English Seminars

I am gripped with cold fear when I consider the gaps in my reading. For someone who hopes to go on to study English, this is not particularly encouraging, but I find that when confronted with a library full of books I have no idea where to begin. So I back away quietly and run. Fortunately I didn't have to run very far, because last year's A level English seminars were held about 200 metres from the library.

The seminars, given by members of the English department, were held most weeks, were open to the sixth form, and lasted about an hour. Sometimes they involved juice. During the course of the year they covered a range of topics from Hamlet to Hopkins, Lolita to literary criticism. Given that most of us were preparing for university interviews and desperately grasping at any literary gobbet we might find, they were a fantastic way to boost our confidence in the discussion of texts and close reading of unseen passages, and generally to make us feel vaguely knowledgeable. They also gave a taste of an author or period to help us decide whether we wanted to explore them in more depth. A couple of the sessions were shared with English students from Dulwich College. For some reason these were extremely well attended.

But we had been lulled into a false sense of security, as we sat back and listened to the dulcet tones of Dr. Edwards reciting from the works of Alexander Pope. He then broke the news that we would each be giving our own seminar on a subject of our choice. They don't have to deal with this kind of thing in Geography. However, what seemed a daunting prospect turned out to lead us to some fascinating research into our chosen topics. I spoke about Elegies, with particular reference to The Send-Off by Hardy and Funeral Blues by Auden, and found myself taking out books I would never normally think of, and of whose existence I'd previously been ignorant. The discussion drew a reasonable crowd, and I didn't even have to pay them much.

Helena Clark, Y13

 IGCSE English Literature
      Revision Seminar
             POETRY

   Wednesday 2 February
              at 1.20

      Room I: Anthology

      Room 2: Tennyson

        Year12 & 13     
      English Seminar
       Practice Close
           Reading

Wednesday 24 November
      Room S6 at 4 pm

         Year 12 & 13
       English Seminar
  Preparing for Interview

Wednesday 17 November
     Room S6 at 4 pm