There are exemplars for this connections assignment available online. Please note that NCEA deliberately only provide extracts of essays in their exemplars.
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/assets/qualifications-and-standards/qualifications/ncea/NCEA-subject-resources/English/91478-A/91478-EXP-A.pdf
and
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/assets/qualifications-and-standards/qualifications/ncea/NCEA-subject-resources/English/91478-B/91478-EXP-B.pdf
Note how the essays start with an exploration of the time period of person who is being discussed.
Structuring your essay:
1. Introduction will define the area of interest and which texts you are going to use to explore the connections.
2. The main body of the essay is divided up into four 'sub-connections'. Each sub-connection will have its own sub-heading. You will discuss the texts in relation to that sub-connection in that section.
3. Your conclusion will draw together the elements and connections which you have discussed.
Your sub-connections could relate to language, themes, topics, purposes and audiences.
e.g. for a discussion of Baxter's relationship with the land, you could have the following sub-connections:
1. The Otago landscape
2. City vs Country
3. Changing language across his nature poems
4. Maori references in his nature poems.
Friday, 27 February 2015
Sunday, 22 February 2015
homework due Friday 27 Feb
By Friday 27 Feb, everyone must be able to show me the area of interest you have chosen and two poems you are exploring as part of this area of interest (up to four is great, but two is the current minimum for the 27/2 deadline). You must have made notes on your area of interest AND on the two poems you have chosen.
By Friday 27/2, most of the resources from the National Library should have arrived, and we will begin to look at the exemplars for this standard and the structure of a comparative essay.
I have also set up a google docs folder for this class and shared it with you all via your school email. It is called "ENG3 collaborative work" and there is a file inside it called "Poetry connections tracking sheet". On that you can record your area of interest, the poems you have chosen and questions you have or resources you need. Please fill this out before period 1 Friday 27/2. This helps me identify what people would like me to have ready for them in advance and gives you a chance to see who else is studying a similar area of interest - it's absolutely fine to discuss the poems and the area of interest together.
By Friday 27/2, most of the resources from the National Library should have arrived, and we will begin to look at the exemplars for this standard and the structure of a comparative essay.
I have also set up a google docs folder for this class and shared it with you all via your school email. It is called "ENG3 collaborative work" and there is a file inside it called "Poetry connections tracking sheet". On that you can record your area of interest, the poems you have chosen and questions you have or resources you need. Please fill this out before period 1 Friday 27/2. This helps me identify what people would like me to have ready for them in advance and gives you a chance to see who else is studying a similar area of interest - it's absolutely fine to discuss the poems and the area of interest together.
Friday, 20 February 2015
More poetry links
Thursday, 19 February 2015
Hone Tuwhare
A film made about Hone Tuwhare in response to a poem from Glenn Colquhoun inviting him back to his birthplace in the Far North.
Hone Tuwhare was also closely associated with the Catlins, south of Dunedin. This website is dedicated to restoring his crib to become a writers' residence. The poem on the home page is another one on the significance of the land to the poet. In the More Poems section, there are poems which link to the topic of religion explored in poetry, and also to social justice.
Hone Tuwhare was also closely associated with the Catlins, south of Dunedin. This website is dedicated to restoring his crib to become a writers' residence. The poem on the home page is another one on the significance of the land to the poet. In the More Poems section, there are poems which link to the topic of religion explored in poetry, and also to social justice.
More Glenn Colquhoun
Here is an interview with Glenn Colquhoun. It's worth scrolling down to to read the later parts of the interview, including where Colquhoun mentions Baxter.
Some more Colqhoun poems, from his collection An Explanation of Poetry to My Father.
A National Radio interview with Glenn Colquhoun.
Tuesday, 17 February 2015
Ode to Auckland
Auckland
Even when I’m well stoned
on a tab of LSD or Indian grass,
you still look to me like an elephant’s arsehole
surrounded by blue-black haemorrhoids,
The sound of the
opening and shutting of
bankbooks,
The thudding of refrigerator doors,
The ripsaw voices of Glen Eden
mothers yelling at their children,
The chugging noise of masturbation
from the bedrooms of the bourgeoise,
The voices of dead teachers droning
in dead classrooms,
The TV voice of Mr. Muldoon,
The farting noise of the trucks that
grind their way down Queen Street
Has drowned forever the song of
Tangaroa on a thousand beaches,
The sound of the wind among the
green volcanoes
And the whisper of the human heart.
Boredom is the essence of your
death.
Even when I’m well stoned
on a tab of LSD or Indian grass,
you still look to me like an elephant’s arsehole
surrounded by blue-black haemorrhoids,
The sound of the
opening and shutting of
bankbooks,
The thudding of refrigerator doors,
The ripsaw voices of Glen Eden
mothers yelling at their children,
The chugging noise of masturbation
from the bedrooms of the bourgeoise,
The voices of dead teachers droning
in dead classrooms,
The TV voice of Mr. Muldoon,
The farting noise of the trucks that
grind their way down Queen Street
Has drowned forever the song of
Tangaroa on a thousand beaches,
The sound of the wind among the
green volcanoes
And the whisper of the human heart.
Boredom is the essence of your
death.
Friday, 13 February 2015
On Calvary Street questions
flange
grunt grotto
liness 41-2 Is Alice falling into same pattern as her parents?
Why does the last line repeat itself?
Meaning of title?
line 43 - dyke?
tomb?
Why is he fascinated with the parsnip?
lines 57-8 Why the Sacred Heart?
Whay do they stay together?
What does he mean when he talks about the past?
Pagan fetish?
tripte?
'fallen womb'?
grunt grotto
liness 41-2 Is Alice falling into same pattern as her parents?
Why does the last line repeat itself?
Meaning of title?
line 43 - dyke?
tomb?
Why is he fascinated with the parsnip?
lines 57-8 Why the Sacred Heart?
Whay do they stay together?
What does he mean when he talks about the past?
Pagan fetish?
tripte?
'fallen womb'?
On Calvary Street analysis
The analysis below comes from Englishification
Baxter’s fallout with Westernised Christian society is apparent throughout The Ballad of Calvary Street. His critical stance tolls throughout the poem: middle class Kiwi life is a sterile, empty shell. He demonstrates this attitude by using the technique of figurative language. Calvary Street is not conveyed as a place of joy. It is a place where its inhabitants “kill” love, while the street itself is branded an “empty tomb”. This figurative language creates morbid imagery, using harsh metaphors to suggest Calvary Street is a place of death and monotony, void of love and life, and a place that Baxter, or anyone, should despise.
Baxter further uses figurative language to emphasize his critical attitude towards the inhabitants of Calvary Street. He appeals to the reader’s empathy, using figurative language to show how middle class life has leeched the life out of its inhabitants. When describing the nameless wife of Calvary Street in her youth, he uses a clever metaphor which plays with our pre-conceived ideas, describing her as a “goddess in her tartan skirt” in her youth. This metaphor evokes the imagery of a mythical deity, an image we associate with the positive forces of feminity, sexuality, freedom and nature. It strikes an ironic and tragic chord for the reader: the same woman has now been caged by sterile suburbia and its expectations of conformity. Now, her “polished oven spits with rage”, a far cry from the free goddess she formerly was. Baxter’s clever use of figurative language emulates a sour tone, one that mirrors his disgust for NZ middle class society.
Baxter further highlights the poem’s critical attitude through his use of religious symbolism. Used in an ironic manner, he uses this technique to highlight the hypocrisy of Christian values in our modern world and to show the emptiness of society. Firstly, Baxter cleverly uses religious symbolism in his choice of setting. Called Calvary Street, this ironic name mirrors that of Calvary Hill, the site where Jesus was crucified. On the surface, it could appear as a normal street name fit for pious inhabitants of suburbia. However, it slyly suggests that this street is synonymous with suffering, and is place where all true Christian values being slowly put to death. As Baxter’s poem is a generalisation for Kiwi society as a whole, we can assume that he means any street, in any suburb is a place of empty sterility. Secondly, Calvary Street is lined with “gnomes like pagan fetishes”. These garden gnomes represent a badge of middle class conformity, with no reason of existing other than to live up to a stereotype. These gnomes also contradict biblical teachings by embodying the idea of false idols. Though defined as a sin by the Bible, these pagan-esque gnomes have now become an everyday norm for these people. By using a simple phrase, the reader can gauge Baxter’s cynical attitude towards the hypocritcal modern day Christian values. Thirdly, the bitter wife of Calvary Street yearns for “a golden crown beyond the tomb”. This refers to her desire for the golden gates of Heaven. She lives her life hoping for a heavenly reward for her sufferings on Earth, or bearing “the cross of woe”. Baxter demonstrates how tragic the wife’s life has become, dedicating her life to a post-mortem Christian dream.Therefore, the wry use of religious symbolism highlights the absurdity of Westernised Christian life, developing the poem’s critical attitude.
The Ballad of Calvary Street
by James K Baxter
On Calvary Street are trellises
Where bright as blood the roses bloom,
And gnomes like pagan fetishes
Hang their hats on an empty tomb
Where two old souls go slowly mad,
National Mum and Labour Dad.
Where bright as blood the roses bloom,
And gnomes like pagan fetishes
Hang their hats on an empty tomb
Where two old souls go slowly mad,
National Mum and Labour Dad.
Each Saturday when full of smiles
The children come to pay their due,
Mum takes down the family files
And cover to cover she thumbs them through,
Poor Len before he went away
And Mabel on her wedding day.
The children come to pay their due,
Mum takes down the family files
And cover to cover she thumbs them through,
Poor Len before he went away
And Mabel on her wedding day.
The meal-brown scones display her knack,
Her polished oven spits with rage,
While in Grunt Grotto at the back
Dad sits and reads the Sporting page,
Then ambles out in boots of lead
To weed around the parsnip bed.
Her polished oven spits with rage,
While in Grunt Grotto at the back
Dad sits and reads the Sporting page,
Then ambles out in boots of lead
To weed around the parsnip bed.
A giant parsnip sparks his eye,
Majestic as the Tree of Life;
He washes it and rubs it dry
And takes it in to his old wife -
'Look Laura, would that be a fit?
The bastard has a flange on it!'
Majestic as the Tree of Life;
He washes it and rubs it dry
And takes it in to his old wife -
'Look Laura, would that be a fit?
The bastard has a flange on it!'
When both were young she would have laughed,
A goddess in her tartan skirt,
But wisdom, age and mothercraft
Have rubbed it home that men like dirt:
Five children and a fallen womb.
A golden crown beyond the tomb.
A goddess in her tartan skirt,
But wisdom, age and mothercraft
Have rubbed it home that men like dirt:
Five children and a fallen womb.
A golden crown beyond the tomb.
Nearer the bone, sin is sin,
And women bear the cross of woe,
And that affair with Mrs Flynn
(It happened thirty years ago)
Though never mentioned, means that he
Will get no sugar in his tea.
And women bear the cross of woe,
And that affair with Mrs Flynn
(It happened thirty years ago)
Though never mentioned, means that he
Will get no sugar in his tea.
The afternoon goes by, goes by,
The angels harp above a cloud;
A son-in-law with spotted tie
And daughter Alice fat and loud
Discuss the virtues of insurance
And stuff their tripes with trained endurance.
The angels harp above a cloud;
A son-in-law with spotted tie
And daughter Alice fat and loud
Discuss the virtues of insurance
And stuff their tripes with trained endurance.
Flood-waters hurl upon the dyke
And Dad himself can go to town,
For little Charlie on his trike
Has ploughed another iris down.
His parents rise to chain the beast,
Brush off the last crumbs of their lovefeast.
And Dad himself can go to town,
For little Charlie on his trike
Has ploughed another iris down.
His parents rise to chain the beast,
Brush off the last crumbs of their lovefeast.
And so these two old fools are left,
A rosy pair in evening light,
To question Heaven's dubious gift,
To hag and grumble, growl and fight:
The love they kill won't let them rest,
Two birds that peck in one fouled nest
A rosy pair in evening light,
To question Heaven's dubious gift,
To hag and grumble, growl and fight:
The love they kill won't let them rest,
Two birds that peck in one fouled nest
Why hammer nails? Why give no change?
Habit, habit clogs them dumb.
The sacred Heart above the range
Will bleed and burn till Kingdom Come,
But Yin and Yang won't ever meet
In Calvary Street, in Calvary Street.
Habit, habit clogs them dumb.
The sacred Heart above the range
Will bleed and burn till Kingdom Come,
But Yin and Yang won't ever meet
In Calvary Street, in Calvary Street.
"Ballad of Calvary Street" was first published in "Collected Poems of James K Baxter", edited by JE Weir, published by Oxford University Press (1980).
The Maori Jesus: Structure and language
Stanza one: -walks on water, what he looks like, appeals to ordinary person with funny links to farting and getting drunk.
Stanza two: - chooses disciples. They are rough and unrespectable, and the language emphasises the tough life they have, eg. getting shit out of pores. Final two lines damn the 'respectable parish.'
Stanza three: - Use of dialogue - The Maori Jesus brings hope and sunshine to a corrupt world.
Stanza four: - Emphasises The Maori Jesus' simple life. He merely sat on the ground playing the guitar.
Stanza five: - Using the structure of the seven days in which God created the world, Baxter details the terrible and inhumane acts the institutions of society, especially the police and mental health professionals did to the Maori Jesus. The language slows right down on the last line via single syllable words, to emphasise the gravity of the action of cutting God's brain in half.
Stanza six: - Use of more formal, religious language in this section, emphasising the gravity of the soulless, inhumane actions of society and how this continues.
Stanza two: - chooses disciples. They are rough and unrespectable, and the language emphasises the tough life they have, eg. getting shit out of pores. Final two lines damn the 'respectable parish.'
Stanza three: - Use of dialogue - The Maori Jesus brings hope and sunshine to a corrupt world.
Stanza four: - Emphasises The Maori Jesus' simple life. He merely sat on the ground playing the guitar.
Stanza five: - Using the structure of the seven days in which God created the world, Baxter details the terrible and inhumane acts the institutions of society, especially the police and mental health professionals did to the Maori Jesus. The language slows right down on the last line via single syllable words, to emphasise the gravity of the action of cutting God's brain in half.
Stanza six: - Use of more formal, religious language in this section, emphasising the gravity of the soulless, inhumane actions of society and how this continues.
Thursday, 5 February 2015
Baxter 'The Maori Jesus' task(s)
Step one: brainstorm, research and make notes on the following:
1. Treatment of and attitudes to Maori in NZ in the 1960s
2. Jesus - his life and teachings
3. NZ society in the 1960s.
Step two: using the techniques you learnt for unfamiliar text study in year 12, identify, explain and analyse the poem 'The Maori Jesus'. There is space on either side of the poem for annotations.
Step three: Write an essay: What commentary does the poem "The Maori Jesus" by James K Baxter make on contemporary New Zealand society?
Step four: extension response: Do you think that Baxter's view of New Zealand society is still true for New Zealand today?
http://www.powershow.com/view/3bfb36-MjIyM/The_Maori_Jesus_By_James_K_Baxter_Stereotypical_images_of_powerpoint_ppt_presentation
1. Treatment of and attitudes to Maori in NZ in the 1960s
2. Jesus - his life and teachings
3. NZ society in the 1960s.
Step two: using the techniques you learnt for unfamiliar text study in year 12, identify, explain and analyse the poem 'The Maori Jesus'. There is space on either side of the poem for annotations.
Step three: Write an essay: What commentary does the poem "The Maori Jesus" by James K Baxter make on contemporary New Zealand society?
Step four: extension response: Do you think that Baxter's view of New Zealand society is still true for New Zealand today?
http://www.powershow.com/view/3bfb36-MjIyM/The_Maori_Jesus_By_James_K_Baxter_Stereotypical_images_of_powerpoint_ppt_presentation
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
The Maori Jesus
Source: http://nzpoems.blogspot.co.nz/2011/07/maori-jesus-james-k-baxter.html
The Maori Jesus - James K. Baxter
The Maori Jesus
- James K. Baxter
I saw the Maori Jesus
Walking on Wellington Harbour.
He wore blue dungarees,
His beard and hair were long.
His breath smelled of mussels and paraoa.
When he smiled it looked like the dawn.
When he broke wind the little fishes trembled.
When he frowned the ground shook.
When he laughed everybody got drunk.
The Maori Jesus came on shore
And picked out his twelve disciples.
One cleaned toilets in the railway station;
His hands were scrubbed red to get the shit out of the pores.
One was a call-girl who turned it up for nothing.
One was a housewife who had forgotten the Pill
And stuck her TV set in the rubbish can.
One was a little office clerk
Who'd tried to set fire to the Government Buldings.
Yes, and there were several others;
One was a sad old quean;
One was an alcoholic priest
Going slowly mad in a respectable parish.
The Maori Jesus said, 'Man,
- James K. Baxter
I saw the Maori Jesus
Walking on Wellington Harbour.
He wore blue dungarees,
His beard and hair were long.
His breath smelled of mussels and paraoa.
When he smiled it looked like the dawn.
When he broke wind the little fishes trembled.
When he frowned the ground shook.
When he laughed everybody got drunk.
The Maori Jesus came on shore
And picked out his twelve disciples.
One cleaned toilets in the railway station;
His hands were scrubbed red to get the shit out of the pores.
One was a call-girl who turned it up for nothing.
One was a housewife who had forgotten the Pill
And stuck her TV set in the rubbish can.
One was a little office clerk
Who'd tried to set fire to the Government Buldings.
Yes, and there were several others;
One was a sad old quean;
One was an alcoholic priest
Going slowly mad in a respectable parish.
The Maori Jesus said, 'Man,
From now on the sun will shine.'
He did no miracles;
He played the guitar sitting on the ground.
The first day he was arrested
For having no lawful means of support.
The second day he was beaten up by the cops
For telling a dee his house was not in order.
The third day he was charged with being a Maori
And given a month in Mt Crawford.
The fourth day he was sent to Porirua
For telling a screw the sun would stop rising.
The fifth day lasted seven years
While he worked in the Asylum laundry
Never out of the steam.
The sixth day he told the head doctor,
'I am the Light in the Void;
I am who I am.'
The seventh day he was lobotomised;
The brain of God was cut in half.
On the eighth day the sun did not rise.
It did not rise the day after.
God was neither alive nor dead.
The darkness of the Void,
Mountainous, mile-deep, civilised darkness
Sat on the earth from then till now.
He did no miracles;
He played the guitar sitting on the ground.
The first day he was arrested
For having no lawful means of support.
The second day he was beaten up by the cops
For telling a dee his house was not in order.
The third day he was charged with being a Maori
And given a month in Mt Crawford.
The fourth day he was sent to Porirua
For telling a screw the sun would stop rising.
The fifth day lasted seven years
While he worked in the Asylum laundry
Never out of the steam.
The sixth day he told the head doctor,
'I am the Light in the Void;
I am who I am.'
The seventh day he was lobotomised;
The brain of God was cut in half.
On the eighth day the sun did not rise.
It did not rise the day after.
God was neither alive nor dead.
The darkness of the Void,
Mountainous, mile-deep, civilised darkness
Sat on the earth from then till now.
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
timeline of key events in Baxter's life
Working in class discussion and the board, we identified the following key events and influences (more notes taken in class)
1. Millicent Macmillan Brown, university educated and wealthy, marries Archibald Baxter, conscientious objector and farmer of Brighton, Otago. Neither family happy. Archibald Baxter wrote We Will Not Cease about his time in WW1. Archibald recited poetry to his son from a young age.
2. Aged 7, hiding in the rocks to write poetry.
3. Off to England with his family for several years. Went to boarding school.
4. Aged c.13, comes back to NZ. Unsure of his identity - caught between two cultures. Goes to Kings High School in Dunedin.
5. Goes to university at Otago. Not particularly successful, though he enjoys the drinking culture and writes many poems.
6. 1948 Married Jacqui Sturm. The couple split up at least twice, but he had an enduring affection for her, shown in his poems. They had two children: Hillary and John. Jacqui was Maori and also at Otagoe university.
7. 1948 converted to Anglicanism
8. 1954 joins Alcoholics Anonymous
9. 1954 converts to Catholicism
10. 1958 went to India - profoundly affected by the poverty.
11. Living in Grafton, Auckland, with drug addicts.
12. 1969 goes to Jerusalem,
13. 1972 dies.
1. Millicent Macmillan Brown, university educated and wealthy, marries Archibald Baxter, conscientious objector and farmer of Brighton, Otago. Neither family happy. Archibald Baxter wrote We Will Not Cease about his time in WW1. Archibald recited poetry to his son from a young age.
2. Aged 7, hiding in the rocks to write poetry.
3. Off to England with his family for several years. Went to boarding school.
4. Aged c.13, comes back to NZ. Unsure of his identity - caught between two cultures. Goes to Kings High School in Dunedin.
5. Goes to university at Otago. Not particularly successful, though he enjoys the drinking culture and writes many poems.
6. 1948 Married Jacqui Sturm. The couple split up at least twice, but he had an enduring affection for her, shown in his poems. They had two children: Hillary and John. Jacqui was Maori and also at Otagoe university.
7. 1948 converted to Anglicanism
8. 1954 joins Alcoholics Anonymous
9. 1954 converts to Catholicism
10. 1958 went to India - profoundly affected by the poverty.
11. Living in Grafton, Auckland, with drug addicts.
12. 1969 goes to Jerusalem,
13. 1972 dies.
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