The Nine Tailors prose fiction practice

• Engels
• Further Education (Key Stage 5)

Goals for today 

Approaching unseen extract

Areas to consider techniques in this extract 

Example response and structure 

Feedback from the examiners on this text 

Affixes 

MAL

Word of the day

Mal = From the Latin word malus that means 'bad, badly or evil' 

Our key word to remember this root is Malfunction meaning to function badly or stop functioning. 

Shortly before the crash the pilot had reported a malfunction of the aircraft's navigation system.

Rate the word 1 to 4

1. I do not know the word, and I have never seen it before. 

2. I've heard or seen the word before, but I'm not sure what it means. 

3. I know the word and can recognise and understand it while reading, but I probably wouldn't feel comfortable using it in writing or speech. 

4. I know the word well and can use it correctly in writing or speech. 

Malign

Word of the day

Malign (v) - to speak evil of; to slander; to say harmful things that are untrue. 

Look at that silent 'g' in malign. It is a visual clue that malign is related to another word where the 'g' is sounded. What is that word? 

She took every opportunity to malign his character and spread untruths about him.

Malignant

Approaching prose fiction 

Reading for character 

Reading for setting 

Reading for style 

Reading for theme or motif 

In MB file - support material 

Topics, concepts, key words 

1. What is the purpose of this extract? What feeling and information does the author want to convey? 
2. On the left of the extract for each paragraph (three),  write significant word(s), ideas, action(s) that occur in that paragraph. 
   
3. How does the structuring of the information convey the central purpose of the text? 

Approaching prose fiction 

Reading for action 

Reading for character 

Reading for setting 

Reading for style 

Reading for theme or motif 

Diction, descriptive language, adjectives 

• "forced his tottering limbs" 
• "leaden hand" 
  
• "demoniac clangour" 
  
• "the brazen fury" 
  
• "Sick, giddiness overcame him" 

Personification 

• "The brazen fury of the bells" 
  
• "Mouth up, mouth down, they brawled with their tongues of bronze" 
  
• "The bells were still sounding their frenzied call" 
• "it was a brute pain"

Sentence length and structure 

• "Winsey did not want to hear anymore" - simple sentence 
• He passed the sweating ringers and climbed again - up through the clock-chamber, piled with household goods, and up and on to the bell-chamber itself" - parenthetical remark, complex sentence 
  
• "His ear-drums were cracking; his senses swam away" coordinated - main clauses - semi-colon 
  

Simile, metaphor, comparison 

• "like the blows from a thousand beating hammers" 
  
• "shrill clangour was a raving madness, an assault of devils" 
  
• "as though his bones were turned to water" 
  
• "was like a sword in the brain" 

Alliteration 

• "drenched and drunken with noise" -plosive hard sound 
  
• "it rocked and reeled with the reeling of the bells" 
  
• "stunned and shaken" 
• "stabbing and shivering" 
  

sensory imagery 

• Auditory imagery " from a thousand beating hammers" 
  
• "Buffeted by the clamour" 
  
• "brazen crash and clatter there went one high note, shrill and sustained"  
  
• Tactile, kineasthetic  - "The belfry heaved and wheeled about him as the bells dipped and swung" 
  

enumeration, listing, repetition  

• "it was brute pain, a grinding, bludgeoning, ran-dan, crazy, intolerable torment" - asyndeton 
  
• "foot by foot, rung by rung" - repetition 
  
• "brazen fury ...through the brazen crash 
  
• "shrill, high, sweet, relentless note" asyndeton 
  
• "reeled with the reeling of the bells" - repetition 
  
• drunken with noise ... like a drunken man 

Prose fiction

The name of the extract is stated

The author or originating source is given

The text type is clearly identified without elaboration

where the text appeared is stated (if known)

When it was produced is stated (if known)

The content is discussed: what does the text actually say (brief summary)

The intended audience/reader is stated (if definable) 

The purpose(s) is stated

The social, cultural and temporal context is addressed (if available)

The thesis: what you find most important about the text (without elaboration) (main idea/main theme)

The structure of your analysis is stated 

Introduction

Hook
The name of the extract	The Nine Tailors - extract
Author or source	Dorothy L. Sayers
Text type	Prose fiction - extract from a novel
where appeared	The Nine Tailors
when produced	1959
content discussed	This extract describes the physical experience of Wimsey, the protagonist, as he scales a belfry and ascends the roof whilst the bells are pealing.
intended audience	Readers who know Dorothy L. Sayers work or are interested in prose fiction
purpose	to entertain the reader/ to increase tension/to establish emotive response
social cultural & temporal context	published in 1959 (British crime novelist)
Thesis statement
Plan of development

Thesis statement 

•  Carefully read the Guiding Question and determine the focus and key words that must be implemented in the thesis statement. The key words will typically be the literary or linguistic element from the Guiding Question.
  
• Look for the “insightful ideas” from your (left margin) annotations while also considering the key words of the Guiding Question.
  

Bob Orr insightfully explores the process of poetry writing and how inspiration can be discovered in the everyday and familiar through the use of visceral imagery, precise language choices and tonal shifts.

Thesis statement 

•  Formulate your “insightful idea”. This will not be given in the guiding question but will be your own. Typically the theme or main message of the text.
  
• Flip the Guiding Question into a thesis statement using your insightful idea and the literary, linguistic or stylistic authorial choices you will focus on.
  
• Use evaluative language in your thesis statement.
  

The author insightfully explores the process of poetry writing and inspiration through the use of visceral imagery, precise language choices and tonal shifts.

Evaluative language examples

Thesis statement 

The author cleverly develops rising tension and an ever-increasing mood of overwhelm and panic in this excerpt in order to establish characterisation, setting and action. 

Topic sentence 

MPO

Multiple Paragraph Outline 

Complete the MPO by adding your thesis statement, your topic sentences and your evidence