Julie Tagg| Think and Write for CSEC English A and B Let’s take a look at another essay question for Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” and the response for this question. In the play “Twelfth Night,” Shakespeare explores the use of disguise. With close reference to the play, discuss the use and effectiveness of disguise. You should… Read More How does Shakespeare use disguise in the play “Twelfth Night?” Essay
By Julie Tagg Let’s take a look at the theme of love in Shakespeare and how you would respond to this essay question. “Twelfth Night” is a play that revolves around the theme of love. In your essay, you are required to explore two different types of love depicted in the play. Additionally, you should… Read More Theme of Love in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” Essay
In the novel, there are instances where objects or events seem to hold a deeper meaning. These instances are known as symbols. Here are some examples from the book that illustrate this concept: – The Home Economics teacher tries to hang up a picture of a Happy Family, but it keeps falling down. Although this… Read More Symbols in “For the Life of Laetitia” by Merle Hodge
THEME: LOVE As the exams are approaching, it is crucial to start preparing early. One of the best ways to prepare is to practice with sample questions. Practicing with sample questions will help you to identify areas where you need to focus more and reinforce what you have already learned. Additionally, you should gather all… Read More ENGLISH B SAMPLE QUESTION AND RESPONSE for Poetry – Love
Lacey and the Community Lacey, a young girl, is facing several challenges in her life. Her Maths teacher, Mrs. Lopez, doesn’t seem to like her and makes it clear that she wasn’t wanted at the school. Lacey has already proved her talent by winning a place in a government secondary school, but Mrs. Lopez’s foreign… Read More Conflict – Merle Hodge “For the Life of Laetitia”
Julie Tagg: April 03, 2027 The play explores the theme of disguise, which is portrayed by blurring the line between reality and fantasy. The protagonist, Girl, is forced to endure the cruelty of her slave owners and uses her imagination as a coping mechanism to keep her spirit alive. In one scene, she is confined… Read More Disguise in the play “Anansi” by Alistair Campbell
Personification In this play, Girl narrates her journey from Africa and describes the river as having human qualities that carry her further and further away from her mother on its great brown back. This personification not only shows the force of nature but also highlights how Girl is helplessly separated from her birthplace. The playwright… Read More Personification in Alistair Campbell’s “Anansi”
Similes and metaphors play an important role in the play. They bring out the playwright’s perspective on the characters, highlight the key issues of the play and help the audience to better visualize the images to be conveyed. To illustrate Girl’s struggle and devise a method of survival, Woman tells her to “weave your little… Read More Similes and Metaphors in Anansi by Alistair Campbell
Imagery Throughout the play, the author uses vivid images of darkness, death, and light to convey the emotional weight of the story. These images are intended to evoke strong feelings in the audience and bring to life the dehumanizing experiences of the slaves on board the ship. For instance, when the character Girl recounts their… Read More Alistair Campbell’s “Anansi” – Use of Imagery
Exploring the plot in the novel The story is about Laetitia Johnson’s first year at secondary school. She is called Lacey for short and lives with her grandmother, cousins and other family members since her mother, Patsy, migrated to New York. Lacey’s father, Cephas shows little interest in his daughter. But later when he finds… Read More Merle Hodge “For the Life of Laetitia” The Plot
Julie Tagg| March 24, 2024 •Learning Objectives: In this section you will: • discover the major themes of the play • recognise how the major themes reflect the slave trade experience • explore the connections between themes • explore how the themes and conflict add to the dramatic function of the play CONFLICT, THEMES, AND… Read More Analysis of the themes in the play “Anansi” by Alistair Campbell
Learning Objectives: By the end of the reading you should be able to: There are several scenes in the play. One scene takes place aboard ‘The Good Ship Hope’ and the other in ‘The Forest’. The scene on the ship shows the experiences that the slave girl and the Boy share as they travel though… Read More Alistair Campbell’s “Anansi” The Plot
Julie Tagg, March 8, 2024 Historical Context The stories of Anansi and his trickery are integral to the oral literature of the West Indies and the traditions of storytelling. The enslaved West Africans brought these stories of Anansi to the Caribbean. Anansi is the trickster hero who enjoys his power over all the other animals… Read More Alistair Campbell’s Anansi
By Julie Tagg Human cruelty Ignorance Traditions Women in Society Slavery Colonialism Hope The value of oral traditions and culture Human Resilience Attitude to power and authority
Julie Tagg – Think and Write for CSEC English A and B January 25, 2024 The School Based Assessment (SBA) (Paper 3/1) portfolio requires that the candidates create an individual portfolio on an issue/topic/ theme or event that is current in the society. Candidates will work in groups. The topic is selected as a group. The topic… Read More CSEC SBA – Outline
The growing idleness of summer grass With its frail kites of furious butterflies Requests the lemonade of simple praise In scansion gentler than my hammock swings And rituals no more upsetting than a Black maid shaking linen as she sings The plain notes of some Protestant hosanna— Since I lie idling from the thought in… Read More A Lesson for this Sunday by Derek Walcott
Bridge, September 3, 1802 – William Wordsworth Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by A sight so touching in its majesty: This City now doth, like a garment, wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie Open… Read More Sonnet Composed Upon Westminister
I watch him set up easel, Both straddling precariously A corner of the twisted, climbing Mountain track A tireless humming-bird, his brush Dips, darts, hovers now here, now there, Where puddles of pigment Bloom in the palette’s wild small garden. The mountains pose for him In a family group Dignified, self-conscious, against the wide blue… Read More Landscape Painter, Jamaica (for Albert Huie) by Vivian Virtue
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, And soonest… Read More “Death, be not proud” (Holy Sonnet 10) by John Donne
The instructor said, Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you— Then, it will be true. I wonder if it’s that simple? I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem. I went to school there, then Durham, then here to this college on the hill above Harlem. I am… Read More Theme for English B by Langston Hughes
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see I swallow immediately Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. I am not cruel, only truthful ‚ The eye of a little god, four-cornered. Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall. It is pink, with speckles. I have… Read More Analysis of Mirror by Sylvia Plath
From the west Clouds come hurrying with the wind Turning sharply Here and there Like a plague of locusts Whirling, Tossing up things on its tail Like a madman chasing nothing. Pregnant clouds Ride stately on its back, Gathering to perch on hills Like sinister dark wings; The wind whistles by And trees bend to… Read More An African Thunderstorm By David Rubadiri
Once upon a time, son, they used to laugh with their hearts and laugh with their eyes: but now they only laugh with their teeth, while their ice-block-cold eyes search behind my shadow. There was a time indeed they used to shake hands with their hearts: but that’s gone, son. Now they shake hands without… Read More Once Upon a Time by Gabriel Okara
Cruising at thirty thousand feet above the endless green the islands seem like dice tossed on a casino’s baize, some come up lucky, others not. Puerto Rico takes the pot, the Dallas of the West Indies, silver linings on the clouds as we descend are hall-marked, San Juan glitters like a maverick’s gold ring. All… Read More West Indies, U.S.A. by Stewart Brown
Kamau Brathwaite But today I recapture the islands’ bright beaches: blue mist from the ocean rolling into the fishermen’s houses. By these shores I was born: sound of the sea came in at my window, life heaved and breathed in me then with the strength of that turbulent soil. Since then I have travelled: moved… Read More South
Stewart Brown Proudly wearing the rosette of my skin I strut into Sabina England boycotting excitement bravely something badly amiss. Cricket. Not the game they play at Lords, The crowd- whoever saw a crowd At a cricket match? – are caged vociferous partisans, quick to take offence. England sixty eight for none at lunch. ‘What… Read More Test Match Sabina Park
Her son was first made known to her as a sense of unease, a need to cry for little reasons and a metallic tide rising in her mouth each morning. Such signs made her know That she was not alone in her body. She carried him full term tight up under her heart. She carried… Read More The Woman Speaks to the Man who has Employed her Son By Lorna Goodison
Martin Carter This is the dark time, my love, All round the land brown beetles crawl about. The shining sun is hidden in the sky Red flowers bend their heads in awful sorrow. This is the dark time, my love, It is the season of oppression, dark metal, and tears. It is the festival of… Read More This is the Dark Time, My Love
I leave this house box pieces of the five-week life I’ve gathered. I’ll send them on to fill spaces in my future life. One thing is left a spray of orchids someone gave from a bouquet one who makes a ritual of flower-giving sent. The orchids have no fragrance but purple petals draw you to… Read More Orchids by Hazel Simmons-McDonald
CHARACTERS Black man White woman SETTING Jamaica SUMMARY The third-person narrator is unnamed. The story centers around a black man asking a white woman for light from her cigarette. She feels that the man is trespassing on her personal space. The woman has a problem with the colour of the man’s skin and shows… Read More Blackout by Roger Mais
by Paule Marshall (American) CHARACTERS The narrator Da-duh Adry (the narrator’s mother) SETTING(s) Barbados The disembarkation shed St. Thomas New York SUMMARY OF THE STORY The narrator describes Da-duh as a woman of eighty-odd years whose face looked like a death mask but still maintained eyes that were full of spirit. She is the matriarch… Read More To Da- duh in Memoriam
Pearl Crayton (American) CHARACTERS The narrator Rena Miss Daya The narrator’s mother The narrator’s father/the deacon Reverend Davis Catherine Sam SETTINGS 1936 United States of America Louisiana Plantation SUMMARY OF STORY Flashback is used in the story as the narrator recounts an experience she had when she was just twelve years old. The story is… Read More The Day the World Almost Came to an End – Analysis
CHARACTERS Emma York Dorian York/ Dory Jack York Maria Mrs. Ruby Robinson Frank Grandaddy (Emma’s father) SETTINGS The York’s house The mall The train station SUMMARY OF STORY Dorian or Dory is the only child of Jack and Emma. She tells the story of the relationships in her family. Dorian and her father do not… Read More Emma by Carolyn Cole (American)
Julie Tagg| Think and Write for CSEC English A and B CHARACTERS Leticia Green (Aunt Teach) June June’s mother Georgia SETTINGS 1950’s Jamaica Brooklyn New York SUMMARY OF STORY Pollard looks at love for one’s country in “Georgia and them there United States”. June is the young Jamaican narrator who gets the opportunity to visit… Read More Georgia and Them There United States by Velma Pollard (Jamaican)
James Berry I wish my teacher’s eyes wouldn’t go past me today. Wish he’d know it’s okay to hug me when I kick a goal. Wish I myself wouldn’t hold back when answer comes. I’m no woodchopper now like all ancestors. I wish I could be educated to the best of tune up, and earn… Read More Dreaming Black Boy
Elma Mitchell We shouted out ‘We’ve got her! Here she is! It’s her all right ‘. We caught her. There she was – A decent-looking woman, you’d have said, (They often are) Beautiful, but dead scared, Tousled – we roughed her up A little, nothing much And not the first time By any means She’d… Read More A Stone’s Throw
My parents kept me from children who were rough Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes Their thighs showed through rags they ran in the street And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams. I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron Their jerking hands and their knees tight on my… Read More My Parents by Stephen Spender
Birdshooting season the men make marriages with their guns My father’s house turns macho as from far the hunters gather All night long contentless women stir their brews: hot coffee chocolata, cerassie wrap pone and tie-leaf for tomorrow’s sport. Tonight the men drink white rum neat. In darkness shouldering their packs, their guns, they leave… Read More Birdshooting Season by Olive Senior
