Of Mice and Men Revision Notes - GCSE

What's the correct comparative of the adjective clever ?

Although ‘cleverer’ is a word it sounds more professional to use ‘more clever’

How would you answer a 15 marker based on a romeo and juliet extract

Give an overview statement that is linked to the task. Present your key idea with textual detail in a critical style. Choose strong examples of language techniques used that you personally have a good knowledge of. Interlink contextual references where you can and where appropiate. Link back your ideas so your essay shows a sequence. Use accurate punctuation and spelling throughout your writing, as well as standard English. At the end link your conclusion back to the question.

How would you answer a 15 marker about an extract for romeo and juliet

Hi Georgia. There really isn’t a straightforward answer as it depends on what the question asks and extract it refers to. Do you have a certain question in mind?

How is Juliet presented over the course of Romeo and Juliet ? Please can you add quotes as well

Over the course of Romeo and Juliet, her character grows in depth and strength. When we first meet Juliet she is perceived as shy and innocent, however as her character grows throughout the play she shows great signs of strength, bravery and independence through events such as defying her father, marrying whom she wants to marry leading ultimately to her own suicide. A great quote to use that shines a spotlight on her strength and resilience to her father and her Capulet family is; "My only love sprung from my only hate". We can see her character development which is portrayed through Juliet taking control of her own destiny, "If all else fail, myself have power to die", declining the thought and action of ever marrying Paris.

Whom they were used to thrashing and maltreating just as they choose what might this line mean allegorically

In Animal Farm, animals are used as a metaphorical representation of humans, exhibiting how human nature is flawed through being selfish, violent and lusting for power. Contextually, the novel itself is used as an allegory for the Russian Revolution of 1917, representing how a capitalist society was overcome by a flawed communist state. The pigs in Animal Farm, lead by the character of Napoleon, represent the rival revolutionists, and whilst their ideals seem desirable at first, readers are exposed to the harsh realities that such a communist state represents, as one is able to witness the tyranny that the pigs enact over not only Mr. Jones, but ultimately the rest of the animals. This is done firstly subliminally through careful doctrinarian and propaganda, then later more overtly and forcefully. '....this sudden uprising of creatures whom they were used to thrashing and maltreating just as they chose, frightened them almost out of their wits." The use of the verbs "thrashing" and "maltreating", exposes the physical abuse of power from the pigs, whilst the following phrase "frightened them to their wits", with a focus on the hyperbolic adjective "frightened", and use of the noun "wits", highlights the gravity of the impact the pigs had on the rest of the farm animals, and further supports the notion of abused power being maintained through violence and intimidation.

Write the spirit of patriotism as reflected in rupert brooks poem the soldier

"The Soldier" is a sonnet by Rupert Brooke written during the first year of the First World War (1914). He speaks in the guise of an English soldier as he is leaving home to go to war. The poem glorifies England during the First World War and represents patriotic ideals by portraying death for one's country as a noble end and England as the noblest country to die for. Through this soldier’s passionate discussion of his relationship to England, the poem implies that people are formed by their home environment and culture, and that their country is something worth defending with their life. Though most people might fear death—particularly of the violent kind that war can bring—the speaker of “The Soldier” is prepared to die because he believes hew would be doing it for his beloved homeland. The speaker thus doesn’t want people to grieve his death. He sees that potential death—in some “foreign field” -as a way of making a small piece of the world “for ever England.” That’s because he sees himself as an embodiment of his nation. In the first stanza (the octave of the sonnet) stanza, he talks about how his grave will be England herself, and what it should remind the listeners of England when they see the grave. In the second stanza, the sestet, he talks about this death (sacrifice for England) as redemption; he will become “a pulse in the eternal mind”. He concludes that only life will be the appropriate thing to give to his great motherland in return for all the beautiful and the great things she has given to him, and made him what he is. The speaker begins by addressing the reader, and speaking to them in the imperative: “think only this of me.” This sense of immediacy establishes the speaker’s romantic attitude towards death in duty. He suggests that the reader should not mourn. Whichever “corner of a foreign field” becomes his grave; it will also become “forever England”. He will have left a monument in England in a foreign land, figuratively transforming a foreign soil to England. The speaker implies that England is mother to him. His love for England and his willingness to sacrifice is equivalent to a son’s love for his mother; but more than an ordinary son, he can give his life to her. The imagery in the poem is typically Georgina. The Georgian poets were known for their frequent mediations in the English countryside. England’s “flowers”, “her ways to roam”, and “English air” all represent the attitude and pride of the youth of the pre-industrial England; many readers would excuse the jingoistic them of this poem if they remember that this soldier’s bravery and sense of sacrifice is far better than the modern soldier and warfare in which there is nothing grand about killing people with automated machine guns! The soldier also has a sense of beauty of his country that is in fact a part of his identity. In the final line of the first stanza, nature takes on a religious significance for the speaker. He is “washed by the rivers”, suggesting the purification of baptism, and “blest by the sun of home.” In the second stanza, the sestet, the physical is left behind in favour of the spiritual. If the first stanza is about the soldier’s thought of this world and England, the second is about his thoughts of heaven and England. The images and praises of England run through both the stanzas. In the first stanza Brooke describes the soldier’s grave in a foreign land as a part of England; in the second, that actual English images abound. The sights, sounds, dreams, laughter, friends, and gentleness that England offered him during his life till this time are more than enough for him to thank England and satisfactorily go and die for her. The poet elaborates on what England has granted in the second stanza; ‘sights and sounds’ and all of his “dreams.” A “happy” England filled his life with “laughter” and “friends”, and England characterized by “peace” and “gentleness”. It is what makes English dust “richer” and what in the end guarantees “hearts at peace, under an English Heaven.”