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Dame Carol Ann Duffy [] is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first female poet, the first Scottish-born poet and the first openly gay poet to hold the Poet Laureate position.
Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. An author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and film narration, Ferlinghetti was best known for his second collection of poems, A Coney Island of the Mind (1958), which has been translated into nine languages and sold over a million copies. When Ferlinghetti turned 100 in March 2019, the city of San Francisco turned his birthday, March 24, into "Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day".
AQA, formerly the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, is an awarding body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It compiles specifications and holds examinations in various subjects at GCSE, AS and A Level and offers vocational qualifications. AQA is a registered charity and independent of the government. However, its qualifications and exam syllabi are regulated by the Government of the United Kingdom, which is the regulator for the public examinations system in England and Wales.
The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based secondary qualification similar to the GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising prior attainment. It was developed by Cambridge Assessment International Education. The examination boards Edexcel, Learning Resource Network (LRN), and Oxford AQA also offer their own versions of International GCSEs. Students normally begin studying the syllabus at the beginning of Year 10 and take the test at the end of Year 11. However, in some international schools, students can begin studying the syllabus at the beginning of Year 9 and take the test at the end of Year 10.
"Havisham" is a poem written in 1993 by Carol Ann Duffy. It responds to Charles Dickens' character Miss Havisham from his novel Great Expectations, looking at Havisham's mental and physical state many decades after being left standing at the altar, when the bride-to-be is in her old age. It expresses Havisham's anger at her fiancé and her bitter rage over wedding-day trauma and jilted abandonment. Duffy's use of language is very powerful and passionate. Throughout the poem oxymorons and juxtaposition such as "Beloved sweetheart bastard" and "Love's hate" portrays the ambivalence and restless uncertainty of the character, while a sexual fantasy reveals both the unrequited love and the passion that remains within Havisham following the wedding, a devastation from which her heart has never recovered.
Grace Nichols FRSL is a Guyanese poet who moved to Britain in 1977, before which she worked as a teacher and journalist in Guyana. Her first collection, I is a Long-Memoried Woman (1983), won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. In December 2021, she was announced as winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.
Imtiaz Dharker is a Pakistan-born British poet, artist, and video film maker. She won the Queen's Gold Medal for her English poetry and was appointed Chancellor of Newcastle University from January 2020.
The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance has produced Anthologies for GCSE English and English Literature studied in English schools. This follows on from AQA's predecessor organisations; Northern Examinations and Assessment Board (NEAB) and Southern Examining Group (SEG).
"On The Train" is a poem by Gillian Clarke. Its chief subject matter is the Paddington rail crash and its aftermath.
"Something's Coming" is a song from the 1957 musical West Side Story. It was composed by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and is sung solo by the male lead character and tenor 'Tony'. The part of Tony was played by Larry Kert in the original Broadway production, Richard Beymer in the 1961 film and Ansel Elgort in the 2021 film.
The General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level, or A Level, is a main school leaving qualification in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It is available as an alternative qualification in other countries.
"Education for Leisure" is a poem by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy which explores the mind of a person who is planning to commit a murder. Until 2008 the poem was studied at GCSE level in England and Wales as part of the AQA Anthology, a collection of poems by modern poets such as Duffy and Seamus Heaney.
"What Were They Like?" is a poem by Denise Levertov written as a protest against the Vietnam War, envisaging a future where the "genocide" that the American bombing campaign began has been completed, and nothing is known of Vietnam or its culture. Major themes within the poem include: war, culture and anger. It is included in the AQA, OCR and Edexcel anthologies that English students study for GCSE.
"Search for My Tongue" is a poem by Sujata Bhatt. The poem is studied in England as part of the AQA Anthology.
"Elvis's Twin Sister" is a poem by Carol Ann Duffy that is said to reflect "the hidden lives of generations of overlooked women" as part of the collection The World's Wife, of 30 similar poems dealing with the female relatives of famous men throughout history. The poem is sometimes studied by schoolchildren in the United Kingdom as part of the AQA syllabus for GCSE English.
"Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan" is a poem by Moniza Alvi. Alvi describes a few gifts that she receives from her aunts. This is a metaphor for her Pakistani culture, and she says how much it clashes with her English culture. The poem is about the poet's struggle to find which culture she truly belongs to; Pakistani or English. It is included in Cluster 2, Poems from Different Cultures, of the AQA Anthology.
Poetry Live is a series of annual events in venues across the UK where poets perform their poetry for school children studying GCSE level English Literature.
"The Ruined Maid" is a satirical poem by Thomas Hardy. It was written in 1866 but first published, in a slightly bowdlerized form, in Poems of the Past and the Present (1901).
Critical understanding is a term used commonly in education to define a mode of thinking, described as, ‘an essential tool for participating in democratic processes, at whatever level.’ It is a defensible position reached through the examination of ideas, issues or sources. It is achieved through reflecting upon, analysing and evaluating different ideas and positions, and is demonstrated through an ability to express informed responses and independent thought. Critical understanding develops through analytical and independent thought and is considered an increasingly important element of the education process as students progress to higher and further education. However it is not an easy concept to communicate for it is not a passive thing we do; it is about active engagement.
Homelessness in Germany is a significant social issue, one that is estimated to affect around 678,000 people. Since 2014, there has been a 150% increase in the homeless population within the country due to the inclusion of refugees. Reportedly, around 22,000 of the homeless population are children.
References
- 1 2 "Web Archive - GCSE Bitesize - Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Two Scavengers in a Truck". BBC. Archived from the original on 2010-10-31. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
- 1 2 3 Andrew Moore. "Different Cultures-AQA Anthology for GCSE". Teachit.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-08-20.