The Clown Punk

Simon Armitage

Well, the Room 101 assessments have stopped and now we're onto poetry. At this point in time, we're studying Simon Armitage's poem 'The Clown Punk'.

See, poetry can be like Marmite. You either love it or you hate it. And, whilst I loathe Marmite, I am fond of some poetry. I like Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Sarah Kay and Christina Rossetti. I think that poets are some of the most incredible people ever and I think it takes a lot of talent to write a real poem (which, after taking part in Slam Jam I've learnt is harder than it looks). So for me this is a pretty fun topic.

A Visual of the Clown Punk

'The Clown Punk' focuses around the message that "you shouldn't judge a book by its cover" and explores the idea of isolation. We looked at how the poet uses writing techniques to gain sympathy from the audience.

One thing I noticed is that throughout the poem powerful imagery is used. An example of this is when it says the Clown Punk was 'towing a dog on a rope.' The use of the word 'towing' suggests that he was literally dragging the dog along, giving the impression that the dog didn't want to follow him. The idea that even man's best friend wants nothing to do with him emphasises the fact that the Clown Punk truly is alone, and that evokes sympathy from the reader. 

I found a useful website that gives you a lot of information on this poem as well on Armitage that will hopefully help you revise for the impending exam!  http://www.helpmewithenglish.co.uk/page_2087187.html

The Poem

Ellen 

Room 101

New topic alert!

This time we're doing a Speaking and Listening assessment on what we'd put in Room 101.

The fantastic website Wikipedia describes Room 101 as 'a place introduced in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. It is a torture chamber in the Ministry of Love in which the Party attempts to subject a prisoner to his or her own worst nightmare, fear or phobia'.

This assessment took on the format of the TV show, which can be found on another miraculous website... Youtube!

My worst nightmare!

The aim of this assessment was to make a persuasive speech that encourages everyone to put your object into Room 101. For me, that object would be party poppers!  My hatred for party poppers is so violent though that it didn't make for presentation material. Instead, I decided to put 'Hipsters' into Room 101. 

We had to analyse persuasive techniques found in spoken language. This includes things like List of Three, metaphors, anecdotes and repetition. We also listened to this famous speech made in 1992 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1I6ljzaY9k) for inspiration. 

If I can give you any advice it's to be confident. Project your voice and know what you're talking about; nothing's worse than making a speech about the illegal capture of narwhals when as far as you're concerned they're just underwater unicorns. 

Ellen

Touching the Void

Simon and Joe

I am constantly in awe of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates who climbed the
Peruvian Andes in the novel, 'Touching the Void', despite the
criticism you hear of them and others challenging themselves with
hazardous activities.  I can see how a previously unconquered west
face of Siula Grande is tempting to the professional climber.
 
See the following link for a discussion of the title of the novel by
other students alongside comments about their essays:
http://nautical11.wordpress./category/reading/extended-reading/touching-the-void/

  Should Simon have cut the rope?  This is the question at the heart of
the book.  The knee jerk reaction to this question is sometimes no, he
was his mate!  If Simon didn't cut the rope he would not have saved
his friend's life plus he could have put his own life in jeopardy.  It
was simply the decisiveness of Simon that saved them both.  No, Joe
wasn't to know that the bottom of that crevasse where he had spent a
night there would be a way out deep down in the darkness.  What gives
a man the courage to plunge himself into the unknown like that?   The
fighter within Joe felt that he could not sit there to die and had to
fight.  See the following clips of the documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcQbRjTq82E&feature=relmfu
 
A touching reunion brings these two back together and an understanding
is evident and made crystal clear between the them that Simon did
right.
 
The style of the novel is discussed in the following link.  Be sure to
scroll down onto the easier to read typed notes below the annotated
text.
http://www.acceleratedstudynotes.com/2012/02/10/language-analysis-touching-the-void/
 
See the following for a helpful study guide to chapters:
http://delasalleenglish.weebly.com/uploads/5/9/0/8/5908529/void-key_quotes_updated.pdf

Mrs Leary 

Characters and Voices

I feel the more I return to this cluster of poems, the more I feel at home with their ideas and enjoy their craft.  After engaging with poetry in such a vacuum for a breadth of time with my Year 11 class I appreciate all over again what magical poetry is, from one of my favourite poets, Simon Armitage and his 'Give', to a poem I've more recently been introduced to, the witty 'Singh Song'.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/singh-song-by-daljit-nagra/11723.html Dalgit Nagra video on his poem

 http://www.sheerpoetry.co.uk/gcse/daljit-nagra/singh-song comments on his poem

We have worked on shape and form of poems, starting here because this is an area some find challenging, considering the  five stanzas of  'Give', representing a hand being held out by the homeless person of the poem, begging for change, or the 'River God' with its irregular rhythm, symbolising the reeds in the bed of the river or more precisely, as one of my class stated: the smooth surface of the river being the justified edge of the poem and the line endings of a variety of lengths representing the unknown depth and power of the river (Wow!  What a comment and exploration!)

More importantly the exploration of shape and form is about your confidence to explore the patterns and consider the meanings you can associate with the ideas and themes in the poems.

I have also returned to BBC Bitesize which has in the English Literature section a whole section of notes about the whole cluster, (Scroll down to beyond the old stuff.)  No need to buy revision guides with this available. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/poetrycharactervoice/

Also see the flowing video in ‘The Ruined Maid’ by Thomas Hardy in the cluster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU9pEdzvXH8

Bring on the Unit 2 mock exam in October and January for the external exam!

Mrs Leary