Gulp and Gasp by John Townsend

SYNOPSIS

This is a melodrama about a villain, Lord Septic who is greedy for more power, money and fame. He is even capable of committing murder to get what he wants. He owns the railways and is after the Gatsby gold. Crouch, Lord Septic’s manservant is a big bully. Rose is a damsel in distress who meets Percy, the hero. They fall in love and he rescues her from a bloody death at the railway tracks. Later, Percy learns he is the heir to the Gatsby gold and is known as Sir Percy. Lord Septic loses everything.

 

CHARACTERS

• Lord Septic, the villain
• Crouch the bully
• Rose the damsel in distress
• Percy the hero

 

MORAL VALUES

• One should be humble about one’s wealth and fame.
• We should be sensitive to people’s feelings.
• We should live a humble and honest life.

 

SETTING

• An empty train station
• A cold foggy night

PLOT

• EXPOSITION – Lord Septic, the villain, and his manservant Crouch, a groveling bully, are waiting for the midnight express at the train station. Lord Septic owns all the train stations and he wants wealth and power.
• RISING ACTION/CONFLICT – Rose, a blind flower girl comes to the station. Crouch bullies her and Percy, the dashing hero comes in to help her. He tells her about himself.
• CLIMAX – Lord Septic hits Percy and ties Rose to the train track. Percy runs off to try and stop the train coming down the track.
• FALLING ACTION – Percy stops the train and Rose is saved. Percy learns that he is Sir Percy Gatsby and heir to the Gatsby Gold.
• RESOLUTION – Lord Septic and Crouch, the villains, are tied up and waiting to be picked up by the police. Percy, the hero, proposes Rose and she agrees to marry him.

 

LANGUAGE AND STYLE

• Simple and clear language
• Dialogue – exaggeration, repetition of words

Elements of The Fruitcake Special

The-fruitcake-special-form4

View more presentations from Anna Isha

And lots of Slide of The Fruitcake Special here >> http://dev2.slideshare.com/search/slideshow?searchfrom=header&q=The+fruitcake+special

The Fruitcake Special

 

Synopsis of The Fruitcake Special by Frank Brennan

A chemist woman who works at the Amos cosmetics factory in New Jersey, USA trying to discover a new perfume. One day she threw her fruitcake which was her lunch in to the mix with all the other things. It smells wonderful so she tried it on her. Not too long, her boss who is a handsome English guy never saying nice thing to ordinary girl like her asked her to have a dinner with him. That would be because of fruitcake. Her boss always lost control of himself when he smelt that perfume. If does not put it on her, she will not be attractive anymore.

 

MASIHKAH KAU BERMAIN SERULING–Zurinah Hassan

The original version for Are You Still Playing Your Flute by Zurinah Hassan

Masihkah kau bermain seruling
walau waktu telah terlewat untuk kita bercinta
aku semakin terasa bersalah
melayani godaan irama
lagu yang tersimpan pada lorong halus buluh
dikeluarkan oleh nafas seniman
diukir oleh bibir
diatur oleh jari
dilayangkan oleh alun angin
menolak ke dasar rasa.

Masihkah kau bermain seruling
ketika kampung semakin sunyi
sawah telah uzur
waktu jadi terlalu mahal
untuk memerhatikan hujan turun
merenung jalur senja
mengutip manik embun
menghidu harum bunga.

Masihkah kau bermain seruling
ketika aku terasa mata bersalah
untuk melayani rasa rindu padamu
di kota yang semakin kusut dan tenat
adik-adikku menganggur dan sakit jiwa
bangsaku dipecahkan oleh politik
saudara diserang bom-bom ganas
dunia sudah terlalu tua dan parah.

 

Di sinilah berakhirnya percintaan kita

kerana zaman sedang menuntut para seniman

hidup di luar dirinya.

 

(Zurinah Hassan)

YouTube: Heir Conditioning

Heir Conditioning by M SHANmughalingam

Heir Conditioning by M SHANmughalingam

Grand dad did you breathe

Before air cons were invented

Wasn't it hard staying

Alive without modern inventions

Gandma weren't you flustered

As you fluttered with paper fans

Could you communicate before

Faxes and long distance calls

Became basic necessities?

Grand child we lived

Before your age because

Of our ignorance,

We did not know

Pollution, stress, traffic jams

Destruction of forests, streams and hills

We feared God and nature

Now nature fears you and

Money is your new God

Are You Still Playing Your Flute by Zurinah Hassan

Are you still playing your flute?
When there is hardly time for our love
I am feeling guilty
To be longing for your song
The melody concealed in the slim hollow of the bamboo
Uncovered by the breath of an artist
Composed by his fingers
Blown by the wind
To the depth of my heart

Are you still playing your flute?
In the village so quiet and deserted
Amidst the sick rice field
While here it has become a luxury
To spend time watching the rain
Gazing at the evening rays
Collecting dew drops
Or enjoying the fragrance of flowers

Are you still playing your flute?
The more it disturbs my conscience
to be thinking of you
in the hazard of you
my younger brothers unemployed and desperate
my people disunited by politics
my friend slaughtered mercilessly
this world is too old and bleeding

 

Is this the end of our love

time is forcing us, as artists

to live outside ourselves

translated by Zurinah Hassan

QWERTYUIOP–Vivien Alcock

[Synopsis] He Had Such Quiet Eyes

 

Synopsis of the poem

The poem is about a persona, a lady who fell for the wrong man. She was fascinated with his ‘quiet eyes’ and believed that his eyes showed his true emotion and feelings for her. The man’s eyes had the power to charm her and made her believe him and be nice to him.
However, the man was actually a ‘pleasure seeking man’, a flirt. As the lady was truly fascinated and charmed by the man, she did not listen or did not want to listen to any advice concerning the man’s true behaviour. In the end, she realized her error and was broken hearted.

 

THEME

• Betrayal of love
• Personal experiences
• Relationships that are meaningful

 

MORAL VALUES

• Don’t be naive and believe everything we are told especially in matters of the heart.
• Be wise when choosing friends.
• Falling in love is normal but one should be careful.
• We must learn from the experience of other people.
• We should be very careful not to give in our principle in order to please other people.

 

TONE, MOOD, ATMOSPHERE

• Refelective
• Sad and happy
• Sympathetic

 

POINT OF VIEW

• Second and third person points of view

 

LANGUAGE & STYLE

• Simple and easy to understand
• Simple style with rhyming scheme

 

MEANING OF WORDS

• sighs – long, deep audible breaths
• eyes – a pair of organs of sight
• advice – guidance
• desolate – unhappy and uninhabited
• pleasure-seeking – looking for a feeling of happy satisfaction
• dice – a small cube with each side having a different number ranging from 1 to 6
• layered – arranged in layers
• lies – intentional false statements
• realise – become aware
• compromise – agree
• paradise – heaven
• render – provide or give help
• imploring – begging desperately
• wise – having knowledge and good judgement

Biography of Bibsy Soenharjo

About The Poet

Bibsy Soenharjo was born in Jakarta on 22 November 1928. Bibsy and her siblings were homeschooled and each was encouraged to pursue their own interests. She had a particular fondness for literature and, after returning home from a four-year stay in Japan, Bibsy began writing her first prose in 1957, and then poetry in the 60s.

 

The Literary Review, an international quarterly published by Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, USA, published her first four literary pieces in their Autumn and Spring Editions in 1967 and 1968 respectively. In 1967 also, her poem, “Jakarta, March 1967” was published in the Australian magazine Hemisphere, while ”Setelah Gerhana Bulan” (After the Eclipse of the Moon) was published in Gelanggang, an Indonesian cultural magazine now defunct.

Her poems have appeared in bilingual anthologies, with her Indonesian works translated into English, Dutch and Japanese and her English poems into Indonesian and Dutch. She continued to write prose pieces in Indonesian that appeared in Jakarta dailies under the pen name Nuspati.

Bibsy Soenharjo now lives in Jakarta with the youngest of her three sons, Haryo, his wife Sutji and their children.

Nature by H.D Carberry

Youtube : He Had Such Quiet Eyes

He Had Such Quiet Eyes

He Had Such Quiet Eyes by Bibsy Soenharjo

He Had Such Quiet Eyes by Bibsy Soenharjo

He had such quiet eyes

She did not realise

They were two pools of lies

Layered with thinnest ice

To her, those quiet eyes

Were breathing desolate sighs

Imploring her to be nice

And to render him paradise

 

If only she’d been wise

And had listened to the advice

Never to compromise

With pleasure-seeking guys

She’d be free from ‘the hows and whys’

 

Now here’s a bit of advice

Be sure that nice really nice

Then you’ll never be losing at dice

Though you lose your heart once or twice

Biography of Latiff Mohidin

Latiff Mohidin is a poet-painter, born on Aug 20, 1938 in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. Called ‘Boy Wonder’ since age 11, he received his art education at Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste, Berlin, Germany in 1960. In 1969, Latiff furthered his studies in printmaking at Atelier La Courriere in Paris, France and Pratt Graphic Centre in New York, USA. He started writing poetry in the early sixties. Since then, his work has been published in various magazines and translated into English and Chinese. Today, Latiff Mohidin is one of Malaysia’s most celebrated living artist and poet and is considered a national treasure.

 

Solo Exhibitions (selected)

1963 – Frankfurter Kunstkabinett, Frankfurt – am – Main, Germany
1964 – Ladengalerie, Berlin, Germany
1971 – British Council, Kuala Lumpur
1972 – Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery, London
1973 – Retrospective Exhibition, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
1988 – Maybank Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
1989 – MAS Building, Kuala Lumpur
1994 – Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
1998 – Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur

 

Awards

1953 – 1st prize and special prize in oil painting, Malaysian AgriHorticulture Association, Kuala Lumpur
1960 – DAAD, German Academy Student Exchange Scholarship, Bonn
1968 – 2nd prize Graphic, Honourable Mention in other Media, Salon Malaysia, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
1969 – French Ministry of Culture Scholarship, Paris
1984 – S.E.A. Write Award, Bangkok Thailand
1988 – Guest Writer, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur Literature
1988 – Garis Latiff Mohidin dari Titik ketitik, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur
1994 – T.K. Sabapathy, (editor), Pago – Pago to Gelombang, 40 years of Latiff Mohidin, Singapore Art Museum
1998 – T.K. Sabapathy, Latiff Mohidin Rimba Series, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur

 

Latiff Mohidin Blog : http://catatan-latiffmohidin.blogspot.com

Latiff Mohidin Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/catatan.latiffmohidin

Activities & Quizzes – In The Midst of Hardship

Feel free to try out this exercises for your better understanding on the poem.

• Multiple-choice questions
• Crossword puzzle
• Cloze Test
• Subjective questions
• Multi-answer test

Setting, Themes, Etc

SETTING

The setting of the poem is in the house.

THEMES

• Being resilience when facing hardship
• Family love
• Acceptance of way of life

MORAL VALUES

1. We should learn to accept problems in life with a positive outlook.
2. We must attempt to face and solve problem.
3. Facing hardship is part and parcel of life.
4. If we face a problem, do not feel despair.

TONE, MOOD, ATMOSPHERE

• Understanding and sympathetic
• Acceptance of situation

POINT OF VIEW

• Third person pint of view.

LANGUAGE & STYLE

• Language is simple and easy to understand.
• The style is simple with no rhyming scheme.

POETIC DEVICES

• Imagery – Gives picture of poet’s thoughts e.g ‘soaky clothes torn’ and ‘legs full of wounds’
• Alliteration – e.g. ‘but on their brows’
• Symbols – e.g. ‘horrendous flood’ and ‘bloating carcasses’
• Diction – e.g. ‘stove’ and ‘brows‘

Dalam Kesusahan oleh Latiff Mohidin

Dalam Kesusahan (the original version of “In The Midst of Hardship”) oleh Latiff Mohidin

 

Pada waktu senja mereka pulang ke rumah,
baju basah mereka telah koyak,
mereka berjalan ke arah dapur,
tangan mereka penuh dengan calar,
kaki mereka penuh dengan luka,
tetapi pada muka mereka,
langsung tidak ada perasaan kecewa.

 

Satu hari dan satu malam baru berlepas,
mereka perlu menghadapi banjir besar ini dengan berani,
sepanjang masa berada dalam air,
berada di antara barangan yang terapung di permukaan air,
serta bahan-bahan pecahan yang kecil,
asyik mencari kerbau kepunyaan anak mereka,
yang akhirnya tidak dapat dijumpa juga.

 

Mereka dilahirkan dalam kesusahan,
dan membesar tanpa mengadu atau mengeluh,
sekarang mereka berada di dapur,
sambil bergurau sambil menggulungkan daun tembakau.

1978

[Synopsis] In The Midst of Hardship

In The Midst of Hardship by Latiff Mohidin

SYNOPSIS (OVERALL)

This poem is about a family who faces  hardship whereby their son’s albino buffalo is nowhere to be found. A flood occurs and they go out to find the buffalo. They reach home early in the morning without the buffalo and yet there is no  sign of despair in them. Meanwhile, they can still crack jokes and roll the cigarettes.

 

SYNOPSIS (ACCORDING TO STANZA)

 

STANZA 1

They returned home at day break and headed for the stove. Their clothes were soaking wet and tattered. Their bodies were covered with scratches and wounds. Yet, they did not display any signs of being worried.

 

STANZA 2

They were out in the flood the whole day and night. They were surrounded by dead animals and parts of trees that had been destroyed by the flood. They searched desperately for their son’s albino buffalo but were unable to find it.

 

STANZA 3

They were born into poverty and difficulty, but they do not complain about their suffer. Instead, they sit in the kitchen, cracking jokes while smoking cigarettes.

In The Midst of Hardship by Latiff Mohidin

In The Midst of Hardship by Latiff Mohidin

At dawn they returned home

their soaky clothes torn

and approached the stove

their limbs marked by scratches

their legs full of wounds

but on their brows

there was not a sign of despair

 

The whole day and night just passed

they had to brave the horrendous flood

in the water all the time

between bloated carcasses

and tiny chips of tree barks

desperately looking for their son’s

albino buffalo that was never found

 

They were born amidst hardship

and grew up without a sigh or a complaint

now they are in the kitchen, making

jokes while rolling their cigarette leaves

 

Translated by : Salleh bin Joned

Literature Component for Secondary School

The Literature Component for Secondary School textbooks (for Form 1 to 3 and Form 4 to 5) are in schools now. These should be used for the teaching of the literature component in the English classroom next year.

Here is the breakdown of the poems, short stories and drama that are included in the textbooks, respectively:

Form 1 to 3:

Poems

1. I Wonder – Jeannie Kirby
2. The River – Valerie Bloom
3. Mr. Nobody – Unknown author
4. Heir Conditioning – M SHANmughalingam
5. A Fighter’s Lines – Marzuki Ali
6. Leisure – William Henry Davies

Short Stories

1. Flipping Fantastic – Jane Langford
2. One Is One and All Alone – Nicholas Fisk

Drama

• Rumplelstiltskin – Angela Lanyon

Form 4 to 5:

Poems

1. In the Midst of Hardship – Latiff Mohidin
2. He Had Such Quiet Eyes – Bibsy Soenharjo
3. Nature – H.D. Carberry
4. Are You Still Playing Your Flute – Zurinah Hassan

Short Stories

1. QWERTYUIOP – Vivien Alcock
2. The Fruitcake Special – Frank Berman

Drama

• Gulp and Gasp – John Townsend

The Developer

ERMIE DHARLYA BINTI CHE DAUD

M20111000388

Sarjana Pendidikan – Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi

 

HARMANIZA BINTI ISHAK

M20111000373

Sarjana Pendidikan – Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi

 

SITI AZIDAH BINTI ABIDIN

M20111000371

Sarjana Pendidikan – Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi

MyLitera.Com | An Overview

MyLitera.Com is a web-based learning project prepared to fulfil the needs for building an educational site in helping the students and teachers in teaching and learning. MyLitera.Com caters the current KBSM English Literature Component in Malaysia Secondary Schools.

The main objective of this site is to provide notes, information and activities based on the subject in a single place in an interesting way. MyLitera.com is geared towards autonomous learning where students can learn at their own respective paces.

We really hope that MyLitera.Com will be an online learning hub for students and teachers in learning and get in love with the poems, short stories, novels and drama.