English Paper 2 - Making Up Quotes By Critics

Dwellingdweller

So, is this ok to do? e.g taking the name of a well known poetry critic or whatever and putting fancy words in his mouth? like

Alan Brownjohn - 'Plath's poetry is the poetry of psychological juxtaposition; She regularly interposed natural landscapes with vignettes from her own troubled mind, a key feature of her poetry'

Anybody got any advice on this?

mcpaddington

Dwellingdweller wrote: »

So, is this ok to do? e.g taking the name of a well known poetry critic or whatever and putting fancy words in his mouth? like

Alan Brownjohn - 'Plath's poetry is the poetry of psychological juxtaposition; She regularly interposed natural landscapes with vignettes from her own troubled mind, a key feature of her poetry'

Anybody got any advice on this?

Go for it, they're not going to go out of their way to prove you wrong. A guy last year used fake quotes for Hamlet and got an A1 so if anything you won't get deducted marks.

leaveiton

Why not just give it as your own opinion?

finality

Dwellingdweller wrote: »

So, is this ok to do? e.g taking the name of a well known poetry critic or whatever and putting fancy words in his mouth? like

Alan Brownjohn - 'Plath's poetry is the poetry of psychological juxtaposition; She regularly interposed natural landscapes with vignettes from her own troubled mind, a key feature of her poetry'

Anybody got any advice on this?

Um, make sure the quote you're making up makes sense first, at the very least. I wouldn't do it, don't think it'd gain you marks and it's risky if the corrector decided to look it up.

Chuchoter

It would be easier to say critics have described x as this or the other and paraphrase. Gets in the critics opinion without chancing errors

The High Crusade

"Robert Frost was a dickhead" - Dr. Dre

Dwellingdweller

finality wrote: »

Um, make sure the quote you're making up makes sense first, at the very least. I wouldn't do it, don't think it'd gain you marks and it's risky if the corrector decided to look it up.

Um, that quote does make sense. (At the very least) I usually get near enough full marks on my poetry so I'm not worried. Doubt the corrector would go looking it up either.

Chuchoter wrote: »

It would be easier to say critics have described x as this or the other and paraphrase. Gets in the critics opinion without chancing errors

Yeah I'll probably do it like that, minimises the risk of someone looking it up, like finality said. I wouldn't be arsed worrying about it anyways, 100+ scripts and I doubt any examiner is gona go out of their way to try and make sure a quote is 100% legit.

randylonghorn

Dwellingdweller wrote: »

Yeah I'll probably do it like that, minimises the risk of someone looking it up, like finality said. I wouldn't be arsed worrying about it anyways, 100+ scripts and I doubt any examiner is gona go out of their way to try and make sure a quote is 100% legit.

No, they're not ... but many examiners will recognise the tone of a critic's writing if they are familiar with him / her.

You might get away with it, you might not, and it really isn't worth the risk.

Enda93

You could always just do some research and get a few quotes from the Internet, quotes from the poets that aren't from the poems you've studied look really impressive too, provided they're relevant to the answer.
I'd probably try to avoid using made up quotes though, if you are found out the examiner might start to doubt the credibility of all of your answers and you could lose valuable marks

linguist

Ok, as an examiner, but I stress NOT of English, I can assure you that I do look up unusual material in a candidate's answer prior to consulting with my advising examiner for a decision on its admissibility.

In short, it's your Leaving Cert mate but we're not that dumb!

sarahmocks

linguist wrote: »

Ok, as an examiner, but I stress NOT of English, I can assure you that I do look up unusual material in a candidate's answer prior to consulting with my advising examiner for a decision on its admissibility.

In short, it's your Leaving Cert mate but we're not that dumb!

love this comment!

Dapics

linguist wrote: »

Ok, as an examiner, but I stress NOT of English, I can assure you that I do look up unusual material in a candidate's answer prior to consulting with my advising examiner for a decision on its admissibility.

In short, it's your Leaving Cert mate but we're not that dumb!

How about if you were confronted with a qoute from flaubert or balzac? How could you dismiss a quote from such a well respected and notable figure of the literary revival and romanticism period?

bscm

Describe a quote, but unless you know it nearly word perfect, do not quote.

Getting a quote seriously wrong is like making a large (and repeated) spelling mistake or grammatical error to some people.

It's like saying:

Romeo, where the hell are you? - William Shakespeare

Bit exaggerated, but if you quote a critic which an examiner knows well (or can easily Google), then it might as well be the same

randylonghorn

Dapics wrote: »

How about if you were confronted with a qoute from flaubert or balzac? How could you dismiss a quote from such a well respected and notable figure of the literary revival and romanticism period?

Easily, if its not actually from Flaubert or Balzac, but made-up and attributed to them ... which is kinda the point under discussion.

Dapics

randylonghorn wrote: »

Easily, if its not actually from Flaubert or Balzac, but made-up and attributed to them ... which is kinda the point under discussion.

Yes but the examiner isn't going to be able to conclude if it is a legimate quote or not, there's just so much to their canons of work.... its of a romantic era so if the quote reflects that era and can be used succesfully as a means with which to provoke a good introduction to a text then how on earth does the examiner know?

Im not saying its a good thing to do, just trying to make a it of discussion.

randylonghorn

As I said earlier though, it would take a very good mimic to "forge" a Flaubert or Balzac quote such that someone familiar with their tone wouldn't end up with quivering antennae!

partyatmygaff

It's very risky. English teachers who completed a four year degree in English with an interest in English literature will more than likely be familiar with many well known poetry critics. Unless you're very familiar with said critics it'll be very difficult to forge a quote that doesn't immediately arouse suspicion.

linguist

Dapics, the OP was about making up quotes and my answer was attempting to answer that point.

You've moved on to the relevance of actual quotes by major literary figures.

What you need to understand, first and foremost, is that the marking scheme, drawn up after much consideration including discussion at the marking conference, will set out what examiners are to look for. Obviously, since candidates aren't robots and thus don't stick blindly to the script, the examiner will have to use their discretion.

However, the principles that govern the marking of the state exams discourage solo runs by individual examiners in terms of departing from what's being sought. As I stated in my response, English is not my subject, however my personal practice is to firstly check up on what the candidate is saying and if I have the slightest doubt regarding the admissibility of the answer, to refer it to the top brass for a decision.

Remember that the only gripe you can have with the marking is whether or not your script was fairly marked in accordance with the scheme. We could debate for hours but that's the way it is.