WJEC ENGLISH LITERATURE

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Death, without worry. V The tree’s earthy base is covered in hardening dust, While the shadows cast spread across in darkening black. The men surround the tree with shirts of starched white, As sweat accumulates on necks from suffocating heat, Standing underneath a dense clouded sky of grey. Blank faces outside, whilst hearts inside heavily beat. One man watches from further back feeling for the black, Without being able to describe his thoughts of grey Which don’t fit into society’s rules of black and white. Surrounded by white faces covered in engrained dust He feels lost within the sea, he feels heated At being unable to change the world - he is beaten. VI I am the rope which hangs limpless on the tree. I am the rope which slowly works its way round your neck. Python-like I tighten my grip. Tighten, tighten, till my grooves cut grooves in your skin. You clutch at me desperately like I'm a parting lover: we are inseparable now. So close I feel your breath, which is starting to escape you. You start to rise with me, Start to lose breath, To feel pain, to be gone. No w you hang limpless on the tree. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25
Commentary Having read William Faulkner’s ‘Dry September’, I was immediately inspired by the use of different narrative perspectives to portray one scene. My decision to write poetry meant that I was more stimulated by the subject matter than the style, choosing to centre my poetry around the lynching of a black man in America in the late nineteenth century. Moreover, the subject matter was chosen due to a newspaper article which detailed the appalling nature of lynchings, which included describing how the victims’ ‘ears, fingers and toes became souvenirs’ and furthermore, that some victims had their eyes gouged out. The subject was a challenging one, as it is a complex and emotional topic which still presents difficulties in today’s society. As usually a prose writer, the experimentation with poetry was a demanding experience as I found it difficult to shift my style into a more poetical approach. For example, the use of the word ‘prejudice’ in III caused me some difficulty as I discovered what a powerful word the abstract noun is, requiring the rest of the poem to withstand this. The use of the different perspectives meant that it was possible to meddle with various voices and narrative techniques. The difference between the black man’s voice in II and the rope’s narration in VI is startling; despite both poems being in the first person, the subtle simplicity of II contrasts the disturbing speech of the rope who appeals to the victim as ‘a parting lover’. Additionally, the use of different rhyming patterns created unique effects on the narrator’s manner. For example in III, with the woman who has falsely accused the black man, the use of trite rhyming couplets creates an uncomfortable sense of falsity. The use of rhetorical questions in that particular poem enabled me to address the reader and to stimulate questions for them in why the woman lied about what the victim did to her. I considered her words, ‘dirty Negro’, in depth as they are dreadful words for us in today’s society; however, I wanted to capture her particular voice and believe that those words achieved that. In a similar vein, in II, the narrator references his Momma’s saying, revealing parts of his past and the constant division in society which had been established. The imagery in the collection of poems was intended to have repeated themes which will be emphasised to the reader. The idea of contrast between black and white was significant, not just between the races but also in metaphorical terms, such as the contrast between the men’s white shirts and the tree’s shadows in V. The concept of eyes as an image was extremely important; having learnt that often victims’ eyes were gouged out, the connection between this and the moral blindness of the white perpetrators stuck in my mind. This image can be seen in I and II, for instance ‘His sight is lost –/ the others were blinded before’, combined with the close alliteration for emphasis. The pathetic fallacy in V is another expression of the tension and pressure within America at the time, which was an inspiration from ‘Dry September’, where the use of oppressive heat combined with ‘dust’ reflects this. The interjections of unusual details was another style literary technique which I was inspired to emulate; for example, the ‘recurrent surges of stale pomade and lotion’ in the short story or the ‘crown of/ desert-grown cactus thistles’ from IV. My decision to allow the victim of the lynching to have a narration of his own, in contrast to ‘Dry September’, was to give the black man a voice in the history of the lynchings. Obstacles lay in getting each narrator’s manner correct, especially in the leader of the white men as I found it difficult to ascertain his exact expression; therefore, I moved more into description of his physical appearance and his senses, allowing the reader to infer his beliefs from this. To show the grey areas which is represented as the barber in ‘Dry September’, the man in V re veals an outsider who is swept up in the mob mentality and is unable to express his true 26
Page 1 and 2: GCE TEACHER GUIDANCE LT2 Internal A
Page 3 and 4: from the collection were considered
Page 5 and 6: Applying the assessment objectives
Page 7 and 8: • pastiche • modernising origin
Page 9 and 10: LT2 SECTION A: PROSE STUDY Candidat
Page 11 and 12: power. She again becomes an object
Page 13 and 14: LT2 SECTION A: PROSE STUDY Candidat
Page 15 and 16: is perhaps not as acute as Victor
Page 17 and 18: Principal Moderator’s Comments Ho
Page 19 and 20: How do Kate Chopin and Anne Bronte
Page 21 and 22: with a violent husband, whereas for
Page 23 and 24: LT2 SECTION B: CREATIVE READING Can
Page 25: Next day, my fate arrives. The rope
Page 29 and 30: Principal Moderator’s Comments Cr
Page 31 and 32: Foolish Affairs Dearest John, I kno
Page 33 and 34: Commentary “Like giving into the
Page 35 and 36: are brought to question: when Jo sp
Page 37 and 38: LT2 SECTION B: CREATIVE READING Can
Page 39 and 40: Commentary At first, this short sto
Page 41 and 42: Appendix 1 LT 2 SECTION B: Guidance
Page 43 and 44: AS ENGLISH LITERATURE LT2 Section A

WJEC ENGLISH LITERATURE

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