CXC ENGLISH

Hello there! If you check out the CXC English page regularly, you will know that we have waved goodbye and good luck to our 2016 exam candidates, and we are turning attention to students who will take their English exams in 2017. So we are going back to basics. We know that you will find the change of pace encouraging. Read on, and enjoy!

IMAGERY

In order to help people imagine what we are talking about, we often use what we call imagery: pictures in the mind. Creative writers (poets, novelists and playwrights) use imagery a great deal, and so we want to be sure we understand the main types and that we can see how they operate.

The three main types of imagery (picture making) are these:

● Personification ● Metaphor ● Simile

Today we will focus on personification. Look at these examples: ● The moon smiled down on the two young lovers. ● In fury, the sea pounded angry fists against the cliffs. ● Clouds donned their mourning dress and wept all day, filling the town with sorrow.

A person can smile, but the moon can’t. So it’s personification to say “The moon smiled”. We are giving human attributes to the moon.

The sea does not feel emotions of anger or fury, nor does it have fists. But a person can feel, and does have fists to pound. So this again is personification: we are talking about the sea as if it were a person.

Clouds do not put on funeral clothes, nor do they weep. That’s what people do. In talking about the clouds as if they are people, we are using personification.

The effectiveness of using personification.

In the exam, you will get one mark for identifying the personification, and three marks for commenting on the effectiveness. To talk about effectiveness, you need to think about

● what the imagery makes you THINK ● how it makes you FEEL ● how appropriate it is for conveying the message of the poem.

Here are some examples of personification from your set poems.

In his sonnet Upon Westminster Bridge, are just two examples: Wordsworth uses personification. Here

This City now doth…wear/ The beauty of the morning. The very houses seem asleep.

By making the city seem like a person dressed in sunlight, the poet suggests to us the utter loveliness of what he is seeing. The city is transformed into something living and breathing, and we are captured by the dreamlike moment.

It seems so natural and peaceful for the houses to be ‘asleep’ like the people living in them. Somehow the less attractive aspects of city life—noise, pollution, jostling crowds, poverty—are forgotten as we watch those houses—asleep and beautiful in their stillness. Wordsworth has captured a moment of beauty and quietness that will not last, but which is lovely nonetheless.

In A Contemplation Upon Flowers, King uses personification, treating the flowers that the speaker observes as if they are little people. The flowers are not “vain” or “proud”, but remember where they came from even though they wear “embroider’d garments” like courtiers. They “smile” and “look cheerfully” even when they are faced with death, and their “breath” is a sweet fragrance to all around. All of those words are usually used for people—not flowers. The device is effective because King is now able to compare flowers and people, and comment on the undesirable behaviour of the latter. We feel how gracious, wise and beautiful the flowers are, and wish that we could have their attributes. The moral—that we should so live our lives that we leave behind a sweet fragrance when we die—is beautifully developed.

For you to do.

You can find personification in Orchids, This is the Dark Time, Because I could not stop for Death, and Death Came to See Me in Hot Pink Pants. Find an example from each poem, and for each example, try to comment, as we have done here, on the effectiveness of the device. is a shade of difference. Ask yourself what situation would be suitable for each word in the list. A good starting point is to divide the words into those with positive connotations, those with negative connotations, and those that are fairly neutral.

A. Here are words describing the emotion you might feel towards another person. Think about relationships in which each might be appropriate:

deference, reverence, respect, liking, attachment, sympathy, interest, concern, love, honour, esteem, affection.

B. Here are words that might describe a movie, a work of art, a piece of music. Think of a situation that would be suitable for each of the words:

Exciting, mesmerizing, thrilling, evocative, disturbing, provocative, irritating, touching, sensuous.

C. Do you approve or disapprove of people who are very careful about how they spend their money? Which of these words are approving, and which are disapproving?

Thrifty, stingy, mean, extravagant, economical, frugal, sparing, prudent, spendthrift, miserly

A PAIR OF….

Think of all the gadgets you know that can be called “a pair of…” We have come up with these: A pair of scissors, tweezers, glasses (spectacles), pliers, pants, goggles, nail clippers, trousers, panties, jeans, shears.

REMEMBER THIS RULE: If you say, “A pair of scissors”, you need a SINGULAR verb. If you omit the words “A pair of…”, then you need a PLURAL verb.

E.g. There is a pair of scissors on the table. The scissors are on the table. My grey pants were not dry. The other pair of pants was dry.

Remember, too, that if an item is plural, you must use the pronoun not it.

My pants were torn so I gave them to Mum to be mended. Those scissors are blunt. You need to get them sharpened.

Remind yourself of this rule by selecting the correct form of the verb in the following sentences:

1. My glasses (isn’t, aren’t) in my room. Have you seen (it, them) anywhere? 2. A pair of scissors (was, were) in this drawer yesterday. 3. His good pants (has, have) got too tight for him. He will have to lose some weight if he wants to wear (it, them) on our trip next month.

4. The beautician is complaining that the tweezers (looks, look) twisted. Can (it, they) be straightened?

5. (This, These) jeans I bought (seems, seem) too long. Can (it, they) be shortened? 6. (Was, Were) that pair of jeans expensive? 7. (Was, Were) your jeans expensive? 8. A really sturdy pair of goggles (costs, cost) around US$30.

WHO’S WHOSE? Here we look at some pairs of words that are easily confused.

● You will feel flattered if someone pays you a COMPLIMENT. An organisation needs its full COMPLEMENT of staff if it is to function efficiently.

● The speeding bus hit a STATIONARY tractor. Our office manager forgot to order more STATIONERY.

● “WHO’S (Who has) been eating my porridge?” cried Goldilocks. Everyone was sorry for the boy WHOSE father was ill in hospital.

● West Indians who migrate to Canada often find it difficult to ADAPT (adjust) to the lifestyle there. After completing the training programme in customer relations, the employee decided to ADOPT (take on) a totally different attitude to her work.

● Carry that mirror carefully or you will BREAK it. In rainy or icy driving conditions, the driver needs to BRAKE (apply the brakes) much earlier as the vehicle may skid.

ANSWERS A pair of…

they/them, and

1. 1 Glasses aren’t…them, 2 A pair was, 3 pants have…wear them, 4 tweezers look…can they, 5 these jeans seem…can they, 6 Was that pair…, 7 Were your jeans…, 8 A pair costs