1. What were the predominant values, attitudes and ways of thinking of Victorian society?

In Victorian society, values, attitudes and ways of thinking included -

• lack of belief in religion due to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution published in 1859
• England was becoming increasingly urban
• at the end of the 19th century, "artists and critics were moving toward what would become the "art for art's sake" movement"

2. Describe the major trends and developments of the Victorian era.

During this era, poverty, crime, the art movement (morality and asthetics), Darwin's theory of evoultion, a fading belief in religion and the economic turmoil all contributed to the cultural upheaval in the 1840's and 50's.

3. In one paragraph, give a brief summary of Browning's early years and background.

Robert Browning had quite a fortunate beginning as both his parents took interest in his education and growth. This was the start for his poetry and creative writing/plays. Browning was born in 1812 into a very urban England and many of his writing pieces were based on the world around him. Browning addressed many of the issues such as poverty and morality. The earliest of his works earned negative reviews so he began to work on plays instead. However, he did not find success in playwriting either and so went back to "verse." One of Browning's first important poems was Paracelsus which appeared in 1835.

4. What impact did his childhood and education have on his career as a writer?

His childhood and parents had quite an impact on his career as a writer as the support from his parents meant he felt confident in this field. The interest in writing at a young age was very important as it gave him his foundations for a good career as a writer. Browning was influenced greatly by Percy Bysshe Shelley and from this, he was inspired to become a writer.

5. Give a brief explanation of the term DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE in Victorian poetry.

Dramatic monologue is when the writer gives the speaker their own voice and views. They are seperate from the poet and speak to the implied audience, the silent listeners. By using this technique, Browning allows the speaker to develop a character.

6. What are the three suggested requirements of a Browninesque dramatic monologue?

- Browning often adopts historical characters, generally from the Italian Renaissance.

-His "speaker" does not neccesarily address anyone in particular or even an audience - he is simply musing to himself.

-His alternative persona explores "controversial ideas."

7.

The poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou is a story about a woman who has to face prejudice and racism against her black status and culture. She is clearly a resilient person and fights back against the pain the judging people bring. She rises above them illustrates her resilient character and pride of her culture and heritage. She is definitely not ashamed of her culture and is a stronger and better person then the people who judge her. This is evident through the repeated phrase, "Still I Rise".

Throughout this poem, the message is to fight back and be a resilient person, in particular against racism. The persona does not allow people to judge her for her gender or heritage and shows that she is the higher person by rising from the prejudice. The poet may have written this poem to give advice to people facing racism and show her pride in her African-American culture. This is evident again, through her repetition of "Still I Rise" which is also used for the title. "Cause I walk like I've got oil wells, pumping in my living room" also conveys the message of pride as by walking around acting as though you own money making oil wells explains that the persona is confident with themselves, or in this case, their image and race. This simile vividly conveys the purpose and represents how the persona feels with their image.

The predominant mood felt throughout the poem is resilience and pride of culture. In the sixth stanza, the persona says the people may hurt her, "But still like air, I'll rise." The emotions felt and mentioned support the purpose.

This free verse, nine stanza poem uses no enjambment however uses rhyme throughout [a,b,c,b] to enhance and reinforce the meaning and purpose to the poem by creating a good reading rhythm and highlighting those particular lines to support the purpose of the poem.

The language used is very precise and appropriate to the poem and theme - eg. "I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide...". This quote is symbolic for black people and effectively describes and conveys the message of racism. In addition, the poet is African-American which gives some indication that the poem is about black people and racism towards them. She also mentions words like "history", "ancestors", "huts" which contribute to the meaning of the poem.

There is a very good use of simile and metaphor throughout this poem to describe her resilience against racism and her pride of her culture. The quote - "Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines, digging in my own backyard" conveys the message of pride and confidence. The person clearly shows that she is the better of the two through her strength. It relates back to the poet's purpose and theme.

The pace is kept regular throughout until towards the end stanza, the "I Rise" x 3 is said more slowly to let the effect and meaning sink in and enhance the poem's effect. The pace is slowed due to the short sentences which are repeated. Repetition is another effective technique used throughout as it increases and emphasises the meaning on the words (eg. rise). Rhyme also exists in the structure a,b,c,b which keeps a steady rhythm and reinforces the purpose.

In summary, this poem by Maya Angelou successfully conveys its message of anti-racism by using various techniques of repetition, similes and comparison, rhyme and effective word choice.

"Variations on the Word Love" Analysis

The poem "Variations on the Word Love" by Margaret Atwood describes the wide range of different types of love. Each are uniquely different as described by the poet. The word love can be very different depending on the type of person. These different types include - the romantic, flowery love, the motherly, family love of caring, the friendship love, the deep understanding and connection between two people and the soul mate type of love. The poem describes how love can be interpreted very differently and is symbolic for how we act as humans towards each other.
The poet has written the poem to describe how love can be interpreted and about her own love. The second and last stanza of this free verse poem describers her love with her husband. This is evident through her word choice and in particular through the first sentence of the second stanza - "Then there's the two of us." This sentence implies that this stanza will bee about the poet and her true love. This variation of love is purely about the poet and her husband and describes the deep connection they share. The way the sentence has been constructed implies that they both rely and depend on each other and are soul mates. The poet may have written this poem for her husband to describe how meaningful it is to her by comparing it to how other people use the word love. The first sentence in the first stanza - "This is a word we use to plug holes with" describes how many people overuse the emotion love. She does this through the word plug.
The predominant emotion in this poem is love which branches off into affection, adoration and caring. Throughout the first stanza, the audience feel emotions of warmth and content as the poet describes the different types of love. The audience can most likely relate to some of these variations (eg. "you can cook with it[love] too"). They feel content and a fuzzy type of warmth when they read the first stanza as perhaps they can understand the types of love the poet explains. With the second stanza you start to feel the affection and love the poet has for the person she loves.
This poem is a two stanza free verse poem. An interesting technique used in the poem to enhance the effect includes enjambment. Atwood has successfully used this technique to create more interest in the poem. By creating a line break through some of the sentences, the poet has caused the audience to stop and pause and think more into what that word implies. For example, in the poem the word nothing in the sentence - "It's the right size for those warm blanks in speech, for those red heart-shaped vacancies on the page that look nothing like real hearts," is on a separate line to itself. This creates a greater interest and puts more force onto the word nothing.
The language used throughout this poem is very effective. The vocabulary is very wide and enhances the poem's effect by using the words like, "metallic silence", "red-heart shaped vacancies", "weed seedlings". The word love is mentioned several times to emphasise its meaning. Throughout the poem, the author has used personal pronouns regularly to capture the audience and make them feel more connected and "a part" of the poem. In particular, the persona and personal pronouns are evident in the second stanza where the poet describes her love.
The audience have a vivid image in their head when they read "Variations on the Word Love", mostly due to effective use of comparison and word choice. The poet compares the examples and variations on the word love between the first stanza and the second stanza.
Throughout the poem, the pace stays regular until towards the end, where the last sentence is slowed down slightly to reinforce the effect of the sentence.
In this poem, repetition has been used at least twice with - "O again and again in wonder and pain, a breath, a finger grip on a cliff side," and "Love! Love!" The first example does not particularly impact the poem however the repetition of Love, Love and the addition of two exclamation marks really reinforces the word and their symbolism.

Poem Analysis - The Surfer

The Surfer - Judith Wright

The poem by Judith Wright, "The Surfer" is about a young strong surfer who loves going to the beach and living on his surfboard. He is very excited at the thought of surfing and even though it can be painful at times when he surfs and slides under "those long banks of foam".

The poet created this poem to describe the joy of surfing but warn that the ocean can become very dangerous very abruptly. Perhaps she created the poem as a warning to the audience - watch out and stay safe when at the sea. The ocean can get very dangerous as described by in the poem - "the grey wolf sea lies, snarling." Maybe the author has had a bad experience with surfing or the rough ocean before and wishes to warn others. This is apparent through her strong ward choice - eg. "sea crouches on sand." That quote shows how the sea is ready to pounce and attack at passing surfers. I believe the character is represents the poet's joy of surfing but fear of the ocean when the sun goes down. The protagonist is fearless and a little reckless - going out very far into the "green weirs" of water and leaving it to the last minute to surf back home. They are very convincing.

Within in this poem, the mood shifts from one of joy at surfing "as he in water, with delight" to caution "turn home...last leaf of gold vanishes." As the poem ends the mood is much more sombre and illustrates the danger of the ocean "grey-wolf sea lies, snarling."
The structure of the poem is a three stanza free verse. this best conveys the change in mood from one of joy and closeness with the sea to that of caution and danger. Interesting features include the use of emjambent. There is also rhyme in this poem which helps keep the rhythm and beat to the free verse poem.

The language in "The Surfer" poem is appropriate for the genre/subject. She uses the word water many times - "of green through weirs of water!" and words like "beach", "sea", "foam" and "sand" with appropriate adjectives attached to emphasise the imagery and feeling of the beach.

Craftsmanship techniques have been used by the poet to great effects. One very affective imagery technique used includes metaphor. One metaphor used was - "last leaf of gold vanishes" which reinforces the idea that the sun is going down faster and the safety of the sun or the "gold" is now vanishing. It paints a very vivid picture in the reader's mind. Another technique used was the simile "come to the long beach home like a gull diving." It implies that the surfer is fast and swift like a gull and is eager to get back to the shore before the ocean gets rougher. He appears quite a professional surfer as he is smooth and swift - like a gull. If the surfer fell off the surfboard or was not surfing well, the poet would have used a different animal or simile to describe how he moved through the raging ocean to the safe shore.

The rhythm in this poem is at a normal pace for the first 2 stanzas however quickens in pace considerably in the last stanza. By doing this, the poet has created or reinforced the idea that the surfer quickly needs to surf back to the shore before it becomes too dangerous. It creates a type of tension and keeps the audience interested - they want to find out what happens to the surfer.The way it quickens is how the last stanza is comprised of only 2 sentences which creates the effect of a fast pace as the audience read the sentence quicker to finish it due to its length.
In this poem, effective alliteration has been used such as "take the big roller's shoulder, speed and serve". It implies how fast the surfer is. It gives the audience more information about who the protagonist is. There was no direct speech or onomatopoeia used in this poem.

In summary, I found "the Surfer" by Judith Wright very effective and conveyed the message of safety at sea well through the use of metaphor, simile, rhyme and alliteration. I believe the poet successfully conveyed their message.

Story Assessment Unit

This here is my first short story assessment unit and we got to choose a stimulus to help us make up some story lines. I chose a picture of a young girl in a large, pink jumper, sitting on the side of a playground. She is really lonely and many of the other children are busily playing with their other friends. I thought this stimulus was really interesting and had many good aspects to it because I thought that their are quite a few kids at schools who are lonely and this might appeal to them. In my story, there was some sort of bullying but there was a happy ending so I think that the age group of 10 -13 years would be a good age group because there is no violence in it and the story could appeal to many of them. I also believe that there is a good moral to this story, but I guess you will have to find that out for yourself after you've read my story! Well, here it is -

My Dad’s a Superhero

Maddie slipped through the gate towards her new pre-school but, stopped suddenly to pull on her father’s hand. She was nervous. A woman waiting there introduced herself and after a little bit of conversation between the adults, Maddie’s father motioned to go.
“Well, I’d better go now. Bye Maddie,” smiled the girl’s father. With a clang of the gate, he was gone. A huge tear rolled down onto Maddie’s large, dirty jumper.
The woman seemed to have noticed and knelt down to Maddie’s height.
“It’s alright dear, Dad will be back soon. And anyway, when it’s time to go home you won’t want to go, you will have made such good friends,” she tried to reassure her. Maddie was not convinced.
No one understands. I never make friends. I am just a loner, thought Maddie.
That afternoon did not go too well. Maddie soon discovered that Brittany, one of the most popular girls in the grade, unfortunately was not one of the kindest.

Two days later Maddie was alone again and although she had tried to make friends with some of the other children, they had all ignored her. Brittany walked slowly over to where Maddie sat and soon a large group of unfriendly children followed. Maddie looked up at the towering girl and gave a weak smile.

“So Maddie, what do your parents do for a job?” sneered Brittany.
“Probably bin collectors by the looks of her clothes!” laughed a fair skinned boy. Brittany laughed her approval while the other children cheered and shouted.
It was true, Maddie thought. She looked down at her grubby jumper. Dad never has the time to wash my clothes or clean the house anymore. And with Mum gone... she tried to hold back her tears.
“Actually, my Dad’s a Superhero!” cried Maddie in desperation. There was silence.

After a couple of minutes, Brittany gave a nasty laugh and spoke,

“Of course he’s not you silly girl. They don’t even exist! What would you know anyway? You’re just the stupid new kid!”
The children cheered again and turned back to their games. Maddie could not hold onto her tears any longer.

That afternoon, Maddie was picked up by her father from the school gate.
“Hi Maddie, how was school?” asked her father as she got into the car. He didn’t wait for an answer. “I thought that I might take us for a little drive tonight so you can help me with my job. You might even see one of your friends there. Mrs Lock told me she has a son,” winked Maddie’s father.
“Okay, but where are we going?” Maddie eagerly asked. “And who are we going to see?”
“Never mind, we’re nearly there,” replied her father.
The car pulled up a graveled driveway and into a garage. Walking into the house, Maddie felt very odd, as if she was intruding on someone else’s property. At that moment a worried looking woman, who was obviously Mrs Lock, came out from behind a door and greeted them with a nervous smile.
“Ahhhhh, Sergeant Brown, you are here at last. This whole robbery has got me worried!” exclaimed the woman.
“Now that’s quite alright. It’s very normal to feel like that,” he replied with a warm smile. “May I please have your details?”
Again, another person came out from behind the door and this time the face was familiar. It was the fair skinned boy from school who had mocked Maddie on her third day.
“Mummy, mummy, there isn’t any juice lef-” cried the boy, stopping short when he saw the two visitors. His mouth dropped when he looked firstly at Maddie and then at her father, in his navy blue police uniform. He was clearly shocked when he saw that Maddie’s father really was a superhero.
Maddie smiled secretly to herself. She was very proud of her father and his job. “He is a Superhero. He’s a policeman,” she mouthed to the fair skinned boy.
School was more enjoyable for Maddie over the next few weeks and she soon became quite popular. Brittany was not happy about this but there was nothing she could do. From that day on, nobody ever questioned Maddie Brown again and they believed every word that ever came out of her small little mouth.

Comment

Isabella, A well written piece of work! However, there is room for improvement. As you will note there was a paragraph in your body that was not well explained. I also felt your last sentence was irrelevant and let your ending down. You have begun to develop your character and given her some depth - well done! I was also impressed with your writing style and ability to reflect on your peers/family/teacher's comments. You still have some minor erros concerning your ability to punctuate dialogue and some language choices. Overall, well done Isabella! (Miss English's Comment)

Did you like it? I hope you did! Can you please leave some comments for me to look at? Thankyou. Well, I will try to post some more stories if I have them typed up for you. Until then, see you soon!

Izzy

Welcome to My English Blog!

Welcome to my new english blog! This here is where I will be posting some of the stories that I make at home or at school for you to view. It would be great if you could leave some comments so I could go back and proofread on what could be better! I hope you enjoy them! Have fun!