!! English HL 2015 - ALL things HL English, predictions, discussion etc.

ThatsTheShtuff

cathal545 wrote: »

story lads new to boards, reckon if i study good owl Monty and Frost i'd be good? might be able to squeeze yeats in there but it wont be anything amazing if i do. So yeah reckon ill be grand with Montague and Frost, still bit of risk but english was something i never concentrated on, which i ultimately regret now of course but ah well. Cheers

Wouldn't advise anyone to study just two poets,
but i suppose of the two that you picked, you're probably hitting the mark (hopefully!)
One or other of them are bound to come up (again, hopefully, for your sake!)

Personally, and because i want an A in English,
I'm studying 5 poets in detail, and maybe an extra in not quite so much detail.
In saying that, English is one of my stronger subjects, whereas you say you don't concentrate much on English, so each to their own!

bazinga1

Any ideas on what the most likely question will come up? If we're lucky it might me just a whole one on Iago, or Iago and Othello's relationship but I don't know.

MmmPancakes

bazinga1 wrote: »

Any ideas on what the most likely question will come up? If we're lucky it might me just a whole one on Iago, or Iago and Othello's relationship but I don't know.

Othello hasn't been asked (I don't think ever..) so predictions are pretty useless haha, I'm hoping something on Othello/Iago though

ThatsTheShtuff

bazinga1 wrote: »

Any ideas on what the most likely question will come up? If we're lucky it might me just a whole one on Iago, or Iago and Othello's relationship but I don't know.

Iago character Q, Othello character Q, or a mix of both, the effect they have on each other, blah blah blah.

Don't forget about the style questions, as they can often be easier to answer, and the less answered question usually. I'd imagine if an Iago question comes up, everyone will jump for that straight away, without even reading it properly.
An ideal style question would be 'Dramatic Techniques', as it allows for vast exploration of the play, from Dramatic Irony, to Universal Themes, Soliloquies, Enthralling Opening, Dramatic Ending, and you can even bring in the character or Othello or Iago, by talking about Interesting Characterisation!


NB NB Keep an eye out for a question of 'Modern Appeal' of the play, ie. Why does it still apply today, why do we still watch it and study it, why is it still enjoyed, how can we relate to it? Continuously refer back to the question if asked about it, and it can pretty much be answered with the same examples as I've given for Dramatic Technique Q.

The main thing to remember for English, and especially with the Othello question you chose to answer, is to REFER TO THE QUESTION, ALWAYS!!! Good luck

Anonymagician

MmmPancakes wrote: »

Othello hasn't been asked (I don't think ever..) so predictions are pretty useless haha, I'm hoping something on Othello/Iago though

Othello was on in 2008. The question were one Othello/Iago and one about the weakness of human judgement. I would predict something about jealousy/revenge or the women but you're right, it's pretty useless to predict.

OMGeary

Anonymagician wrote: »

Othello was on in 2008. The question were one Othello/Iago and one about the weakness of human judgement. I would predict something about jealousy/revenge or the women but you're right, it's pretty useless to predict.

Out of curiosity why is everyone saying women? Like loads of people are saying it but my teacher thinks its unlikely ??

Anonymagician

OMGeary wrote: »

Out of curiosity why is everyone saying women? Like loads of people are saying it but my teacher thinks its unlikely ??

I guess the men came up last time. The women are pretty significant and the role of Desdemona could be discussed in a question about her contrast to Iago or about how she is a passive victim. Emilia and Bianca also showcase important points.

Basically it just makes sense as a question, same as an Iago question does.

ThatsTheShtuff

OMGeary wrote: »

Out of curiosity why is everyone saying women? Like loads of people are saying it but my teacher thinks its unlikely ??

role of women is due up focus on Desdemona obviously, but also Bianca!

davidk11811

Can anyone recommend a decent HL English poetry revision book for the 2015 Leaving Cert? Is Key Notes alright or is there something better out there?

Lcstudent2015.

Does anyone know what the likelihood of dickinson coming up is? Was she up last year?

OMGeary

Lcstudent2015. wrote: »

Does anyone know what the likelihood of dickinson coming up is? Was she up last year?

Personally think she might come up. She was up last year but sometimes poets come up twice in a row. Think she might be the female poet as ENC will be deemed obvious and if Plath came up it would be three in a row. But hey its all just guessing

Lcstudent2015.

OMGeary wrote: »

Personally think she might come up. She was up last year but sometimes poets come up twice in a row. Think she might be the female poet as ENC will be deemed obvious and if Plath came up it would be three in a row. But hey its all just guessing

Thanks a million!

ThatsTheShtuff

Lcstudent2015. wrote: »

Thanks a million!

that wouldn't have been my thinking at all,
but that's just me!
personally, i think we are very likely to see ENC on the paper!
i'd be very surprised if she didn't make an appearance, predictable or not!
I think it will be ENC, Hardy, Montague, Donne, Frost/Yeats. (the main ones to focus on)

Lcstudent2015.

How many poems should we know for each poet, I know 6 for all the poets i have studied, should I learn one or two more for each?

DarraghF197

Lcstudent2015. wrote: »

How many poems should we know for each poet, I know 6 for all the poets i have studied, should I learn one or two more for each?

Not at all. Six is plenty. Unless you have, say for Yeats, four poems on his personal life and only two on Ireland, maybe you could study another poem in case a question asks 'Yeats talks about public themes in his poetry'. Although you could still disagree and write about one or two personal poems. I'll be learning six for four poets, five for Montague.

ThatsTheShtuff

Lcstudent2015. wrote: »

How many poems should we know for each poet, I know 6 for all the poets i have studied, should I learn one or two more for each?

that's plenty, 5 is the general figure
If you study 5 poets, 5 poems each, you should be there or there about!

RingoIRL

Lads, if I learn off an A-standard essay for each of the 5 poets I'm studying, then throw in a few sentences per paragraph tying it to the question, am I sorted? Do the questions really change much from the theme/style format?

randylonghorn

Why not understand / learn the POINTS from the essay, and plan / practise how you might re-arrange and use those points to answer various questions which might come up?

Learning off essays verbatim, and sticking in phrases / sentences here and there saying "and this answers the question!" (even though it doesn't really) is how a lot of people lose marks.

RingoIRL

randylonghorn wrote: »

Why not understand / learn the POINTS from the essay, and plan / practise how you might re-arrange and use those points to answer various questions which might come up?

Learning off essays verbatim, and sticking in phrases / sentences here and there saying "and this answers the question!" (even though it doesn't really) is how a lot of people lose marks.

Fair point, its just that I always struggle with writing enough. Maybe I'll alternate between the both.

Laurentf

Hey everyone! Was just wondering if anyone had any predictions on what poets are coming up this year, I've been told not to bother studying Yeats or Dickinson. Would I be safe sticking to Frost, Donne and Montague or is it too risky? Any thoughts would be appreciated thanks!

gabsy

RingoIRL wrote: »

Lads, if I learn off an A-standard essay for each of the 5 poets I'm studying, then throw in a few sentences per paragraph tying it to the question, am I sorted? Do the questions really change much from the theme/style format?

Believe it or not,I followed this method more or less and last year and I got 100% in my poetry section (I did Yeats) and got an A2 overall.I think that people stress over the poetry question way too much but if you just have several good points on each poem but also give your own personal opinion which I kept doing and also referring to the question you are able to fit in any essay that you have previously written.I would also suggest to learn off an intro and a conclusion if you are not that confident with your writing and just try your best and adapt it to the question,merely by throwing in a good sentence containing all the words in the question.I also saw somebody saying previously that you should leave unseen until last which I disagree with, as unseen is worth 20 marks which are very easily got.On the other hand,poetry is worth 50 marks which is a decent chunk of your overall grade so in my opinion best is to give time to the prescribed poet because believe me you will be running out of energy,your hand will be sore and overall your brain will be 'fried'.Leave the unseen until last.Least marks and questions are never that difficult.Excuse the lengthy post but just wanted to give my opinion and say what I did last year.:) Funnily enough,I am repeating my LC this year (you should still follow my english tips :P) and have a feeling that Frost/Yeats and Donne will be on this year.ENC is a bit of a dream tbh but you never know Good luck everyone !

LeeLee97

Silly as it may seem, a few months ago, before I had studied anyone other than Frost, I had a dream in which I was sitting English Paper 2. However, the paper has the layout of paper 1 and the Poet's names were contained within the reading comprehensions, and you had to sift through the extracts until you found them. What was even more bizarre was the fact that our english teacher was the supervisor and was helping us to answer the questions. Some of the questions were so far-fetched; for example the Frost Question was something like "Examine Frost's contribution to poetry". Anyway, the four poets that came up in my almost nightmarish dream were Yeats, Frost, Donne and Dickinson. Whether or not this is the result of a restless mind, I do not know, but they are as good as anyone else's predictions I guess. And no, I do not have clairvoyant abilities - I'm just an incredibly stressed 6th year who is worrying a little too much!

Shanmcg97

Yesterday I said to my English teacher that I had studied frost, montague, yeats and I've started looking at Dickinson. I then asked her should I be covering any more than that like ENC and she said no that 4 is plenty and she seemed pretty confident. As a class we know frost montague and Yeats very well so If one of them doesn't come up I will be very surprised (and disappointed).

Cheerios

Does anyone know where I can find notes/essays on Frost, Montague and Donne? I was out for all of these poets and I'm getting quite stressed.

DT1

Laurentf wrote: »

Hey everyone! Was just wondering if anyone had any predictions on what poets are coming up this year, I've been told not to bother studying Yeats or Dickinson. Would I be safe sticking to Frost, Donne and Montague or is it too risky? Any thoughts would be appreciated thanks!

1st of all NEVER bank on 1-3 poems. Learn off 4 or 5 and you'll be sorted.

Now, what you're asking for! This is a list in order of likelihood IMO.

1. Ni Chuilleanain
2. Frost tied with Montague
4. Yeats
5. Dickinson

Don't even bother with Plath my friend. Best of luck. If Frost comes up I'll probably do a back flip on the day of the exam! Fingers crossed!

LeeLee97

Is there any point doing Plath? I have 4 poets done - Frost, Yeats, Hardy and Dickinson

Laurenom

What do people think the Othello question will be? Would you say imagery will be a question?

DT1

LeeLee97 wrote: »

Is there any point doing Plath? I have 4 poets done - Frost, Yeats, Hardy and Dickinson

There's no point in doing Plath as I promise that the chances of her coming up are extremely slim. I notice that you haven't done Ni Chuilleanain! Very high chances she will come up so study her poetry instead.

LeeLee97

DT1 wrote: »

There's no point in doing Plath as I promise that the chances of her coming up are extremely slim. I notice that you haven't done Ni Chuilleanain! Very high chances she will come up so study her poetry instead.

While I acknowledge that, I studied Plath last year so I sort of know her. Not a fan of Ni Chuilleanain, nor have I studied her, so I think I'll give her a miss. Banking on Yeats and Frost!

DT1

Well good luck. I too find her poetry a bit feeble and too religious. Frost is the best poet by a country mile.