Paper 2 Section A

1
Paper 2 Section A

• Dont forget to bring your anthology for this exam

2
Poetry from Different Cultures

• 45 minutes
• 1 essay
• There will be two questions to choose from. You
  answer only ONE question.
• You need to know all of the poems in one whole
  cluster as the examiners will name one poem in
  each question.
• You only compare TWO poems in this essay. The
  examiner will name one in the title and you must
  choose the second to compare it to.
• Learn a variety of comparative connectives and
  compare in every paragraph.

3
Limbo place for lost or unbaptised

• Silent dark of slave ship is described terrible
  experience of being human cargo
• Strong beat of limbo dance links to poems rhythm
  (chorus, repetition, limbo, limbo like me, like
  some music (eg jazz) group of notes is repeated
  and developed)
• Hypnotic effect of drummer (37)
• Speaker squeezes under the stick (34-36), rises
  in triumph and feels exhilarated triumph over
  his suffering.
• These celebratory feelings are likely to be short
  lived arriving at his destination means the
  suffering will continue (burning ground)

4
Nothing Changed

• Setting scrubland of District Six
• Modern restaurant contrasts with bunny chows
  from the working mans café
• No sign (as there would have been during
  apartheid) but still the restaurant would not
  welcome Black people
• Anger of narrator that in reality the end of
  apartheid has changed nothing.

5

• District Six is the name of a former
  neighbourhood of Cape Town, South Africa, best
  known for the forced removal of its inhabitants
  during the 1970s. It was named in 1867 as the
  Sixth Municipal District of Cape Town, but by the
  turn of the century it was already a lively
  community made up of freed slaves, artisans,
  merchants and other immigrants. It was home to
  almost a 10th of the city of Cape Town's
  population.

6

• During the earlier part of the apartheid era,
  District Six was a remarkably multicultural
  district, with a heavy concentration of the
  people known in South Africa as coloured,
  including a substantial Cape Malay community, as
  well as other black, white and Asian people of
  various backgrounds. Many former District Six
  residents see this cosmopolitanism as one of the
  main reasons that it became a target for
  destruction. The removals were also doubtlessly
  motivated by the district's beautiful views of
  the ocean and of Cape Town, and, as the city grew
  larger, its proximity to the Cape Town city
  centre all of these factors made it attractive
  for real estate development aimed at white
  residents

7

• On 11 February 1966, the apartheid-era government
  declared District Six a whites-only area under
  the Group Areas Act, with removals starting in
  1968. By 1982, more than 60 000 people had been
  relocated to the comparatively bleak Cape Flats
  some 25 kilometers away, and the old houses
  bulldozed. The only buildings left standing were
  places of worship. International and local
  pressure made redevelopment difficult for the
  government, however. The Cape Technikon (now part
  of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology)
  was built on part of the former District Six and
  the area was renamed Zonnebloem, but apart from
  this the area was left as a wasteland until
  relatively recently.

8
Island Man

• Sounds of the sea (island life) in the mans head
  remind him of the Caribbean dreamy, groggy
  start to the poem (lack of punctuation highlights
  this)
• Contrast with the noise and bustle of London
  traffic.
• Still feels a sense of belonging to original home
  and culture but at same time has to face another
  day in London.
• Colours/sounds (London grey, metallic,
  roar, Caribbean emerald, blue, wild)
• breaking and wombing creates a sea-like
  rhythm, waves on pillow compared to waves on
  shore.
• Line 12 uses sands when it should be sounds
  which highlights his groggy nature as he slowly
  wakes up.

9
Blessing

• Need for water is desperate heat is
  unremitting/unrelenting/constant the skin
  cracks like a pod (simile)
• We are asked to imagine collecting water use of
  onomatopoeia drip splash
• The water main (municipal pipe) bursts
  silver crashes, flow, roar of tongues,
• congregation religious connotations
• People rush to gather water light
  imagery/celebratory mood

10
Two Scavengers in a TruckSetting 1960s America

• Cool couple
• elegant
• open Mercedes
• coifed hair
• suit sunglasses
• TV advert perfection, odourless (unreal)
• Beautiful character or appearance? beauty is
  only skin deep
• Represent the American Dream anything is
  possible

• Bin men
• grungy
• gargoyle Quasimodo
• plastic blazers
• scavengers job title, truth? Or societys
  label for them?
• hanging on to bottom rung of society? Morally
  superior to couple they are looking down upon.

11
Message Society should unite people of all
kinds

• Both couples have sunglasses and one of binmen
  has long hair (fashionable in the 60s) are
  they more similar than we are first led to
  believe??
• Concern with image important to all?
• Are their lifestyle aspirations more closely
  linked than seems apparent at first? We are
  encouraged to see links between the two couples
• But final image is of gulf between them, which
  cannot be bridged separate elements

12
Night of a Scorpion

• Mother bitten by a scorpion in rural India
  (setting). Peasant population steeped in a
  culture of religion and legend life and death
  are closely related.
• Neighbours chant prayers and search for scorpion
• Husband more logical attempts to cleanse the
  bite with burning paraffin
• Traditional Indian values compared to Sceptic,
  rationalist (education brings his ideas closer
  to western ideas)
• Mother recovered and gives thanks that the
  scorpion chose her not one of her children.
• Themes?
• Key language features?

13
Vultures

• Vultures used as a metaphor for the presentation
  of the Commandant at Belson
• What are their similarities?
• What point is the poet making about the good and
  evil of mankind?

14
Vultures - The poem begins with an unpleasant
description of a pair of vultures who nestle
lovingly together after feasting on a corpse. The
poet remarks on the strangeness of love, existing
in places one would not have thought possible.
He then considers the love a concentration camp
commander shows to his family - having spent his
day burning human corpses, he buys them sweets on
the way home . The descriptions of the vultures
is just a way to introduce the topic of good and
evil. They are a metaphor for the Nazi
Commandant. The conclusion of the poem is
ambiguous. On one hand, Achebe praises providence
(fate/chance) that even the cruellest of beings
can show sparks of love, yet on the other he
despairs - they show love solely for their
family, and so allow themselves to commit
atrocities towards others.
15
What Were They Like - Part 1

• The first part of the poem is a set of questions
  about the people of Vietnam and their way of
  life. Part two consists of the answers.
• The layout is deliberate separate, clear
• It highlights the fact that to most Americans at
  the time of the Vietnam War, Vietnam was a remote
  and unknown country.
• The people of Vietnam were the ememy but very
  alien to Americans
• The poem highlights the ancient culture of Vietnam

16
Search For My Tongue

• The writer worries that her mother tongue
  (Gujarati) is being taken over by her foreign
  tongue (English).
• Use of disease, decay and rotting imagery to show
  how she lost her mother tongue.
• The Gujarati script are incomprehensible to us
  but it shows the cultural differences influencing
  the writer.
• Her mother tongue hasnt left her though. Through
  the use of the extended metaphor of the flower,
  we see that it grows back.

17
Unrelated Incidents

• Written in Scottish accent and dialect
• Challenging the idea that BBC English is better
  than other accents
• Use of sarcasm to make his point

18
Half Caste

• Monologue
• Term half-caste is absurd to the speaker
  think about the connotations of this label
• Use of satire (ridicule to make a political
  statement) highlights some of the ridiculous
  ideas some people have
• Use of metaphor to illustrate his point for
  example Picasso painting, Tchaikovsky, weather
• How does the tone change in the final section?

19
Love After Love

• Self reflective poem.
• Idea that we have different parts to our
  personality, in the mirror different parts are
  reflected.
• Rediscovering true self, issues of identity
  explored.
• Love letters..photographs..desperate notes are
  left overs from emotional times. Maybe the writer
  wants to express the idea that you need to
  appreciate yourself before you can connect with
  someone else.
• Celebration of self take time to know yourself
  Feast on your life.

20
This Room

• The room can be seen as a metaphor for someones
  life.
• The room is trying to break free of its walls, in
  a way a person might try and challenge
  stereotypes, look for freedom in society away
  from the claustrophobia of their daily life.
• The bed is lifting out as though it is trying
  to escape. There is a move from the dark to the
  clouds which could again represent a person
  becoming more open and free.
• Mundane nature of everyday life is challenged in
  verse 3. The improbable interrupts the dull
  day.
• A feeling of celebration is created with the
  bang and the handsclapping. (Use of
  onomatopoeia/sounds)
• A sense of excitement at sampling new things and
  attempting new experiences.

21
Not My Business

• Akanni beaten up and taken away
• Danladi taken in middle of night narrator sees
  is as not being his business (yam)
• Chinwe is dismissed from her job with no warning
• Knock on narrators door as he is about to eat
• How are language techniques used so effectively
  here?
• What message is the poet giving us? (fable/moral
  tale/justice vs. comfort)
• Poem is rooted in Nigerias civil war and
  military dictatorship

22
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan

• Writer feels she has no fixed nationality. She
  has mixed identity (English and Pakistani) but
  doesnt feel like she fits fully into either
  culture.
• Look at the language to describe the Pakistani
  clothes exotic and bright. She appreciates
  their beauty but they also feel alien to her,
  like a costume. Compare to the denim and
  corduroy she longs for to fit in with her
  friends.
• Contrasts between cultures is explored
• Confusion about her sense of belonging feels
  like the beggar girls

23
Hurricane Hits England

• Hurricanes in England in 1987
• Hurricanes link the writer with her Caribbean
  upbringing the hurricane is ancestral to her,
  she feels related to it back-home cousin
• Sense that the lightening of the storm is also a
  blinding illumination or flash of inspiration
  she begins to feel closer to English culture and
  her split identity.
• The mystery is lifted as the frozen lake is
  defrosted in her mind. She feels a greater sense
  of belonging, her roots and foundation in the
  Caribbean are linking her to England now.

24
Essay Planning

• Use this phrase to help you plan essays
• A bean sandwich ruptured across the ceiling
• Bean theme/meaning
• Sandwich language
• Rupture structure
• Ceiling feeling
• Use these four sections to write 4-6 paragraphs
  that compare the two poems.
• Remember to compare in each paragraph using a
  comparative connective to link ideas.

25

• Cluster 1 Past Questions
• Compare the ways an event s described in
  Blessing with the ways an event is described in
  one other poem.
• Compare the way people are presented in
  Vultures and one other poem.
• Cluster 2 Past Questions
• Compare the methods the poets use to explore the
  connection between people and the places in which
  they live in Hurricane Hits England and one
  other poem.
• Compare the way identity is presented in
  Half-Caste and Nothings Changed

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Ways to Revise

• Make links between poems
• Learn which poems focus on the same themes
• Learn a variety of comparative connectives to
  help you compare
• Ensure you can say something the effect of poetic
  techniques in each poem
• Brainstorm quick essay plans

27
What is a theme?

• A theme is an overriding issue idea or concern
  that the poem deals with.

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Brainstorm these Themes

• Violence
• Journeys
• Identity
• Politics, Political Protest
• First Person
• People, Humanity
• Change
• Non Standard English
• Culture
• Metaphor
• Sense of place, Roots

Which poems are linked by which theme?
29
Identity

• This basically means who am I?
• Many factors influence our identity environment,
  friends, education, class, ethnicity, job,
  parents, religion, interests, age.

30
Roots

• This is a similar term to identity. It means
  what connects us to a certain place, or culture
  or religion.
• The urge to put down roots is a very strong
  emotion.
• Many people in the anthology are displaced from
  their roots.

31
Cultural Differences and Conflicts

• When individuals from different traditions and
  cultures live in the same country or community
  CONFLICT sometimes arises.
• CONFLICT however, can sometimes be personal or
  internal. For example some young people who have
  come to England to live grow apart from the
  culture of their parents. Sometimes they
  REDISCOVER this culture as they get older.

32
Politics, culture and injustice

• Again cultures can come into conflict due to
  differences in class, race, politics and
  religion.
• Differences can breed mistrust, hate, suspicion
  and division.
• Alternatively some of the poems highlight how
  shared cultures and traditions can bring
  individual together.

33
A Sense of Place

• Many of the poems highlight how a place or
  environment has affected individuals cultural
  outlook.
• Sometimes the description of a place is issued to
  reflect or illustrate a particular idea e.g. The
  description of the brooding vultures on the
  African plains is used to represent the idea of
  the darker side of human nature.

34
Humanity

• Some of the poems focus on people or human
  nature.
• Often the dark side of humanity is represented.
  Sometimes differences in cultural beliefs lead to
  savage uncivilised behaviour.
• Sometimes shared cultural beliefs unite
  individuals.

35
Poetic Techniques

• Personification
• Alliteration
• Onomatopoeia
• Simile
• Metaphors
• Adjectives
• Irony

• Enjambment
• Rhyme Rhythm
• How do the use of senses help bring the
  characters or feelings to life?

36
Comparative Connectives

• On the other hand
• However
• In contrast
• But
• Whereas

• Similarly
• Is similar to