National 5 Textual Analysis Scottish Text - Jackie Kay

Aims Understand how to effectively answer all types of questions by looking at model answers. Make a variety of links across the six poems for your final 8 mark question.

Prelim/Exam Textual Analysis = 20 marks out of 70 (remaining 30 made up from two folio pieces) Approximately 4/5 questions made up of 2 or 4 marks each before final 8 mark Q. 45 mins out of 1 hr and 30 mins for whole paper (critical essay + TA)

Scottish Text Ignore any other poems/extracts featured in paper for your final exam – go straight to Jackie Kay (usually last one) Do not use any of these poems to write a critical essay – you’ve studied a separate text in class for this. Demonstrating understanding and analysis of poems you’ve read/studied in class.

Revision of Poems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt8iqPT_las Jackie Kay discusses her 'Scottish Set Text' poetry for National 5 English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt8iqPT_las Barbara van der Meulen - English teacher at Ardnamurchan High School - interviews Scottish poet Jackie Kay about the poems selected as part of the Scottish Set Text list for National 5 English. Please note that this interview is audio only. Approx. 50 mins

Looking for Links Consider people involved in the poems Six poems – one will be offered for analysis within the paper, but you must be able to compare/contrast this with another suitable poem from your knowledge. Consider people involved in the poems Relationships – who/what/why? Language – Scots or English? Effect? Narrator – how many people are speaking? Who are they? Situations – what’s happening? Past/present? Theme(s) Symbols - representations

Understanding Usually asked early on in the paper but are also considered towards the end. ‘Lucozade’ Many of the main ideas or concerns of the poem come across clearly in the first three stanzas. Identify two of these main ideas or concerns from the first three stanzas. (2)

Answer(s) Conflicting feelings between the daughter and the mother. Illness – mother; mother’s condition is fatal Mother is strong-willed, demanding; does not want traditional gifts brought to hospital Death Aging Innocence/youth – concerned about her mother Nostalgia Image – mother is/was obese(?) Self-esteem

‘Lucozade’ How effective do you find any aspect of the final 5 lines as a conclusion to the poem? Your answer might deal with ideas and/or language. (2)

Answer(s) What is the purpose of a conclusion? Possessive, proud Contrast with concerns about weight/body image Light and cheerful Short, affectionate statements Happy memories/generally happy Find evidence to support these statements

Analysis ‘Bed’ Name the techniques the poet uses in the following phrases and comment on how effective they are in portraying the woman’s personality: “this big blastit bed” “year in, year oot” “ma great tent o’ nappy”? (6)

Alliteration of ‘B’ sound, emphasising the resent and hatred towards the bed she is confined to, a harsh sound. Makes her sound angry and demanding. Repetition – the repetition of “year” means that this isn’t a temporary situation, it has gone on for a long time and will continue to get worse. She clearly resents the fact that she’s stuck here forever. Metaphor – she describes her “nappy” as a “tent”, suggesting that it is too big for her, a humiliating size and something she can’t ignore. Babies wear nappies, reinforcing the idea that her vulnerability and dependence has increased with age. She’s obviously embarrassed.

‘Bed’ In stanza 9 and the first line of stanza 10 the mother’s language becomes less conversational. Comment on the effectiveness of the language techniques the poet uses to convey change. (4)

Metaphorical – contemplating her life so far and what’s left of it, if anything? Word choice appeals to our senses and helps us to imagine we are as fragile and frail as she is. Metaphorical – it won’t be long until she is a skeleton in the ground; image of skeleton and her aging, emaciated body. Personification – she feels vulnerable, almost threatened, by the moon – the moon appears and disappears every night/day, it never looks any different, whereas she will soon disappear forever. Metaphorical – compares her bedroom to a prison cell because she is confined to her bed, she can only imagine of life outside of these four walls.

8-Mark Question You can answer in bullet points if you feel you need to, there is no requirement to write a mini essay. Up to 2 marks can be achieved for identifying elements of commonality as identified in the question. A further 2 marks can be given for reference to the extract given. 4 additional marks can be awarded for similar references to at least one other text/part of the text by the writer.

1. Identification of commonality (2) = theme, central relationship, importance of setting, development in characterisation, use of personal experience, use of narrative style, or any other key element). 2. 1 reference to technique/idea/feature + 1 appropriate comment of text featured in paper. 3. 4 remaining marks for the above but about another poem.

Lucozade With close textual reference, show how the ideas and/or language of this poem are similar OR different to another poem by Jackie Kay that you have read. Read this question carefully and think about what poem you would use to answer this question.

Relationships between generations is a common theme in Jackie Kay’s poetry. Choose another poem by her which explores this theme and explain how she does so. Read this question carefully and think about what poem you would have been answering questions on previously and what poem you would use to answer this question.

In ‘Divorce’, Jackie Kay explores the theme of relations between generations. In Divorce she explores the relationship between a child and her parents. An example of this is when the speaker says, “for all the tedious chores I have done.” It is more than likely here that the child hasn’t really done boring chores, it’s just the fact that they are very annoyed that they have had to do chores. The relationship is again shown to be strained when the speaker says “all you do is shout and that’s not right.” Here the child is obviously looking for the negatives in her relationship with her parents. Her parents are highly unlikely to only shout at her, but as she is annoyed at them, she actually believes that they only shout at her.

Another poem of Jackie Kay’s that explores the same theme is ‘Bed Another poem of Jackie Kay’s that explores the same theme is ‘Bed.’ This, again, is about a strained relationship between a mother and child. This is first shown when the mother states “Am a burden tae her.” This is telling us how the daughter has to do a lot for the mother and how the mother knows this is very hard for her daughter. The relationship is again shown to be strained when the mother states “We dinny talk anymair.” This shows how the relationship between the mother and daughter has become that awkward that the two don’t even talk to each other. Again, the relationship is revealed to be strained when the mother says “Tho’ half the time I dinny believe her.” This shows how the mother has lost all trust for the daughter and basically has no confidence in what the daughter is telling her. Lastly, the relationship is again shown to be strained when the mother states “How will she feel.” Here the mother is trying to make the daughter feel guilty for not having a close bond with her mother.

So, it is shown that Jackie Kay explores the theme of relations between generations by showing strained relationships between parents and child, using various poetic techniques. 8/8 from a pupil who got 18/20 for TA (prelim) – gained an A2 overall.

Revision Plans Mindmaps Venn Diagrams – 6 circles for the 6 poems, similarities (in overlap) and differences between each. Colour-coding for different links Reading annotations, compare with others ‘Give one, get one’

Any questions?