Making it clear--and thinking about time

One thing that you really need to think about with this paper is the title--all those elements of narrative structure make up the 'how' of how the story is told (as opposed to the 'why' or the 'what'. In section A you know that you have to discuss that, but in section B the questions can often lure you away, so that you're talking about the nature of time, or beginnings or endings or whatever, and not about how time is presented, or how endings are presented. It's almost as though you should add that bit to every question that you answer..

For a trial questions, try answering 'How is time presented in three of the texts that you have studied' and e-mail it to me for marking.

I think if you're considering time in the texts, you have to think about the different ways in which it is used to structure the narrative. If you consider the most common way to indicate time in writing--the use of different tenses--this can sharpen your account. So, for instance, look at the tense-shift at the end of 'The Eve of St Agnes', or during 'La Belle Dame'.

Otherwise, consider how Haddon uses time differently--subjective time 'it seemed ages' and objective time 'seven minutes after midnight' and how those two interact to suggest things about character and perspective.

What about how the wedding-guest's anxiety about time (what is happening with the wedding) interacts with the Mariner's tale? There are lots of little signals that time is passing, with references to the bride's actions for instance, or the singing of the wedding. How does this enhance the sense that the mariner is in some ways stopping time or outside time in his narrative?

By the way, all of you, accuracy in writing is the thing that impresses the examiners most--so whatever long words you want to use, make sure that you are secure in their use (a good way is to see how they are used by other writers--which is why reading good critical prose is one of the best ways to enhance your vocabulary).

A realy good source for some key literary terms is the University of Cambridge English faculty website. This link takes you straight to their page on literary terms, and is a good place to start developing your own sense for what's useful.