May15 English A Literature HL Paper 1

[IB_Girrrrl]

 

Physics HL That's brave. 

[sophiaspitz]

 

in HL tz2 i chose the poem "the pigeon" by Richard Church. i found it easier as compared to the prose. and i'm not sure if i'm correct or not, but my teacher told me to always notice the printed structure of the poem (this happened when we were studying Neruda) and in the paper i commented that the structure of the poem (how it visually looks) is similar to that of a structure being built horizontally. I was very unsure about this, but then after the paper i approached a grade 7 student and he approved of it. did anyone else happen to mention it? 

Did you happen to find any reference to war in that poem? I saw the date Church wrote the poem was 1955, so I immediately thought about WWII and how that would be an influence on the poem, and how a lot of the poem is symbolic for other aspects of war. What do you think? Because a lot of people in my class said they talked about destruction of nature. 

 

 

I only mentioned War briefly, nothing too major. Mostly about nature :/

[That_IB_Guy]

 

 

in HL tz2 i chose the poem "the pigeon" by Richard Church. i found it easier as compared to the prose. and i'm not sure if i'm correct or not, but my teacher told me to always notice the printed structure of the poem (this happened when we were studying Neruda) and in the paper i commented that the structure of the poem (how it visually looks) is similar to that of a structure being built horizontally. I was very unsure about this, but then after the paper i approached a grade 7 student and he approved of it. did anyone else happen to mention it? 

Did you happen to find any reference to war in that poem? I saw the date Church wrote the poem was 1955, so I immediately thought about WWII and how that would be an influence on the poem, and how a lot of the poem is symbolic for other aspects of war. What do you think? Because a lot of people in my class said they talked about destruction of nature. 

 

 

I only mentioned War briefly, nothing too major. Mostly about nature :/

 

like i said it completely depends on the examiner and how he/she feels about how far your idea is justified. 

[neon_tiger]

I did the TZ1 "Meditation on a Bone". Naturally, timelessness of emotions and the written word etc. BUT ALSO: the question of legacy is an important point you would've needed to get more marks. The question mark at the end is huge, and very Yeatsian (for those of you who studied Yeats). It feels as if the speaker (perhaps a reflection of the writer himself) is questioning what his legacy will be, and whether it will be a poem like this that determines his legacy. Does he define his own legacy, or will it be determined by someone else, hundreds of years in the future? 

Edited May 7, 2015 by neon_tiger

[amyibrahim]

 

 

 

in HL tz2 i chose the poem "the pigeon" by Richard Church. i found it easier as compared to the prose. and i'm not sure if i'm correct or not, but my teacher told me to always notice the printed structure of the poem (this happened when we were studying Neruda) and in the paper i commented that the structure of the poem (how it visually looks) is similar to that of a structure being built horizontally. I was very unsure about this, but then after the paper i approached a grade 7 student and he approved of it. did anyone else happen to mention it? 

Did you happen to find any reference to war in that poem? I saw the date Church wrote the poem was 1955, so I immediately thought about WWII and how that would be an influence on the poem, and how a lot of the poem is symbolic for other aspects of war. What do you think? Because a lot of people in my class said they talked about destruction of nature. 

 

 

I only mentioned War briefly, nothing too major. Mostly about nature :/

 

like i said it completely depends on the examiner and how he/she feels about how far your idea is justified. 

 

Yeah, post-war trauma that's what i thought of. My problem is I think too much about it, and I think I went too deep into analysis... What were your texts for paper 2? I'm hoping my paper 2 grade improves my overall. 

[That_IB_Guy]

 

 

 

 

in HL tz2 i chose the poem "the pigeon" by Richard Church. i found it easier as compared to the prose. and i'm not sure if i'm correct or not, but my teacher told me to always notice the printed structure of the poem (this happened when we were studying Neruda) and in the paper i commented that the structure of the poem (how it visually looks) is similar to that of a structure being built horizontally. I was very unsure about this, but then after the paper i approached a grade 7 student and he approved of it. did anyone else happen to mention it? 

Did you happen to find any reference to war in that poem? I saw the date Church wrote the poem was 1955, so I immediately thought about WWII and how that would be an influence on the poem, and how a lot of the poem is symbolic for other aspects of war. What do you think? Because a lot of people in my class said they talked about destruction of nature. 

 

 

I only mentioned War briefly, nothing too major. Mostly about nature :/

 

like i said it completely depends on the examiner and how he/she feels about how far your idea is justified. 

 

Yeah, post-war trauma that's what i thought of. My problem is I think too much about it, and I think I went too deep into analysis... What were your texts for paper 2? I'm hoping my paper 2 grade improves my overall. 

 

my paper 2 texts were look back in anger and streetcar named desire. well, don't worry you'll be fine. 

[djouma]

Hey guys, I did the Tan Twan Eng passage for paper 1. I also did talk about nature as the war itself. I continued to state that through the setting of the jungle the author exemplifies the narrator fears of  " not coming back". I always talk about the lack of dialogue in creating an ominous and distrustful mood. I focused on the characterisation of "the girl" and how she guides the narrator into the jungle. with this, i focused on the tactile imagery of their physical touching and its overall effect. This might be completely off base but I mentioned the narrator relationship with the girl. It begins with her leading and the narrator " following", she is always the one touching the narrator ... however in the last paragraph, the balance in the relationship shifts as it is the Narrator that instigates the touch... I basically concluded that physical touching was a form of comfort.  

[yammy10]

I did the poem, "Meditations on a Bone". I mostly talked about how the scholar is able to bring the inscription to life and how powerful emotions can be felt by other people years later. I wrote 7 pages double space I think, so 2ish booklets. Hopefully I did alright.

[bethiedrama101]

I did Tan Twan Eng prose, but to be honest I don't think I analysed as much as I could. I did write about nature becoming the enemy, but my classmates (who are much better at english than me) said that they also wrote about how the conflict in the prose echos our conflict happening in our modern time, and relatable. Also about death imagery and the soldier's desensitised/detached attitude in the story? (in regard to when he saw the dead bodies)

i talked about how the jungle embodied death for the narrator. All the narrator would pick out would be the vines hanging like nooses. I also said this was foreshadowing to the death they were about to see. 

[Azriya]

I did the prose for TZ1, I thought there was a lot to talk about regarding routine and universality.

[Yianni]

I did the TZ1 "Meditation on a Bone". Naturally, timelessness of emotions and the written word etc. BUT ALSO: the question of legacy is an important point you would've needed to get more marks. The question mark at the end is huge, and very Yeatsian (for those of you who studied Yeats). It feels as if the speaker (perhaps a reflection of the writer himself) is questioning what his legacy will be, and whether it will be a poem like this that determines his legacy. Does he define his own legacy, or will it be determined by someone else, hundreds of years in the future? 

I'm glad you said that "neon_tiger". I too wrote about this idea of human legacy, in fact I wrote that "the bones are a symbolic expression of human desire for permanence and immortality." - bit Plato's symposium there. I wrote that while explicitly bones are our last remnants we leave behind after we die, implicitly they connote to this idea of legacy, and our need to be remembered and have a lasting impact. I also briefly elaborated on the paradoxical nature of literature and how a blank page/simple bone can have such potency and emotional power in its words. I said that the poet presents life as a never ending carousel and that human presence is only transient - lexical patterning of time. I also had a paragraph actually elaborating on what was said on the bone, bit on the oxymoronic nature of love " I love and hate the wife" I think it's what it wrote, and how ultimately humans are not so different from each as they think they are. The fact that the writing evoked an equal response from all the readers. I didn't feel I did as well because it was my first exam like I only wrote 4 sides but I know I could have done better - not enough analysis on imagery done here. 

Edited May 8, 2015 by Yianni

[neon_tiger]

 

I did the TZ1 "Meditation on a Bone". Naturally, timelessness of emotions and the written word etc. BUT ALSO: the question of legacy is an important point you would've needed to get more marks. The question mark at the end is huge, and very Yeatsian (for those of you who studied Yeats). It feels as if the speaker (perhaps a reflection of the writer himself) is questioning what his legacy will be, and whether it will be a poem like this that determines his legacy. Does he define his own legacy, or will it be determined by someone else, hundreds of years in the future? 

I'm glad you said that "neon_tiger". I too wrote about this idea of human legacy, in fact I wrote that "the bones are a symbolic expression of human desire for permanence and immortality." - bit Plato's symposium there. I wrote that while explicitly bones are our last remnants we leave behind after we die, implicitly they connote to this idea of legacy, and our need to be remembered and have a lasting impact. I also briefly elaborated on the paradoxical nature of literature and how a blank page/simple bone can have such potency and emotional power in its words. I said that the poet presents life as a never ending carousel and that human presence is only transient - lexical patterning of time. I also had a paragraph actually elaborating on what was said on the bone, bit on the oxymoronic nature of love " I love and hate the wife" I think it's what it wrote, and how ultimately humans are not so different from each as they think they are. The fact that the writing evoked an equal response from all the readers. I didn't feel I did as well because it was my first exam like I only wrote 4 sides but I know I could have done better - not enough analysis on imagery done here. 

 

Yianni, I think 4 sides is good enough! I also wrote four sides, but it was very coherent and densely packed. Remember, the IB readers have to read so many of these, sometimes a shorter essay that hits the nail on the head with depth and precision is a breath of fresh air! Also, I think we wrote almost exactly the same thing in our essays. I think I also remember talking about "living bone", juxtaposed in that way, and that's where I explored some oxymoronic effect, especially regarding the fleeting nature of life/time in general and human desire to evade that "trap". I'm glad we're on the same wavelength with this essay!

 

Best of luck to you with the rest of your exams. What are your other subjects, if I may ask?

[Yianni]

subjects: HL eng lit, hist, music. SL physics, math, Greek language and literature. I am officially dying with these exams haha