GCSE English: Limbo Study Guide

[starstruckx111]

thanks for the vid, its helpful. But what about the structure of limbo, do you know any sites where i can find this information i really need for next weeks exam thanks

[kingalawi1]

i am revising for my November 2011 exam. which poem do you think most likley to come up in the exam

[guitarsly111]

THANK YOU :D A* from this !!!

[thesupersheepofwales]

thank you very much for this vid it really helped me make some good points in my essay, and i think it made the difference between the C that i could have got and the A that i did

[Amina8540]

what poem do u think will come up?

[Kbanasko]

Morning before exam and i've never written a practice essay.. God help me :(

[bm124]

@Kbanasko I never play that game- could be any of them so you really need to know them all. Hope the videos help with this though!

[Kbanasko]

@bm124 yeah im learning them all.. i just hope WWTL and vultures do not come up.. also do you have any where i can read A/A* example essays.. please reply asap, what format would you suggest for paragraphing and structuring

[bm124]

@Kbanasko Go with Intro, comparison of structure, comparison of language (x2 if time), conclusion and talk about themes and feeling throughout; simple! The sample paragraph in my video on comparing poems is A* standard if that helps?

[Amina8540]

what poem do u think will come up?

[muntimun1]

fuck me the music is annoying

[bm124]

@muntimun1 I know- sorry but not a lot I can do about it. First video I made and I was just messing about really. It is better if you use headphones though...

[muntimun1]

@bm124 no worries mate.

you make up for it by you other great videos

[JackerzOfficial]

lol shit i should have watched this weeks ago my exam starts tomorrow morning :/

[bm124]

@JackerzOfficial It's in the afternoon- still got plenty of time!

[Isaachunt10]

this guy here is the don of english.

[jmaysibbers]

i love you! why oh why did i just find this at 10 o clock the night before the exam? i'm still screwed:(

poetry part isn't too bad... it's the writing that i'm appalling at:/

[DongChenSoonXD]

Whyyy... WHY did i not see this earlier!

[bm124]

@DongChenSoonXD It's not too late! Tell your friends!

[SophiaLysandrou]

@DongChenSoonXD omg tell me about it im slapping myself ¬_¬

[OnceInALullaby123]

You are an absolute babe. I honestly don't know what I'd do tomorrow without your videos.

[MrTurtleZoo]

I keep seeing comments "why are you not my english teacher". Id like to tell you that you ARE my english teacher as you have taught me far more than she did....

[PreferAPony]

Wow, I had a completely different interpretation of the 'up up up' part of the poem! I didn't even see that the poem was about hope, but rather I thought it was more about losing his culture, and the idea that politics and slavery is hidden... Interesting.

I'm not even going to use Limbo, it's just the first poem in the Anthology. However, from these videos, and just reading it over in more detail, there is so much more to this poem than I had ever imagined before!!

Thanks!

[SherryProducations]

Views are gonna go up dramatically, English exam tomorrow and everyone is worried. I need to get an A* this video has really helped me. Thanks

[JosephBarker94]

when i pass im writing you a letter !!! if only you understood how much you've helped me... hero !

[DaJoeMistro]

last minute before revision lol think i failed again anyways bye bye 6th form

[Hamltonf1]

You my friend are a god.

[IAMECLECTRIC]

We all use your guides in our english lessons...

You are known as "the english man" and "english legend"

Thanks your videos are 100 x better than bitesize !!!

[Master1906]

Exam tommorow :( thanks for this!

[bm124]

@Master1906 Pleasure!

[lilmisscharlottex]

i wonder how many people look at this tonight before the GCSE exam tomorrow:L

[bm124]

@lilmisscharlottex A lot the way things are going right now- will let subscribers know total number tomorrow!

[TheSK2x]

@lilmisscharlottex I did min last week :P

[leedonaldt]

could the "dumb gods" be the white men/masters? because when the ship journey is finished slaves are taken out of the decks ("up, up, up")and taken off the ships where they are sold? hence the "hot slow step" (there bare feet treading on the ground )

[J4kester]

Good guide, but at times can't hear what your saying with that music

[prettybadusername]

Legend, exam tomorrow. Cheers, really helped.

[mrningaili]

@prettybadusername. what school are you in?

i'm having an exam 2morrow too.

i had one on monday too...did you?

[proudownerofnails]

i can't stop laughing at the music lol - its so loud haha

But great anathology - i found you pretty last minuite...my exam is tomorow - but you have given me so much confidence - keep it up and thank you so much :)

[bubble1606]

The music pretty distracting :( But thanks tho!

[zazoolovesfood]

thanks a lot, you're really helping me with my gcse english

[CherryFlossx]

ThankYouu sooooo much this was really helpful (:

[allievictoria]

thank youuuu. :)

[lottie786]

Great analysis for every poem, obv the music is too loud but it clearly is emphasising the theme and cultural side of the poem... ironic perhaps when it says down down down, up, up up, like limbo of course, but also may be refering to the slaves going down down down to the bottom of the ship to sleep, and up up up in the morning. many thanks for taking the time to help thousands, its much appreciated, hope your getting a teachers wage!

[JLuX100]

ahhh this is brilliant..but the music :(

[bm124]

@JLuX100 I know- sorry about that: it was the first teaching film I ever made and I was trying to be too clever. Balance sounds fine if you listen through headphones though so you can at least make out what I'm saying that way!

[hina569]

woooow that ws really helpfull thanks you :D

[hina569]

That was really helpful thanks you :D

[hina569]

wwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooooow­wwwwwwwww that was really helpful thanks you :D

[PillonelProductions]

Thank you very much for your very helpful of the poem limbo. I dont know how you do it but you manage to say everything that seems important in the poem very easy to understand and take notes on which i have been doing throughout the poem. Please can you become my GCSE english teacher please.

[rockNrollGF]

if limbo comes up in my exam today this is going to have really helped THANKYOU!

[chewitt209]

I agree quality is poor and music is distracting but info is great. All your videos have helped a lot. Hope my exam goes well tomorrow, I'm sure it will now that I have watched this :)

[sexystrawberries94]

out of focus, and the musics a tad annoying but the analysis of the poem is really good, thank you x

[bm124]

@sexystrawberries94 First one I did and I learned a lot from it. Thanks for the feedback and good luck tomorrow.

[Satashiy]

Couldn,t the dumb gods be totum poles that the stick was held on

[irishdancerashleigh]

thankyou soooooo much for these revision videos, my exam is in 2 and a half weeks and i feel much more confident :)

[sketchi93]

i really wish i could understand what you were saying while the music was on in the background because the anylasis was really interesting

[bm124]

@sketchi93 Sorry about that. Try listening through headphones- it tends to be a bit clearer

[falks941]

ok that was so much better than what any of my teachers have said :)

[wasdcontrols]

A way to overcome the sound problem, may be to plug in some headphones and listen to the right one, which in my case has the vocal speech louder than the music. It should be the same for others (I did a little experiment with 3 sets of headphones and 3 different computers) but if not I'm pretty sure the reverse may work. And if that doesn't work, all I can say is good luck.

[wasdcontrols]

Any chance that the script for your analysis could be made available? Cos your analysis of the poem is 'well' good

[mollie3368]

Hi, I'm taking my exams next week and studying island man, limbo, blessing, what were they like, 2 scavengers, night of the scorpion, nothings changed and vultures.

I will be tested on 2 poems at foundation.

I have a good understanding of what each poem is about (thanks to you) but I want a quick snapshot of which poems compare and why?

I would be very grateful for some help here. Thank you Mollie

mollie3368 1 day ago

[MasterchiefMistry]

What can you say about how the poem is presented?

[MasterchiefMistry]

Couldn't you say that when it says 'dumb gods are raising me', there could be the literal meaning that the white people are self-proclaimed gods, over the black slaves?

[Photiss]

@MasterchiefMistry Precisely my thought.

[mummym1000]

Shame this is out of focus as the analysis is great.

[bm124]

@mummym1000 It was the first one I made and the equipment I used was a little dodgy but the others are on new kit which is much better. The music is too loud on a lot of speakers too but there's not a lot I can do now...

[wasdcontrols]

@bm124 ...you could type up a script which would be indisputably useful

[farlowh13]

@mummym1000 mabye the analysis could represent that there wasn't much fosuc on the black peoples feelings in that time

[MegaMultiverse]

love your videos, so helpful :)

[cherrycakesbaybee]

Thank you so much. I thought you were supposed to sing 'limbo limbo like me' though? Or doesn't that matter?

[corrierox06]

This is very helpful, thanks for making this :D

[andyneil123]

good stuffz. do the conga conga like me

[DannyRice14]

LIMBO LIMBO LIKE ME! WOO!

[ryang2k8]

good vid but the music is annoying coz we cant hear your well explained info, although what i did hear was very helpful cheers.

[penguinatoring]

thank you

this is very useful information for my exam 2moz :)

[wozzo101]

@penguinatoring i have the same exam tomorrow, not looking forward to it but i am happier after watching this :)

[Magicalsue]

this outlines the main themes of 'limbo' it is very helpful =O)... better when someone is talkin about it

[PrescilaM]

vERRY HELPED FULL CHEERZ

[AmyLou1s3]

thank youuuuu!!

[indrreee]

you seriously should have thought about the loudness of the music that starts at about 2:21 .. i was really unto this untill the music came in , from then onwards i could barely concentrate on what you were saying ..

[pathetic321]

Thanks very much for these videos, they've really helped... i hope you can make more, thanks! x

[patrickplsxo]

Thank you a million times over :D !

All your insights are really helpful.

[nickkurty]

Could you make some vidoes on "Unrelated incidents","This room"and "Not my business ".If not perhaps some useful tips.

Thanks.

[nickkurty]

Your videos are really helpful.Could you do some videos on "Unrelated Incidents" ,"This Room" and "Not my business". If not perhaps you could give useful tips.

[ParelliChar]

Soooo helpful, thanks

[TomDavidPenno]

Brilliant, really helpful thanks.

[theultimatecommenter]

how do you revise for comparing poems? All I can think of is re-reading the poems, do you have any other tips?

[lolou8k]

practice essays?

[BLUBOYTV]

for comparing poems if "nothings changed" comes up mention "island man" & "limbo" because they are about change nothings changed is the poet expecting change & island man is about a man who comes from the caribean to london so there is a huge change in the mans lifestyle. and limbo obviously changes a mans(a whole race of ppls) culture. all these poems talk about change. just thought i shud say that and hope it helps.

[bm124]

Good idea. Could also write about WWTL as the culture has been indellibly changed by the war and no amount of questions or sympathy can change it back.

[BLUBOYTV]

oh yeh i 4got about that one its because i am nervous about my exam. u shud be a teacher u know if u were most ppl in your class would get A's haha.

[bm124]

I am and I hope they do! Good luck on Tuesday and Thursday.

[LiVeXb0X]

@BLUBOYTV

You can kind of tell, Bluboy, that you can't have got a high grade because of the terrible grammar and spelling within that comment. Sorry, but it's ture.

[bm124]

Think about going through them by theme/feeling. Start with something obvious like anger and annotate/highlight all examples of anger. Then repeat with bitterness, misery, hope, despair etc. With themes, do the same for change, identity, places, politics, religion etc. This should also help you isolate the key quotations. With that done, you could also mind map your quotations by theme/feeling (also ensure you choose quotations which allow you to write about language features and structure).

[Blackholessoul]

good job i dont agree with everything you say but really good video

[petercrouch6ft7]

thanks sir great job

from a cooper boy

[ParaRob12]

is this a memory, would the present tense suggest that or would it suggest that the oppression is ongoing...confused help?

thanks x

[bm124]

It's really open to your interpretation. I'd say that the opression itself is a memory however the pain of this memory is still presernt and will never go away- hence present tense. However, rather than dwelling on this pain and becoming consumed by it, the poet celebrates the fact that the events of the past (slavery) have enabled him to forge a new culture of which he is immensely proud.

[ParaRob12]

find these really really helpful, any tips on comparing the poems??

[bm124]

My main tip would be to plan- if you've chosen quotations which go together well at the start then they should almost compare themselves. I'm hoping to make a video or two on comparison in the next couple of weeks so keep an eye out for them.

[limmyboy666]

Thanks, this was usefull

[StarryEyed404]

You raised some good points such as the meaning of "dumb gods" and the last few lines of the poem about burning steps, but I could hardly hear you over the (delightful, I may add) African tribal music!! As relavent as it is to the actual poem, I did have to rewind the video and strain to hear what you were saying. It would be better if the music was a little quieter, or even put at the end of the video with the credits to further emphasize the happiness and hope of the slaves.

[bm124]

I agree- I've re-edited this now to turn the music down a little- will upload shortly.

[mitsukichan101]

thankyou, that was helpful.

[doubleSentertainment]

Doesnt sound right without the accent ..... do you know were i can find this video ? Thanks

[zayster]

excellent, really helpful

well done

[InsaneXGurl]

good insight

[gunnerhowlett]

nice music lol