The English Miscellany

'Scott has spent pages and pages upon describing a country scene, this is very uninteresting, but it is intensely good literature.' ( T he Newbolt Report: “The Teaching of English in England” (1921)) In popular literature description appears to have been devalued in favour of character and plot. Description can be enjoyable in itself, but often it relates to, and helps to build the plot, mood, character, or atmosphere.  In our busy modern world perhaps we feel that we don’t have time to wallow in description. I have heard some writers saying that they don't bother doing the scene setting any more. This is sad. In fact, our age is one of immense (simulated) visual and sonic richness and variety. Never have we had such an immense range of sensory stimuli. Nonetheless, we are often so caught up in the flow that we lack either the creative engagement or the critical detachment that would enable the production of delightful or striking descriptive prose. Desc

Part 1: Introductions for younger readers and viewers Video SparkNotes: Shakespeare's Othello summary. 9 mins 14 sec Cliffs Notes. 7 mins 45 sec This Short Animated Version of the Play is an excellent taster if you have but a small appetite Part 2: If you consider that reciting or performing Shakespeare requires a stiff, posh, upper class, drama-school  British accent, think again.  Prof David Crystal demonstrates 'authentic' Original Pronunciation Part 3: Essential viewing for advanced students is a classic production from the BBC, directed by Jonathan Miller. This is a Claustrophobic and Complete version which is highly recommended. This made-for-TV production features Anthony Hopkins as Othello, with Bob Hoskins as the treacherous, jealousy-ridden soldier Iago. 3 hrs 23 mins. Available here . Classic film (1952). Orson Welles' daring and visually adventurous production of William Shakespeare's classic play. Welles, one of th

Boys are underperforming by 10% or more, compared to girls' literacy. My experience working with boys and adolescents (9-15) in the last year has taught me that they do not have an insurmountable problem with reading or writing. But far too often they are being forced to answer tedious comprehension questions. Or they are pushed into commenting critically on subjects that do not relate at all to their interests. Research shows that often boys visualize reading as a female activity. So some of the problems are part of the current culture and construction of reading as an activity. At first, the key to success, in my view, is to work with their existing interests. That means that you need to find out what fires their imagination. In an overcrowded classroom that is sometimes difficult, and there is a tendency for the whole class to work on the same topics such as "Africa," or "Environment," or "Superheroes." The young people I've worked wi

  Did any of you hear Carole Hough, apparently Great Britain's only named "Professor of Onomastics" (University of Glasgow) speaking on BBC R4 this morning? Interesting to hear that her own name has three pronunciations: Huff, Howe and Hock! So what is Onomastics? " Onomastics or onomatology is the study of proper names of all kinds and the origins of names. The words are from the Greek : "ὀνομαστικός" ( onomastikos ), "of or belonging to naming" and "ὀνοματολογία" ( onomatologia ), from "ὄνομα" ( ónoma ) "name". Toponymy or toponomastics , the study of place names, is one of the principal branches of onomastics. Anthroponomastics is the study of personal names." Some of my favourite weird English names are Beaulieu              pronounced      Bewly Cecil                   pronounced      Sissill Cholmondeley     pronounced      Chum-ly Derby                 pronounced      Darby Giffo

While we may want to cherish Shakespeare's oratory and nobility, he was also the master-genius of the gross and shocking insult. In this blog will discover some of my favourite insults from the Bard. I find that children love to explore these types of offensive language. Whether the words makes sense of not to modern ear, its worth attending to the sonic quality of the language. And playing with these terms often helps to break down the stuffy, polite image of Shakespeare as the custodian of respectable values and the representative of a refined, civilised society. A List of Useful Descriptive Insult Words (Adjectives) Artless, Base-court, Bat-fowling, Bawdy, Beef-witted, Beetle-headed, Beslubbering, Boil-brained, Bootless, Churlish, Clapper-clawed, Clay-brained, Clouted, Cockered, Common-kissing, Craven, Crook-pated, Currish, Dankish, Dismal-dreaming, Dissembling, Dizzy-eyed, Dog-hearted, Dread-bolted, Droning, Earth-vexing, Elf-skinned, Errant, Fat-kidneyed,

Love ... and bitter insults ... in Shakespeare If you’ve already overdosed on the cheap sentimentality of St. Valentine’s Day, it’s worth recalling that the Great Bard of Love, William Shakespeare, often portrayed love in its most bitter-sweet terms.Typically, love is a kind of sickness, or madness, leading to death. Have you noticed how quickly romantic, unrequited love turns to death and decay ( eros and thanatos ) at the opening of his great comedy Twelfth Night ? If music be the food of love, play on;  Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,  The appetite may sicken, and so die.  That strain again! it had a dying fall:  O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,  That breathes upon a bank of violets,  Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:  'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.  O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,  That, notwithstanding thy capacity  Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,  Of what validity and pitch soe'

Robert Burns to Bob Dylan Sadly for tradition, it’s quite possible that we are celebrating Valentine's Day on the wrong date, however, due to precession of equinoxes and the use of   a Gregorian calendar since 1582. Alternatively, you might celebrate fertility, in the ancient Roman tradition of Lupercalia during 13-15th February. If you forget today, then go with the Eastern Orthodox Church, which offers both the 6th and 30th July. What's most delightful about Valentine's Day is that it is an opportunity for lovers to reach for their pens. This may not be great news for classic literature, but I think that we should celebrate the creative and the linguistic turn that is inspired by love. Romantic clichés are not in fact the invention of the modern commercial world:     The rose is red, the violet's blue,     The honey's sweet, and so are you.     Thou art my love and I am thane;     I drew thee to my Valentine:     The lot was cast and th

If you have been reading Valerie Martin's Property which is an optional exam set text in Britain for many 16+ A-level students, you will be familiar with the horrors of slavery, and the problems of voice, representation and point of view in black literature. I'm always surprised that so many teachers recoil from teaching texts that may be harrowing. After all, the postmodern ennui that pervades so much of contemporary society does far more harm by turning away from our violent heritage and the continuation of hatred, exploitation and abuse across all societies today. If you have not come across it, I'd also strongly recommend reading Langston Hughes' How to be a Bad Writer (In Ten Easy Lesson) 1. Use all the clichés possible, such as “He had a gleam in his eye,” or ‘Her teeth were white as pearls.” 2. If you are a Negro, try very hard to write with an eye dead on the white market – use modern stereotypes of older stereotypes – big burly Negroes, crim

Everywhere humanity appears to be at war with itself. Yet we spend so much of our time with our mildly pained faces averted. Often we just don't know what to do. That's why creative writing really matters. It takes facts and documents them vividly. But writers also reconstruct life. By speaking out, writers re-invent the world in words. In doing this, they create new zones of possibility for liberation. Historically, the anti-slavery movement was very effective in using the printing press both to document and to imagine the life of a slave. For the critical reader these are often both historical works and timeless aesthetic creations. In most cases there will be limited perspectives and distortions of point of view. Voices stutter and stammer, and cover up, and style eloquently glosses, justifies and glorifies. Language offers enlightenment but also clouds judgments. There is much to be learned from reading a range of pro and anti-slavery texts. There are contradictio

The Melancholy of the Abandoned Book? Reading is far more than just mouthing the words on the page. While there is a lot to be said for silence and solitude in reading, there's also a clear benefit from group discussion and collaborative exercises. For me reading is part of a continuum of activities which have been designed to be creative and engaging for the participants. For adults, as well as children, reading ideally involves creative and critical reflection. Reading harnesses a variety of brain functions, so we should cater for multiple learning styles in our approach to the activity. There is far more that can be done than the traditional closed-answer comprehension exercises. These are some of the activities that work well with readers and encourage them to be more actively engaged in storybooks: Explain what you liked or disliked about the book’s illustrations. Why not create your own illustrations, or devise a collage of cut-out images? What colours best r