Last week, Croydon High School’s Year 12 English Literature students joined our teacher, Ms. Cotton, on a trip to the beautiful Emmanuel Centre for an extensive conference run by English in Action for A-Level students across the nation who study AQA’s ‘Love Through the Ages' theme in English Literature.
The hall was packed with KS5 students from all over the country who came to the conference and we had the privilege to listen to a range of speakers, from the former Principal Examiner, Luke McBratney, with a very useful presentation on how to aim for the top scores, to the esteemed actor/director, Nick Hutchison, who broke down Shakespeare’s genius from a stage-actor’s perspective with incredibly perceptive observations, to professor and author Dr. Simon Avery on the complexities of love in novels, and finally a reading of ‘Feminine Gospels’ from the former Poet Laureate herself, Dame Carol Ann Duffy which had the whole room starstruck.
Luke McBratney delivered an excellent talk on love poetry through the ages in which he discussed the styles and subgenres of poetry, such as sonnets, and how love (in its various forms) is explored by poets spanning the ages. As an experienced examiner, he also shared ‘An Examiner’s Perspective’ of comparative essays and how necessary genre-specific analysis is.
Following this, Nick Hutchison presented a very detailed reading of little sections of several Shakespeare plays. Being a renowned stage actor and director, his incredibly valuable analysis of the nuances of linguistic and characteristic choices of Shakespeare provoked lots of interest and thoughts for any work we study or will study of the Bard.
Dr. Simon Avery also delved into lots of different novels spanning from ‘Jane Eyre’ to the ‘Great Gatsby’. His insightful analysis of the depiction of love in these texts was immensely informative.
And, of course, finally we had Dame Carol Ann Duffy read select poems from her anthology - ‘Feminine Gospels’. It was incredible to have been given the opportunity to hear such amazing poems being read from the poet herself. Her exploration of the feminine experience was incredible.
Duffy made a comment on how if she could, she ‘would replace politics with ethics’ and this sentiment is present through her work, promoting philosophy and ethical readings.
