The Eve of St Agnes

Tense changes are interesting in this poem--especially the ways in which Keats seems to move in and out of the past tense as he tells the story. He also seems to use the future tense with regard to Porphyro--which makes sense, I suppose, as he is always yearning away from the past to the future, and the possibilities that it brings.

Look at this picture by William Holman Hunt--isn't it interesting how he has imagined the scene? Everyone looks almost as though they are under the spell of Sleeping Beauty's castle, except that they're drunk after the party (rathr un-fairy-tale-like), while Porphyro and Madeleine creep past. Notice, though how this time they don't want to break the spell, whereas in the fairy-tale they do.

Actually, look at this site for some lovely, huge versions of paintings about the poem.

Making it clear

One thing that you really need to think about with this paper is the title--all those elements of narrative structure make up the 'how' of how the story is told (as opposed to the 'why' or the 'what'. IN section A you know that you have to discuss that, but in section B the questions can often lure you away, so that you're talking about the nature of time, or beginnings or endings or whatever, and not about how time is presented, or how endings are presented. It's almost as though you should add that bit to every question that you answer...

Words to impress the examiners...

Well, the first thing to say here is that accuracy is the thing that impresses the examiners most--so whatever long words you want to use, make sure that you are secure in their use (a good way is to see how they are used by other writers--which is why reading good critical prose is one of the best ways to enhance your vocabulary).

A realy good source for some key literary terms is the University of Cambridge English faculty website. This link takes you straight to their page on literary terms, and is a good place to start developing your own sense for what's useful.

The curious incident

I've been re-reading this, and as always, you notice new things each time. What strikes me nost at the moment is the strength of Christopher's desire to tell a story--there is an ancient-mariner-like element to him, I think, including the sense of occasional social inappropriateness...

That's something important about storytelling, isn;t it--the sense that the story needs to be told, that there's a point to it. Like in 'Fat' when Carver's narrator tells us that Rita doesn't get 'it', we know that there is an 'it' there to get, and implicitly we, the readers, are more likely to understand than Rita is. Christopher's address to the reader seems to have something of the same strength. He may say that the book is just a record that Siobhan told him to write, but there's that soryteller's edge there as well...

Time in the section B texts

I think if you're considering time in the texts, you have to think about the different ways in which it is used to structure the narrative. If you consider the most common way to indicate time in writing--the use of different tenses--this can sharpen your account. So, for instance, look at the tense-shift at the end of 'The Eve of St Agnes', or during 'La Belle Dame'.

Otherwise, consider how Haddon uses time differently--subjective time ' it seemed ages' and objective time 'seven minutes after midnight' and how those two interact to suggest things about character and perspective.

What about how the wedding-guest's anxiety about time (what is happening with the wedding) interacts with the Mariner's tale?

How to approach an essay for Section B

For section B, you have to remember to make connections NOT comparisons. You do not have to struggle to find out ways in which your texts relate to each other.

Remember, you can write three separate sections here and still be relevant--in fact, writing a (timed) section at a time is a good way to practise for this paper. It is also good to know just what you can write, in terms of length, at full tilt in 20 mins--don't plan for more than that in the exam, or you will write half a geat essay.

You do not have to treat all sections exactly equally--BUT do not expect to get good marks if you write a page on two texts and one paragraph on the third.

Things that are bad to do include:

• putting in irrelevant information just because you know it
• Shoe-horning in context ditto
• quoting critics unless they are spot-on relevant
• retelling the story (the examiner KNOWS it!)
• Feature spotting (more on this later)
• Not mentioning the question or addressing it
• constantly repeating the question because you can't think of anything to say
• Not referring to your texts.

Things that are good to do include:

• precise reference to the terms of the question, drawing them out to create a genuinely interesting discussion.
• using your knowledge of narrative techniques properly--relating them to features of the story and the meaning created.
• Giving examples with quotation and detailed analysis
• Thinking all the time 'HOW?' that is--not 'what' is the story being told, but 'how' is it told?
• Don't forget your section A skills! Consider the use of Narrative voice and ‘voices’ more generally, Point of view, Key structural points: beginnings, climaxes, endings, Structural patterning, echoing, foreshadowing, repetition, Key significances, such as places, aspects of time and chronology.
• Don't write about character--but about characterisation
• Remember that the story does not come out of nowhere—you need to discuss the choices that the author has made when deciding how to tell this particular story

When you are planning, mahe the question the heart of your plan. You can even use a grid plan, as at GCSE, to make it clearer how to structure your answer. It might seem schematic, but it is better to have an answer tht ticks the boxes of the assessment criteria than one which wanders off the point.

Remember the AOs 1, 2 and 3. USE correct terminology--which should force you to analyse form and structure. Consider different ways of reading the text; how could it be read differently, and how does this add to its subtlety?

Just to let you know...

I shall be posting every day during the holiday, to keep you on track for revision, and find out if you have any problems you'd like me to investigate in further posts. However, today is Good Friday, so you should not be working (and neither should I) so I shall post at more length anon.