angelcakes.

And you have blanket permission to kill me if I should happen to commit suicide. :)

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

That made me giggle, which probably speaks volumes about my sense of humour.

Speaks volumes about mine, too, since I think that was the best prank we've had yet.

Your mascot is a rocket? *blinks*

*sighs* It is indeed. Don't ask me. My middle school's was a devil, which I liked much better.

[saturnalia.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I have to say, Spec B sounds more complicated than Spec A- at least we only had two set texts to worry about! Although our Simon Armitage questions were bad enough, so maybe you got the better side of the deal after all.

But then, by the time we got to the poetry I was on my fifth (!!) exam of the day, and the way my mind kept wandering probably didn't help matters.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

What did you have to do for spec A? I never even saw it. We had two set texts and the anthology, which wasn't that bad. I loved Simon Armitage at GCSE - we met the guy at one of the set poetry days, and he was bloody hilarious. It was all rather cool.

Five exams in one day? Oh, that's terrinle. My heartfelt sympathies. :)

[saturnalia.livejournal.com]

The syllabus is on here (http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gceasa/engLLA.html)- I think the main difference between A and B is that we don't do coursework. The two exams we had today were the Language Production, where you have to write something then analyse it, and the Simon Armitage which was basically just analysing various poems of his. And yeah, I like Armitage- I've never met the guy, but his poems are definitely good!

[apestaartje.livejournal.com]

In fact, if anyone remembers the DVD commentary meme where everyone took their fics and worked their way through them explaining how and why they wrote what they wrote, my English course is exactly like that. We are told to write almost in points - make a point, give an exemplifying quote, and finish with a comment, ie:
Oooh, I think I would've like that kind of English in school instead of the constant stupid grammar/vocab/talking/let's read this stupid story and then do grammar/vocab/talk about it-English I got.

Three hours was bad enough.
Three hours is nothing. Once I had a French exam that lasted 5 hours. No one was finished but the teacher made everyone hand in because she was going to be late for her son's schoolSinterklaas show thing. And one time I had a accountancy exam that lasted from 8.30 untill 14.30.

Good luck with your other exams!!!!!! :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Did you learn English as a first or second language? Because my English was just like you describe when I was lower down the school.

And, six hour exams? EEEK!

[apestaartje.livejournal.com]

Did you learn English as a first or second language?
It's a third language. :) Dutch first, French second, English third.

Because my English was just like you describe when I was lower down the school.

Interesting.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

You're trilingual? No wonder you always have us all writhing in jealousy. :)

You can't sleep either, huh?

[apestaartje.livejournal.com]

You're trilingual?
::nods::
No wonder you always have us all writhing in jealousy. :)
lol, don't be. I don't even know the third national language of Belgium.

You can't sleep either, huh?
Nope. And I should be because I have to get up early tomorrow to study.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

Because my English was just like you describe when I was lower down the school.

You know me, I can't help sticking my nose in when the subject is comparative school systems. I've got to say that I'm a little envious here, because for years I've been bemoaning the fact that our public education system teaches us almost no grammar at all. We do a little vocabulary up through middle school, but I've always found it decidedly lacking as well-- it's basic stuff, and while I suppose the hope is to make sure everyone is on-level, it's pretty tedious for people who already know the meaning of words like "illuminate." I kid you not. Kib, who is in seventh grade -- don't know what the analogous year is for either of you -- and advanced classes, gets vocabulary lists with words like "illuminate" all the time, and we commiserate.

The History exam I took this year used to be crammed into a single testing period, meaning that we had six/seven essays in six hours, which might easily be followed by one (or two!) other two- or three-hour exams. One year, the administration saw the light and said, "Hey, this is CRAZY" and split it into two days. One wonders how many nervous breakdowns it took before they recognized that.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Grammar is overrated. This from someone who had years of it, so maybe I'm a little biased. Also spelling tests. I loathed them. When we were clearing out my room a few months ago, I discovered my spelling book from when I was in infants (no idea if there's an American equivalent, but it's between ages four and seven) where you were supposed to write down any word you had to look up so you could remember it. There is only one word in the entire book, and it's "eucalyptus." I was a weird child.

And yes, grammar. We aren't generally taught grammar in English, we're taught it in Latin and expected to be able to transfer the skills. Which sort of makes sense to some extent, as Latin makes English grammar seem easy. At least, I always thought that was why we were taught Latin. I think.

Oh, shut up, Raven.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

Well, it's good to know we weren't missing much, then. I guess I just feel stupid when confronted with grammatical jargon: I understand the rules, but I'm not as good at articulating them as I'd like to be. Hence my obsessive reading of grammar books.

We did do spelling tests for a long time, which I liked in and of themselves. I don't know why; I'm not naturally stellar at spelling, despite my book fixation. I did hate assignments where we had to look up unfamiliar words, because they always ended up being so tedious. I love that you only had to look up "eucalyptus," though. Brilliant from an early age.

We don't quite have an American equivalent for "infants," but rather three separate programs for ages four to seven. In general, I think you go to nursery school from three to five, then kindergarten ages five to six, and first grade (first year of elementary school) ages six to seven.

I've learned the technicalities of grammar in reverse by way of foreign languages, too, but it wasn't necessarily intended by the system. I've talked to a lot of people, and most of them have had the same experience as me: it's not until you take your first foreign language that you start appreciating grammar in English.

Blah blah blah. I too should be studying. *massages temples* If you need to sleep or study or something, don't let me keep you. I get the feeling I'll be up all night.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I think an instinctive understanding of grammar is possibly better for you than understanding the rules of it, because in English there are no hard and fast rules, are there? In Latin I used to spout nominative and accusative forms till kingdom come and not understand any of it. Blah. If I get into Oxford, I plan to take up Latin again. Pretentious? Moi?

I liked spelling tests, too. And I can't picture you not being stellar at spelling, so I refuse to believe you. You seem to have read more than I did as a child, and that's saying something (I don't read as much nowadauys, not since school and internet started getting in the way).

Back to the endless complications of school systems. Here, nursery school isn't compulsory. Although there are some nursery schools, I never went to one - was taught to read and write at home - and went to kindergarten at the normal time, which is the September after your fourth birthday.

And as far as sleep and studying go - it's always one in the morning when I respond to your comments. Right now I'm breaking the pattern by being awake at quarter past ten. So much for revision...

[lilka.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Doesn't sound like it went too badly. I had my fingers crossed like I promised :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you. Can't believe it's over. :)

[amchau.livejournal.com]

And the question is the same every year, only the extracts change

Only-- didn't you notice this?-- they'd changed the question, ever so slightly. The last bullet point-- the fourth one-- had been reworded, to use some long word beginning with C instead of what it used to say. That quite threw me for a minute or two.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

What? I did not see that. Oh, you're kidding. What was the word beginning with C?

[amchau.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know now what the word was-- I copied it into my essay in the exam, and came out and utterly forgot it. But I'm sure I read it through and it wasn't what I remembered: the word order and the emphasis was in a different place, and the c word isn't in the copy I have at home. Not that different, just different enough that I was glad I'd really read it carefully.

[purplerainbow.livejournal.com]

*mwah*
For that, I utterly forgive you. It was the cushions that did it...

And I don't really think we should see other people. The time I tried it, it was no fun.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*grins* I do love Chandler. At least, how he used to be, all cute and clueless. "Well, it doesn't matter! You took your eggs, and you left! Did you think I'd never find new eggs?!"

You're right, you know. I love you and only you. No more blasphemy about seeing other people.

[purplerainbow.livejournal.com]

I saw that episode too! I love the older episodes so much. I must remember to watch it tonight...

I'm glad things are sorted out. I love you and only you. We'll meet again soon, probably next week. Shall I venture the suggestion of Tuesday? Would Saturday work, or is Becca working?