Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Example English Literature Essays For Oxbridge Applications and Coursework
I often use model essays with students to help them to develop their own essay writing style. Here are some examples of model essays that I share with students I have worked with. Get in touch if you would like to work with me to improve your essay writing style. The Horror of Power in […]
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What is Pathetic Fallacy? Simple Explanation for GCSE, IGCSE, and Common Entrance
PATHETIC FALLACY is a type of imagery where weather is used to represent emotions. Any place that weather is used, you’ll usually find it. It is most commonly used to build tension, or to externalise a character’s internal (mental) state. EXERCISE: This extract is from Jekyll and Hyde. How many examples of pathetic fallacy can […]
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Writing to Describe Photographs of Interesting Places
Use these images to spark your imagination when writing to describe. 1. Starting with this picture, write a description about an exciting place. 2. Starting with this picture, write a description or a story titled: ‘Abandoned’. 3. Starting with this picture, write a description of a strange journey.
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Storm on the Island Heaney: Context, Interpretation and Annotation Analysis
What is the poem about? This is a simple, literal poem on the whole, describing a desolate, stormy island where people live defended against nature. Context Heaney grew up in a farming community in Northern Ireland and wrote about its farms and cities beset with civil strife, its natural culture and language overrun by English […]
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The Prelude, Wordsworth: Context, Analysis, Annotation and Likely Exam Questions GCSE Poetry Exam
What is the Prelude (Extract) About? Literally: as a child, the poet steals a boat and rows across the lake. At first, he feels alive in his own power. He wonders at the beauty of nature, then feels a kind of awe, or terror, as if the great hills are alive. The mixed emotions of […]
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Song by Lady Mary Wroth Essay Analysis for Cambridge IGCSE Literature Exam
Introduction In this poem, love is presented negatively through the personification of him as a ‘child’. The technique of juxtaposition dominates to show the contradictions of love, and ultimately that it is wise not to ‘seek’ him as he is prone to ‘flying’. What makes this so powerful is the list-like feel of the overwhelming […]
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Clod and the Pebble Essay Analysis for Cambridge IGCSE English Literature 2016
In ‘The Clod and the Pebble), love is presented as both selfish and selfless, through the symbols of the soft, humble ‘clod’ (of earth/dirt) and the clean, but hard ‘pebble’. Firstly in this poem, the ‘clod of clay’ sings about the selflessness of love and the joy it brings others. ‘Clay’ represents mortality, the humble […]
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Worksheet KS3 Language Techniques: Metaphor, Simile, Personification from Frankenstein for GCSE
LOOK FOR: metaphors – personification – similes (comparing) ________________ her hair was the brightest living gold ________________ fairer than a garden rose among dark-leaved brambles ________________ Like a mountain river, it came from small sources, but swelling as it proceeded, became the torrent which has swept away all my hopes and joys. ________________ The saintly […]
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Images for Stories and Writing to Describe: 11+, Common Entrance, GCSE and IGCSE
This works for 11+, Common Entrance, or for GCSE. If you need to ‘add more detail’ to your stories or descriptions need to be improved, try this picture exercise. The images are all from India and there’s plenty to describe, plus a list below of useful sensory language to help you. If I’m working with […]
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New Frankenstein Text for 2017 GCSE – Easy to Read, Quotable, Annotated with Exam-Ready Essays
Michael Gove might have cruelly snatched Of Mice and Men from us, but teaching older, longer texts doesn’t have to be horrible. Here’s a super student-friendly version of Frankenstein, sensitively shortened to just over the length of Of Mice and Men, with all the events and important quotations left in the original. This book is […]
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