Poetry Archive

The Poetry Archive is an excellent resource, with all sorts of poets reading their own work. Enjoy.

For your first homework task of the year, you need to set up a Google account, and post a comment at the bottom of this post. Any questions or concerns about the Google account should be answered here.

In your comment, you should say something relevant to English. You could simply let everyone know of a book that you have read recently, and tell us what you think of it. You could provide a link to a relevant website that you have found useful or interesting. You could write a short poem or story. You could share your personal targets for the year in English, and ask for suggestions. You could make a suggestion on how the blog could function. Be creative, and try to respond to others' comments where relevant.

Exam prep

Good luck in your exams folks.

Remember, for the English exam, you will have a close reading paper, and a writing paper.

In the close reading paper, the key thing to remember is to answer the question exactly. Look for the number of marks available and work out what you need to do to get all of the marks. Use the support sheet that I gave you to remind you of the different types of questions.


In the writing paper, choose either a creative or a personal piece. Before you start writing, make a decision on the following:

• Plot (where you will begin telling the story, how you present the main event, and where you will end it)
• Characters
• Narrator (1st or third person, and when they are telling the story in relation to the event)
• Conflict (What is the story really about? What does the reader want to know throughout the story?)

Once you are completely clear on all of this, think about how you will build atmosphere and tension, then you can begin writing.

Some other key pieces of advice:

• Think very carefully about your opening sentences. You need to raise questions in the reader's mind.
• Try to make your imagery interesting and unusual. Visualise, or imagine very carefully, the thing you are comparing, before comparing it to something else. Try to build your imagery into the action (for example through verb choice), rather than just sticking on a simile.
• Add in descriptive touches throughout the piece.
• Set out speech correctly.
• Vary the lengths of sentences to slow down or speed up action, and to make your writing more readable.

Exam Preparation
Just because you don't have specific things to learn for the English exam, don't think that you cannot do things to help you perform better. Use the close reading paper and the writing paper that I gave you before Easter to have a practice.

• Mark your own answers in the close reading paper.
• Write a few openings for different stories.
• Practise a short descriptive passage. Describe the table where you are now.
• As you walk around each day, try to come up with similes and metaphors for things that you see. Personify objects by imagining that they are doing things. Is the empty Coco-Pops packet echoing your hunger? Is the spider plant reaching down to tickle the cat? Is your little sister clowning? Is your mother policing the house? Is your Granny levering herself out of the chair, or plucking information out of you? This is all imagery, and is the sort of thing that will gain you credit in your writing.
• Try to be original. It's OK to write about a holiday, or skiing or mountain-biking, but remember that these are the things that lots of people write about, and yours will have to stand out somehow.

Any questions about anything, please come and ask me, or email me (gb@hsog.co.uk).

For your essay, you will be writing, as you know, about Act III, sc 1. Here is a link to the essay support sheet.

Decide for now on what your key points will be, and gather evidence from throughout the play so support your arguments. We will draft the essay when we return from the Easter holidays.

Creative writing

I have put together some links to online writing resources to help you develop your writing skills. These mostly relate to creative writing, but the basic skills will help you in all of your writing across all subjects.

If you find yourself with ten minutes and a creative tingling, you could try on of these writing prompts. If they don’t spark your interest, try these.



In class, I suggested that when planning your writing task in the exam, you ask yourself the following questions:

· What is the structure?
· What atmosphere will I create at the beginning? Will it change?
· What images can I create? (What can I compare things in the story to?)
· How will I build tension?
· How will I create character?

Solo talk

In case you're struggling to find opinion pieces to discuss in your solo talk, I have picked out the following.

Click here for the Guardian website's opinion pages,
or try this one for The Times,
or here for The Scotsman,
or this, the Sunday Herald's opinion pages.
For a slightly lighter approach, try the Record online, or the newspaper opinion.

Remember, you're finding a piece about something that you find interesting. In the talk, you will have to:

• Summarise the writer's viewpoint
• Say whether you agree or disagree with the writer
• Explain why, in some detail.

You will need to look into the issue in some detail, but remember that you are not supposed to be giving us lots of facts, but explaining the reasons for your point of view.

Any questions, please ask.

Book list for RPRs

Here is a long list of texts that will give you some pointers for your RPR. Take time to choose something that seems right for you, and as you first read through it, think about what the central concerns of the text are. What is it actually about, deep down? Please feel free to discuss this with me at any point.

Pre-Twentieth Century works

Jane Austen Pride & Prejudice
Sense & Sensibility
Emma

Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre
Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights

Wilkie Collins The Moonstone
The Woman in White

J. Fenimore Cooper The Last of the Mohicans

Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities
The Pickwick Papers
David Copperfield

Alexander Dumas The Three Musketeers
The Man in the Iron Mask

George Eliot Middlemarch
Adame Bede
Mill on the Floss

Hogg Confessions of a Justified Sinner

Victor Hugo Les Miserables
Notre Dame de Paris

Kipling Kim

Sir Walter Scott Old Mortality Redgauntlet

R. L. Stevenson Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Weir of Hermiston

Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray

20th Century

Kingsley Amis Lucky Jim

J. G. Ballard Empire of the Sun
The Drowned World

Raymond Chandler The Big Sleep
The Long Goodbye

Len Deighton Game, Set and Match
Hook, Line and Sinker
(Various titles)

R. F. Delderfield To Serve Them All My Days

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby
Tender is the Night

E. M. Forster A Passage to India
A Room With a View
Maurice

Frederick Forsyth The Day of the Jackal
The Fourth Protocol

Paul Gallico The Hand of Mary Constable
The Poseidon Adventure

Stella Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm

Dashiel Hammet The Maltese Falcon
The Thin Man

L. P. Hartley The Go-between

Ernest Hemingway A Farewell to Arms
For Whom the Bell Tolls

William Horwood Callanish
Skallagrigg

Geoffrey Household Rogue Male

John Le Carre Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
A Perfect Spy
The Russia House
The Night Manager

Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird

Eric Linklater Private Angelo

W. Somerset Maugham Of Human Bondage
Cakes and Ale
Collected Short Stories

A. J. Quinnel Siege of Silence
The Mahdi

Ruth Rendell Lake of Darkness
Collected Short Stories

J. D. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye

Paul Scott The Jewel in the Crown

Carol Shields The Stone Diaries
The Republic of Love

Alan Sillitoe The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

Paul Theroux The Mosquito Coast
The Consul’s File

Leon Uris Mila 18
Trinity

Evelyn Waugh Decline and Fall
Brideshead Revisited

Morris West The Summer of the Red Wolf
Proteus
The Ringmaster
The Shoes of the Fisherman


Scottish

Elspeth Barker O Caledonia

Ian Hay Beith The First Hundred Thousand

George Blake The Shipbuilders

George Mackay Brown Greenvoe
Magnus
The Sun’s Net ss

Catherine Carswell Open the Door

A J Cronin The Citadel
The Keys of the Kingdom

Douglas Dunn Secret Villages ss

Margaret Elphinstone The Incomer
An Apple From a Tree ss

Ann Fine The Killjoy
Taking the Devil’s Advice

George Friel Mr. Alfred M.A.
The Boy Who Wanted Peace

Ralph Glasser Growing up in the Gorbals

Neil Gunn The Silver Darlings
Highland River
Butcher’s Broom

Cliff Hanley Dancing in the Streets
Another Street, Another Dance

Robin Jenkins The Cone Gatherers
Guests of War
The Thistle and the Grail
Fergus Lamont

James Kennaway Tunes of Glory

Jessie Kesson A White Bird Passes
Another Time, Another Place

Joan Lingard Reasonable Doubts
The Somen’s House

Brian McCabe The Other McCoy
The Lipstick Circus ss

Fionn MacColla And the Cock Crew

Carl MacDougall Elvis is Dead ss
Stone Over Water
The Devil and the Giro (ed.)

William McIlvanney Docherty
Laidlaw
The Papers of Tony Veitch

Compton McKenzie Whisky Galore

Bernard McLaverty Cal
A Time to Dance
The Great Profundo etc. ss

John Prebble Glencoe
Culloden

Christopher Rush Twelvemonth and a Day ss
Into the Ebb ss

Sir Walter Scott Old Mortality
Redgauntlet

Iain Crichton Smith Consider the Lilies
Thoughts of Murdo ss
Mr. Trill in Hades ss
Selected Poetry

Muriel Spark The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
A Far Cry from Kensington
Smyposium ss

Robert Louis Stevenson The Master of Ballantrae
Weir of Hermiston

Jeff Torrington Swing, Hammer, Swing

Historical

Ian Hay Beith The First Hundred Thousand

Edmund Blunden Undertones of War

Paul Brickhill The Dam Busters
Reach for the Sky

Vera Brittain Testament of Youth

D. K. Broster The Flight of the Heron

Taylor Campbell Dear and Glorious Physician

Stephen Crane The Red Badge of Courage

Lloyd Douglas The Robe
The Big Fisherman

Howard Fast Spartacus

James Allan Ford The Brave White Flag

John Galsworthy The Forsyte Saga

Lewis Grassic Gibbon Spartacus

Robert Graves I. Claudius
Claudius the God
Goodbye to All That

Neil Gunn Butcher’s Broom

Ernest Hemingway A Farewell to Arms
James Kennaway Tunes of Glory
Fionn MacColla And the Cock Crew

John Masters Bugles and a Tiger
The Road Past Mandalay
The Nightrunners of Bengal

James Michener Centennial

Nicholas Monsarrat The Cruel Sea

John Prebble Glencoe
Culloden
The Highland Clearances

Erich Remarque All Quiet on the Western Front

Ishobel Ross Little Grey Partridge

Cornelius Ryan A Bridge too Far

Nigel Tranter Robert the Bruce (various titles)
Leon Uris Exodus

Lew Wallace Ben Hur

Herman Wouk The Caine Mutiny


Romance And Adventure

Louisa May Alcott Little Women

H. E. Bates The Purple Plain
Fair Stood The Wind for France

R. D. Blackmore Lorna Doone

Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre

Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights

A. J. Cronin Keys of the Kingdom
Hatter’s Castle
The Citadel

Daphne du Maurier Rebecca
(various titles)

Ernest Hemingway A Farewell to Arms

Jack London The Sea Wolf

Richard Mason The Wind Cannot Read

Colleen McCullough The Thorn Birds

Margaret Mitchell Gone with the Wind

Alexandra Ripley Scarlett

Nevil Shute A Town Like Alice
(various titles)

Han Suyin A Many Splendoured Thing

Mrs. Henry Wood East Lynne


Women

Louise May Alcott Little Women

Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Jane Austen Emma

Vera Brittain Testament of Youth

Barbara Castle Sylvia & Christabel Pankhurst

George Eliot Middlemarch

Edna Healey Wives of Fame

Jessie Kesson The White Bird Passes
Another Time, Another Place

Alison Lurie Foreign Affairs

Edna O’Brien Country Girls
August is a Wicked Month

Ishobel Ross Little Grey Partridge

Francoise Sagan That Certain Smile
Incidental Music

Flora R. Schreiber Sybil

Mary Shelley Frankenstein

Fay Weldon Watching Me, Watching You
Letters to Alice (about Jane Austen)
Praxis
Puffball


Gothic, Science Fiction And Fantasy

Richard Adams Shardik
Watership Down

Isaac Asimov I, Robot
The Foundation Trilogy

Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451
The Martian Chronicles
Something Wicked This Way Comes

Angela Carter “Heroes and Villains”

Arthur C. Clarke Songs of Distant Earth
The Odyssey Series

Stephen Donaldson The Thomas Covenant Series

Arthur Conan Doyle The Lost World

Robert Heinlein Citizen of the Galaxy
Stranger in a Strange Lang

Frank Herbert Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune

Aldous Huxley Brave New World

Stephen King The Shining
Salem’s Lot
The Stand

Ursula Le Guin The Earthsea Trilogy

Jack London The Star Rover
The Iron Heel

H. P. Lovecraft Short Stories

Anne McCaffrey The Ship Who Sang
The Dragons of Pern Series

George Orwell 1984
Animal Farm

Mervyn Peake Titus Groan
Gormenghast
Titus Alone

Edgar Allan Poe Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Terry Pratchett Various – Discworld series

Philip Pullman The Dark Materials Series

Mary Shelley Frankenstein

Nevil Shute On the Beach

Robert Louis Stevenson Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Bram Stoker Dracula

J. R. R. Tolkein The Lord of the Rings

Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues under the Sea
The Master of the World

H. G. Wells The Time Machine
The War of the Worlds
The Food of the Gods

T. H. White The Once and Future King

John Wyndham The Day of the Triffids
The Kraken Wakes


World Literature

The Americas

Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

James Baldwin Go Tell it on the Mountain
The Fire the next Time

Dee Brown Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee

Willa Cather My Antonia
Death Comes for the Archbishop

James Finimore Cooper The Last of the Mohicans

Margaret Craven I Heard the Owl Call my Name

Rebel Angels Robertson Davis

Edna Ferber Giant

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby
Various titles + ss

Che Guevara Motorcycle Diaries

Alex Haley Roots

Lillian Hellman The Little Foxes

Garrison Keillor Lake Wobegon Days

Jack London The Sea Wolf
Call of the Wild

Carson McCullers A Member of the Wedding
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Of Love and other Demons Gabriel Garcia Marquez


James Michener Hawaii
Mexico et al

V. S. Naipaul A House for Mr. Biswas

Edgar Allan Poe Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Chaim Potok My Name is Ahser Lev
The Chosen

J. D. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye

Jack Schaeffer Shane

Carol Shields The Stone Diaries

Upton Sinclair The Jungle

Isaac Bashivis Singer Gimpel the Fool
Various
Enemies: A Love Story

Betty Smith A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Paul Theroux The Mosquito Coast

Mark Twain Huckleberry Finn

John Updike Americas - Rabbit

Herman Wouk Marjorie Morningstar
The Caine Mutiny


Africa

Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart

Karen Blixen Out of Africa

Bessie Head When Rain Clouds Gather

Elspeth Huxley The Flame Trees of Thika

Alan Paton Cry, The Beloved Country

Laurens Van der Post A Story Like the Wind
The Lost World of the Kalahari

AUSTRALASIA

Keri Hulme The Bone People

Thomas Keneally Schindler’s Ark
The Playmakers

Vance Marshall Walkabout

Patrick White Voss

Asia

Jung Chang Wild Swans

M. M. Kaye The Far Pavilions

Rudyard Kipling Kim

John Masters The Deceivers
The Nightrunners of Bengal
Bhowani Junction

Paul Scott The Jewel in the Crown


Central / Eastern Europe

Ida Fink The Journey

Alexander Solzhenitsyn One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
The Gulag Archipelago


Humour & Satire

Douglas Adams Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
The Hutch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Charles Dickens The Pickwick Papers

Roddy Doyle Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

Gerald Durrell The Mockery Bird (and other titles)

Helen Fielding Bridget Jones’ Diary

Stella Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm

Giovanni Guareschi The Little World of Don Camillo

Nick Hornby About a Boy

Veronic K. Jerome Three Men in a Boat

Neil Munro Para Handy Tales

Terry Pratchett Repaer Man
Small Gods

Iain Crichton Smith Tales of Murdo

P. G. Woodhouse The Inimitable Jeeves (and other titles)

Short Stories

Ray Bradbury Various Short Stories

George Mackay Brown Various Short Stories

Anton Chekov Various Short Stories

Arthur C. Clarke Various Short Stories

Frederick Forsyth No Comebacks

Nadine Gordimer Various Short Stories

Ernest Hemingway Various Short Stories

Somerset Maugham Collected Short Stories

Edgar Allan Poe Various Short Stories

Iain Crichton Smith Various Short Stories

H. G. Wells Various Short Stories


Autobiography / Biography / Travel

Chris Bonnington The Everest Years

Vera Brittain Testament of Youth

Alan Burgess The Small Woman

Donald Caskie Tartan Pimpernel

Barbara Castle Sylvia & Christabel Pankhurst

Monica Dickens One Pair of Hands

Ruth Dobscheiner Selected to Live

Gerald Durrell Various titles

Diane Fossey Gorillas in the Mist

Anne Frank Diary

Ghandi Autobiography

Ralph Glasser Growing up in the Gorbals

Robert Graves Goodbye to all That

Thor Heyerdahl Kontiki Expedition

Edmund Hillary Nothing Venture Nothing Win

Richard Hillary The Last Enemy

John Hunt Ascent of Everest

Elspeth Huxley The Flame Trees of Thika

Laurie Lee Cider with Rosie

Sally Magnusson The Flying Scotsman

Laurence Olivier Confessions of an Actor

George Orwell Down and Out in London & Paris

Antoine de St. Exupery Night Flight

Siegfried Sassoon Memoirs of an Infantry Officer

Paul Theroux Indian Summer

Laurens Van Der Post The Lost World of the Kalahari