Speeches (1 Viewer)

[d_a_n_z]

ULtimatly, how are you learning speeches now? Ive decided to learn an essay with two, where a third can be added...but i dont know what detail im going to learn the other 9 helpp....

 

[sambo_rambo]

It's generally personal preference as to how many you learn in detail etc. Our teacher suggested we make up a table which looks at the speech, the context, who delivered it, its audience, focus, techniques and one/two quote(s) for each speech. Then learn your favs in a lot of detail on top of this.
I've learnt six in detail and six just from the table

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

I'm just going to try to tackle all of them, but with about 3-4 in detail. I know Lincoln's and Levertov's very well, Socrates, King, Keating, Kyi and McAleese aren't too bad but I don't know much about Cicero, Goldman, Atwood or Pearson so hopefully neither of the latter 4 is going to be prescribed (if any). It would make it so much easier if they didn't prescribe a speech at all...it's unfair and inconsistent to expect students to know all 12 speeches in enough detail to produce a Band 6 response if they can prescribe one.

 

[Abbeygale]

It would make it so much easier if they didn't prescribe a speech at all...it's unfair and inconsistent to expect students to know all 12 speeches in enough detail to produce a Band 6 response if they can prescribe one.

I don't think it's unfair. I think it would be more unfair if they didn't do that occasionally- if we knew that we definitely only needed two/three speeches of our own choosing for the exam, we would only have to study a few really brief texts, putting us at a huge advantage over those who have to grapple with the whole of King Lear.

I think people tend to look at the number 12 and baulk. I find it easier to think of it as a single text with twelve components- it's really no more to deal with than any other module. For the Area of Study, we all have to know a prescribed text, two found texts and the Stimulus Booklet in detail. Powerplay, I have to know Antony and Cleopatra and two found texts in a lot of detail. For In the Wild I need to know 'An Imaginary Life' and half a dozen poems. And for Speeches, I have to know 12 speeches in detail. How is this more than any of the others?

 

[Sepulchres]

I take your point but, its quite hard to learn them all in detail since they 12 "components" are quite irrelevant to each other. I'd rather do Lear that learn all 12 speeches.

 

[Abbeygale]

I take your point but, its quite hard to learn them all in detail since they 12 "components" are quite irrelevant to each other. I'd rather do Lear that learn all 12 speeches.

You've got a point there. My personal preference is for speeches over Lear (because you need multiple interpretations/stagings as well as the text itself), but everyone is different.

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

Even though you have to have a grasp of the whole of Lear, in the end you only need to be familiar with a few key scenes. That's the case with A+C as well...I've just chosen a couple of scenes that go well with my related material and I'm set. However, with speeches, you have to be familiar with 12 essentially different texts, 12 different contexts as well as about 120 quotes. It's the latter point that worries me. Whereas for Lear you may only need to memorise 15-20 quotes, you need at least 10 for each speech to produce any sort of decent response.