Carol Anne Duffy is the new Poet Laureate

Carol Anne Duffy has just been appointed the first female Poet Laureate after Andrew Motion's term came to an end. She will be in the post for 10 years and as well as being the first woman to have this honour she is also the first openly gay holder of the position in the 341 year history of the post.

Carole Anne Duffy's poetry is incredibly popular and she is frequently studied by pupils at GCSE and A Level.

Recently she was in the news when a poem she wrote, Education for Leisure was removed from the AQA anthologies amid fears that it excused or glamourised violence, specifically stabbing.

One of Duffy's main ideas is to give a voice to women who have been overlooked or ignored in history. Her collection of poems, The World's Wife, presents events from the viewpoints of Anne Hathaway, Mrs Darwin, The Kray Sisters and the Devil's Wife.

She has a way of writing in a deceptively simple style which hides the fact that her ideas and images operate on many levels. One of my favourite poems, Valentine offers an onion up as the best symbolic love token. Duffy's skill lies in taking something as mundane and ordinary as an onion and turning it into something meaningful and beautiful.

Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy

Not a red rose or a satin heart.

I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.

Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.

I am trying to be truthful.

Not a cute card or a kissogram.

I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.

Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,
if you like.

Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.

A new twist on Jane Austen

Do you like classic English literature?

Do you like tales of the walking dead? Then you'll LOVE Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Strange as it seems, this IS a real book. Author Seth Grahame-Smith has taken Jane Austen's original tale of manners and Marriage and simply inserted scenes of zombie carnage. Can it work? It remains to be seen,but this could be the start of a whole new genre.
A Tale of Two Vampires?
Much Ado about Werewolves?

Anew twist on Aus

Do you bite your thumb at me, sir?

Some interesting background on the actions if the servants in Act1 Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet.

Sampson : I will bite my thumb at them; which is a disgrace to them, if they do bear it.

Abram : Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

Sampson : I do bite my thumb, sir.

Abram: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

Sampson (aside to Gregory): Is the law on our side if I say ay?

Gregory (aside to Sampson): No.

Sampson: I do not bite my thumb at you, sir; but I do bite my thumb, sir.

An interesting article on Body Language and Swearing [warning: contains some offensive language]tells us that biting your thumb was a rude and offensive gesture in Elizabethan times, similar to sticking two fingers up at someone now. It was closely linked to "giving the fig", which is where our expression of "not giving a fig" for something comes from.

This link here will tell you about NON VERBAL communication in other countries. It is written from a US perspective. Here is what they say about England:


1. To signal a waiter for the bill, make a motion with both hands of signing your name on a paper. Privacy is very important; do not stare. Tipping at bars is rare.
2. Loud behavior is considered rude. The victory sign with your palm facing in is considered vulgar.
3. Never cut in line.

This link discusses common gestures in the USA and says how they differ in meaning across the globe. For example:

1. Beckon with index finger. This means “Come here” in the U.S. To motion with the index finger to call someone is insulting, or even obscene, in many cultures. Expect a reaction when you beckon to a student from the Middle or Far East; Portugal, Spain, Latin America, Japan, Indonesia and Hong Kong. It is more acceptable to beckon with the palm down, with fingers or whole hand waving.

2. Point at something in the room using index finger. It is impolite to point with the index finger in the Middle and Far East. Use an open hand or your thumb (in Indonesia)

3. Make a "V" sign. This means "Victory" in most of Europe when you make this sign with your palm facing away from you. If you face your palm in, the same gesture means "Shove it."

Jekyll and Hyde Coursework help

The most important thing to remember is that all of the website I am listing are for guidance only. Plagiarism (passing off the work of others as your own) is a serious offence, and will result in all your coursework being refused.

Don't let that put you off using these sites, however. They have chapter summaries, explain the main themes and provide quotations.

The actual text
This site lets you search it, so if you can remember the odd word in a quote, you should be able to pinpoint it with the search function. Annoyingly, the chapters don't have their titles.
Online Literature
Chapter 1- Story of the Door
Chapter 2- Search for Mr Hyde
Chapter 3- Dr Jekyll was quite at ease
Chapter 4- The Carew Murder Case
Chapter 5- The incident of the letter
Chapter 6- The remarkable incident of Dr Lanyon
Chapter 7- The incident at the window
Chapter 8- The last Night
Chapter 9- Dr Lanyon's narrative
Chapter 10- Henry Jekyll's full statement of the case

If you want a chapter summary, try a site like Spark notes. This also has commentary and important quotations explained. Remember that your focus is on Duality in the novel, not retelling the story. Some of these American sites are not aimed at the academic level of A and A* GCSEs.
Cliff Notes is another American site with commentary and chapter summaries whch you may find useful.

Here is a mini-essay on the duality in the book, you might one to use it as a starting point to develop your own ideas.

Here are a few quotes from the book, and some more.



To really stretch your brain, here are some links to scholarly essays on Jekyll and Hyde. These are the sort you would read if you were studying English at University, so don't panic if you don't understand any of them. The first is on on The Psychology of Disassociation , in Jekyll and Hyde, where the author interprets the book using psychological terms. Another essay is by Anne styles and focuses on The Double Brain in Jekyll and Hyde.Both will give you a lot to think about!

A Common Language?

English- a truly international language, understood by millions across the world, and now by your mobile phone. Google recently launched a voice recognition application for the Apple iPhone which allows users to access the huge might of the its search engine by speaking into their phones.

A fantastic development, you might think, except for the fact that it doesn't recognize British accents. An article in the Daily Telegraph explores this problem. They asked people with a variety of regional accents to say the word "iphone"and the voice recognition returned a variety of results, none however, were to do with the iphone!

A user with a Scottish accent found his phone opted to search for the term "sex" instead, and suggested a link to an adult web site. On a second attempt, the search engine looked for "sledding".Asked in a Kentish accent to search for "iPhone", it came up with "my sister" and "Einstein", while a Surrey user was offered "myspace" as well as "Einstein".A Yorkshireman was offered "bonfire" before managing to get "iPhone" - the only time the voice-recognition worked.The most unusual responses were to a Welsh accent, when the device interpreted "iPhone" as "gorillas" and "kitchen sink".

You can watch the video here

New Games

If you look on the top right hand corner of this blog, you will see a two new games.

The first one is designed to build your vocabulary. You have to match the words which are similar. The words change daily, and playing this game will improve your vocabulary.

Below it is the Hangman game. Try to guess the word by typing letters in the box. Each letter which is in the Garbage Pile adds another section of the hanged man and his gallows. This will help with vocabulary, reading and spelling.