Controlled conditions work for Carol Ann Duffy 2013 November

Controlled conditions work for Carol Ann Duffy

 

The Controlled Conditions question:

 

Carol Ann Duffy

How does Duffy present the world of dreams and the imagination in two or three of her poems?

When we will sit the Controlled Conditions work: the week beginning December 2^nd, four hours is allocated for completing the essay from this period onwards, eg four/five lessons.

 

Poems to cover: ALL the poems in the OCR anthology must be read, although the answer may only refer to THREE or FOUR relevant poems.

 

Half-term homework and before: read and annotate all the poems in your anthology with detailed notes on: the meaning of difficult words and lines, explanation of imagery, poetic techniques.

 

Overall Scheme of Work

Lesson 1: Learning objectives: to develop your reading skills.

Read all the poems in the anthology on Carol Duffy in groups, with everybody reading a verse each of each poem.

Lesson 2: Prepare presentations on two poems each, using the questions below where appropriate.

Lessons 3-4: Deliver presentations to the whole class.

Half-term: students to make their own notes on poems.

Lessons 5-8: FGI goes through poems with the whole class, with the class adding and improving their notes. Each homework: to write up their notes in sentence form in their books.

Lesson 9-10: Draft essays on computers, getting good notes ready to take the C/A test.

 

Write a poem about brothers

Task: Write poem that is similar to ‘Brothers’, where the same themes are addressed and the past, present and future are shown. The poem must be titled ‘Friends’.

 

The themes are below.  The themes are:

 

• Family
• Time
• Memory

 

Consider

• What images you want to create
• How you handle the themes through diction, literary devices, structure and form
• How the form (layout) affects the reader.
• Sounds, Rhyme, rhythm, metric feet
• Use of Punctuation
• How the present, past and future is illustrated
• Tense

The role of speakers in Duffy's poetry

Mentally disturbed speakers:

Liar, Stealing, Mrs Lazarus, The Good Teachers, Who Loves You;

What kinds of “madness”, “anxiety”, mental stress is expressed in these poems?

Love-struck speakers:

Answer, Who Do You Love, Wintering

These are powerful love poems; what kinds of love are being expressed by these speakers?

Autobiographical speakers:

Brothers, Before You Were Mine, Mrs Tilscher’s class, The Good Teachers

These poems feel autobiographical; they feel like the author is revealing something of her life; what makes you think this? What feelings/thoughts does this “autobiographical” express?

 

Grieving speakers:

Mrs Lazarus, Nostalgia, Dream of a Lost Friend

Look at the images that suggest grief in the poems; think about the TYPES of grief that is being expressed; the sense of loss;

 

Professional speakers/people:

War Photographer, The Good Teachers, Mrs Tilscher’s class,

Think about the ways in which professional people are presented in the poems; are teachers presented negatively

 

Dreaming speakers

Dream of a  Lost Friend; Answer; Who Do You Love;  In Your Mind; Nostalgia

All these poems have a dream-like quality. What makes you think this?

 

Speakers with a conflicted sense of self; suffering an identity crisis

Nostalgia; Stealing; Liar; Mrs Tilscher’s class; The Good Teachers; Brothers

 

In what other ways could you group the different speakers in the poems?

Eg by other themes; happiness; sadness; school; loss; regret; dreaming??