Tony Harrison-Them and Uz

Consider in detail the Tony Harrison sonnet Them & [uz] distributed in class. How far and in what ways do you think Harrison may be described as a political poet?

• You should look closely at the effects of form, structure and language
• Relate your interpretation to at least two other interpretations by other readers (critics)

Write a well-structured essay, responding to the above question, with a word count of 1,500.

This will provide evidence for Assessment Criteria 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2
On completion of this unit the learner will be able to: Level 2
L2
1. Use coherent written expression, demonstrating an appropriate use of literary terminology 1.1 Communicate ideas with sufficient clarity to convey meaning

1.2 Use key technical terms with relevance and accuracy.

1.3 Produce a structured response to the text(s) supported by relevant quotations.
2. Communicate clearly the knowledge, understanding and insight appropriate to the study of poetry 2.1 Demonstrate basic knowledge, insight and understanding of the text(s) studied.
3. Recognise the ways in which writers use form, structure and language to shape meanings. 3.1 Describe key devices used by writers to convey meaning.

3.2 Explain how these devices affect the reader’s response.
4. Understand how judgements and opinions are informed by different interpretations of texts
4.1
Express a personal and critical response to the text(s) studied.
4.2 Explain how texts can be interpreted in different ways
5. Understand the contexts in which texts are written and understood. 5.1
Identify and comment on two or more contextual factors, showing awareness of how they shape the text(s) studied.
Assessment Criteria – Level 3
On completion of this unit the learner will be able to: Level 3
L3
1. Use coherent written expression, demonstrating an appropriate use of literary terminology. 1.1 Communicate ideas clearly and coherently.

1.2 Use appropriate terminology with relevance and accuracy.

1.3 Produce a well-structured argument, supported by relevant quotations from the text.
2. Communicate clearly the knowledge, understanding and insight appropriate to the study of poetry 2.1 Demonstrate detailed knowledge, insight and understanding of the text(s) studied.
3. Recognise the ways in which writers use form, structure and language to shape meanings. 3.1 Evaluate the devices used by writers to convey meaning.

3.2 Analyse how these devices affect the reader’s response.
4. Understand how judgements and opinions are informed by different interpretations of texts 4.1
Articulate independent opinions and judgements using detailed reference to the text(s).

4.2 Analyse different interpretations of the text(s) by other readers.
5. Understand the contexts in which texts are written and understood 5.1
Evaluate the significance of cultural, historical and other contextual influences on the text(s) studied.

 
Grading Information

1. Understanding of the subject
Indicative content for Merit
Indicative content for Distinction
The student, student’s work or performance:

demonstrates a very good understanding of the different perspectives or approaches associated with the area of study

The student, student’s work or performance:

demonstrates excellent understanding of the different perspectives or approaches associated with the area of study
What this means for the assignment:
Interpretations by other readers or critics are very well considered within the assignment What this means for the assignment:
Interpretations by other readers or critics are thoroughly evaluated within the assignment.

2. Application of Knowledge
Indicative content for Merit
Indicative content for Distinction
The student, student’s work or performance:

makes use of relevant:

• ideas

with very good levels of

• analysis The student, student’s work or performance:

Makes use of relevant:

• ideas

with excellent levels of:

• analysis
What this means for the assignment:
The student has applied their knowledge of the sonnet form to good effect within the tasks. What this means for the assignment:
The student has consistently applied their knowledge of the sonnet form to an excellent level within the tasks.
5. Communication and presentation
Indicative content for Merit
Indicative content for Distinction
The student, student’s work or performance:
shows very good command of

format
structure
The student, student’s work or performance:
shows excellent command of

format
structure

What this means for the assignment:
Both tasks are clear, effective and well structured. Vocabulary is selected and used that is appropriate to the task. What this means for the assignment:
Both tasks are exceptionally clear, effective and structured to an excellent level. Vocabulary is selected and used that is completely appropriate to the task.
7. Quality
Indicative content for Merit
Indicative content for Distinction
The student, student’s work or performance:
is structured in a way that is generally logical and fluent

contains some ambiguities or limitations in the expression of arguments or ideas

taken as a whole, demonstrates a very good response to the demands of the brief/ assignment The student, student’s work or performance:
is structured in a way that is consistently logical and fluent

arguments and ideas are unambiguous and cogent

taken as a whole, demonstrates an excellent response to the demands of the brief/ assignment

What this means for the assignment:
Information and ideas are organised to a very good degree throughout; overall a generally focused response to the tasks given. There is evidence for all learning outcomes at first submission What this means for the assignment:
Information and ideas are organised to an excellent degree throughout; overall, a completely focused response to the tasks given. There is evidence for all learning outcomes at first submission
LITERARY CRITICISM EXTRACT A
Byrne, S. (1997) Tony Harrison: Loiner Oxford, Clarendon Press
It seems to me that English poetry today would be infinitely poorer without the work of Tony Harrison and the witness it so readily affords us of the life and times of the poet and the nations he has experienced. If Harrison is a poet of his times, it is because of the wide ranging public landscape his work inhabits –both physical and intellectual, local and international. But equally, it is because of the private nature of the changes he has witnessed in those landscapes and has so meticulously charted. Where other modern poets have a reputation for a private hell inside their public personae (Eliot, Berryman, Lowell, Larkin), Harrison – although plagued by pessimism – shows us private celebration inside public hell:

Bad weather and the public mess
drive us to public tenderness

But what he celebrates most of all between the book ends of public and private is his vibrant art.

As a poet his concerns are far from aesthetic: they are about life, about concrete reality, political and class consciousness, the decisions and indecisions which leave us floundering as our reality changes.

He (Harrison) has appropriated the formal techniques which once assumed the eighteenth century ’gentleman’s agreement about taste’ in order to purvey the uncomfortable facts of the lack of justice and opportunity for those who are not born gentlemen or ladies in a class based society. In ‘The School of Eloquence’ … the work seeks to remind the reader of the working class struggle during the centuries of underprivilege which have bred an inarticulacy which has in turn marginalised the class from the centres of culture and excellence, especially in education.

The poet cleverly adopts the means of high art in order to protest against the inhumanity of a class and a culture which will happily consume that art but not let its heart be moved by it.

 

LITERARY CRITICISM EXTRACT B
Harrison, C. (1997) Form and Reading Milton Keynes, The Open University

Harrison’s sequence of sonnets entitled The School of Eloquence has at its heart the struggle of the inarticulate – those people, including his own parents and uncles, who have been denied the opportunities and accomplishments that come with eloquent speech.

Part of Harrison’s endeavour is to break the sonnet’s long association with class, privilege and elevated diction and open it up to the influence of popular working-class culture. Many of the words and images in Harrison’s poetry are concerned with the working-class hunger for articulate speech and feelings of inferiority induced by class condescension.

In Harrison’s hands the flexibility of the sonnet is such that an intimate elegy (Marked with D) can shift into an angry condemnation of England and its deeply divisive class society. The sonnet still strives for eloquence but it is surely a testimony to its resilient and versatile form that it should have started life in the medieval courts of southern Italy and come to be a powerful instrument for the voice of the northern English working class.

In tracing the development of the sonnet as a poetic form, it is possible to see how complex the sonnet form can be and the variety in the kind of subject-matter the sonnet can accommodate.
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