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Acknowledgements

The extract from ‘Away in a Manger’ is taken from Hieroglyphics and Other Stories by Anne Donovan, reproduced by permission of Canongate Books Ltd; Extracts from ‘In the Snack-bar’, ‘Good Friday’, ‘Trio’, ‘Winter’, ‘Slate’ and ‘Hyena’ from Collected Poems by Edwin Morgan are reproduced by permission of Carcanet Press Limited, 1996; The extracts from ‘The Telegram’, ‘Mother and Son’, ‘The Painter’ and ‘The Red Door’ are taken from The Red Door by Iain Crichton Smith, reproduced by permission of Birlinn Ltd (www.birlinn.co.uk); Extracts from ‘Assisi’, ‘Basking Shark’, ‘Visiting Hour’, ‘Sounds of the Day’ and ‘Memorial’ from The Poems of Norman MacCaig by Norman MacCaig are reproduced by permission of Polygon, an imprint of Birlinn Ltd (www.birlinn.co.uk).

Material in Chapter 2: Edwin Morgan has been repurposed from ‘Scottish Texts: The Poetry of Edwin Morgan’, originally written by Willie McGuire for Education Scotland, 2013, and is reproduced under the terms of the Open Government Licence (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/).

The critical essay marking grids on pages 164 – 167 are taken from the SQA Specimen Question Papers for National 5 and Higher English, Copyright © Scottish Qualifications Authority.

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INTRODUCTION

Part 1 contains the National 5 texts, while Part 2 deals with those texts that can be dealt with at either National 5 or Higher levels.

The introduction to each part leads you through the critical reading demands of the National 5 examination. Each of the chapters following this will take you through activities to prepare you for both the Scottish Text and Critical Essay responses. Chapters 1 and 2 take you through a selection of the authors and set texts for National 5 only, while Chapters 3 and 4 cover two writers suitable for both National 5 and Higher. What you may notice, is that the support given reduces as you work your way through each of the chapters. Finally, Chapter 5 provides sample critical essays on each author, with expert commentaries, allowing you to measure your own work against ‘very good’ examples at National 5 and Higher levels.

PART ONE

INTRODUCTION

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NATIONAL 5?

The authors of this book aim to support both teachers and students towards successful outcomes in the Critical Reading elements of National 5 English: Scottish Texts and Critical Essays. To achieve this, students are encouraged to work collaboratively and actively at the outset of tasks while working towards independence as the activities progress.

Critical Reading has the largest number of marks in the examination at 40 marks, while the Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation section is worth 30 marks and the Writing Portfolio 30 marks. It is, therefore, well worth studying hard in critical reading as it can substantially affect your overall grade.

There are also no surprises in the area of critical reading. The critical essay will be drawn from poetry, prose, drama, film and television drama, or language, while the set texts will be known to you. The only problem is that you don’t know which one of the six set texts for each author featured in this textbook, will be chosen for the examination. That is the reason for this book!

In the examination, you must write a critical essay (20 marks) and analyse a Scottish text (20 marks). You are advised by SQA to spend approximately 45 minutes on each. You cannot answer on the same genre in both questions. Don’t be tempted to spend much longer on any single part. The usual result of this is that one of your pieces is fairly good, although not as good as you might have expected, while the other is very weak as you have not planned your approach properly. There is a range of skills involved in critical essay writing and Scottish text analysis. This book will cover the key skills, one of which is timing. Remember 45 minutes each; no more!

Remember, too, that Norman MacCaig and Iain Crichton Smith are both studied at Higher as well as at National 5. This may be of particular interest to students who are planning for Higher following National 5.

To be successful in the examination, you must do your best with the interactive parts of the book where you are asked to complete activities.

This textbook will prepare you, thoroughly, for the demands of the examination.

This is vital.

Good luck!

The Scottish text questions

These are the first questions to appear on the paper. They are in three areas: drama, prose and poetry. You are also given page numbers for each so that you can find your particular Scottish text quickly. Do find your text quickly as you need to use all of the time in the examination efficiently. As this book concerns itself only with the shorter Scottish texts, the first area to be covered will be prose.

Prose

Prose questions will contain (roughly) a 30-line extract. This can come from anywhere in the text: beginning, middle or end. You are asked to read the extract then answer (usually) five questions, worth 20 marks in total.

Questions 1–4 will usually be about the extract itself and will be worth 12 marks, with the other 8 marks available for the final question. This requires you to relate a key aspect(s) of the extract to at least one other short story by the same author and to make a general comment (determined by the question) on a point of commonality between the texts. This leaves you with the question of whether to select one or more additional texts and this would depend on the question you are answering, but do not rule out answering on more than one additional text.

Poetry

Poetry questions will contain (roughly) a 30-line extract. This will usually be the whole poem. You are asked to read this and then answer (usually) five questions, worth 20 marks.

Questions 1–4 will usually be about the extract itself and will be worth 12 marks, with the other 8 marks available for the final question in which you have to relate a key aspect(s) of the extract to at least one other poem by the same poet. Again, you are left with the decision of whether to select one or more additional texts. The answer to this question should depend on the nature of the question and the content of the texts you have studied. It is better to know all of your texts than to depend on knowledge of only some of them, which is a very risky approach! There are no real shortcuts other than to know your texts well.

The critical essays

In this part of the paper, you have to write a critical essay on either: drama, prose, poetry, film and television drama, or language.

You cannot answer on the same genre as you did in section 1 of the paper. So, if you answered on poetry in section 1, you must answer on either drama, prose, film and television drama, or language in the critical essay. You would be answering on a Scottish text for the critical essay only if you have studied more than one text/author from the list. You are advised to spend 45 minutes on this part of the paper. No longer!

Tip 1!

You can answer the paper in any order you choose. You can do the critical essay first.

First find your genre, then a suitable question under that heading.

Tip 2!

It is better not to mix the genres up as you may incur a penalty! Always double and triple check your genre! This means that you must answer on the genre named in the question. You are given guidance as to how to approach the question. In prose, answers to questions should refer to the text and to such relevant features as characterisation, setting, language, key incident(s), climax, turning point, plot, structure, narrative technique, theme, ideas, description …

There are two questions per genre and you only have to write ONE essay, so there are lots of choices.

Note that the ellipsis (…) is there to suggest that you could also make reference to other relevant features. Those listed above are merely there to guide you through the early (frightening) stages of the examination where students can sometimes ‘go blank’. Use the pertinent technical features of the text you are going to use.

In poetry, answers should refer to the text and to such relevant features as word choice, tone, imagery, structure, content, rhythm, rhyme, theme, sound, ideas …

Again, note the ellipsis!

Tip 3!

Item writers who produce the critical essay examination papers do not know which text you are going to write about. It may be another Scottish text or it may not, yet you should be able to answer a question on a text you have studied. The questions, therefore, tend to be fairly general. This is good news, but it can also present problems, like when you try to memorise an essay. Not a good idea! We will cover more successful approaches later in the book.