Advanced Higher English

[babybombo]

I'm taking advanced higher english and as part of the course I've to write a 4000 word dissertation as a specialist study.

I'm absolutely stuck for ideas!

I came up with a few ideas such as the works of Janice Galloway and the topic of mental health in her works.
But my teacher said she is too modern!
He classes anyone still alive as too modern to write on.

I was wondering if anyone could suggest any good authors/poets/books/poems which have good themes/motifs/symbolism.

I am really struggling to find anything that inspiring.

All suggestions welcome!

[~max~]

I'm guessing your teacher is a little bit up his own arse...
Advanced higher english? What is that ? You can talk about ANY english-speaking writer, and still come up with a good dissertation.
If you have any specific guidelines, please post them now though.

[Lil O'lady]

Max - advanced higher = scottish A-levels,
Baby, why not ask your tutor directly - get him to recommend a few routes of enquiry - then you know for definite you are choosing something he approves of.

[babybombo]

Max, he can be sometimes but he just won teacher of the year, he's the best teacher in Scotland and he's in the running for best teacher in Britain. So I'm going to take his advice whether it sounds stupid to me or not unfortunately.

My teacher wants me to do classics, like dickens, thanks steve.
But I really want to write on works I find interesting and enjoy and I'm not too into all that just now.

I was thinking about doing Keats' Odes, I like them and I'm sure there's plenty to write on.
What do you think?

Thanks for your help max, steve and O'lady =]

[Sir Alec]

T S Eliot. He's not too old or modern and wrote an interesting array of both poetry and plays. He was also a very decent bloke by all accounts.

[karenmac60]

Why not try Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Scot's Quair trilogy? He's more modern than Dickens and I know I just couldn't relate to the likes of Dickens or Shakespeare when I was doing my highers - something Scottish was always easier to understand. Plus he's dead so your teacher'll be ok with it!!!

[boogieboogie]

You are right to stick to the advice of your tutor if you want to make the grade.
I would suggest Lewis Carroll - Alice in Wonderland for symbolism and metaphor.. And other works as I've just found this poem of his: http://baheyeldin.com/literature/symbolism-lew is-carroll-walrus-and-carpenter.html
Also Lord of the Flies - William Golding..

[babybombo]

Thanks all,

Sir alec and steve, T. S Eliot sounds like a good choice, I haven't read the wastlands but I do know a little about it and it does sound like it would appeal to me and I'm sure it would meet the approval of my teacher.

Karen, I've never heard of Lewis Grassic Gibbon but I'll certainly look into it, I know what you mean about it being easier with Scottish text, and plus points for him being dead!

Boogie, that does sound like a really good idea for me actually. Symbolism and metaphor in writing are what I'm interested in and can make the best analysis and comment on. I studied The Lord of the Flies last year and I know it very well also so it would be a good choice for me too.

Thanks to all of you, these are brilliant suggestions and I really am very grateful of all your help!

I'm going to take all these suggestions here to my teacher to ask his opinion because I like them all and can see how I'd work with all of them.
Thanks again all!

[zig.zag]

try writing a four thousand word eassay on a ping-pong ball

[jno]

The Waste Land - just the one! It's fascinating but quite difficult (though it comes with notes); the fractured rhyme and rhythm reflect the fracturing of society after the first world war.

Eliot worked at Lloyds Bank.

[paulk1]

look its just an idea I had and did nothing about,why not look at Thomas Hardy and links to homosexuality.If you read "Tess of the D'urbervilles" and focus on Angel Clare,Ithink its a bit revealing.I think some investigation of his other works might prove interesting.

[babybombo]

Hmm zigzag, not sure I'd pass with that =P

Ah that does sound good jno.
I recently read Janice Galloway's The trick is to keep breathing, she used similar technique in her writing where the broken lines showed the character's mental breakdown.
I wrote a personal study on that book and that technique was my main focus of the study, so The Waste land certainly sounds appealing.

Paul, I saw on a student website someone mention Tess of the D'urbervilles, now that you have also mentioned it, I'll look into it. Sounds interesting and my teacher likes the less explored subject such as homosexuality, feminism, mental health, things along those lines.

Thanks again all =]