Two down, eight to go.

English Paper Two. The first real test of knowledge I’ve had so far.

Three sections, Shakespeare, Comparative and Poetry.

The Shakespeare was okay. There was a given statement for us to discuss. I had predicted a question all about Iago, but the statement was more inclined towards Othello. No real complaints, I can cope. So then the comparative, namely Literary Genre which was my preferred option. So, State Exams Commission, what kind of LG question was that?! Very, very restricting question, took a lot of twisting and turning for my knowledge of LG to suit that question. Awful question. Time constraints on this paper are enough cause for complaint, we really don’t need a minor panic in the middle of the exam upon seeing such a disgusting question. I swung it my my way though, but I really would have struggled for time if things hadn’t started off well.

Unseen poetry (a miserable 5% of the overall grade in English) was relatively easy. There was a bit of a surprise in the prescribed poetry in the absence of Eavan Boland, the SEC showing their slightly sexist side by sticking (check my sibilant alliteration there folks, all that poetry’s rubbing off on me!) to their tradition of having only one female poet on the exam. (Would Adrienne Rich approve of such conduct?) None of the poetry questions involved writing a letter to the poet, which was a bit surprising also. But good ol’ Derek Mahon saved the day for me, that handsome poetic devil! A man who can make a thousand mushrooms in a disused shed become the forgotten victims of history is a man I’ll write about all day long thank you very much!

Tough one for me tomorrow, Maths Paper One (Why oh why did I stick to higher level?) and Geography.

Oh and if any particular national newspaper happens to be reading this, while I absolutely love seeing my ramblings being published, I don’t particularly like seeing my ramblings being published and credited to someone else, so do keep an eye on that I’ll forgive though, I’m nice like that.

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