Interview with Eileen Chong

Eileen Chong is a familiar name for many English teachers since a suite of poetry from her collection Burning Rice was included in the NSW Year 12 Prescribed Texts list. One of these poems is also featured in the syllabus as part of a study on Contemporary Asian-Australian Poets, however, Chong is so much more than this. With her poetry spanning the remote corners of the human condition - from highly personal journeys into the inner psyche to sharply-observed forays into broader discourse - it's always fascinating to get an insight into her processes and methods. Beyond Burning Rice, Chong's poetry collections also include Peony, Painting Red Orchids, Rainforest, Dark Matter, A Thousand Crimson Blooms, and her upcoming 2025 release We Speak of Flowers.

I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to ask Eileen Chong some questions about her work and she was very generous with her time and answers!

What first led you to poetry?

I've always enjoyed reading poetry, even from before I realised what poetry was. My first poetry, I suppose, was from the Bible. I attended Methodist and Anglican schools as a child in Singapore, and had always been drawn to Psalms and Proverbs as well as the Song of Songs. I remember asking a teacher why parts of the Bible were written in sentences and others in 'parts'--even at a very young age part of me discerned the difference in language between prose and poetry.

I studied Literatures in English and Linguistics as an undergraduate at university, and was a high school teacher for a number of years. I'd always loved reading and teaching poetry, but my tastes were quite conservative and tied to the canon. It wasn't until I started a Master of Letters at Sydney University and studied the craft of poetry under the tutelage of Judith Beveridge that I started to read more contemporary poetry across different cultures and also in translation. I started writing poetry around 2010, and had my first book of poems published in 2012 with Australian Poetry. 2025 will see my sixth collection of poems (and my tenth book in total), We Speak of Flowers, to be published with UQP.

 

Do you feel like your poetry has changed over those 6 collections?

Absolutely—my poems have changed across the 6 collections because I have changed as a person over the past 14 years. Of course my work must have retained some defining aspects of a poetic voice, but my concerns, interests and obsessions have evolved, doubled back, overlapped, expanded and/or changed, and the poems reflect that in themes and form. 

For example: my next collection, We Speak of Flowers, is a book-length poem in 101 numbered fragments to be read in any order (including sequentially). The book demanded to be written in this manner—the usual poetry collection of 50 poems or so was not the right container for this work.

I teach the poems from my first collection, Burning Rice, a fair bit in schools, and as the years pass, I gain more and more distance from those poems, to the point where I often wonder: who wrote them? I’m actually consistently surprised by the craft of those poems, by the density of and the compression of language, and feel like I could not write poems like those now, simply because I am not longer the same person and poet as then. 

At the same time, there are words and phrases I used in poems in my previous collections that I would no longer be comfortable using as my sociopolitical consciousness has grown over time and with age. Some of the ideas that gripped me so intensely at different times have also faded out of focus as I have moved on to different stages in life, and others have come to take their place.

I love that my work remains dynamic and in flux even after more than 14 years as a writer.  I would be bored if I were to do the same thing day in, day out, and that applies to my poetry as well. 

You mentioned Burning Rice as an ongoing bridge into schools; how does it feel having your poetry listed as one of the options for NSW students to study? Does it change your relationship with the text?

I don't write for any specific audience, but I am beyond thrilled that students are studying the poems in Burning Rice. I think it's a wonderful recognition to have my poems studied in schools. I was previously a high school teacher of English in Singapore, and know first hand how transformative literary texts in schools can be for students and what a great impact it can have on young minds, sometimes long after their schooling years.

To the best of my knowledge, Burning Rice is also the first single-author collection of poetry by an Asian Australian to be on the HSC syllabus. That is a great honour, and I certainly hope I won't be the last. Having my book on the syllabus has also helped me greatly in a financial sense as I am able to go to schools to speak on my work, which has provided an alternate source of income as I continue to try to make a living through my writing.

I think it is also important for students to be able to read contemporary poetry and to encounter the poet in the flesh, and to understand that creativity is a process that is constantly in-flux. I have absolutely loved being able to be back in classroom to speak on the craft of poetry and to teach my poems to students. I hope that the poems form an entryway into students thinking about migration, identity, multiculturalism, liminality and ultimately leads them to reading more contemporary poetry.

I like what you say about creativity being constantly in-flux. Do you find that the ongoing interaction between students and your poetry challenges the idea of the author being in control of the text?

Absolutely. I’ve often spoken about the creative process and how sometimes even the poet isn’t fully aware of what might be in the poem. I’ve always thought that the final stage in a poem’s creation takes place in the mind of a reader. It’s also refreshing to be in the classroom and have students respond to a work in ways that surprise me, but which are completely valid.

Most of all, I really love watching the expressions and responses to my poems when I read them aloud in classrooms, before I explain any of the literary devices used, or even speak about possible interpretations. To witness a poem’s emotional effect on students is a true gift. To paraphrase Eliot, poetry can communicate meaning even before or beyond conscious understanding.

I have also written poems in response to being in the classroom—a kind of metatext about the creative process to try and articulate this interesting circularity. One such poem, ‘Making Sense’, from my last collection A Thousand Crimson Blooms, begins this way:

I tell my students:

poetry is a way to make sense

of what you fear.

And it ends with:

A girl at her desk begins a poem:

I dreamed everyone, even my own

mother, had forgotten my name—

Which comes first, the poet, the poem, or the reader? Perhaps they are all one and the same. 

I love that. I think we get too rigid sometimes about separating the author from the text and their audience. Why do you think poetry became your primary medium for expression?

As far back as I can recall, I have loved language—the science of it, the sounds of it, the craft of it. I majored in both Linguistics and Literatures in English as an undergraduate, but I had to choose one of the two for my Honours year. I very nearly chose Linguistics over Literature—I was particularly interested in neurolinguistics, pragmatics, and lexicography. But Literature won out and, though unknown to me at the time, it set me on a path that would eventually lead me to poetry as a profession.

Simply put, to me, poetry is the highest form of linguistic expression possible. It is the most varied, the most compressed, and the most encompassing of forms. What I love most of all about poetry is its capacity to move the spirit, its neverending mystery, and how a poem can renew and reinvent language in the smallest space imaginable. (Dove: ‘Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.’) 

I also love how poetry is a broad church, and how it aligns itself with every human experience and emotion in ways that other art forms might not be able to. As I grow older, not much surprises me, but poetry retains the power to astonish and revise my experience and existence. (Dickinson: ‘If I feel physically like the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.’)

I often joke about how if I had a choice I would never have chosen to be a poet. It is likely one of the hardest careers to make a living from, because our capitalist society values it so little. (Wordsworth: ‘Poetry has never brought me enough money to buy shoestrings.’) Yet I feel like poetry has been a blessing to me and a calling I could not refuse. Many of my friends from childhood are at the stage of life where they are preoccupied with their careers and life paths, but very few can say that they have spent most of their time pursuing their passion. (Graves: ‘There’s no money in poetry, but there’s no poetry in money, either.’) I can, hand on heart, say that I have, and I’m grateful for that, at the very least. 

It might seem that ‘poetry makes nothing happen’ (Auden), but I believe that ‘a good poem helps to change the shape of the universe’ (Thomas). Above all, it reminds us of what it means to be human, and that there is power in it, that ‘poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth’ (Jordan), even if you ‘tell it slant’ (Dickinson again). Joy Harjo tells us that when you begin to listen to poetry, ‘you begin to learn to listen to the soul, the soul of yourself in here, which is also the soul of everyone else.’ What other vocation allows you this? Only poetry does. 

You mention some great classic poets from years gone by. If you had to choose 3 great poets from the 19th, 20^th and 21^st centuries, who would you pick?

An impossible task, I’m going to cheat and pick two each. John Keats, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Bishop, Adrienne Rich, Li-Young Lee, Joy Harjo. I’m sure I’ll regret these choices in one way or another. There are so many poets worthy of reading, and not enough time in the world to do so. 

Thanks Eileen. Final question - what advice would you give to anyone wanting to write poetry?

Read poetry. Read non-fiction. Read fiction. Read widely and without prejudice. Read poetry aloud. Listen to its sounds, rhythms, cadences. Study the history of poetry, of forms, across cultures. Read poetry in translation. Read ancient poetry. Read contemporary poetry. Read craft books written by poets. Read interviews with poets. Keep reading, listening, feeling, thinking. See art. Watch plays and performances, attend music events. Walk, swim, sleep in nature. Travel, in person or on the page. Fall in and out of love. Connect with community. Live your life to its fullest. Fill your well, nourish your imagination, and feed your soul. That which spills over? That which cannot be contained? That is the beginning of your own poetry.

 

Visit Eileen Chong's website here.

An Interview with Vuong Pham

If you're a teacher of Standard English in NSW, you might be familiar with Vuong Pham. As one of the featured poems from the anthology Contemporary Asian-Australian Poets, Pham's 'Mother' is part of a suite that can be studied as part of the Language, Identity and Culture module. I was lucky enough to get to speak to Pham and ask a few questions about his poetry, with a specific focus on 'Mother'. 

Something we often talk about in English is the idea of the 'persona'; that the voice in the poem is a construct or character that the author creates. To what extent do you think this is true for your poem 'Mother'?

Much of the experiences covered within the poem are authentic. For instance, the plucking of grey hairs, gardening as a hobby, conversations over my mother's past life, struggles in settling into a new country - they're all based on real life experiences and the special relationship I have with my mother. In saying this, I also write with an awareness of what other Vietnamese refugees experienced - offering a 'mirror' to the Vietnamese community, to acknowledge that they weren't alone in what happened. Understanding what other Vietnamese people experienced can help me write with empathy and assist in adding additional elements to my poetry. To answer the question more directly, the character in my poetry is mostly based on my authentic self, with some added elements to give voice to the Vietnamese community.

How would you describe your relationship with Vietnam?

I was born and raised in Australia. Vietnam was a once great and prosperous nation before the war. With the takeover of Communism, the spread of poverty, corruption and misinformation lead Vietnam downhill. For example, mum's childhood would include singing songs about a whole range of topics (EG. Freedom of birds, nature, love of country, compassion, etc.), though when the Communist party took over, everyone was forced to sing grim songs about a dictatorial president, Bac Ho. There was a high emphasis on valuing education in the previous democratic government. If for example there was a coffin being carried down the street, common courtesy existed amongst the community to stop and take off their hats as a sign of respect. Such values are not promoted by the Communist government because they don't care about building up the nation. In short, I see Vietnam as a nation that has been restrained - now merely an echo of a once great song.

That's quite a powerful image. Do you think that great song could ever come back?

Not under the grip of a suppressive government. I remember a newspaper story from my childhood that exemplifies that. The front cover image depicted a whistleblower on trial for speaking out against an unjust government measure - and his mouth was literally covered by the government officer to stop him speaking. This is what millions of Vietnamese have to live under, a government that purports to aim for a utopia, but the populace are in fact gagged and chained.

How would you describe your relationship with poetry?

I started getting into poetry since high school. I was hooked on poetry ever since reading the classical poetry of Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Rumi, and Basho. I've always been a quiet person, and in most social contexts I'll be the quiet one in the room. Poetry is a way for me to express myself in an evocative and eloquent manner. 

How do you feel about your poem being studied by potentially thousands of students in NSW over the last 5 years?

I was over the moon when I found out my poem was studied in the NSW schools at the start of this year. I wish I had more of an ego so that I would've found out about it earlier, by way of Googling my name sooner. But on a serious note, it is an amazing privilege to have my poetry studied as part of the NSW curriculum. The essence of the poem is about honouring my mother's sacrifices and hard work. Having the poem studied by thousands of students is good affirmation for both my mother's sacrifices and my poetry writing journey.

You've worked as a teacher. How does this inform your work as a writer?

I'd say my teaching experience plays a significant role in informing my work as a poet. I like to craft my writing in a way that is accessible to a wider audience. In particular, not making it too simplistic to the point of being ordinary, whilst not being too aloof either whereby only certain people within an English university department, for example, can decipher. As a teacher, it's in my experience to aid students at the grassroots level and then scaffold learning. Poetry in general is not a popular form of text in the wider public. I understand why because it generally requires more leg work to understand in comparison to other texts. I try and make my poetry accessible and engaging. 

Why is poetry important?

Poetry is way for writers to express the depths of their emotions, experiences and insights through a condensed and evocative medium. Through the beauty of language and its many poetic devices such as metaphor, simile, rhythm, imagery, symbolism, etc, poetry serves the purpose of expanding the imagination. It is an art form that can have rich layers of meaning. Many poets utilise poetry as a kind of healing tool - an emotional release to help writer and reader navigate the complexities of life and find consolation. Empathy can be encouraged amongst people of diverse backgrounds and cultures through poetry, which can positively influence the fabric of societal and cultural norms. Much of my writing focuses on the Vietnamese diaspora experience, so in that sense, poetry can act as a way of preserving our cultural heritage, passing down values and stories that would otherwise be lost if not documented. Poetry offers much educational value because it encourages us to think deeper, think critically and analytically. I've had an affiliation with poetry since high school, reading and admiring classical poets like Wordsworth, Basho, and Shakespeare. I was fascinated by how much depth of meaning they were able to achieve and express in their carefully crafted words. Poetry is a stellar option for people seeking the joys and literary beauty. 

Vuong Pham is available for poetry presentations and workshop bookings via his Facebook poet page or via the contact page of his website: Vuong Pham Poetry.

ICAV Paragraph Structure

Quite some time ago, we're talking about 10 years, I attended some Professional Learning run by Emily Bosco and Anthony Bosco of Into English. This PL was focused on Nineteen Eighty-Four but the thing that stood out to me was a paragraph components activity where four different elements were highlighted to help students understand the purpose of each part. 

(Full disclosure: I've since gone on to write for Into English but this was back when I'd only been teaching English for a couple of years and didn't know Emily or Anthonyyet). 

Anyway, the activity in the Nineteen Eighty-Four PL was focused on vocabulary and crafting a paragraph with enough relevant detail. I'm not here to talk about this today. I want to look instead at how the four different elements can be used to prompt students to think about writing structure. 

I don't personally invest myself as a teacher in any particular paragraphing acronym. Off the top of my head, I'm familiar with or have taught (or been required to teach): PEEL, TEEL, CLACEL, PEAL, TEAL, ALARM, PETAL, SEAL, OREO and I'm sure there have been some others. To be honest, it doesn't matter which of these get used, the point is whether a student understands it and if they're able to use the acronym to build an effective framework for writing about texts. With this in mind, I tend to use whatever each particular class is likely to 'get'. If the school is an ALARM school then it makes sense to use ALARM because students should (hopefully) already understand it. If some students are really struggling and have some literacy deficits, then I'll probably aim for something as simple as PEE (Point Example Explanation) just to get them started. If I have a class of skilled reader/writers then I might tell them to just write freely without thinking about paragraph formulae at all and then go from there. And if a student has a tutor who's taught them a completely different way of writing a paragraph that I hadn't even considered, then who am I to stop that if it's working? My point is that I've come to realise that there's no definitive way of doing it. 

This brings me to ICAV. I don't use this all the time but I've found that sometimes, with some particular students who are a bit stuck, that it helps them to think about things in a different way. 

What it is: Something that can kickstart a student's thinking and get them writing, which is often the biggest hurdle. 

What it isn't: A formula for writing HSC examination essays (...unless, of course, it seems to work within this context for a particular student!) 

Here is a quick explanation of the acronym:

• Idea. Same as concept, topic sentence, thesis, or point. What is the main idea that your paragraph is exploring?
• Context. Provide some background for your idea. Expand on your initial sentence by adding some contextual details. 
• Analyse. Provide an example from the text with analysis of an identified technique.
• Values. What conclusions can be drawn about the values being explored in the text? What stance or position is potentially being suggested by the author?

I like it because it builds-in a relevant way of talking about context. The values bit at the end also helps students reconceive their overall paragraph in a new way so that they're not just repeating their main point.

Here are examples of how it can be used with a preamble for students to read. The first is a general example and the second a specific one.

Poetry

ICAV (Ideas Context Analyse Values) is a way of structuring and writing paragraphs. The first step is to pick a poem, any of the ones we've looked at this term, and to write at least four sentences using the guideline below so we can start practising paragraph writing.

1. Write a sentence or two explaining the main IDEA of the poem. Don't forget to mention the name of the poem and its composer.
2. What is the CONTEXT behind this poem and idea? Think about how they connect.
3. Give at least TWO examples from the text that explore the idea. Use 'inverted commas' to quote each example, identify the techniques used, and ANALYSE how this technique highlights or enhances what the poet is trying to say.
4. Link back to what the poet VALUES and how the poem explores this.

Writing about Fritz Lang's Metropolis

Examine a range of Metropolis screenshots and select one to form the basis of your paragraph. 

• Write down an IDEA that's relevant to what you see.
• EG. Capitalist control of the means of production.
• EG. Dehumanisation resulting from capitalist exploitation of workers.
• Expand upon your topic sentence by giving further CONTEXT.
• EG. Marxism, industrial expansion after WWII, influence of German industrialists like Hugo Stinnes.
• ANALYSE techniques - deconstruct the screenshot in terms of what connects it to the context.
• EG. The close-up of the clock is symbolic of the amount of time workers are required to work, and the way that their time has been turned into a commodity to be exploited. 
• What conclusions can you draw about the VALUES of the composer?
• EG. Lang establishes the value of the individual by calling the viewer's attention to the process of dehumanisation visited upon the workers. 

It's not a revolutionary approach but it can be a useful way to mix things up a bit. I've found that it works best with the outliers at either end of the bell curve - students who find it difficult to write paragraphs altogether and students who are quite high ability but need that spark to get them started.

Credit to Emily Bosco and Anthony Bosco for the initial Idea, Context, Technique, Values approach to paragraph vocabulary. 

Oddments: Five unique texts on the current NSW HSC Prescriptions List

I've been working a bit on researching NSW's Prescribed Texts these past few years and, as we approach the current list's long journey into the night before the next round, I thought this might be a good time to look at some of the more unusual texts on the list.  I say 'unusual texts' but I should clarify that, when I say this, I'm not speaking about a text's subject matter or themes or genre as that's a little too subjective. I want to instead highlight the more textually-distinct outliers - the solitary text types and unusually-originated texts that stand out with a hard and firm point of difference. 

Go Back to Where You Came From

Oddity: The only television series option featured across Standard, Advanced, EAL/D, and Extension English.

Description: Go Back to Where You Came From is a carryover text from the previous 'Discovery' Prescriptions List. The television format presents a challenge to teachers as its runtime is essentially twice that of the average film - this can make it difficult to cover within a busy timeframe that also involves student selection of a related text and coverage of the 'Texts and Human Experiences' module. I taught this when it was part of 'Discovery' and, while I did find that students were able to easily engage with it, it felt like quite a slog to cover it properly alongside a related text and an Area of Study. This meant that I did not opt to explore the text as part of 'Texts and Human Experiences' when the opportunity later presented itself.

Contemporary Asian Australian Poets

Oddity: The only multi-poet anthology - between its presence in the Standard and EAL/D English syllabuses this selection includes works from eight different poets.

Description: Whilst the idea of covering so many different poets seems to pose a significant challenge in covering just as many differing contexts, it can actually force a synthesis of ideas as the teacher finds themselves bringing the texts together in service of the module 'Language, Identity, and Culture'. This conceptual underpinning can be a guiding light for students who might overwise struggle to unite separate poems together to support a thesis. It also helps that the poetry is accessible and provides a wide scope for students to make many different kinds of connections.

One Night the Moon

Oddity: A double oddity. One Night the Moon is the only prescribed text across Standard, Advanced, EAL/D, and Extension English that features characters breaking into song. It's also the only non-feature film (too long to be a short film, too short to be a feature film). 

Description: Rachel Perkins' collaboration with Paul Kelly is an achingly poignant depiction of the colonial violence and contradiction in Australia's past. It's also an unusual text outside of the English-teaching context because it's the only time singer-songwriter Paul Kelly has acted on screen. I haven't taught this text but I think it's relatively short length would allow for some useful drilling down into its finer aspects. 

'May the Pen Grace Your Page' by Luka Lesson, and 'Picture a Vacuum' by Kae Tempest

Oddity: Okay, so I'm cheating a little here as this is two texts, but I want to highlight these two as the only poetry performances to be found anywhere in the NSW Prescriptions List. 

Description: The inclusion of these slam poems carries an implication that they should be examined as multimodal performances rather than as written pieces. This is supported by the coding of each text as '(PP)' in the syllabus, meaning 'Performance Poetry' rather than 'Poetry'. The Craft of Writing supporting document from NESA also carries some textual information that suggests this too. This raises some uncomfortable questions about Craft of Writing - specifically the question of how students could be expected to model performance aspects of such a text when writing a piece under HSC examination conditions. 

Actually, I've been puzzled by the inclusion of poetry in Craft of Writing in general as the HSC Module C questions don't seem to allow students the option of composing poetry. But that's perhaps a discussion for another time.

Under Milk Wood

Oddity: The syllabus lists Under Milk Wood as a 'Drama' text but this is a reductive simplification. Over the years the text has been adapted for film, television, and as a stage drama, but its origins are as a radio play. The colour and shape of the text make the most sense in the audio-only format that it was written for. One suspects that the dwindling existence of radio drama led NESA to retroactively reclassify it as just 'Drama', but this does a disservice to the proud tradition of the radio play. 

Description: If you couldn't already tell from my championing of its radio play credentials, I am a big fan of this text. I first taught it because I needed it to make a pattern of study work and I wanted a text that wouldn't be too demanding in terms of having Advanced English students carve off more of their study time for reading. I taught it for these reasons and was very nervous because it is such an odd text and it's so far outside of the natural field of reference for most students in terms of the sorts of texts we usually look at it in English. Anyway, this class engaged with it as intended - by listening to the original Richard Burton-narrated radio dramatisation. We listened to it track-by-track, a few minutes per lesson, and broke the language down, enjoying Thomas's quirky turns of phrase and the games he plays with words. It ended up being one of my favourite thing to teach and quite a few students singled it out at the end of the year as their favorite of the texts we covered. 

Peace Train Comprehension - Remote Learning, 2021

Hello fellow NSW teachers, looks like we're back in lockdown and steering the remote learning train once again! What can one say?

Here's an activity I used with a mixed ability Year 8 class last year. It isn't complicated or revolutionary in any way, just a cute clip I found on Youtube for Cat Stevens' timeless song Peace Train. The worksheet I made is fairly straightforward and focuses on comprehension of the lyrics - I wanted something simple and not too difficult so the class could ease into remote learning. Getting as many students engaged as possible so that they stay in a calm routine, well, it's the name of the game at this point.

This is how it goes...

Step 1: Students watch the following clip:

This can also be seen here. I would recommend using some kind of Youtube downloader site (provided you have good antivirus software) so you can download your own copy. Having a downloaded copy usually leads to less problems than trying to access wifi - even (or especially) when teaching a full classroom as per normal routine.

Step 2: Students respond to questions on the worksheet. This can be uploaded as a .doc to a Google Classroom so students can just type into the boxes, or printed off as a worksheet if needed.

• Worksheet (Word version)
• Worksheet (PDF)

A lot of my students hadn't heard the song before and they enjoyed it, which is always a fun bonus. It was nice to have a lesson focused on something positive so students could disconnect a little bit from the negativity of the pandemic.

Anyway, that's all for today, like I said - it's a fairly straightforward worksheet. 

I hope your remote learning experiences this time around are as smooth and stress-free as possible!

Take care.

HSC English - Prescribed Texts 2019-2023

Regular readers of this blog will have seen various overviews of electives and modules from the Standard, Advanced and Extension syllabuses. It's been a fun journey (or a bit of a mission) to read each of the Prescribed Texts and write a summary of how they might work as texts in the classroom. 

Now I can present it all together for easy perusal. Hopefully this is useful in providing some information on the various options, assisting in planning a potential pattern of study, or illuminates some of those more obscure texts hanging out alongside the tried-and-true favourites. 

Here is a PDF that collects together every Standard, Advanced, and Extension Prescribed Text.

Download: HSC Prescribed Texts - 2019-2023.

And here are links to each of the individual modules and electives:

• The Common Module: Texts and Human Experiences
• Standard Module A: Language, Identity and Culture
• Standard Module B: Close Study of Literature
• Standard Module C: The Craft of Writing
• Advanced Module A: Textual Conversations
• Advanced Module B: Critical Study of Literature
• Advanced Module C: The Craft of Writing
• Extension Elective 1: Literary Homelands
• Extension Elective 2: Worlds of Upheaval
• Extension Elective 3: Reimagined Worlds
• Extension Elective 4: Literary Mindscapes
• Extension Elective 5: Intersecting Worlds

One omission from the above is an overview of the EAL/D Prescribed Texts. If I do decide to undertaken reading these then it will obviously take some more time - and in that case I'd prefer to just do the EAL/D one as an appendix at a later date.

Now let's see if these Prescriptions remain valid until 2023!

Extension English: Elective 4 - Literary Mindscapes

Before looking at each of the texts in close-up, here is a quick breakdown of representation:

• 2 novels, 1 short story suite, 1 suite of poetry, 1 play, 1 film.
• 4 female composers, 2 male composers.
• 3 American composers, 1 Australian, 1 English, and 1 New Zealander.
• Breakdown of eras: 1 text from the 1600s, 1 text written in the 1860s-1880s (but published much later), 1 text from the 1910s, 1 text from the 1930s, and 2 texts from the 2000s.
  

Prose Fiction Options

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
What is it: Addie Bundren, mother of five children and wife to Anse Bundren, lies on her deathbed as her family prepares to fulfill her final wish: to be buried in her birthplace of Jefferson, Mississippi. After Addie's death the family begins a long and arduous nine-day trek by wagon to deliver her to her grave. During this journey the children contend with their own crippling poverty, unwanted pregnancy, life-threatening injury, the class-based prejudices of those they meet, and the slowly increasing stench of their mother's corpse as it rots within her coffin in the subtropical heat of the Mississippi summer.

Scope for Study: Faulkner's groundbreaking multi-perspective rural odyssey is a seminal work in the 'Southern Gothic' genre and pioneered the use of stream-of-consciousness within American fiction. As I Lay Dying features no less than fifteen separate first-person perspectives of events, and uses unreliable narration and careful use of omission to deal with subject matter considered taboo at its time of publication (such as abortion, extramarital affairs, and flawed humanity within the church). Students will be able to examine how Faulkner has utilised each of the aforementioned narrative techniques to structure his writing and how he constructs characterisation through the lenses of multiple narrators.

NESA Annotations: Notes for As I Lay Dying can be found in the 2019-2023 Annotations document. These highlight the novel's cultural significance as a groundbreaking work from an author who won the prestigious Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes. Mention is also made of the text's subversion of the 'romantic quest' trope through the use of farce, black humour, irony and tragedy, the use of interior monologue to provide an insight into the psychology of the marginalised, and multiple narration as a means to present conflicting perceptions and invite students "to participate in the novel in the construction of meaning."

Verdict: I'd never read this before now and I absolutely loved it. It's dark and quirky, moving and evocative, and all of the characters are so finely crafted that their voices cut loud and clear through Faulkner's Gothic rendering of the Mississippi. As part of the Literary Mindscapes elective, I think this novel would provide a perfect segue-way into exploring psychological landscapes afforded by sophisticated characterisation and other deliberately-crafted narrative conceits.

Sixty Lights by Gail Jones
What is it: The reader peers into the life of Lucy Strange, a forthright and confident orphan from 19th century Australia with a love for the emerging new technology of photography. Lucy's relatively short life is revealed in sixty vignettes as she first sails to Victorian England to live with her ne'er-do-will uncle and then on to colonial India to meet a potential husband. Lucy's experiences are textured by light and observation, tragedy and innovation, and a relentless desire to capture the ephemeral and fleeting.

Scope for Study: There's so much to unpack in this relatively brief novel. First and foremost is the text's use of the motif of light and the way this metaphorically and literally links into its themes of memory and what the protagonist terms 'the maculate'. Students will also be able to view the text as a representation of an era on the cusp of change, with Lucy presciently remarking, "Everything that is seen... will one day somewhere be registered". Indeed, it is Lucy's obsession with photography that comes to work as sort of synecdoche for the Victorian world - a realm on the borderlands of the past, where the shadows of history open up to this new technology that captures and prompts and reinvents memory.

NESA Annotations: The 2009-2014 Annotation documents includes notes on Sixty Lights from when it was previously prescribed for Advanced English Module B: Critical Study of Text. Mention is made of the novel's use of metaphors and imagery and the cumulative fashion in which it builds an insight into photography and life in the Victorian era. The bildungsroman genre is also highlighted as a point of discussion in regard to its narrative structure.

Verdict: A wonderful and endearingly enigmatic work of literary beauty, Sixty Lights evokes both modernist and post-modernist sensibilities to tell a story at once tragic and uplifting. I think it functions perfectly as an English Extension text in that it's both sophisticated enough to cue intellectual discussion and short enough not to overwhelm Year 12 students who are already overworked. It's also a masterclass in the way that an author can use motif to reinforce and illuminate theme.

Collected Stories by Katherine Mansfield

• Prelude
• Je ne Parle pas Francais
• Bliss
• Pyschology
• The Daughters of the Late Colonel

What is it: In this prescribed collection of short stories, Katherine Mansfield's enigmatic eye is cast over a range of scenarios. 'Prelude' presents a slice of life for a family in New Zealand, conveying the interactions of individuals, the role of women and servants, and the child's view of the world. 'Je ne Parle pas Francais' features a Parisian narrator who recounts a brief friendship with an English man and his almost-wife. In 'Bliss' a seemingly happy middle-class woman becomes increasingly aware of the bisexuality or homosexuality of others in her close circle and confronts (or fails to confront) the implications this has for her own existence and identity. 'Psychology' depicts two writers as they discuss the recent trend of the psychological novel. And finally, 'The Daughters of the Late Colonel' features two sisters in the aftermath of their father's death.

Scope for Study: This would be quite the rabbit hole for students. One key element necessary to understanding this suite would be an introduction to modernism in literature - the idea of a mode of storytelling that can eschew setting, closed-off-explanations, contextualisation, traditional concepts of plotting, the passage of time, etc., will be challenging for many students. An effective way of dealing with this is to undertake guided group reading; asking students what parts of the story the author is allowing the reader to focus on, what this says about the reading/writing process, what subtexts may be at play in this approach, and what might be suggested by particular motifs (EG. The pear tree in 'Bliss', or the interplay of what is said versus what isn't said in 'Psychology').

NESA Annotations: Thankfully there are some notes on this prescribed suite included in the recent 2019-2023 Annotations document. Attention is directed towards Mansfield's innovation as a writer in the 1910s and 1920s, particularly her use of stream-of-consciousness to explore the 'movement' in the minds of her characters, and the way in which she provided a much-needed counterpoint to male-dominated literature at the time. Other identified discussion points include the author's tendency to open her stories in media res, the motif of 'facades and role-playing' across the entire suite, and the use of the epiphany as a stream-of-consciousness device.

Verdict: I think modernism can be one of the most challenging genres of literature for a newcomer to adjust to. With that in mind, the success of this text will depend especially on the teacher's interest and passion regarding Mansfield. I think this particular quintet of stories provides a suitable range of ideas and themes for engagement and, although it would be challenging, I could see this text choice being rewarding if students are open-minded enough. There is a lot to discuss with Mansfield, whether it be her personal context, the reflexivity of the modernist genre, the intellectual construction of her ambiguous stories, or the author's relationship with bowdlerisation in her discussion of taboo topics such as sexuality.  

Poetry Options

The Complete Poems by Emily Dickinson

• I felt a Funeral, in my Brain
• This is my letter to the World
• I died for Beauty - but was scarce
• I had been hungry, all the Years
• Because I could not stop for Death
• My Life has stood - a Loaded Gun
• A word dropped careless on a Page

What is it: These seven poems chosen from Dickinson's rather large body of work are difficult to unify via genre or authorial intention (for Dickinson defies such categorisation). We have, however, the elective descriptor from the syllabus as a thesis from which to explore the prescribed text, and upon reading the poetry there are certain themes that emerge in relation to this. This is much existential angst in 'I died for Beauty...', 'I had been hungry...', and 'My Life has stood', and the use of extended metaphor in 'I felt a Funeral...' allows Dickinson to explore the pains and abstractions that pass within the mind. Some of the poetry selected here, such as 'This is my letter...', is among the shortest to be found in all the Prescribed Texts.

Scope for Study: Dickinson is a 19th century poet but, unlike the Romantic poets featured in the Advanced and Extension text lists, she has two key differences - geography and gender. Students will be able to use these differences to explore Dickinson's context, and to build connections to the obsessions evident within Dickinson's poetry; her preoccupations with death and anxiety and the obstacles of the mindscape. The poetry itself, while brief and of relatively accessible structure, deals with deceptively complex ideas that will need repeated reading and discussion. In terms of language and punctuation, Dickinson's ever-present use of the dash can be examined as a representation of the thinking process.

NESA Annotations: Alas, there are no annotations for Dickinson in any of the last three NESA Annotation documents.

Verdict: It's great. There's a lot to look at in Dickinson's poetry and the comparatively short length of each individual poem allows for discrete deconstruction and analysis without overwhelming the students. There should be ample scope for students to use this text to engage with the overall elective as well. I think this would be a very useful suite that would allow students to create connections with the other texts in a larger exploration of mortality, obsession, mental illness, and more.

Drama Options

Hamlet by William Shakespeare
What is it: Hamlet is the mopey son of the recently deceased Danish king. He is upset that his uncle, Claudius, has married his mother and usurped his father's place in both his family and the kingdom of Denmark. One chilly night, Hamlet investigates reports of a strange apparition on the castle's ramparts, and meets the ghost of his father. This ghost tells him that he was actually murdered by Claudius, setting into motion a series of events that will lead to a lot more moping from Hamlet and untold tragedy for the royal family and Denmark.

Scope for Study: Where do I start? Hamlet represents a major turning point in both Shakespeare's oeuvre and the wider trajectory of modern literature, presenting the inner life of a character in a way that no other text had ever done before. Hamlet's soliloquies (and, really, the entire play) convey a landscape of the mind - a literal literary mindscape, if such a thing can exist. From the protracted and extensive use of the obscure rhetorical device hendiadys, to the use of three distinct foils to refract and reflect the protagonist in subtly different ways, Shakespeare's Hamlet is a masterclass in textual integrity: a single-minded representation of the state of being human. 

NESA Annotations: There are no annotations for Hamlet found in the last three Annotations documents. 

Verdict: I reckon you'd be crazy to pass up an opportunity to teach Hamlet - arguably one of the greatest texts (if not THE greatest) composed in the English language. Doing Hamlet with an Advanced English class was one of the most rewarding and intellectually joyful experiences in my teaching career. Relegating it to the Extension syllabus is almost a crime, but I can imagine there would at least be some fantastic discussions with the smaller, more concentrated cohorts typical of the English Extension course.

Film Options

Lost in Translation, directed by Sofia Coppola
What is it: Bob, an American film star in his waning years, comes to Japan to film a whiskey commercial. While there he observes a culture of disconnection and, as he struggles with his own insomnia and boredom, he strikes up a friendship with Charlotte, a disillusioned young college graduate. The two connect over their shared discontent in life and their relationship begins to develop into something deeper, like two drifting entities that have fleetingly found one another in a strange and alien landscape. 

Scope for Study: Coppola's work as a filmmaker is characterised by a lot of silence, a motif that students will be able to examine in connection to the perspectives and themes offered by the film. Other elements to examine include the theme of communication and the ways in which characters do (or don't) connect, Coppola's decision to film in an analog format (rather than a digital one) to create a minimalist colour palette, and the co-opting of the 'male gaze' by a young female director to explore gender and identity. There's a lot of material floating around online in the film criticism blogosphere that covers a wide range of perspectives on the film, many of which will be useful to both the students and the teacher.

NESA Annotations: Lost in Translation can be found in the 2009-2014 Annotations document from when the text was part of English Extension 1 Module B: Texts and Ways of Thinking. Mention is made of connections between the narrative and themes of companionship, loneliness, consumerism, and cultural differences. Owing to the framing of the text within the 'Navigating the Global' Elective, the annotations hone in on Tokyo's cultural and technological differences and the efforts made by the filmmaker to highlight 'cultural dislocation' and alienation. 

Verdict: It seems kind of odd that a young female auteur like Sofia Coppola would choose to position her audience from the perspective of the older male character rather than the aloof young female object of his affections. It's a film that's perhaps very much of its time and now in the process of dating quite quickly. I suspect that Lost in Translation won't soon appear again on a Prescriptions List; it actually attracted quite a negative reception in Japan due to the way in which Japanese society was represented. It's a pretty film with an impressive body of paratext but, despite how nice it looks, I'm sure there's other films that would work much more effectively as part of the Literary Mindscapes Elective.