User:Fabeha1

'''how to write an essay??

essay is an short piece of writing on a particular subject. you start practising it in high school. in this page i will tell you some points about how to write essay in short and easy way and then you will receive high level with it. so best of luck with these points and try your best to write. if any other questions please tell????

What do you have to do? In the Higher English Critical Essay paper you are required to write two essay answers. One and a half hours are allocated to this paper (i.e. 45 minutes for each essay). Each essay is worth 25 marks. You must answer on two of the following four separate genres (i.e. on different types of text).

Section A: Drama

Section B: Poetry

Section C: Prose (either fiction or non-fiction)

Section D: Film and TV drama

What are the examiners looking for? At the top of the paper you are given some general advice about the marking standards the examiners are using (known as ‘performance criteria’).

The following areas are being assessed:

The relevance of your essays to the questions you have chosen, and the extent to which you sustain an appropriate line of thought Your knowledge and understanding of key elements, central concerns and significant details of the chosen texts, supported by detailed and relevant evidence Your understanding, as appropriate to the questions chosen, of how relevant aspects of structure/style/language contribute to the meaning/effect/impact of the chosen texts, supported by detailed and relevant evidence Your evaluation, as appropriate to the questions chosen, of the effectiveness of the chosen texts, supported by detailed and relevant evidence The quality of your written expression and the technical accuracy of your writing Technique Before the questions you will find a reminder that “answers. . . should address relevantly the central concern(s) / theme(s) of the text and be supported by reference to appropriate ... techniques.”

The next page shows a list of techniques that are likely to be used in drama, prose, poetry and film and TV. The technical terms in these lists are the jargon of English literary criticism and it is important to make sure you know what these words mean.

Glossary of terms In a critical essay you should be able to write about key language features used in novels, short stories, plays and poems. Here's a reminder of what they are and how they work:

Alliteration: The first letter of a word is repeated in words that follow. For example: "The cold, crisp, crust of clean, clear ice."

Assonance: The same vowel sound is repeated but the consonants are different. For example: "He passed her a sharp, dark glance, shot a cool, foolish look across the room."

Colloquial: Language that is used with an informal meaning. Examples: "Chill", "Out of this world", "Take a rain check."

Dialect: The version of language spoken by particular people in a particular area, such as Scots.

Dialogue: Conversation between two people; or sometimes an imagined conversation between the narrator and the reader.

This is important in drama and can show conflict through a series of statements and challenges, or intimacy where characters mirror the content and style of each other's speech. It can also be found in the conversational style of a poem.

Dissonance: A discordant combination of sounds. For example: "The clash and spew of grinding waves against the quay."

Enjambment: A device used in poetry where a sentence continues beyond the end of the line or verse. This technique is often used to maintain a sense of continuation from one stanza to another. For example, this device is used in lines 15 and 16 of the Seamus Heaney poem "a tame cat / Turned savage", where the surprise of finding "Turned savage" at the beginning of the line enacts the shock of the cat's sudden change in temperament.

Hyperbole: Exaggerating something for literary purposes which is not meant to be taken literally. For example: "We gorged on the banquet of beans on toast."

Imagery: Similes, metaphors and personification. They all compare something real with something imagined.

Irony: The humorous or sarcastic use of words or ideas, implying the opposite of what they mean. A clear example of this can be found in 1984 by George Orwell, where the department responsible for war is called the Ministry of Peace. Shakespeare often makes made use of dramatic irony, where the audience knows something which the characters in the play do not. An example of this can be found in Romeo and Juliet, when Juliet is secretly preparing for her death on the evening before her supposed wedding to Paris, which is at odds with the joy in her household.

Metaphor: A word or phrase used to imply figurative, not literal or 'actual', resemblance. For example: "He flew into the room."

Monologue: An uninterrupted monologue can show a character's importance or state of mind. Monologue can be in speech form, delivered in front of other characters and having great thematic importance, or as a soliloquy where we see the character laying bare their soul and thinking aloud.

Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like the noise it is describing. Examples: "Splash", "Bang", "Pop", "Hiss".

Oxymoron: Where two words normally not associated are brought together. Examples: "Cold heat", "Bitter sweet".

Pathos: Language that evokes feelings of pity or sorrow.

Personification: Attributing a human quality to a thing or idea. For example: "The moon calls me to her darkened world".

Repetition: The repetition of a word or phrase to achieve a particular effect.

Rhyme: The way that words sound the same at the end of lines in poetry.

Poems often have a fixed rhyme-scheme (for example, Shakespearean sonnets have 14 lines with fixed rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG).

Try to comment as to what contribution the rhyme-scheme is making to the text as a whole. Why do you think the poet has chosen it? Does it add control or imitate the ideas in the poem?

Rhythm: a repetitive beat or metre within a poem. For example, Tennyson's poem The Lady of Shalott uses a strong internal rhythm to build up the sense of unrelenting monotony in the poem:

"There she weaves by night and day

A magic web with colours gay.

She has heard a whisper say,

A curse is on her if she stay

To look down to Camelot.

She knows not what the curse may be,

And so she weaveth steadily,

And little other care hath she,

The Lady of Shalott."

Simile: A phrase which establishes similarity between two things to emphasise the point being made. This usually involves the words 'like' or 'as'. For example: "'He is as quick as an arrow in flight", "As white as snow", "Like a burning star."

Symbolism: Symbolism is where something is used to represent something else. For example, snakes are often symbols of temptation as in the story of Adam and Eve, the colour white usually symbolises innocence, and a ringing bell can be a symbol for impending doom. Often objects, colours, sounds and places work as symbols of more abstract concepts, such as in the given examples. Symbols can sometimes give us a good insight into the themes.

Tone: The writer's tone, or voice, or atmosphere, or feeling that pervades the text, such as sadness, gloom, celebration, joy, anxiety, dissatisfaction, regret or anger. Different elements of writing can help to create this; long sentences or verses, with assonance (repeated vowel sounds), tend to create a sad, melancholic mood. Short syllabic, alliterative lines can create an upbeat, pacy atmosphere.

Word choice: Sometimes called 'register', this is the common thread in an author's choice of language. For example, authors may use words commonly associated with religion, words describing sensory experience such as touch, smell or colour or 'mood' words that reflect a character's state of mind.

These reminders are included in the question paper as your answer is expected to cover not only the content of the text but also the writer’s style.

Content refers to what the text is about.

Style refers to how the writer conveys the content to the reader.

Stylistic techniques will vary according to the genre or type of text. In drama, for example, you may consider aspects such as dialogue, exposition and denouement whereas in a poem you may be more likely to discuss rhyme, rhythm or imagery.

While it is important that your essay discusses both content and style, the best answers will manage to see the connections between these, rather than dealing with them separately. For example:

A weaker candidate may write most of his or her essay on plot or characters in a text A better candidate will identify some of the techniques used by the writer but will simply state that the technique is used The strongest candidate will demonstrate how the techniques help the reader understand the character, plot, etc. A simple way of putting it would be:

Content (what?) √ Style (how?) √√ Content and style √√√ For example, rather than making statements like: "In this poem the poet uses imagery...", you should link content and style by commenting on the effect achieved: "The poet uses imagery to create a sinister atmosphere..."

This is what the examiners mean when they say they are assessing "your understanding of how relevant aspects of structure/style/language contribute to the meaning/effect/impact of the chosen texts."

Understanding the question Obviously, you don’t know in advance what the questions will be in this year’s paper, but they will follow the pattern of those in previous years. Understanding exactly what you are being asked to do is vital, and you can train yourself to look for guidance in the way the question is worded.

Each question has two parts:

The first part will often begin with the word "choose" and will ask you to select a text related to a particular topic or theme The second part will often begin with a word like "show" or "explain" and will set the task you are being asked to perform. Often this will have more than one part, such as: “Show how ... and discuss how ...” Let's take one typical past paper question:

"Choose a play in which a central character experiences not only inner conflict but also conflict with one (or more than one) other character. Explain the nature of both conflicts and discuss which one you consider to be moreimportant in terms of character development and/or dramatic impact."

The following step-by-step approach is advisable:

1. Select a text that is suitable. Shakespeare's Macbeth would be a good fit.

2. Identify the key words in the question that set the task. In the example above, you might highlight 'inner conflict' and 'conflict with one other character', 'character development' and/or 'dramatic impact'.

3. Refer to these words throughout your essay, particularly in the introductory paragraph and in topic sentences at the start of paragraphs.

Planning the essay As you only have 45 minutes to write each essay in the exam, the temptation will be to start writing as soon as possible. However, it is worth setting aside at least five minutes for planning. You can use a list, bullet points, spider diagram, mind map etc. or any other method that suits you. You can use the Dot-Dash tool in Pinball to practice creating quick mind maps.

During the planning stage you should break down the task into its various elements that should be dealt with in turn. At this stage, try to ensure that you have considered the main aspects of the whole text and that you haven’t overlooked some key point. This will actually save time later: when you start writing you will have a clear idea of what you want to cover and the direction in which the essay is heading.

For example, for the question above, assuming you intended to answer on Macbeth, you might note down:

Inner conflict

Nature of the conflict before the murder: should he kill Duncan or not? Nature of the conflict after the murder feelings of guilt intensify ceases to listen to his conscience plans further murders loss of humanity as the play progresses, e.g relationship with Lady Macbeth/reaction to her death, etc. "Tomorrow and tomorrow" speech: loss of will to live Conflict with another character

Macduff does not attend the banquet; Macbeth has his family put to death; Macduff goes to England to help raise an army to overthrow Macbeth; fittingly, Macduff executes justice on Macbeth at the end of the play Importance of the conflicts

Character development: first three acts largely concern Macbeth’s inner conflict; decline from being a hero at the start to saying “for mine own good all causes shall give way” by the end of Act 3 Dramatic impact: fight at the end is a fitting climax to the play; conflict becomes a personal confrontation between Macduff and Macbeth; Macbeth ends the play, as he began, as a fighter."

(P) Heaney is convincing in his use of the extended metaphor, which brings to life his observation that childhood innocence must give way to adult realism. Just as the berries inevitably rot when picked from the bushes, we cannot escape the changes we go through when growing up. (E) After wildly picking every berry in sight, the persona and his friends return to the byre the next day, only to find the "glossy purple" berries have been transformed by a "rat-grey fungus". It becomes apparent in that moment that the berries are rotting and that in the children’s "lust for picking" they have failed to consider what might happen to the fruit. (E) By his use of the word "lust", Heaney is suggesting that the children pick the berries with a wild sense of abandon and that their desire to collect them in as vast a quantity as possible is almost uncontrollable. The berries have been transformed from "glossy purple" - connoting life, vitality and freshness - to "rat-grey" – a colour associated ultimately with decay and death. In the context of the poem, this experience clearly highlights the human condition itself, which can be summed up as the passage from innocence to experience. (R) It is only when the children have seen what has happened as a result of their efforts that they accept life isn’t always fair. Heaney leaves the reader pondering the fact that change – whether in terms of the berries or life in general - is inevitable, no matter how unlikely it may seem at the time.

sample essays

The cruelty of human nature. Where does it come from, what encourages it to rear its ugly head, and what keeps the fire burning in the human heart that makes this most awful of traits one that we seem unable to control? Cruelty is something we all recognise but somehow manage to suppress within ourselves. It is a darkness that we are born with – or are we? In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies the cruelty of human nature is central to the main theme – the darkness of man’s heart. A group of 1950s public school boys are on a flight across the pacific when their plane gets attacked and shot down. They find themselves marooned on a desert island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no adult presence and things begin to go wrong very quickly, some of the boys becoming very violent towards others for their own ends and other boys try to act in a ‘civilised’ way. The cruelty of human nature, though, begins to dominate life on the island. The boys’ experience shows that that there is evil and cruelty in all of us – some people are just better at fighting against it. Piggy is a soft target and is easily bullied. “Who cares what you believe – Fatty.” Jack’s constant bullying – a manifestation of cruelty – is something he continues to load on Piggy. He punches him repeatedly leaving bruises – and we see the marks of the strongest (Jack) shown on Piggy’s white (and weaker) body. Jack torments Piggy – calling him names and demeaning him by telling him he is unworthy – too unfit to join the hunt. In this way Jack cruelly wears Piggy down. He steals his glasses, taking this most precious of senses (his eyesight) completely away from him and leaving him indeed vulnerable and blind in his world. All these cruel actions and the fact that they are kept up in a constant stream of cruel torture exhibits the vile nature and darkness of the human heart. We see Jack keep driving Piggy towards a certain breaking point – with no pity and no mercy. Similarly the killing of the pig enhances our understanding of the horrors and cruelties on the island. The boys shout: “Kill the pig, cut her throat, spill her blood.” Jack hunted this pig – he was the ringleader and was the one who drove the others to the point of wanting to kill the animal too. They all cornered the animal and despite the squealing of the pig they continued. The pigs’ squeal is the cry of terror that the animal gave out as it faced certain death. Her fear was ignored. Jack cut the sow’s throat. He later described the ‘lashings’ of blood revelling in what he felt was a magnificent achievement. But the sow didn’t die instantly so the horror of her slaughter wasn’t over. Roger jammed a spear into her side with as much force as he could – as she died. “We had a smashing time.” The darkness of the human heart is reflected in the lack of guilt felt by Jack as he is later seen proudly telling the others of the deed. The boys’ denial begins to skew their vision and their ability to know the difference between good and evil and this is important as the behaviour of some of them deteriorates and we see the horrible acts they are capable of carrying out. “the mask ...behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousnessThe masks give the boys the sense that they can do anything without consequences. They feel it is not them doing the deeds – but that it is the mask, and let go of all inhibitions. The masks allow them to take on other personas and to hide from their guilt. Without the masks the hunting of Ralph would not have been so easy for them – for their consciences to live with. As they begin to work themselves up before the hunting of Ralph - creating a plan to smoke him out of the forest the boys again manage to divorce themselves from their individual consciences. They become a part of a bigger whole – and that whole takes responsibility off the individual. This leads to them losing control of the rational mind – the mind that would stop them from such cruel deeds. Jack is determined to capture Ralph by any means he can. He hunts him like he hunted the pig. His conscience is unlikely to have let him hunt any human so to be able to do it he used the spear – the hunting weapon of the savage. Jack uses the very tactics he used to hunt the pig – lining his gang up across the island sweeping up and destroying any life that was before them. He was aware that they needed to hunt as a team - if they had stopped and individually rationalised what they were doing they might not have gone through with the hunt. The focus of their fun has also become cruelty – they don’t realise it because the darkness of their hearts has taken over. Lord of the Flies cleverly exposes the cruelty of human nature, the ability of man to deny the whisperings of his conscience, and the darkness that exists within man’s heart. The cruelty of human nature can be a never-ending battle of the conscience moulded in upbringing and social existence the darkness lurking in the individual – perhaps closer to the surface than we would want to admit. The island in the novel is a microcosm of the world outside – reflecting its swings from good to evil and the power struggles that drive individuals to perform deeds they may otherwise not have considered. Whether we are born with a driving urge to connect with the darkness, or whether it is an overwhelming instinct that we cannot fight – it would appear from the novel that the darkness of man’s heart always emerges out of those who have no control over it.

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