English Advanced Question Thread

[e2503]

Hey there,

I`ve recently been engulfed in exceeding distress about an upcoming creative writing assignment. My concern is not necessarily regarding developing an authentic storyline ( not everyone is J.K. Rowling ), but rather developing a cohesive response through effective uses of literary techniques. I guess i am asking the most ambiguous question ever but what would you say are the most imperative aspects of an eloquent creative piece??

[meerae]

Hey there,

I`ve recently been engulfed in exceeding distress about an upcoming creative writing assignment. My concern is not necessarily regarding developing an authentic storyline ( not everyone is J.K. Rowling ), but rather developing a cohesive response through effective uses of literary techniques. I guess i am asking the most ambiguous question ever but what would you say are the most imperative aspects of an eloquent creative piece??

Hey, e2503!
Welcome to the forums!

Developing a cohesive creative response is all about practice, drafting and redrafting. Its having the attitude "I'm proud of my work, but I can see where I can improve". When using literary techniques effectively, I usually recommend to write your first draft of your story without giving techniques any priority. After you've written your first draft down, you can begin to look at key sentences and ask yourself, "How do I want the reader to feel here" or "What do I want the reader to think here" and add techniques based on the answers.

In my opinion, an eloquent creative piece is something simple but with enough depth if you read in between the lines. It doesn't need a shopping list of techniques, but few good ones that play a role in making the story great to read.

Hope this helps!
meerae

[e2503]

Hey, e2503!
Welcome to the forums!

Developing a cohesive creative response is all about practice, drafting and redrafting. Its having the attitude "I'm proud of my work, but I can see where I can improve". When using literary techniques effectively, I usually recommend to write your first draft of your story without giving techniques any priority. After you've written your first draft down, you can begin to look at key sentences and ask yourself, "How do I want the reader to feel here" or "What do I want the reader to think here" and add techniques based on the answers.

In my opinion, an eloquent creative piece is something simple but with enough depth if you read in between the lines. It doesn't need a shopping list of techniques, but few good ones that play a role in making the story great to read.

Hope this helps!
meerae

Thank you so much Meerae! I will be sure to remember your tips

[angewina_naguen]

hi! I was wondering if you have any resources for Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, I've looked almost everywhere and nothing

Hey, taliye.yaman!

I couldn't find any notes for the text since I think it's a new addition to the syllabus  I do have some readings that might interest you and assist with your study though. Hopefully they do the job 

Readings

Darkness in literature: Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas
Under Milk Wood
Under Milk Wood review – Thomas's village moves to north-east England
Under Milk Wood
Under Milk Wood – review
Re-Reading Dylan Thomas' "Under Milk Wood"
‘Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood, “a Play for Voices” on Radio, Stage and Television’, Critical Studies in Television 9.3 (2014)


Angelina 

[_Himani_]

Hiya,
In our Textual Conversations Module, our assessment tasks asks us to compose a creative piece which reimagines/reframes a core issue or value from Keats's poetry (Keat's poetry is all about death, the cycle of life and love. It has a lot of interplay between reality and imagination, and focuses a lot on the natural elements of the world) and have a clear link to at least one Romantic convention.  I am struggling to come up with a plot or any sort of foundation on which I can develop a piece and was wondering if anyone had any advice or ideas?
Please help!

[angewina_naguen]

Hiya,
In our Textual Conversations Module, our assessment tasks asks us to compose a creative piece which reimagines/reframes a core issue or value from Keats's poetry (Keat's poetry is all about death, the cycle of life and love. It has a lot of interplay between reality and imagination, and focuses a lot on the natural elements of the world) and have a clear link to at least one Romantic convention.  I am struggling to come up with a plot or any sort of foundation on which I can develop a piece and was wondering if anyone had any advice or ideas?
Please help!

Hey, _Himani_!

Module A creative writing should serve to explore two key features: intertextuality and context. These have been outlined in your assessment; "reimagining/reframing a core issue or value from Keats' poetry" suggests that it is required you draw directly from Keats and that the connection is evident, as well as "a clear link to at least one Romantic convention" presenting the need for your creative to either emerge from that context, or allude to it.

My first suggestion for your creative process is to narrow your intent as a writer down. What exactly do you want to convey about the core issue or value that you have chosen from Keats' poetry? Texts in the Textual Conversations Module are deemed to have enduring qualities and messages that transcend beyond the confines of the time of conception. Ideas of mortality, the life cycle, love, imagination and reality are all persisting aspects of contemporary life. Your creative should address one of these concepts in depth and possibly hint at the others. I would be clear firstly on which theme you would like to explore based on what resonates most with you as a reader 

Then, I would target the Romantic style and choose at least one convention that will best convey your ideas, as instructed in the assessment. In analysing Keats' poetry to extract creative material, view them through a lens of contextual significance. Which techniques and language devices in his works inspire you and how are they typical of Romantic literature? This article can assist you in identifying key Romantic conventions and choose ones that relate best to your creative intention.

Once you have these figured out, I would encourage some research into what you may wish to write. Think of what setting you wish to have for the creative (it could be post-Romantic period if you want), what kind of characters would serve as vehicles for your exploration and the narrative you might like to pursue. Researching into the context in which your story itself will be situated can help you create a more realistic narrative, as well as direct your plot because you would know how your character/s might respond if they were confronted with the scenario in your story. It will build from there  If you find yourself being stuck on plot, I highly recommend finding images, music or art to draw inspiration from and see how you can link them to the ideas of Keats. Alongside this, use the very quotes and techniques in the poems as inspiration and try to form a plot around those quotes like you would in an exam. Stimuli will definitely assist in giving you a foundation for your story to work with.

Hopefully that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions and good luck with the assessment 

Angelina 

[jimmyjay]

Hi all,
I'm new to this thread so be easy on me. I have an English assessment due in 2 weeks. It is a oral/multi modal task where i am to create a visual re imagining(a poster) of a scene common in both Shakespeare's play King Richard III and Al Pacino's Looking for Richard that must reflect any chosen context and present it. So far i have decided to choose the scene where Richard lies to Clarence when he is being arrested saying he will help him get out etc etc. In regards to context, I wanted to choose a modern context where I could talk about society's obsession with technology and how individuals have a sense of anonymity online and hence behave differently. To portray this I wanted to draw two ppl handshaking with one person's shadow trailing behind them and shaping to be like a person on their laptop? I'm terrible when it comes to creativity so not only is thinking of an idea hard but drawing it will be even harder. I would appreciate any advice on if what I've done so far is decent as well as any ideas for my terribly drawn poster. we did a task really similar last year where people chose as their context a historical event? So maybe I should try that instead of my technology idea but I'm clueless on what works best.Thank you for your time.

[angewina_naguen]

Hi all,
I'm new to this thread so be easy on me. I have an English assessment due in 2 weeks. It is a oral/multi modal task where i am to create a visual re imagining(a poster) of a scene common in both Shakespeare's play King Richard III and Al Pacino's Looking for Richard that must reflect any chosen context and present it. So far i have decided to choose the scene where Richard lies to Clarence when he is being arrested saying he will help him get out etc etc. In regards to context, I wanted to choose a modern context where I could talk about society's obsession with technology and how individuals have a sense of anonymity online and hence behave differently. To portray this I wanted to draw two ppl handshaking with one person's shadow trailing behind them and shaping to be like a person on their laptop? I'm terrible when it comes to creativity so not only is thinking of an idea hard but drawing it will be even harder. I would appreciate any advice on if what I've done so far is decent as well as any ideas for my terribly drawn poster. we did a task really similar last year where people chose as their context a historical event? So maybe I should try that instead of my technology idea but I'm clueless on what works best.Thank you for your time.

Hey, jimmyjay!

Sounds like your ideas for the assessment are coming together  I didn't study your prescribed texts but you seem to know them well. I'm not entirely too sure how the scene you have chosen aligns with the idea you have for the modern context. While both judgements are strong, they don't seem to really have a common link or perhaps it's not clear to me because I haven't studied the texts.

I do like the idea of the handshake and the shadow trailing behind though. You could play with that concept and try to expound more from Richard III and Looking for Richard by choosing maybe a quote that resonates across both those texts and today's context. That could help you engage in the "textual conversation" between them and to "reimagine" that scene in a way that shows it still be relevant to our context. If you choose contemporary society, perhaps you could look at how authority and control manifest in our lives since those themes are quite central to the texts. Pursuing a historical event could also work but I think that if you're passionate about something from today, go with that. It reflects the module more that way.

As for the creation part of the task, there's no need to fret about the aesthetic of the assessment. It doesn't deduct marks, having less artistic representation, so I would advise you not to stress too much about that. Think more of HOW you want to represent your ideas, as opposed to WHAT it will look like. Consider the positioning of your elements, colours and so forth as you would when analysing a visual. This will help you sketch it out and plan your approach, as well as helping you justify your choices later on. If you're still concerned about the drawing aspect, I would highly recommend sourcing images and then tracing them  I did this for my Visual Reps because I wasn't a great drawer too.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions 

Angelina 

[jimmyjay]

 

Hey, jimmyjay!

Sounds like your ideas for the assessment are coming together  I didn't study your prescribed texts but you seem to know them well. I'm not entirely too sure how the scene you have chosen aligns with the idea you have for the modern context. While both judgements are strong, they don't seem to really have a common link or perhaps it's not clear to me because I haven't studied the texts.

I do like the idea of the handshake and the shadow trailing behind though. You could play with that concept and try to expound more from Richard III and Looking for Richard by choosing maybe a quote that resonates across both those texts and today's context. That could help you engage in the "textual conversation" between them and to "reimagine" that scene in a way that shows it still be relevant to our context. If you choose contemporary society, perhaps you could look at how authority and control manifest in our lives since those themes are quite central to the texts. Pursuing a historical event could also work but I think that if you're passionate about something from today, go with that. It reflects the module more that way.

As for the creation part of the task, there's no need to fret about the aesthetic of the assessment. It doesn't deduct marks, having less artistic representation, so I would advise you not to stress too much about that. Think more of HOW you want to represent your ideas, as opposed to WHAT it will look like. Consider the positioning of your elements, colours and so forth as you would when analysing a visual. This will help you sketch it out and plan your approach, as well as helping you justify your choices later on. If you're still concerned about the drawing aspect, I would highly recommend sourcing images and then tracing them  I did this for my Visual Reps because I wasn't a great drawer too.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions 

Angelina 

Hey,
thanks for the advice. I've drafted a different visual representation where instead of shaking hands. The two participants are hugging each other and behind each others backs they are on their phones, on with an evil grin the other with a shocked face. To me, the scene i chose represents the lack of honesty that has endured til now and that is seen through my visual representation with the two participants hugging each other despite one's hatred for the other? Maybe that's a stretch but that's the only creative way i could think of, perhaps i can draft another visual rep. Also, could you elaborate your idea on using a quote that resonates across all 3 texts? I'm not sure how I could talk about it in my speech.
Thanks for your time.

[angewina_naguen]

Hey,
thanks for the advice. I've drafted a different visual representation where instead of shaking hands. The two participants are hugging each other and behind each others backs they are on their phones, on with an evil grin the other with a shocked face. To me, the scene i chose represents the lack of honesty that has endured til now and that is seen through my visual representation with the two participants hugging each other despite one's hatred for the other? Maybe that's a stretch but that's the only creative way i could think of, perhaps i can draft another visual rep. Also, could you elaborate your idea on using a quote that resonates across all 3 texts? I'm not sure how I could talk about it in my speech.
Thanks for your time.

Hey, jimmyjay!

All good! Looks like you’re having more confidence with the new concept so go ahead with that 

The quote you choose for your Visual Rep should be one that has layers of meaning and that are relevant across different contexts. For example, the ending of Bright Star by John Keats is “And so live ever—or else swoon to death.” If I were to use this quote, I would relate it to Keats’ immediate fears of mortality and his fascination with death being what catalysed this final line. I would then look at the appropriation Jane Campion made which also has this line as the final piece of spoken dialogue in the film. What this brings as a new layer of meaning to it, that Keats was aiming for a continuing legacy as a writer. In our modern context, it resonates with us because we still remain afraid of death and often ponder about what were to happen after our time is up.

What this enables you to do is to build complexity in your representation. It recognises the aspects of the text that are still relevant today and that have grown in value over time, as evident with Looking for Richard. If you are unsure about what quotes would be appropriate to use, find some shared ones across the texts which facilitate a “textual conversation” about your chosen idea of dishonesty  Hope that helps!

Angelina 

[jmbelger]

Hey!

I'm studying Richard III and Looking for Richard for Module A and I was wondering if the following quote would be an example of meta-theatricality in Shakespeare's representation of Richard III:

"And every tongue brings in a several tale, and every tale condemns me for a villain.”

I want to use it as a reference to Shakespeare's purpose in tainting societal perceptions of Richard III to favor his monarchist political motives.

As it references "every tale condemns me for a villain" does this link with Richard's meta-theatricality?


Thanks,
Jemima 

[angewina_naguen]

Hey!

I'm studying Richard III and Looking for Richard for Module A and I was wondering if the following quote would be an example of meta-theatricality in Shakespeare's representation of Richard III:

"And every tongue brings in a several tale, and every tale condemns me for a villain.”

I want to use it as a reference to Shakespeare's purpose in tainting societal perceptions of Richard III to favor his monarchist political motives.

As it references "every tale condemns me for a villain" does this link with Richard's meta-theatricality?


Thanks,
Jemima 

Hey, Jemima!

That is indeed an example of metatheatricality! It has that element of self-awareness of Richard III and the “every tale condemns me for a villain” is directly a reference to theatre and dramatic writing. I would certainly use it but also attach a technique to your analysis. You could use the personal pronoun “me” to highlight the tragic hero’s sense of agency and acceptance of this perception, that he has embraced his representation.

This also extends to Shakespeare himself and his own role as a playwright. Perhaps Shakespeare felt aware of how he too is manipulating and distorting his audiences and wanted to extend the “me” to himself. You did a great job on bringing forth Shakespeare’s purpose for doing this for Richard III so I would include this neat interpretation in your response too 

Hope that helps!

Angelina 

[david.wang28]

Hello,
I have rarely posted in the English Advanced forums, but I just wanted to ask, is there any decent analysis/ or essays for 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens anywhere? Thanks

[sarrahbarodawala]

Hello!
So for our assessment this term, we were told given Keats poems and Bright Star to study. Then based on this we had to make a creative piece based on a Romantic convention from Keats' poems. We are also told to write an in class reflection about our creative, linking it to Keats, his poems, romanticism etc etc, worth 10 of the 25 marks for the assessment. My question is, how can I write a reflection, which will give me at least a A for this assessment? Like what would be a good structure?
It's a pretty vague question, but if anyone can help, it would be very much appreciated

Thank you !! <3

[angewina_naguen]

Hello!
So for our assessment this term, we were told given Keats poems and Bright Star to study. Then based on this we had to make a creative piece based on a Romantic convention from Keats' poems. We are also told to write an in class reflection about our creative, linking it to Keats, his poems, romanticism etc etc, worth 10 of the 25 marks for the assessment. My question is, how can I write a reflection, which will give me at least a A for this assessment? Like what would be a good structure?
It's a pretty vague question, but if anyone can help, it would be very much appreciated

Thank you !! <3

Hey, sarrahbarodawala!

For that component of the assessment specifically, you would need to demonstrate critical reflection and your ability to evaluate, justify, assess and analyse the creative choices you made in your creative. Critical reflection requires an immersion into your piece and an ability to deconstruct it. Imagine it as a box in which you unpack, inspect and evaluate the relevance/effectiveness of the content to your intentions. An appropriate structure you could follow is as below;

- Introduction: Brief statement about the creative, how it was catalysed from Keats' poetry and Campion's Bright Star and your purpose for reinventing a Romantic convention in a contemporary context.
- Body 1: Introduce a key language form you employed in the creative (non-linear narrative, form manipulation, intertextuality etc.) and how it links to a Romantic convention. The rest of the body would discuss where your creative decisions can be seen, evidenced in your textual references and technical analysis. This is also where you would integrate your Keats poems and explain how they influenced your creative writing.
- Body 2: Introduce a key concept in your creative and how it is conveyed with the Romantic convention. The rest of the body would be structured as above 
- Conclusion: Final statement on how effectively the Romantic convention was employed and what you aim for the creative to inspire and/or comment on about contemporary society.

The links back to today's context are to ensure that you are aware of your own audience and how you would like to transform the Romantic convention in respects to them. Hope this makes sense!

Angelina