Medusa by Carol Ann Duffy
The poem Medusa by Carol Ann Duffy has interestingly used escalation in order to create a tense atmosphere that shows the threat of her powers as well as the extent to which her thoughts are breaking down.
The first stanza has sibilance on the words “hissed”, “spat”, and “scalp” which help emphasize how her thoughts are taking over and the “sss” sound evokes the image of a snake which symbolizes lies, deceit, and evil.
The
Little Red Cap and Mrs Darwin
How has Carol Ann Duffy rewritten/transformed a known text or story? How can her versions have the same characters, but be “about” something different?
I think that the reason Carol Ann Duffy has rewritten Little Red Riding hood is to contrast the lively kid’s story with a much darker meaning, particularly of toxic relationships. The general premise of the story features similar characters in order to allude to the original story; however, the storyline is tweaked in particular points which create logical breaks from what the reader is expecting. This not only conveys the underlying message, but it also forces the reader to pay attention to the story as they are now aware of moments where the story strays from the original.
What is a personal essay?
I believe a personal essay is a type of literary text that can incorporate many other styles of writing. The main purpose of a personal essay is to communicate a memory from one person to another. Since the author is not bound to conveying a message, they can implement a variety of styles in order to communicate their memory/feelings with the greatest accuracy. Examples of this could be shifting from 3rd to 1st person narrative through the story or using excessively long sentences to build imagery in order to set the scene for the reader.
I think the most defining characteristic of personal essays is how they have a very casual structure, as though you’re having a conversation with someone. This makes them very efficient in storytelling because it is essentially like the author is there with you telling you the story in person; I think this is often highlighted by the author’s personal idiosyncrasies being reflected in the text.
Badminton After Phoenix Cup (Reflection #2), #LO2
AJatS Importance of Mario’s happiness
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter represent Mario’s two loves (romantic love, literature), then what does the book seem to say is more important to happiness?
The book uses Mario’s two loves to create internal conflict representing how Mario needs to decide which one takes priority as they both appear to consume his life. The book doesn’t specifically take sides; however, it repeatedly shows Mario sacrificing everything he has in order to be with Julia. The book does represent a theme that has been commonly portrayed in films where in order to become one of the greats of an industry, one must sacrifice everything else.
Interestingly, the book doesn’t fully make Mario fall into the cliché of having the protagonist give up everything in his life in order to achieve success. Mario instead manages to balance the two loves of his life and even though his romantic love doesn’t work out Mario is still left with his passion for literature; this perhaps indicates that passions are a means of long term happiness whereas romance may be more spur-of-the-moment and short term as they don’t always work out.
When Cupid is A Prying Journalist Response
What choices have been made to be “good TV”?
I think generally “Good TV” represents programs that draw the audience into the story and are able to create a strong relationship between the characters and the audience in a manner that the vicissitudes that affect the characters evoke strong emotions from the audience as well. In “When Cupid is A Prying Journalist Response” the audience is emotionally connected to the stories of both the interviewer and the entrepreneur and as the tension builds as the relationship with the exes seem to be getting stronger, the audience also feels the rising tension and is emotionally conflicted as they don’t mean ill towards the characters’ current love interest. The ending is a satisfying conclusion which, though not surprising, still feels exhilarating as the tension that has been built throughout the episode finally gets released with the ending.
What would you have done differently? Why?
I think I would have chosen to build up the tension and leave the audience with a cliffhanger where they are unsure how the characters end up, in order to retain some of the audience for the next episode where I would conclude with a happy ending. I feel like this approach would be more beneficial in generating revenue.
The essays are all written by very different people (obviously). The shows are all directed and adapted by the same person (John Carney). Once you’ve seen multiple episodes, how confident would you be about identifying John Carney’s influence on the material?
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How do this series —and Aunt Julia & the Scriptwriter — deal with the transformation of reality into “art”?
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