2011 CAO/Leaving Cert discussion thread

unknown13

almostnever wrote: »

Boland not coming up was hilarious, the facebook groups in response to it absolutely cracked me up! My sister is doing the exams this year and everyone in her class is 100% convinced Boland is coming up, would be interesting if she didn't again.

It was but last year was a year where no woman up was possible because there was only two of them (Boland and Rich).

I think half the course is women this year and it is going to be interesting how many women and men come up.

almostnever

unknown13 wrote: »

It was but last year was a year where no woman up was possible because there was only two of them (Boland and Rich).

I think half the course is women this year and it is going to be interesting how many women and men come up.

I think this year it's five men and three women (Boland, Dickinson and Rich), so it's possible that there won't be a female poet but I suppose unlikely. Dickinson hasn't been on the course in a while and, so the logic goes, is due to come up, and I've yet to talk to an LCer who doesn't insist that Boland will make an appearance! :pac: Personally I'd love to be doing the poets from this year, although last year's selection wasn't too shabby.

unknown13

almostnever wrote: »

I think this year it's five men and three women (Boland, Dickinson and Rich), so it's possible that there won't be a female poet but I suppose unlikely. Dickinson hasn't been on the course in a while and, so the logic goes, is due to come up, and I've yet to talk to an LCer who doesn't insist that Boland will make an appearance! :pac: Personally I'd love to be doing the poets from this year, although last year's selection wasn't too shabby.

I enjoyed last years selection but I didn't really enjoy English that much. It wasn't a strong subject of mine.

Grindylow

almostnever wrote: »

I think this year it's five men and three women (Boland, Dickinson and Rich), so it's possible that there won't be a female poet but I suppose unlikely. Dickinson hasn't been on the course in a while and, so the logic goes, is due to come up, and I've yet to talk to an LCer who doesn't insist that Boland will make an appearance! :pac: Personally I'd love to be doing the poets from this year, although last year's selection wasn't too shabby.

"I felt a funeral - in my brain
And mourners to and fro"

>_> She's very deep so Dickinson is

"Hope is a thing with feathers
that perches in the soul
That sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all"

AND WAIT FOR THIS ONE

"I heard a fly buzz - when I died
The stillness in the room"

Sentimental so she is

almostnever

I miss English.

What does everyone think of Hamlet, by the way? I did Macbeth in '09 and King Lear in '10, Macbeth was a million times better! But Hamlet is my second favourite Shakespearian play (after Macbeth.) How is it to study as a single text?

Grindylow

almostnever wrote: »

I miss English.

What does everyone think of Hamlet, by the way? I did Macbeth in '09 and King Lear in '10, Macbeth was a million times better! But Hamlet is my second favourite Shakespearian play (after Macbeth.) How is it to study as a single text?

Never did either of them! :P

My single text is Wuthering Heights.

Seren_

Emily Dickinson is one of my favourite poets! This year's LCers are so lucky getting to study her.

Hamlet must be class to do; not only is it a rather enjoyable play, but I assume everyone gets to watch the BBC version with David Tennant in it :pac:

What Shakespeare play did you do Noel? I'd hate to have to have done one of them for the comparative >.<

almostnever

Ah, I Wuthering Heights! Is your Shakespearian play The Tempest in the comparative, then?

Grindylow

Your Text Here wrote: »

Emily Dickinson is one of my favourite poets! This year's LCers are so lucky getting to study her.

Hamlet must be class to do; not only is it a rather enjoyable play, but I assume everyone gets to watch the BBC version with David Tennant in it :pac:

I love Dickinson! Everyone else seems to hate her!

And my teacher always marks my essays on her terribly because my view of her poetry is totally different to hers. She sees Dickinson as a loner, and that's it.

I always write about how I feel she was depressed, borderline mentally unstable. :P

Seren_

God damnit, The Tempest is AMAZING.

unknown13

Noel: You are lucky you don't have to Lear, it was the bane of my life. I barely understood it and only prepped one question for the exam. It came up thankfully but it was risk I had to take because I didn't understand it at all.

Grindylow

almostnever wrote: »

Ah, I Wuthering Heights! Is your Shakespearian play The Tempest in the comparative, then?

Yup, it is! I hate it so much! There are like a million characters in it and it's so hard to keep track of who's related to who/who is who's lover/who dies/who betrays one another..

I hope I can get away with using My Sisters Keeper and Billy Elliot as my main texts in the comparative and just touch on The Tempest but I seriously doubt I'd get away with it! :P

Namlub

I bloody love Hamlet. Some of the lines are just amazing and I find it really easy to write about for some reason. He's so complex.... We watched the Kenneth Branagh one, waaay better.

almostnever

Your Text Here wrote: »

Emily Dickinson is one of my favourite poets! This year's LCers are so lucky getting to study her.

Hamlet must be class to do; not only is it a rather enjoyable play, but I assume everyone gets to watch the BBC version with David Tennant in it :pac:

Oh you should see the lad who played Hamlet in the Helix. BABE. He fluffed his lines a few times, and I forgave him, for a thing of such beauty is clearly not of this world.

I did Circle of Friends for my comparative in '09. Never again, not only was it an awful book but it was so long, way too long for the comparative. Apart from that I think I liked pretty much everything I did in English over the two years, although I might just think that looking back.

Seren_

Noel2k9 wrote: »

I love Dickinson! Everyone else seems to hate her!

And my teacher always marks my essays on her terribly because my view of her poetry is totally different to hers. She sees Dickinson as a loner, and that's it.

I always write about how I feel she was depressed, borderline mentally unstable. :P

I don't think she was mentally unstable personally; I think she was probably quite upbeat! But everyone responds to poetry differently, and finds different meanings within it. Mad that your teacher marks you down though because of that.

almostnever

Noel2k9 wrote: »

Yup, it is! I hate it so much! There are like a million characters in it and it's so hard to keep track of who's related to who/who is who's lover/who dies/who betrays one another..

I hope I can get away with using My Sisters Keeper and Billy Elliot as my main texts in the comparative and just touch on The Tempest but I seriously doubt I'd get away with it! :P

I'd say you could get away with that a lot more than you'd think :pac: The best thing about the comparative is that they're not really expecting in depth analysis of anything, there's no time for it. You'll be graaaaand, trust me!

Namlub

I am jealous about this year's poets though, at least we get Plath

Grindylow

Your Text Here wrote: »

I don't think she was mentally unstable personally; I think she was probably quite upbeat! But everyone responds to poetry differently, and finds different meanings within it. Mad that your teacher marks you down though because of that.

Yeah, I just instantly took it that way for some reason! It's the easiest way for me to explain her, but in poems like "I could bring you jewels" and "Hope is a thing with feathers" she seems fairly upbeat!

Seren_

I did Witness (<3 ), Lies of Silence, and How Many Miles to Babylon for my comparative. Wasn't a fan of the books, but Witness was class. Oh John Book ;__;

almostnever

Namlub wrote: »

I am jealous about this year's poets though, at least we get Plath

If there's one poet I would have loved to have done, it's Plath. she's my favourite! Which of her poems are on the course?

unknown13

I am not jealous about this years selection of poets because if I didn't get the course I did get, I would be repeating my LC this year.

Insect Overlord

unknown13 wrote: »

I am not jealous about this years selection of poets because if I didn't get the course I did get, I would be repeating my LC this year.

Who are the poets this year?

I loved the selection we had in 2007. Plath.

Namlub

almostnever wrote: »

If there's one poet I would have loved to have done, it's Plath. she's my favourite! Which of her poems are on the course?

Black Book in Rainy Weather, The Times Are Tidy, Morning Song, Finisterre, Mirror, Pheasant, Elm, Poppies In July, The Arrival of the Bee Box and Child.

Not sure which ones we're actually doing yet, I wish Daddy was on the course.

Grindylow

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Who are the poets this year?

I loved the selection we had in 2007. Plath.

Dickinson, Boland, Rich, Frost, Yeats, Kavanagh, Hopkins, Wordsworth.

Seren_

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I loved the selection we had in 2007. Plath.

Snap. They were great. Even Elizabeth Bishop :P

Jesus IO, we're old >.<

almostnever

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Who are the poets this year?

I loved the selection we had in 2007. Plath.

Boland, Dickinson, Rich, Frost, Wordsworth, Hopkins, Kavanagh and Yeats.

Namlub: Daddy would be a great one to be on! They should have I Am Vertical too, even if only because it's one of my favourites of hers. And Lady Lazarus! What I would have given to have done Lady Lazarus.

Namlub

My teacher does not like the fact I keep criticising Kavanagh in my essays <_<

And why does Boland come up so much? I like some of her stuff, not that black lace fan one...

Grindylow

Namlub wrote: »

My teacher does not like the fact I keep criticising Kavanagh in my essays <_<

And why does Boland come up so much? I like some of her stuff, not that black lace fan one...

Black Lace Fan is grand.. way too personal though! :P

jumpguy

The only Boland poem I liked was The Famine Road. The rest is kinda...I dunno, it seems superficial, especially her political themed stuff (Child of our Time, for example).

Frost is my favourite, with Dickinson in close second.

Seren_

Daddy and Lady Lazarus are probably a bit too hardcore :rolleyes: for the LC. Sadly.