Ms Paine
8 ENGLISH
2015
OPENING ACTIVITY
For each quadrant, brainstorm a list of elements that might feature in a typical gothic text.
2. SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, EVENTS &
OMENS
1. SETTING
eg. graveyard
Eg. Werewolves, strange noises, prophecies
COMMON FEATURES
OF GOTHIC TEXTS
3. HORRIFIC OR TRAGIC EVENTS
Eg. murder
4. ATOMSPHERE
Eg. frightening
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TEXT 1:
The Tell-Tale Heart
By Edgar Allan Poe
True! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will
you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled
them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in
the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how
healthily --how calmly I can tell you the whole story.
It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived,
it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged
me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye
of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees -very gradually --I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.
Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should
have seen how wisely I proceeded --with what caution --with what foresight --with what dissimulation I went to work!
I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I
turned the latch of his door and opened it --oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my
head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would
have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly --very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the
old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay
upon his bed. Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this, And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid
the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously --cautiously (for the hinges creaked) --I undid it just so much that a single thin
ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights --every night just at midnight --but I found the eye
always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye.
And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him
by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound
old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.
Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch's minute hand moves
more quickly than did mine. Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers --of my sagacity. I could
scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to
dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed
suddenly, as if startled. Now you may think that I drew back --but no. His room was as black as pitch with the thick
darkness, (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers,) and so I knew that he could not see the opening
of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily. I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my
thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out --"Who's there?" I kept quite still
and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was
still sitting up in the bed listening; --just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.
Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of
grief --oh, no! --it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew
the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom,
deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and
pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he
had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless,
but could not. He had been saying to himself --"It is nothing but the wind in the chimney --it is only a mouse crossing
the floor," or "It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp." Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself with
these suppositions: but he had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his
black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow
that caused him to feel --although he neither saw nor heard --to feel the presence of my head within the room.
When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little --a
very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it --you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily --until, at length a
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simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and
fell full upon the vulture eye. It was open --wide, wide open --and I grew
furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness --all a dull blue,
with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I
could see nothing else of the old man's face or person: for I had directed
the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot. And have I not
told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the
sense? --now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such
as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well, too.
It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating
of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.
But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held
the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon
the eve. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker
and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must
have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! --do you
mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the
dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so
strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some
minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder,
louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me -the sound would be heard by a neighbour! The old man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern
and leaped into the room. He shrieked once --once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy
bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled
sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was
dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and
held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.
If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the
concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse.
I cut off the head and the arms and the legs. I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited
all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye --not even his -could have detected any thing wrong. There was nothing to wash out --no stain of any kind --no blood-spot whatever.
I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all --ha! ha! When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o'clock
--still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door. I went down to open it
with a light heart, --for what had I now to fear? There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect
suavity, as officers of the police. A shriek had been heard by a neighbour during the night; suspicion of foul play had
been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office, and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the
premises. I smiled, --for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream.
The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search --search
well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my
confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild
audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.
The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat, and while I
answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My
head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct: -It continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained
definiteness --until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears. No doubt I now grew very pale; --but I
talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased --and what could I do? It was a low, dull,
quick sound --much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath --and yet the officers
heard it not. I talked more quickly --more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles,
in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced
the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men --but the noise steadily
increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed --I raved --I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting,
and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder --louder --louder!
And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! --no, no! They heard!
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--they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But
anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical
smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now --again! --hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!
"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his
hideous heart!"
Accessed on 02/09/2014 <https://www.poemuseum.org/works-telltale.php>
*Death watches are beetles that bore into wood, especially old houses and furniture. Some superstitious people
believe that these insects ticking sounds foretell death.
VOCABULARY
vulture: a person or thing that preys, esp. greedily or unscrupulously.
dissimulation: to hide under a false appearance; feigning; hypocrisy.
vexed: irritated; annoyed.
sagacity: acuteness of mental discernment & soundness of judgment; wisdom.
hearkening: to listen attentively; give heed.
stifled: to suppress, curb, or withhold; muffled.
acuteness: sharp or penetrating in intellect, insight, or perception; sensitive.
pulsation: a beat or throb, as of the pulse.
dismembered: to cut, tear, or pull off the limbs of; to divide into pieces.
suavity: smoothly agreeable and courteous; sophistication.
audacity: boldness or daring, esp. with confident or arrogant disregard for personal safety.
gesticulations: a deliberate, vigorous motion or gesture with one’s hands.
dissemble: to give a false or misleading appearance to; conceal the truth or real nature of.
ACTIVITY 1: “THE TELL-TALE HEART”
UNDERSTANDING
1. Summarize in a paragraph of 4-5 sentences what happens in the story.
2. Who is the narrator? What has he done?
3. Why does the narrator eventually admit to the police that he is guilty of murder?
4. Can the narrator really hear a beating heart? Why or why not?
A WRITER’S STYLE – LITERARY TECHNIQUES
(Accessed on 05/09/2014 http://www.westgeauga.k12.oh.us/userfiles/1453/tell%20tale%20heart%20activities.pdf)
Edgar Allan Poe uses a range of literary techniques to develop a menacing and terrifying tone in his story.
1. FIRST PERSON NARRATION: When an author chooses to use first person point of view, he or she
tells the story as though the narrator were speaking directly to the reader. In this type of narration,
the narrator uses the pronoun “I”. In order to fully understand the meaning of the story, the reader
must make some educated guesses about the person who is telling the story and his/her situation.
a. How would you describe the narrator’s personality in “The Tell Tale Heart”? Are they someone
to be trusted as a narrator? Find evidence in the text to support your point of view.
b. One word to describe the tone of this passage is “menacing.” Something menacing is a possible
source of danger or has a threatening quality. How does the narrator’s persona contribute to
the tone of the passage?
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2. CONNOTATION: Connotation is when a word invokes a specific idea or feeling in addition to its
literal meaning. For example, the word “dark” means literally the lacking of light, but often connotes
feelings of despair, trauma and sadness.
a. Find 10 verbs and/or nouns from the short story, write down the literal meaning as well as any
connotation that they might have in the table below.
Verb/Noun
Literal Meaning
Connotation
Dark (noun)
Place where light is absent
despair, trauma and sadness
3. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE (ABSTRACT IMAGERY): Whenever you describe something by comparing it
with something else, you are using figurative language. The most common types of figurative
language are similes, metaphors and personification.
 Simile: a comparison of two unlike things, typically marked by use of "like" or "as".
 Metaphor: A comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not using “like” or
“as”, like a simile does.
Analyse this sentence from the story.
It was a low, dull, quick, sound – much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.
a. Is this example a metaphor or a simile? Why?
b. Why might the author liken the sound that the narrator hears to a “watch…enveloped in cotton”?
c. Find another example of a metaphor or simile from the text and write it down. Make sure to
identify whether it is a metaphor or simile?
4. PERSONIFICATION: This is when a writer gives human qualities to something that is not human,
often by way of a metaphor.
a. Can you find an example of personification from the story? Write it down.
b. Now explain why it is a form of personification.
5. SUBJECTS OF HORROR & SUPERNATURAL: These are intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the
audience, and help make it part of the gothic genre. Historically, the cause of the "horror" experience
has often been the intrusion of an evil—or, occasionally, misunderstood—supernatural element into
everyday human experience.
a. What is the supernatural or horror element in “The Tell-Tale Heart?”
ANALYTICALLY WRITING PRACTISE
(Accessed on 05/09/14 <http://www.nms.org/Portals/0/Docs/English/Tell-Tale%20Heart.pdf>)
6. REPETITION: Where words or certain phrases are repeated for a stronger emphasis by the author.
Analyse this sentence from the story.
And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel although he neither
saw nor heard – to feel the presence of my head within the room.
a. What is repeated in this sentence?
b. What is being emphasized through this repetition?
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c. Complete the paragraph below.
In “The Tell Tale Heart” by ____________________, he uses a range of techniques to create
______________ for his reader.
For instance, by repeating _________________________, the author
emphasizes ___________________________________ enhancing the sense of menace, because
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
7. Now using your notes above, and short quotations from the text, write two paragraphs in which
you explain how two of Poe’s techniques help create a sense of menace in ‘The Tell-Tell Heart.
These techniques can include: repetition, figurative language and imagery.
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TEXT 2:
Don’t Ask Jack
By Neil Gaiman - From Smoke and Mirrors (1999).
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ACTIVITY 2 - “DON’T ASK JACK”
UNDERSTANDING
1. Who is Jack? Where can he be found?
2. Why don’t the children like playing with Jack?
3. At the end of the story, what happens to the four children who owned Jack?
ANALYSIS
4. Look closely at this passage.
And then the children would touch the catch, and the lid would open, slow as sunset, and the music would
began to play, and Jack came out. Not with a pop and a bounce: he was no spring-heeled Jack. But
deliberately, intently, he would rise from the box and motion for the children to come closer, closer, and
smile.
And there in the moonlight, he told them each things they could never quite remember, things they were
never able entirely to forget
a. How would you describe the tone of this passage? Why?
b. At what time of day, does this part of the story take place? Does this add to the tone of the
story?
c. Can you find an example of a simile in this passage? Write it down. Why do you think Neil
Gaiman has chosen this simile to describe Jack?
d. What words are repeated? How do they help make this passage more uneasy?
e. Neil Gaiman uses the verbs “deliberately” and “intently” to describe Jack’s movements?
How is this a contrast to a typical Jack-in-a-box?
f. Now in a short paragraph of four to five sentences, and using quotations, describe how Neil
Gaiman creates a tone of menace and unease in this passage from “Don’t Ask Jack”.
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TEXT 3:
The Highwayman
By Alfred Noyes
PART ONE
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
He’d a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin.
They fitted with never a wrinkle. His boots were up to the thigh.
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard.
He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred.
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord’s black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord’s daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened. His face was white and peaked.
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord’s daughter,
The landlord’s red-lipped daughter.
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—
“One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I’m after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.”
He rose upright in the stirrups. He scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair in the casement. His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(O, sweet black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.
PART TWO
He did not come in the dawning. He did not come at noon;
And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon,
When the road was a gypsy’s ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching—
Marching—marching—
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King George’s men came marching, up to the old inn-door.
They said no word to the landlord. They drank his ale instead.
But they gagged his daughter, and bound her, to the foot of her narrow bed.
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest.
They had bound a musket beside her, with the muzzle beneath her breast!
“Now, keep good watch!” and they kissed her. She heard the doomed man say—
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!
She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
The tip of one finger touched it. She strove no more for the rest.
Up, she stood up to attention, with the muzzle beneath her breast.
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins, in the moonlight, throbbed to her love’s refrain.
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horsehoofs ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The red coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still.
Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer. Her face was like a light.
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death.
He turned. He spurred to the west; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o’er the musket, drenched with her own blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, and his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord’s daughter,
The landlord’s black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.
Back, he spurred like a madman, shouting a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high.
Blood red were his spurs in the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat;
When they shot him down on the highway,
Down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with a bunch of lace at his throat.
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.
.
.
And still of a winter’s night, they say, when the wind is in
the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy
seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple
moor,
A highwayman comes riding—
Riding—riding—
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark innyard.
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and
barred.
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be
waiting there
But the landlord’s black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord’s daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
ACTIVITY 3: “THE HIGHWAYMAN”
UNDERSTANDING
1. Who tells the Redcoats where to find the Highwayman? Why?
2. How does Bess save the Highwayman?
3. What kind of atmosphere does this poem have? Does it change?
ANALYSIS
4. Find an example of imagery such as a metaphor or simile from the poem. Write it down and explain
what type of imagery it is. How does this use of imagery contribute to the poem’s atmosphere?
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TEXT 4:
The Three Witches from Macbeth
By William Shakespeare
ACT 4, SCENE I. A cavern. In the middle, a boiling
cauldron.
Thunder. Enter the three Witches
Nose of Turk and Tartar's
lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
First Witch
Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
itch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
Second Witch
Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.
Third Witch
Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time.
First Witch
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Third Witch
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch
Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
Second Witch
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks!
Enter MACBETH
ACTIVITY 4 – THE THREE WITCHES
UNDERSTANDING & ANALYSIS
1. What do the witches put in their cauldron in the
stanza starting “fillet of snake”?
2. Are any of these creatures considered
dangerous or ugly? Why the use of such
creatures might be considered appropriate for
a witches spell.
FORMATIVE ORAL
In a group of three, prepare a reading for the class
of either The Highwayman or the witches scene
from Macbeth. Consider the use of rhyme,
rhythm and repetition and how it will affect your
reading of these poems. You might like to dress
up and act out the scene.
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TEXT 5:
Where the Wild Roses Grow
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds with Kylie Minogue
[Chorus]
They call me The Wild Rose
But my name is Elisa Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name is Elisa Day
From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one
As she stared in my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the colour of the roses
That grew down the river, all bloody and wild
When he knocked on my door and entered the room
My trembling subsided in his sure embrace
He would be my first man, and with a careful hand
He wiped at the tears that ran down my face
[Chorus]
On the second day I brought her a flower
She was more beautiful than any woman I'd seen
I said, "Do you know where the wild roses grow
So sweet and scarlet and free?"
On the second day he came with a single red rose
He said: "Will you give me your loss and your
sorrow?"
I nodded my head, as I lay on the bed
"If I show you the roses will you follow?"
[Chorus]
On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow
And she lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
As I kissed her goodbye, I said, "All beauty must die"
And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth
ACTITIVY 5:
“WHERE THE WILD ROSES GROW”
(adapted from Stanners, Barbara. Exploring Genre – Horror,
2007)
UNDERSTANDING
1. Summarize what happens in the song for each
day:
a. “first day”
b. “second day”
c. “third day”
2. What happens to Eliza Day in the song?
3. What two perspectives (two narrators) are
presented in “Where the Wild Roses Grow”?
ANALYSIS
4. SYMBOLISM: is when something stands for
something else, eg. A cross can mean an error in
a test, but it is also a symbol of the Church and
Christ.
a. What might the words “wild”, “rose” and
“bloody” symbolize in the song?”
5. What gothic elements does this song include?
On the third day he took me to the river
He showed me the roses and we kissed
And the last thing I heard was a muttered word
As he knelt above me with a rock in his fist
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TEXT 6:
Thriller (Video Clip)
By Michael Jackson
(adapted from Stanners, Barbara. Exploring Genre – Horror, 2007)
We will watch this video clip as a whole class.
ACTIVITY 6: “THRILLER”
UNDERSTANDING & ANALYSIS
1. Re-watch the video clip with your teacher, and make
notes about what you notice under the following
headings. Remember to look back at your notes from
Edward Scissorhands for help.
a. Lighting
b. Color palette
c. Costuming
d. Sound
e. Setting
f. Props
2. Recount in your own words, the plot of ‘Thriller’.
3. What kind of supernatural beings are featured?
4. What other traditional horror/ gothic elements does the video include?
5. What is the setting of this video clip? From whose perspective is the story told?
6. What kind of atmosphere is the narrator trying to create? Why?
7. What is the effect of the narrator’s sinister laugh on the audience (you)?
8. Who is the victim and what emotions do they experience and why?
9. At the time, “Thriller” was released it was seen as a landmark video clip in the history of music – do
you agree? Why or why not? Write a paragraph in which you argue for one side. Remember to give
evidence to support your point of view.
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EXTRA SPACE FOR NOTES:
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