HSC ENGLISH EXTENSION 1

Common Module: Literary Worlds

Elective 2: Worlds of Upheaval
IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD
AS WE KNOW IT
-R.E.M

Go to “The True Size Of” website and consider

what a map made in 1569 by German-born
Gerardus Mercator to help sailors navigate
says about the world.
MERCATOR VS PETERS PROJECTION
 HOW DO WE CONSTRUCT THE WORLD
THROUGH TEXTS?

Representations of the world can be ideologically driven and influence our perception of the world we live in.
 Context WHAT Historical, Social, Cultural, Personal

Concept and Cause WHAT concepts are explored and WHY - Values (Advocate) & Concerns (Critique)

Construction HOW Macro – Structure, Form, Style, Genre, Plot, Voice/Perspective, Motif

Character HOW Medial – Characterisation, Settings, Imagery, Symbolism

Craft HOW Micro – Figurative/Rhetorical/Stylistic Devices, Grammar, Punctuation

Ext 1 Literary Worlds in Summary

Critical
In a similar way to Module C in Advanced, Ext 1 Literary Worlds requires you to
Reception
develop skills to construct a range of texts, which means you must also know how to
deconstruct those texts.
This Triangle shows how you can understand a text in-depth by approaching it in a
systematic way. (NB in a reading task, specific Context of an extract will either be given
or not required, though you may make some general assumptions based on its year of
publication and where it sits in the Literary tradition)
Further, when Reflecting about your own writing, you need to demonstrate that you
understand the mechanics of form, style and aesthetics and their role in constructing
your literary world. Focus on responding to the 3 key questions:
What is the insight? How is it represented? Why is it significant?
 SYLLABUS
LITERARY WORLDS

In this module students explore, investigate, experiment with and evaluate the
ways texts represent and illuminate the complexity of individual and collective
lives in literary worlds.

Students evaluate how ideas and ways of thinking are shaped by personal, social,
historical and cultural contexts.

They extend their understanding of the ways that texts contribute to their
awareness of the diversity of ideas, attitudes and perspectives evident in texts.
 SYLLABUS
LITERARY WORLDS

Students explore, analyse and critically evaluate textual representations of the

experiences of others, including notions of identity, voice and points of view;

and how values are presented and reflected in texts.

They deepen their understanding of how texts construct private, public and
imaginary worlds that can explore new horizons and offer new insights.
 SYLLABUS
LITERARY WORLDS

Students consider how personal, social, historical and cultural context influence
how texts are valued and how context influences their responses to these diverse
literary worlds.

They appraise their own values, assumptions and dispositions as they develop
further understanding of how texts make meaning.
 SYLLABUS
LITERARY WORLDS

In their study of literary worlds students experiment with critical and creative
compositions that explore how language features and forms are crafted to express
complex ideas and emotions, motivations, attitudes, experiences and values.

These compositions may be realised in various forms, modes and media.

Each elective in this module involves the study of three texts from the prescribed
list, with at least two being print texts. Students explore, analyse and critically
evaluate a range of other texts that construct private, public and imaginary
worlds.
 ~PRECIS~

Role of Texts – through language forms and features, texts are crafted to:
 Illuminate and express complexity
 Contribute to awareness of diversity
 Construct diverse literary worlds

Historical, Social, Cultural, Personal Context influences the:

 Composers ideas and ways of thinking
 Creation of literary worlds and those who inhabit them, including the lessons they learn
 Reader and how they respond to and value a text

Literary Worlds exist:

 As Private, Public and Imaginary worlds
 To explore new horizons and offer new insights

The Inhabitants of these Worlds:

 Include the experience of others, as either individual or collective lives
 Are examined through the notions of – attitudes, emotions, experiences, ideas, identity, motivations, perspectives,
points of view, values and voice.
 EXPLORING THE WORLD OF TEXTS

Using the syllabus as a framework, explore the implications the list of texts below have on your
understanding of the concept “Literary Worlds”.
Lera Boroditsky – ‘How Language Shapes the Way We Think’
https://www.ted.com/talks/lera_boroditsky_how_language_sha
pes_the_way_we_think?language=en

1) Doug Dorst and J. J. Abrams - ‘Ship of Theseus’ (information)

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cms/asset/5b391782-75cd-49ac-889a-8887697a4638/oli1212
5-fig-0002-m.jpg
2) Carolyn Forché – ‘Mourning’ (listen to the audio for brief context and a reading by the poet)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/90645/mourning-57d18c2f7cfb2
3) Richard McGuire – ‘Here’ (information) https://imgur.com/gallery/IGTsR (1989)
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/time-remixed (2014)
4) Wells Tower – ‘Leopard’ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/11/10/leopard
5) Sam Shepard – Buried Child http://azactorsacademy.com/uploads/plays/buried_child.pdf
 Literary Worlds
Romanticism

 William Blake
 ‘The Chimney-Sweeper’ from Songs of Innocence
WORLDS AND THEIR (1789) AND ‘The Chimney-Sweeper’ from Songs
TEXTS of Experience (1794)
 ‘London’ from Songs of Experience (1794)
 ‘The Tyger’ from Songs of Experience (1794)

Term 4: Literary Worlds  S T Coleridge

 ‘Frost At Midnight’ (1798)

 William Wordsworth
 ‘’Tis a beauteous evening calm and free’ (1802)
 Preface to the Lyrical Ballads (1800)
 Literary Worlds
Modernism

 Joseph Conrad
 Heart of Darkness (1899)
WORLDS AND THEIR
TEXTS  William Butler Yeats
 ‘Second Coming’ (1919)

 Thomas Stearns Eliot

Term 4: Literary Worlds  Tradition and the Individual Talent (1919)

 James Joyce
 Dubliners (1914)
 Ulysses (1922)

 Virginia Woolf
 The Mark on the Wall (1919)
 Literary Worlds
Post-Modernism

 Albert Camus
 Myth of Sisyphus (1942)

WORLDS AND THEIR  Joseph Heller

TEXTS  Catch-22 (1961)

 Tom Stoppard
 Rosencrantz and Guilderstern Are Dead (1966)

Term 4: Literary Worlds

 Ridley Scott
 Bladerunner (1982)

 Christopher Nolan
 Memento (2001)

 Don DeLillo
 Falling Man (2007)
 SYLLABUS
WORLDS OF UPHEAVAL

In this elective, students explore and evaluate textual representations of the

experiences of individuals and communities seeking unity, certainty, solace, justice or
restoration in periods of significant social and political change and upheaval.
They analyse how texts represent the predicaments, aspirations, motivations and ideas
of individuals and groups in periods of upheaval and reflect on the potential of texts to
activate change in attitudes, perspectives and social circumstances.
Students consider how texts representing worlds of social and political change may
challenge literary conventions and traditional societal values.
They critically evaluate how texts represent shifting values, contexts and attitudes, and
reconsider their own values and assumptions in relation to these representations.
 SYLLABUS
WORLDS OF UPHEAVAL

In their responding and composing, they explore, analyse, experiment with and
critically evaluate their prescribed texts and other appropriate texts.
They write their own imaginative compositions that represent the relationship
between the individual and society in times of upheaval.
In this elective, students are required to study at least three of the prescribed texts
(including at least two extended print texts) as well as other texts of their own
choosing. At least two related texts must be studied. Texts can be drawn from
a range of times, contexts and media and should explore the individual and
society in times of upheaval.
 ~PRECIS~

Role of Texts – texts have the potential to:

 Represent of shifting values, contexts and attitudes
 Catalyse readers’ reconsideration of their own values and assumptions
 Activate change in attitudes, perspectives and social circumstances

Contextual change and upheaval reveals:

 Predicaments, aspirations, motivations and ideas of individuals and groups

Worlds of social and political change:

 Challenge literary conventions and traditional societal values

The inhabitants of these worlds:

 Are the society, groups, communities or individuals that are seeking unity, certainty, solace, justice or
restoration

 Upheavals are characterised by radical schism / polemic to hegemonic binaries. The upheaval is
ubiquitous across
 Worlds of Upheaval

Modernism
 Fritz Lang
WORLDS AND THEIR  Metropolis (1927)
TEXTS

Post-Modernism
 Samuel Beckett
Terms 1-3: Worlds of Upheaval  Waiting for Godot (1953)
 SYLLABUS CONNEC TIONS
L I T E R A RY
~W O RL D S ~
O F U P H E AVA L

Centre: Key aspects that

link the syllabi of the
Common Module and
the Elective

Green: Literary Worlds

Blue: Worlds of
Upheaval
 9/11

The Textual Ramifications of the

Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001
 • Historical
• War
• Politics and Governance
• International Relations
• Social
• Family Structure and Gender Roles
CONTEXT
• Employment and Economy
• Media
• Cultural
• Religion
Context
• Philosophy
Milieu • Customs
Zeitgeist • Movements

Weltanschauung • Personal
• Biography
 CONTEXT OF 9/11

The View Before 9/11: America’s Place in the

World
Read the article above and one other source
of your choosing and annotate key
contextual points under the HSCP titles.
 POETRY

Choose one of the following poems to read and respond

to the following question:
How does the composer use language (form and
features) to respond to and reflect their world?
1) Try to Praise the Mutilated World – Adam
Zagajewski
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57095/try-to-
praise-the-mutilated-world-56d23a3f28187
https://www.newsweek.com/adam-zagajewski-poet-911
-67385
2) Out of the Blue – Simon Armitage
https://www.bbc.com/teach/class-clips-video/out-of-the-
blue-by-simon-armitage/zvvr8xs
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poems/o
ut-blue-12