National 5 Textual Analysis Jackie Kay

Revision of Poems 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.

Aims Understand individual poems and find appropriate poems to compare them with. (8) Understand how to effectively answer all three types of questions (UAE) by looking at model answers

Looking for Links 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 Language – Scots or English? Narrator – does this ever change? Situations Theme(s) Symbols

Understanding Usually early on in the questions 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. 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. 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.

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.

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.

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?