How does weather alter the mood of a story? Rain is a ubiquitous symbol in literature and film—from the melodramatic scenes of protagonists weeping and wailing in the storm to the poetic celebration of the arrival of rain—the significance of this symbol cannot be ignored. In one of my Critical Reading and Writing L8 courses, I asked secondary school students to write a short… Read More
Philip Larkin was a practical pessimist. He had a knack for finding the blue, black and grey in things and never really allowed himself to get swept away by the beauty of the world around us. This backdrop is what, I believe, makes ‘Love Songs in Age’ so captivating. The poem talks about how an unnamed ‘she’ finds some old records that remind her of… Read More
In my primary school, we learned several classic poems, and one which I still remember very clearly and fondly is Cargoes by John Masefield. Each stanza describes a different type of ship and the cargo it carries. Every detail of this poem evokes the individual feeling of the different ships, right down to the word length, and the rhythm of the lines. Compare the ‘Quinquireme… Read More
