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Macmillan Literature Guide for Russia Автор: Ларионова И. В., заведующая кабинетом иностранных языков спб аппо книга

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5. The Rocking Horse Winner
You won’t let it go any further
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to tug, to strain apart, to haul: The dogs tugged, strained apart and hauled to let themselves free.


leash: When travelling on a bus, dogs have to be kept on a leash.

pack: There was a pack of wolves in the forest.

hound: The most famous hound is that of the Baskerville.

unruly: These boys do not know about manners, they are so unruly.

quarry: The stone is dug out from a quarry.

amiss: I never do anything right, it all goes amiss!

might: He has got a lot of might. He is very strong.

abyss: Be careful, there is an abyss, do not fall into it! – in the poem the word is used in an idiomatic phrase, not literally.


solution


weariness: tiredness

to tug: to pull strongly

leash: a strap used to control a dog

to strain apart: to pull sideways

pack: group

hound: hunting dog

unruly: undisciplined

quarry: a place where stone is dug

to haul: to pull with difficulty

amiss: wrong, senseless

might: strength

abyss: a deep hole


After the students have discussed and explained the vocabulary (with the teacher’s help), they should come up with an idea of what the poem might be about – based on the given words. They will present their ideas to the class in an open discussion.


The students will read the extract from the poem and will have a chance to correct their ideas.


The students will read the extract again while following the text. The teacher will make copies of the text or write the poem on an OHP transparency.


“it all goes down the same abyss”


What does it mean? (I do not care, it is all the same in the end).


In the poem find another idiom with a similar meaning (“it is all my aunt”).


Who is the narrator? (a teacher)

Who is he talking about? (his students)

How does he feel about his job? Why?

Discuss the question and choose from the list of adjectives the one you think is the most appropriate:

Impatient, irrelevant, bored, indifferent, angry, despairing, - or any other?


The teacher will have to write the list of the adjectives on the board.

What can be the title of the poem? (open to discussion)


The poem, actually, can express some of Lawrence’s thoughts from the time of his teaching career, but can also speak about the feelings of any teacher, tired at the end of the day, perhaps a young, less experienced teacher, or an old, already resigned teacher.


Read the poem again

  1. Sons and Lovers (1913)


This is an extract from a largely autobiographical novel.


a) Open to discussion


reading


b) The age is not explicitly given, but we are given some hints (he goes to school, a child’s paper is mentioned, he is a schoolboy);

c) He might feel lonely or sad;

d) He might find it difficult to adjust to the two worlds he is living in – the one above (at home) and the one under the ground (in the mines);

e) Father speaks the local dialect while mother speaks standard English. They come form different social backgrounds. He is a miner coming home form the mines (associations with black colour), uneducated, rough in his behaviour, drunk. (Later Lawrence realised his father’s portrait was far too one-sidedly negative and appreciated the vitality and the love of life in him). Lawrence’s mother was a former teacher. She tried to keep up the family standards above the local level, kept the house clean and tidy (associations with white colour);

f) Father speaks the basic language, the local dialect. If we simplify the matter, he represents the body, the primitive, the vital, the basic forces of life. Mother is an educated person, she represents the soul, the spirit;

g) When he works at home, mending things. This is the natural world. The work in the mines makes him a stranger;

h) She could have married him because she was attracted by his spontaneity, by his ability to be merry, to enjoy life to the full. Now she is bitter, tired of looking after the children. Judging from the extract, there is not much communication between father and mother.


5. The Rocking Horse Winner (1926)


The story is far too long to be read entirely by the class. The teacher has to decide which parts can be assigned as home reading.


listening


a) The first two paragraphs are done as listening for general atmosphere. A teacher can read the first two paragraphs to students. Discuss the way Lawrence opens the story. The opening reminds us of a classical fairy tale)”there was once a…” repeated later as “there were…”), a specific rhythm, especially in the sentences based on contrasts (“She married form love, and the love turned to dust”.).


reading


b) The next part is read. “There must be more money”. This sentence gives the false impression that the lack of money is going to be the theme of the story. The parents have expensive tastes – though they obviously cannot afford them, they will not give them up either;

c) The sentence is: “There must be more money”. The parents want to keep up appearances, not to let on to anyone what the real situation is like. They find it embarrassing to speak about money. The children are very sensitive, especially Paul, and perceive the reality as strange whispers that haunt the house (here the supernatural element is stepping in).


listening


d) Let the students listen (once should be sufficient) for the three key words. These can differ.


Возможные варианты ответов


luck, lucky, unlucky, or rich, money … In any case, the key words certainly signify that for the family happiness is synonymous with having a lot of money.


reading


e) Reading part. He looks for his luck by riding his toy, a rocking-horse. In his search for luck he gets into a state of ecstasy, a trance, out of reality;

f) Open to discussion.


reading


g) young, fine sport a good fellow (not common today, felt as

old-fashioned)

honour bright on my word of honour

I don’t want to give him away I don’t want to betray him

You won’t let it go any further You won’t tell anybody

By addressing him so, Uncle Oscar wants to show that he considers him equal, does not see a child in him.


Read the text and discuss it.

h) Open to discussion


reading


i) Listen for the content. The students should be able to retell the basic outline of this extract;

j) Reading part. He may understand there is something strange in the way his luck came to him. Is there any evidence in the text, in the way Paul looks? E. G. “with big blue eyes that had an uncanny cold fire in them.” Paul always talks about strange whispers, strange sounds. He seems to possess the power that the ordinary people do not have;

k) He decides it should be saved to be paid out slowly over the years;

l) Reading part. The discrepancy between the presence of money in the house and the existence of the strange voices. Instead of disappearing they are getting louder. Paul’s solitary life did not change either, his mother has no more time or affection for him;

m) Read and discuss (the adjectives “cold, hardened, expressionless, absent” are explicit enough to show that mother did not try to understand her son too much);

n) Paul knows the winning horse;

o) Open discussion;

p) Read the extract for the language. The students work in pairs and try to match the expressions from the extract with the given equivalents. Having read the text, they should be able to guess a lot from the context.


решение


shabby worn startled frightened

uncanny strange intruded upon disrupted

seizure attack anxiety fear

quaint strange might and main as hard as possible

as right as a trivit all right anguish pain


q) Open to discussion
  • Paul’s father is hardly ever there. He is disinterested (“Said the father stonily”), even when the situation is critical.
  • Open to discussion
  • Open to discussion (to be lucky does not mean to be happy, what is happiness then?, money cannot buy love – there is the Beatles’ song, too, to illustrate the maxim, it would be appropriate to listen to it at this point….);

r) The students should have heard the extract enough to tell it in their own words. The teacher may help with vocabulary if necessary.