HL English A1 2013 Paper 1 - Interpretations?

[Guest Fiorella]

Yes RedTop, I agree with lots of stuff you mentioned so I think you'll be fine! You actually got to mention way more important things than me lol. I mainly got the literary features down but as for the symbol/importance of the rainbow it was kind of at the back of my mind until I got to my conclusion...

[JackalJack]

On 5/3/2013 at 4:53 PM, dasreaper22 said:

red top....i think you ripped your commentary with your interpretation...I know no one in our school would have been able to think of that! I think you will get a 6 minimum on paper 1!

I'm really happy with what you wrote to me because it boosted my confidence very dearly. I was confused with what you said by ripped but I get it now haha . Hopefully you're right with what you said From Fiorella's comment, I feel confident now with what you said. um... now I hope I was able to pull it off correctly instead of writing something unclear.

On 5/3/2013 at 4:51 PM, BJD said:

This Tunnel prose is this for a different time zone because mine involved a character named Tsigie

Tunnel Prose is for North America & Latin America time zone I believe. (sorry for double post I want to multiquote )

On 5/3/2013 at 5:01 PM, Fiorella said:

Yes RedTop, I agree with lots of stuff you mentioned so I think you'll be fine! You actually got to mention way more important things than me lol. I mainly got the literary features down but as for the symbol/importance of the rainbow it was kind of at the back of my mind until I got to my conclusion...

Thank you! I was literally having trouble on analyzing my stuff so I'm glad you were able to agree with me, I didn't get analyzing until the very last day before Paper 1 exam (Whewww!). No joke I was getting 10/25's straight, so this comment is helping me feel reassured of myself.

I actually loved this prose because it talked about ice-cream I mother ****ing love ice-cream.

Edited November 26, 2017 by JackalJack

[dasreaper22]

red top....i think you ripped your commentary with your interpretation...I know no one in our school would have been able to think of that! I think you will get a 6 minimum on paper 1!

I'm really happy with what you wrote to me because it boosted my confidence very dearly. I was confused with what you said by ripped but I get it now haha . Hopefully you're right with what you said From Fiorella's comment, I feel confident now with what you said. um... now I hope I was able to pull it off correctly instead of writing something unclear.

>This Tunnel prose is this for a different time zone because mine involved a character named Tsigie

Tunnel Prose is for North America & Latin America time zone I believe. (sorry for double post I want to multiquote )

Yes RedTop, I agree with lots of stuff you mentioned so I think you'll be fine! You actually got to mention way more important things than me lol. I mainly got the literary features down but as for the symbol/importance of the rainbow it was kind of at the back of my mind until I got to my conclusion...

Thank you! I was literally having trouble on analyzing my stuff so I'm glad you were able to agree with me, I didn't get analyzing until the very last day before Paper 1 exam (Whewww!). No joke I was getting 10/25's straight, so this comment is helping me feel reassured of myself.

I actually loved this prose because it talked about ice-cream I mother ****ing love ice-cream.

for a minute i wanted to end the commentary by saying. ``I scream, You scream, Ib screams, Gass screams, we all scream for ice cream`` LOL

[JackalJack]

I actually loved this prose because it talked about ice-cream I mother ****ing love ice-cream.

for a minute i wanted to end the commentary by saying. ``I scream, You scream, Ib screams, Gass screams, we all scream for ice cream`` LOL

This made me really laugh out loud haha, good show good show!

I feel like a like is not good enough to express how much that made me laugh.

Edited May 3, 2013 by RedTopHats

[dasreaper22]

I actually loved this prose because it talked about ice-cream I mother ****ing love ice-cream.

for a minute i wanted to end the commentary by saying. ``I scream, You scream, Ib screams, Gass screams, we all scream for ice cream`` LOL

This made me really laugh out loud haha, good show good show!

I feel like a like is not good enough to express how much that made me laugh.

LOL ahah, well i am glad i am done with english now, but i still feel that i am gonna miss it

[yii yann]

Who did soap suds?

I first analyzed all the imagery, and the effects of the "then and now" contrasts (like the yellow ball is mirrored in the second stanza with globes), and stuff, linking it to loss of innocence and trauma, possibly due to childhood abuse within the house (i got this from the adult voice screaming "play!"

[xiaoting]

I did the poem too: Language as an Escape from the Discrete...
I talked about the need for communication, so the title was basically my thesis statement.
I used the structure (written language), sound devices (verbal language), and silence (body/kinesthetic language) to support my point.
How much did you guys write? I managed 6 pages, I think.

RedTopHats, on 03 May 2013 - 15:09, said:

I actually loved this prose because it talked about ice-cream I mother ****ing love ice-cream.

This is what turned me off the prose... After the second reading I was already so hungry = ="

Edited May 4, 2013 by xiaoting

[GeekChloe]

Not gonna lie....the whole "ice cream" thing was 100% what initially attracted me to the prose...

What can I say, us IBs love our food LOL.

[roseriffic]

I did the poem "Language as an Escape from the Discrete" as well! For all of my practice papers I'd chosen poetry, so I didn't want to try the prose for the first time! (For those of you who wrote on it, what did you make of the Lime slush??)

I talked about the speaker's fear of the separation (the discrete) that not being able to communicate with beings/ people creates. One thing I mentioned was the structure and how that aides in meaning, particularly the progression of sentience, and the structure moving from small and detailed to large, sweeping generalizations. (It goes from the small, "intricate" and least sentient wasps, to the cat, to the idea/children in general, to "the illiterate body," which I took to mean the entirety of beings/things that can't communicate with the speaker.) I took the silences to be a lack of language and communication, and the last line of the poem was the culmination of the point I was making... that silence (lack of communication) made the Tower of Babel (a Biblical allusion which essentially results in dividing humanity). In my conclusion, I said that although the poem ends on a dark note, the reader can take hope from the title, which suggests that language can overcome/escape the division caused by the lack of communication. In this way, the reader can console themselves both in the fact that by using language, the author/speaker has overcome their fear of "the discrete" and that by reading the poem, the reader themselves have also bridged this gap.

Throughout the essay I talked about various lit and sound devices, as you would expect.

Any different interpretations and or thoughts on mine?

[mellogator]

To those who did soap suds:

Did anyone interpret the symbolism of the ball/mallet/hoops? I basically said that the game was a metaphor for life, the balls were the course our lives take, the hoops the milestones we achieve along the way, and the mallet our control over our destiny.. but I have no clue if I totally went off track or not

[Matsu]

Who did soap suds?

I first analyzed all the imagery, and the effects of the "then and now" contrasts (like the yellow ball is mirrored in the second stanza with globes), and stuff, linking it to loss of innocence and trauma, possibly due to childhood abuse within the house (i got this from the adult voice screaming "play!"

I did soap suds. Had similar analysis to you, same theme of loss of childhood (but I pretentiously called it the tragedy of growth) though I interpreted "Play!" slightly differently. I compared both instances of "Play!", and rather than childhood trauma, I concluded that the distancing language of "grown-up voice" (because grown-up is colloquially used by children to refer to adults and not others like themselves, hence distancing the persona from it) reflected the euphonic tone of the the persona reminiscing and reliving the past, however, the "angry voice" no longer had that distancing language, making it possible to interpret that the persona himself is the source of the voice. Thus, I said that the main purpose of "Play!" was to associate negative emotions with becoming that "grown up voice", with the capitalization and punctuation to emphasize how important play is (and by extension childhood, as playing is typically a feature unique to childhood).

TLDR; the changes between the instances of "Play!" can be interpreted as a way of saying that it sucks to grow up, rather than reflect childhood abuse

BTW, you think it's okay to call the flashback schtuff in the middle of the poem synesthetic as it all stems from the smell of the soap?

[Matsu]

To those who did soap suds:

Did anyone interpret the symbolism of the ball/mallet/hoops? I basically said that the game was a metaphor for life, the balls were the course our lives take, the hoops the milestones we achieve along the way, and the mallet our control over our destiny.. but I have no clue if I totally went off track or not

Cool reading. What evidence did you use to justify that though? I'm actually legitimately curious haha. Some of my friends came up with some pretty cool interpretations too. One of them said it's an exploration of the human mind (but I have absolutely no clue how he justified that).

[yii yann]

Well yeah I was thinking it was the deterioration of his mind, and that the whole thing was just his imagination, set off by the familiar smell of soap. So yep I think it'd be actually quite right to call it synesthetic (can't believe I didn't say it in the exam!)

Although, to be honest, the interpretation doesn't matter too much. It's more of the literary devices and stuff, like the imagery (especially in the second stanza), the contrast between the beginning and the end, symbolism, etc

[Matsu]

Well yeah I was thinking it was the deterioration of his mind, and that the whole thing was just his imagination, set off by the familiar smell of soap. So yep I think it'd be actually quite right to call it synesthetic (can't believe I didn't say it in the exam!)

Although, to be honest, the interpretation doesn't matter too much. It's more of the literary devices and stuff, like the imagery (especially in the second stanza), the contrast between the beginning and the end, symbolism, etc

Haha I agree! Just a minor clarification that's been bugging me a little bit.

[glorii]

I did the Soap Suds poem too. Actually really liked the poem, but I have no idea how I did. Had a good feeling when I left the exam room, though. I wrote about the olfactory, visual and tactile imagery, the use of onomatopoeia and listing of objects in the second stanza, where the rhythm of the poem slows down because the speaker is remembering joyful memories. I spoke about how the soap evoked memories of the past, something we as readers can relate to and how sometimes when we remember vivid recollections of our past we are disappointed because something has changed. I think there was a significant shift in tone in the last stanza, negative charged diction etc, change from sad tone to happy tone... Anyone agree? Hope the examiners are nice to us...

[tylerhiltonfan]

did anyone do Standard Level A1 English Literature on the 2nd May?

[mellogator]

I did the Soap Suds poem too. Actually really liked the poem, but I have no idea how I did. Had a good feeling when I left the exam room, though. I wrote about the olfactory, visual and tactile imagery, the use of onomatopoeia and listing of objects in the second stanza, where the rhythm of the poem slows down because the speaker is remembering joyful memories. I spoke about how the soap evoked memories of the past, something we as readers can relate to and how sometimes when we remember vivid recollections of our past we are disappointed because something has changed. I think there was a significant shift in tone in the last stanza, negative charged diction etc, change from sad tone to happy tone... Anyone agree? Hope the examiners are nice to us...

I also had the change in diction - I said something about the voice changing from grown-up to angry which was reflected in the verse's diction... actually I have everything you listed except the disappointment, but I really like that interpretation!

[Matsu]

I did the Soap Suds poem too. Actually really liked the poem, but I have no idea how I did. Had a good feeling when I left the exam room, though. I wrote about the olfactory, visual and tactile imagery, the use of onomatopoeia and listing of objects in the second stanza, where the rhythm of the poem slows down because the speaker is remembering joyful memories. I spoke about how the soap evoked memories of the past, something we as readers can relate to and how sometimes when we remember vivid recollections of our past we are disappointed because something has changed. I think there was a significant shift in tone in the last stanza, negative charged diction etc, change from sad tone to happy tone... Anyone agree? Hope the examiners are nice to us...

I have a similar interpretation to you, right down to the diction! Glad to know my interpretation is similar to many other people's, makes me feel confident

[ChuChuRepublic]

Hi guys I'm having a doubt about my paper 1... I did my commentary on the prose Cutting for Stone.

Where is the setting when the surgeon talks to tsige? Was it in Ethiopia or in America?

I wrote that it was in America and a friend of mine wrote that it was set in Ethiopia.. I'm so confused!!!!!!

[cjy]

Hi guys I'm having a doubt about my paper 1... I did my commentary on the prose Cutting for Stone.

Where is the setting when the surgeon talks to tsige? Was it in Ethiopia or in America?

I wrote that it was in America and a friend of mine wrote that it was set in Ethiopia.. I'm so confused!!!!!!

It was America

Is this structure ok (for the poem)?

1) Nostalgia of Childhood

2) The security of the memory

3) the lamenting of childhood/loss of youth

Edited May 4, 2013 by cjy