UA Fanthorpe “Reports”

Study Focus: ‘Reports’ by U A Fanthorpe  Read the poem.  Read this context material and this article on UA Fanthorpe  Complete the First Impressions Worksheet  Annotate the poem identifying the structural and language features  Highlight the lines in italics in Stanzas 1-5. Note in the first instance, how the italicised comments have been placed in the same order as those in stanza 6.  Use the following list to ensure you have located these structures and techniques and thoroughly annotated your poem

Annotation of the Poem  Use the following list to ensure you have located these structures and techniques and thoroughly annotated your poem  Free verse  Seven (7) stanzas – sestet, three lines, five lines, five lines, sestet, octet, three lines. Note sentence beginnings and endings and how the enjambment creates flow within and across the stanzas  Use of italics to highlight ‘report’ comments and contrast with personal reflection – thoughts expressed as an internal monologue  Enjambment  Adage - a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth.  Alliteration  Allusion – biblical, Shakespearean

Annotation of the Poem  Antithesis  Comparative  Internal rhyme  Irony  Internal monologue  Metaphor and extended metaphor  Paradox  Parody  Sardonic tone  Verbs – modality, choice, absence

Summary Activity  Construct the following table in your workbooks and complete this summary activity with the statements which follow.

Summary Statements  Using your terminology list, taking the following statements, match them to the key phrases from the Syllabus and Text Prescriptions  ‘Reports’: examine the power of language to communicate ideas, and the angst and frustration of the teacher writing the reports  ‘Reports’: examine how the poem explores school as having a distinct culture unto itself  ‘Reports’: explore the sense that school has become home; familiarity and imposing presence yet alienating  ‘Reports’: explore how the teacher interacts with the reports, with parents and students as audience  ‘Reports’: explore how the poet sees school as her life – the limiting nature of being a teacher and committing everything to the job

 ‘Reports’: explicit use of language as a medium for interaction  ‘Reports’: role of school teacher interacting with students and parents  ‘Reports’: to interact in genuine ways with others – not to euphemise - connect and use language in ways that are meaningful and real  ‘Reports’: self realisation of the inane purpose of reports  ‘Reports’: satirical view of the reporting process - the lack of truth and genuine interaction that takes place in society  ‘Reports’: awareness of the comments that reflect our own growth as individuals; we would want to have a substantial impact on the world  ‘Reports’: propriety and social expectations that dictate the language we use; self realisation demonstrates the frustrations that can lead to our demise  Reports’: so much identity is invested in being a teacher and the expectations that all teachers should submit to a ‘higher calling’ and what this implies resonate across the poem – loss of self  ‘Reports’: we can see ourselves reflected through our own perceptions of others – when we report on others we are often reporting on ourselves as it reflects our input or lack thereof into the personal growth of others