Here's the poem Lauren 
I totally forgot to come back to this after you posted it, so here's a stupidly detailed poetic dissection by way of apology!
Spoiler
All night in hospital I law
with my
intemperate lover, odd word choice to describe a person - lover connotes emotional closeness and affection, and yet 'intemperate' is a mild slight, so right from the outset we get the sense that this is a somewhat fraught relationship pain.
A sister = enjambment - continuing a train of thought or a phrase across lines of poetry. So there's an association between 'pain' and 'a sister' here, but it's an estranged relationship as displayed through the enjambment, calm in her
serene
indifferent charity love that turn of phrase; that stacking of adjectives: 'serene + indifferent' is curious in that it implies she's awe-worthy, calm, and at peace (='serene') but also detached, impassive, and pococurante (=indifferent). It's kind of like the difference between 'care-free' - which has positive connotations - and 'careless' - which has negative ones. You could focus on either (or both) here, depending on your interpretation, sat to pray
for me, as for all suffering men getting some clarification as to who the speaker might be,
beside my bed. Darkness and fear =caesura - a break within a line of poetry. So here, the 'darkness and fear' is threateningly close to 'my bed,' but hasn't yet engulfed it; there's still some separation, but its presence is nevertheless felt.rose up
between me and her prayer interesting implied physicality of 'her prayer'... and of 'darkness and fear' too for that matter. It's as though the speaker is attempting to be close to 'her prayer' but the 'darkness and fear' is intercepting, or acting as an obstacle that neither the speaker, nor the prayer can overcome.eclipsing the rich world of love new stanza for 'the rich world of love,' but there's some enjambment here since the 'darkness and fear' is 'eclipsing' the positive things. So you could look at the symbolism of light and dark herein which I grew, and
richer trust
of lives that with my life were nourished this part... I'm not sure about. My guess is that the speaker is acknowledging that she wasn't alone in this 'rich world,' and that there was a kind of 'trust(fund)' of other happy lovely lives/people who 'nourished' one another. Hence, there's a key thematic juxtaposition from the loneliness in the first stanza to this lamentation of halcyon days here.
And still
my violator thrust
hard, hard, O.O into a
throbbing wound much more visceral imagery going on here all of a sudden; the cheerful reminiscing is punctured by these violent, aggressive verbs and adverbs.
Fast in that grip I felt all
cherished
images again, the enjambment separates 'cherished' from 'images,' suggesting that the memories have become removed from the happy emotions once associated with them of good
dissolve great word to unpack the connotations of - dissolution = melting, deliquescence, gradually fading away.
A cock crowed, and the sister rose, temporal and tonal shift back to where the poem began yawning, to raise the window blind--
a row of cypress, scalpel-clean,
'scalpel-clean' trees 'incised' into the landscape - also rather clinical, unnatural imagerycrowning a near-by hill, incised
the first of morning.
Clear between
each cypress and its neighbour glowed
a winecup space of light defined
by the dark trees picking up on the light/dark metaphor from earlier, the darkness of the trees is interpolated with the defined, 'glow[ing]' light between them. The 'winecup space' bit confuses me a little, Maybe I'm being too literal, but this is what I'm imagining: (why yes, I am an artist, thank you for noticing). Those winecups brimmed
with
a new day's untasted wine:
I drank translation: the speaker delights in optimism - she drinks the wine of the light between the trees rather than losing her psyche in the dark shadows cast by them, until my spirit leapt
high on the morning's tranquil crest
and
drunken sang its hope so focusing on the sunny-side of things has this intoxicating effect; for better or for worse, it's certainly changing her state of mind, and blessed
all suffering
and rejoicing men
contrast to just 'suffering men' earlier - now it's more inclusive, and in her bliss, she feels like her spirit blesses others whether they're happy or not.
I slipped from pain's embrace, and slept. nice conclusory final line here that implies some relief from this emotional rollercoaster. But notice how she 'slip[s ] from pain's embrace' and THEN 'slept?' So going to sleep isn't some cop-out or means of evading her emotional troubles - instead, she resolves herself to centring on the good in life before she's able to attain a sense of serenity sufficient for sleep. Sleep is her reward, but it's not the solution - psychological rationalisation and altering one's viewpoint is the solution.tl;dr of this poem.
Note that this is by no means a conclusive reading; I've tried to isolate the bits of this that substantiate the interpretation I've taken, but there are probably a bunch of other ways you could extrapolate a feminist interpretation or something completely different. Plus, I'm approaching this as an outsider who's only moderately familiar with Harwood's poems (and I'd never read this one until you posted it) so it's likely there are some thematic ties I haven't picked up on. But I hope this helps you make sense of it - let me know if you have any questions
Hey guys, I'm writing a context (I&B) expository essay with the following prompt:
"Sometimes we need to accept change in order to grow"
I'm trying to give the essay more depth by finding ideas where it might not be true. I'm thinking that sometimes "people have the ability to develop and grow without the need for change" i.e. change can be avoided and still result in growth. However, I can't think of any examples where this is true. Can anyone lend some examples from novels you've read or examples that you can think of? Thank you
Consider the fact that sometimes
resisting change can provide us with a sense of self - like, if everyone I know is playing Pokemon and I'm not, I might define myself as existing outside of that phenomenon and become one of those old cynics saying 'this is such a dumb game omg.' Plus, imagine how difficult it would be to accept
all kinds and instances of change. We can't let
everything shape us, lest we become too malleable and lack any core identity whatsoever. By way of examples, you could look at how throughout history, there have been groups that have been opposed to the tides of change and have refused to 'grow' as a result. (
e.g.)
There's also the line of argument you seemed to be taking, which was that we don't always have to accept change in order to grow. In that case, I think you'd want to look at how we can fight against change, or even create our own change in order to forge a sense of self (e.g. 'be the change you wish to see in the world' ~ if you don't like the way things are, then do something about it... rather than accepting a change you don't like and allowing it to shape you,
change the change and grow the way you want to instead). That might then lead you to a discussion of famous civil rights leaders or activist groups who campaigned against the inequalities they observed, which will hopefully tie in neatly with your id&b text(s)
Hi
I am doing Every Man in this village is a liar, just wanted to know if what my teacher wrote is correct. The prompt is 'Complete survival is rare in times of conflict'
1. Physical survival
2. Emotional/social survival
3. Benefits
Stack’s experiences in the plethora of actions across the Middle East highlight her exposure to gross cordnits? 'conflicts,' I'm guessing? (I have no idea what this word was?) of physical violence.. While every man in this village is a liar offers the uncontrollable difficulties that herald in war and violence that ensues, more recent fears that have spread to Europe further this position on violence and its in-discriminatory efforts. okay, this sentence makes no sense... is this word for word what your teacher wrote because I'm struggling to work out what's going on here.
Extending the expression of physical unrest that plagues EMITVIAL, emotional and social scars further exemplify how absolute resolution is rare in times of conflict. this is a little bit clearer, although saying 'emotional scars show that resolution is rare' is a bit of a stretch. Provided you could back this up in your body paragraph, you should be alright with this one though.
Localised in a more Australian context, the wide-reaching social and emotional harrowing consequences of domestic violence compounds the examples offered in EMITVIAL. this one's also a bit strange - 'domestic violence in Australia has an effect on the examples in EMITVIAL...
' Not sure where your teacher is going with this, but if this is what they want you to do for your SAC, then go for it.
it is reasonable to analyse the font choice in a language analysis, or should i steer clear of it? (1) is there really a hierarchy of language techniques ? (2) for example, i hear rhetorical questions are far too commonly used, so its preferred to vary the techniques analysed. (3)
what is highest mark you can get in a text response if you have very limited references/quotes to your text? more so, if you have like 1 quote per paragraph, but your essay rocks, can you still get a 10 or nah? (4)
with context- if the assessors can't find the link between the prompt and your story, but you incorporate nice ideas/language choices etc., are you destined to receive a far lower mark than if the link was mroe clearer? (5)
(1) As others have mentioned, probably best to steer away from this. You can analyse
emboldened /
italicised /
underlined words or phrases, though they're rarely in exams. Also the exam material tends to use the same font the whole way through (usually just a generic times new roman or similar) so idk what you could realistically say about it unless you're like
In an attempt to burn the retinas of readers, the author employs comic sans as a means of conveying her sadism and disregard for basic human decency.(2) I actually like the idea of 'hierarchy of techniques,' though I think of it more as a ranking of 'this is a really redundant point' to 'this is an excellent, well-substantiated point of analysis.' So if you're analysing alliteration in the title of a piece, you're probably down the lower end of the scale because saying the author repeats a certain sound isn't really aiding you in getting to the heart of the argument. Whereas, if you're unpacking some connotations, implications, or repeated phrases, there's a greater chance you'll stumble upon something really impressive. That said, mentioning the odd 'lower' technique isn't disastrous, and there are still decent things to say about commonplace things like rhetorical questions or inclusive language, but if you're able to push yourself beyond the basics, you'll likely reap the rewards mark-wise.
(3) It's absolutely necessary to vary your techniques, but that doesn't mean you can't comment on rhetorical techniques et. al. Rather, if you do find a rhetorical technique, comment on it, analyse it effectively, and then move on to something else. So long as you're not picking up on three or four different rhetorical questions and discussing them in the exact same way, there shouldn't be any problem.
(4) You couldn't get a 10 if you only had a single quote in each paragraph. I doubt you'd break the mid-range bandwidth (5-7). It is possible to conduct decent analysis without using direct quotes (esp. for visual novels and films) but the assessors are still on the lookout for your discussion of language. Plus, you should see quotes as
helpful things rather than hindrances - they're the buttresses of your essay - your contention won't be able to stand up without them!
(5) Links to the set text is a core part of the Context marking scheme, so if there's nothing there for the assessors to find, they'll get snarky. I remember hearing that it's impossible to score about a 6/10 with no text link whatsoever - I don't know if that's true, but there are definitely some assessors who believe it, so make of that what you will. You could still be alright if you didn't have an
overt link, i.e. if you were referencing the ideas of the text clearly, but didn't use the words 'In
text title the main character experiences...' HOWEVER, this is still quite risky. I'm an advocate for at least one explicit connection just to be on the safe side. For your SAC, stick with whatever your teacher says, but for the exam, it's best to err on the side of caution.
Hi everyone,
I think this may be a stupid question, and I am unsure if it had been asked before.
In text response, what is the different between the "discuss" prompts and the "Do you agree?" prompts.
I'm just really confused here, and the teachers have been giving conflicting answers.
As oooo and Alter have noted, there's no difference
Arguably you could say that 'do you agree' tend to be a little more close-ended, whereas 'discuss' gives you more of an opportunity to take the core of the prompt in other directions, but the difference is so arbitrary that it shouldn't feed into your planning/contention at all, really.
Im really lost for english!!! 
Does anyone know how i can get a contention from the prompt : "the heart of conflict is fear"
Steps for getting a contention:
1. Understand the prompt; put it into your own words like 'wtf is this actually asking me?' --> e.g. 'fear causes conflict.'
2. Ask 'why might this be true?' --> e.g. 'fear can cause us to react impulsively or instinctively without thought for potential consequences; so it's easier to cause conflict when we're in a state of panic or uncertainty.'
3. Ask 'why might this not be
completely true?' --> e.g. if we can overcome this fear, it can actually help us to resolve conflict, so it's not as simple as saying fear
always leads to conflict.
4. Put the above two observations into an
'Although (3), ultimately (2)' style sentence --> e.g. 'Although fear can bring about positive changes in people and circumstances, often emotions stemming from panic or uncertainty makes it easier for conflict to spark and flourish.'
Then in your essay, you just reinforce that 'Although...ultimately...' sentence as your contention, mainly focusing on the latter part, but also occasionally acknowledging the former (e.g. once per paragraph, you might say something like 'although, in this example, there were other factors that also contributed to the conflict, it was ____'s fear of ___ which had the most impact...' just as a bit of a challenge.)
Make sense? Let me know if you have any questions
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