Introduction
WELCOME. A hearty welcome to the 2018-2019 CXC Youthlink series, generally, and to literatures in English in particular. I hope I am not wrong in thinking that you have been eagerly looking forward to returning to school as an upper-school student. Of course, there is the bonus of being with your friends and, perhaps too, of getting out of the house. I am glad that you have made it this far in your academic climb, and I wish that as you are now in exam class, you will apply yourself seriously to achieve the goals that you have set for yourself.
Before I continue, I have to take time to congratulate all the students who were successful in their external examinations at the CXC CSEC and/or CAPE level. I would be very gratified to learn that CSEC students who sat this subject benefited from these lessons. Now, I know that some persons may not be satisfied with their results for one reason or another. If you who are reading this lesson as one who is disappointed, please do not make the failure an insurmountable obstacle in your way. I sometimes think that a baby’s knees and hands are strengthened by the number of times he/she falls before being able to walk steadily. If babies were deterred by the number of falls, they would never learn to walk. When and if you do not succeed at something, just don’t give up. Just accept that in your climb up the ladder of success you stumbled, may even have to return your foot to a lower rung; but hold up your head and move forward and upwards. “Class’, no whining can get you where you want to go, if success is your aim. Hard work does the trick, hard work brings the desired result.
Here we are together, about to spend several months learning and having fun as we explore two plays, two novels, 20 poems and 10 short stories. Are you ready? Each year, the summer months seem to get hotter and hotter. I am a voracious reader and as a girl would have finished my literature books long before my holidays were over. I read The Gleaner every day, too. I did do my chores and play games as well. Now, I do not know how you spent your summer, but I hope you enjoyed it and that somewhere along the line you read some, if not all, of your texts, whether chemistry, principles of business or literatures in English.
Since I do not know if you have a copy of the 2018- 2023 syllabus, I am including it in this week’s lesson.
DRAMA
Two questions will be set.
The Tempest – William Shakespeare Ti Jean and His Brothers – Derek Walcott
POETRY
Two questions will be set. Selections from a World of Poetry for CXC by Hazel Simmons-McDonald and Mark McWatt (New Edition)
Poems prescribed for the JUNE 2818JANUARY 2023 examinations are as follows: Two type-B questions will be set.
1. An African Thunderstorm – David Rubadiri
2. Once Upon a Time – Gabriel Okara 3 .Birdshooting Season – Olive Senior
4. West Indies, USA – Stewart Brown
5. Sonnet Composed Upon Westminster Bridge – William Wordsworth
6. Orchids – Hazel Simmons McDonald
7. The Woman Speaks to the man who has Employed Her Son – Lorna Goodison
8. It Is the Constant Image of your Face – Dennis Brutus
9. God’s Grandeur – Gerard Manley Hopkins
10. A Stone’s Throw – Elma Mitchell
11. Test Match Sabina – Park Stewart Brown
12. Theme for English B – Langston Hughes
13. Dreaming Black Boy – James Berry
14. My Parents – Stephen Spender
15. Dulce et Decorum Est – Wilfred Owen
16. This Is the Dark Time, My Love – Martin Carter
17. Ol’ Higue – Mark McWatt
18. Mirror – Sylvia Plath
19. South – Kamau Brathwaite
20. Little Boy Crying – Mervyn Morris
PROSE FICTION
Two type-A questions will be set. Breath, Eyes, Memory – Edwidge Danticat To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Short stories prescribed for the JUNE 2018JANUARY 2023 examinations are as follows:
1. The Two Grandmothers – Olive Senior
2. Blackout – Roger Mais
3. Emma – Carolyn Cole
4. The Man of the House – Frank O’Connor
5. Blood Brothers – John Wickham
6. The Day the World Almost Came to an End – Pearl Crayton
7. The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream – Olive Senior
8. Berry – Langston Hughes
9. Mom Luby and the Social Worker – Kristin Hunter
10. To Da-duh, in Memoriam – Paule Marshall
This subject has words/terms and devices with which you are to become familiar, as they will not only help you in expressing your oral and written work in literature, but also in English language as well. In fact, your ability to know these devices and to understand how and why they are used, is vital in your being able to answer questions on the short-answer paper.
In the next lesson, we will address the matter of the external exam requirements. Please begin now, as you intend to proceed this year by taking youselves and your work seriously. Be good, and God bless!
Berly Clarke is an independent contributor. Send questions and comments to kerry-ann.hepburn@gleanerjm.com.