‘Strawberries’ By Edwin Morgan

Learning Intentions Focus on a past paper question and begin to understand how to write a Higher Critical Essay Understand how to structure a mini-essay in order to answer the question Work together to write your first Higher mini-essay

Past Paper Question 2010 Choose a poem in which the creation of mood or atmosphere is an important feature. Show how the poet creates the mood or atmosphere, and discuss its importance in your appreciation of the poem as a whole. Ask them to highlight key words/phrases

Past Paper Question 2010 You will see that the question can be broken up into two sections: General part of the question Choose a poem in which the creation of mood or atmosphere is an important feature. Specific part of the question Show how the poet creates the mood or atmosphere, and discuss its importance in your appreciation of the poem as a whole.

Past Paper Question 2010 You MUST address both parts of the task in your critical essay in order to pass. To ensure you achieve a B or and A, your essay must have a clear line of thought, which addresses the task.

Mini-Essay Your task is to write a mini-essay that addresses both the general and specific part of the question. You will need to include an: Introduction 2 PCQE sections A brief conclusion You can use your notes and hand outs to help you.

Introductions Your introduction is extremely important as it shows the marker you know what you are writing about and that you are going to address the task throughout your essay.

Global Statement Global statement – You can memorise this part of your introduction and use it for ANY essay question as it will always contain the same information: Title Author Genre General message of the text

Introductions - Example ‘Strawberries’ by Edwin Morgan is a deeply romantic and touching poem, which describes a perfect moment between two lovers on a hot Summer’s day. Morgan expertly captures this intimate moment and allows the reader access to a very private experience.

Introductions - Example In the poignant love poem “Strawberries” by Edwin Morgan, the poet conveys a love expressed through strawberry flavoured kisses at the foot of the Kilpatrick Hills on a humid, sticky summer’s day. Ad with much of his other work, Morgan relies heavily on the use of senses to draw in and involve the reader, fully capturing and conveying his mood and the deeply intimae nature of this event to us.

Specific Statement Specific Statement – This is the section of your introduction that you make up on the spot in order to answer your question. This should always contain: Clear reference to BOTH parts of the task The techniques you will analyse in order to meet the task

Introductions - Example The mood and atmosphere of love is especially important in this poem as it allows the reader to understand the depth of feelings between the two characters. Morgan effectively uses word choice, structure and imagery to create this mood and help the reader appreciate the poem as a whole.

Introductions - Example ‘Strawberries’ by Edwin Morgan is a deeply romantic and touching poem, which describes a perfect moment between two lovers on a hot Summer’s day. Morgan expertly captures this intimate moment and allows the reader access to a very private experience. The mood and atmosphere of love is especially important in this poem as it allows the reader to understand the depth of feelings between the two characters. Morgan effectively uses word choice, structure and imagery to create this mood and help the reader appreciate the poem as a whole.

Over to you…. On your own, write your own introduction for ‘Strawberries’. Make sure you have a clear global statement and reference to BOTH parts of task in your specific statement. Checklist: Title Poet Genre General message Reference to BOTH parts of the task Techniques

Peer Assessment Swap your introductions with someone else and highlight the checklist to ensure they have included everything: Title Poet Genre General message Reference to BOTH parts of the task Techniques You also need to give your partner two stars and a wish. Be constructive, don’t just write anything!

PCQE Main Body of Your Essay At Higher, the onus is on you to structure your essay with a specific line of thought that meets the essay task. To help you do this, we will look at a structure you can use in the main body of your essay – PCQE

POINT This is when you make your point about the writer’s use of a particular technique in relation to the task. These should signpost to the reader what techniques you will focus on and further your argument.

CONTEXT The next step is to provide a context to your evidence. This means explaining to the reader WHERE your quotation comes from and WHAT is happening at the point in the text.

QUOTATION Choose an appropriate quotation/piece of evidence from your text.

EVALUATION This is the largest part of your structure. You need to ANALYSE and EXPLAIN the effect created by the poet’s use of technique(s) and evaluate how effective they have been in creating this effect in relation to the question.

Task Two In your groups, create a list of points that you can make about ‘Strawberries’ in relation to the critical essay task. For example – Immediately, the reader is drawn into the intimacy and setting of the poem in the opening lines.

Past Paper Question 2010 Choose a poem in which the creation of mood or atmosphere is an important feature. Show how the poet creates the mood or atmosphere, and discuss its importance in your appreciation of the poem as a whole. Ask them to highlight key words/phrases

Possible Points

Quotation Your quotations should be skilfully woven in to your essay. It is appropriate especially when dealing with poetry to use more than one quotation to emphasise your main point. Also do not feel obliged to go through the poem chronologically but dip in and out of different sections where appropriate. Above all, AVOID the guided tour approach. You must only select and use appropriate evidence.

Task Three As a group, take one of the points we had created earlier and write one PQCE (with additional quotes if necessary) which you think meets the question.

Example PCQE The romantic atmosphere is created almost immediately and the reader is drawn into the intimacy and setting of the poem in the opening lines. This is obvious through Morgan’s word choice with the repeated use of “we” throughout the piece. It is almost as though he is attempting to speak to his lover directly and used his words seductively to evoke the moment of this special encounter. Morgan is fully aware of the importance of the senses in retrieving dormant memories and describes the weather as “sultry”, cleverly illustrating both the hot, humid, sticky atmosphere as well as the obvious sexual attraction between himself and his lover. Overall then, it is clear from the poet's word choice here that he is highlighting the passion between the two as well as foreshadowing the storm that comes at the end of the poem, cleansing both the lovers and their plates.

Homework – Mini Essay Complete your mini-essay for Monday 19/09. Include: A complete introduction 3 PQAE sections Conclusion