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Journey's radio transcript. MARK PLEASE! (1 Viewer)

sychikmoron

Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2004
Messages
38
This is a practice journey essay. could I please get some feedback and a mark out of 15. Mind the grammar, I had to rush it and it took me 42 minutes. THANKYOU!

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Imagine a radio station is running a program about journeys and their consequences. It has invited an expert on your prescribed text to appear on the show. The expert is to discuss how the composer has represented the imaginative journey and its consequences in the text.

Write the script for the radio program. In your answering refer to your prescribed text, ONE text from the BOS booklet and ONE text of your own choosing.

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Interviewer (INT): Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Im host Brian Mckain on KBBL and tonights hot topic is journeys and their consequences. So what is a journey? A journey, according to the Macquarie dictionary defines an act of traveling, which may be in the form of physical, inner or imaginative. The one I’m most intrigued about is the imaginative journey, which can transcend reality into realms of speculation, pure imagination and inspiration, and shall be the main focus of today’s discussion. Joining us are Mr. Harvard, expert on Coleridge poetry and author of Where the Wild Things Are (Wild Things). How are you fellas?

Harvard: Fine

Maurice: Very well

INT: Well, let's begin shall we. Harvard, since you've been studying Coleridge for the past 20 years, what can you say about Coleridge’s way of representing the imaginative journey and its consequences

Harvard: Well Brian, we can only discuss this if I use specific examples. Let’s begin with Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Rime). You see Brian, Coleridge represents the concept of the journey in Rime first through the Mariner’s physical sea voyage, which is part of an extraordinary journey of the imagination that is subject of the poem. This voyage, after the thoughtless killing of the albatross turns into a supernatural nightmare journey into guilt and blame.

INT: I see

Harvard: these escalade into physical and mental torment of the Mariner and his crew after the horrifying appearance of terrifying apparitions personifying “Death” and “Nightmare Life in Death”.

INT: what techniques are used by Coleridge to depict this torment?

Harvard: Well the physical torment of the mariner is depicted through repetition and irony, “water water everywhere now any drop to drink”, while the Mariner is subject to “woeful agony;’ and mental torment. Colerdige also conveys this mental torment through repetition, “alone alone all all alone”.

INT: So what are the consequences of these experiences?

Harvard: Ah, I was just getting there. You see, the mariner’s release from these hardships is a result of his sudden instinctive capacity to see beauty within living things that he wasn’t able to do when the poem began. “I blessed them unaware” and the albatross, now symbolic of redemption, “falls like lead into the sea”. So basically, the consequence is that the Mariner undergoes a mental and spiritual inner journey. Mentally he suffered from starvation and near death, but spiritually, he comes to an understanding of nature and his spirit. This is basically the moral underlying this imaginative poem, that all creatures of divine origin should be treated with reverence, “to love things great and small”.

INT: that is certainly a magnificent poem. But yes, have you studied any other poems that may have broadened your understanding of the concept of the journey?

Harvard: well, Rime’s depiction of the journey and its consequences was mainly based upon the lesson learnt through obstacles and hardships. In this Lime tree Bower my prison, the concept of the journey is portrayed differently.

INT: how?

Harvard: well, in Rime, it was the Mariner’s physical journey that led him on a journey of the imagination. However, in lime-tree, it was the poet’s INABILITY to go on a physical journey that liberates him on a journey of the imagination. I find it ironic that this journey of the imagination allowed him to do beyond the restrictions of the physical world to commune with him friends, God and nature in all its variety.

INT: I’m guessing that maybe Coleridge was aiming at conveying the power of the imagination?

Harvard: EXACTLY! Here Coleridge tries to convey the idea that much can be gained from meditation and exercise of the imagination.

INT: so what did Coleridge gain?

Harvard: well, the consequence of his imaginative journey was that Coleridge was able to see the bower itself a microcosm of the beauty of nature that he had earilier imagined as a large panorama. We witness this through his change of tone from petulance to joy, in which the originally detested “this lime-tree bower my prison” is later affectionately evoked. Basically, the moral is that the beauty of nature is anywhere and everywhere if you are “awake to love and beauty”.

INT: so through exercise of the imagination, Coleridge was able to gain knowledge and insight to life? Isn’t that a similar vision that you tried to bring out in Wild Things Sendak?

Sendak: Well you see, Wild Things is my most famous children’s book, and what I tried to do is take the reader on a make-believe journey into a boy’s imagination. I tried to broaden one’s knowledge on how children get by through certain situations. And yes, I do bring out the idea of the exercise of one’s imagination to gain knowledge.

INT: how did you do this?

Sendak: the imaginative journey is mainly based around Max’s journey to the Land of Wild Things. I used the technique of picture against text here to reflect the dominance of his imagination. Max undergoes this voyage because he tries to cope with the boredom of being punished in his room and it was through this voyage that he learns the true nature of his behaviour. He treats the Wild Things as he was treated, and through this, he matures as he finally slips out of the wolf suit, which represented the role he has played throughout the book.

INT: I’m aware that this is part of the technique of anthropomorphism. Is that right?

Sendak: yes. I gave the Wild Things human attributes of Max to comment on his behaviour.

Harvard: I believe that technique was used in Wind in the Willows

Sendak: yes I believe so. When you come to think about it, that story also presents an interesting view on the concept of the journey.

INT: how so?

Sendak: well, Toad’s latest idea to travel is his journey of the imagination as he seeks adventure into the unknown. “Travel change interest excitement”, his enthusiastic tone is achieved by short sharp sentences which depict eagerness.

Harvard: also, Rat is unwilling to step outside of his “comfort zone” for fear of the unknown

Sendak: yes so the story thus brings out 2 different views on the prospect of the journey and thus two different attitudes in life. The consequence of this is that we the reader gain insight into different opinions in life and also the strengths and weaknesses of human nature.

INT: Interesting. Well, I’m sorry fellas, but that’s all we have time for. Thank you Harvard, thank you Sendak.
Tune in tomorrow when we discuss transformation and its consequences.
 

bonniejjj

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Overall, the transcript is sound.

Just a few small things to pick you up on;
Most significantly, you give insufficient attention to the Board of Studies Stimulus text. That said, I do appreciate that this way done in 40 minutes, and practice does make perfect.

"Imagine a radio station is running a program about journeys and their consequences. It has invited an expert on your prescribed text to appear on the show. The expert is to discuss how the composer has represented the imaginative journey and its consequences in the text."

The Question only mentions one expert, and only an expert on the prescribed text. Therefore the inclusion of Sendak is (in my opinion) is not correctly answering the question.

"Mr. Harvard, expert on Coleridge poetry and author of Where the Wild Things Are (Wild Things)."

To an uninformed audience, it would seem that the interviewer is introducing one person. Sendak is not properly introduced, and then is referred to as both Maurice and Sendak. Be consistent.
Also, it is perhaps a little thin on techniques, but you have incorporated the discussion of techniques well considering the form.

On a more positive note, you did write appropriate to form, and your analysis of the texts is good, although I wouldn't necessarily describe the mariner's journey as becoming one of "guilt and blame" (for me it oversimplifies and thus undermines the complexity of the poem.)

I would give you a 12/15, and keep up the good work. Sorry if some of my criticisms have been a little harsh, just trying to be constructive.
 

bonniejjj

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Joined
Dec 10, 2004
Messages
119
Location
Lismore *blah*
Gender
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HSC
2005
Oh, and another thing I forgot to add. Rather than having another guest (Sendak) how about just having an informed interviewer who has read the wind in the willows extract and Where the Wild Things Are? Perhaps the interview could see links between these and Coleridge's poems, and add this after the expert has made a point about Coleridge. Basically what I am saying is that the interviewer could actively participate in the conversation. This might be going a little too far, but perhaps this particular episode could link to the HSC and have a HSC student as guest interviewer (with or without the regular interviewer...) and thus could talk about "The Wind in the Willows" extract as coming from the Board of Studies Stimulus booklet and blah blah blah... I don't know, just throwing ideas around...
 

sychikmoron

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Joined
Oct 11, 2004
Messages
38
Thankyou! See, I prefer honest comments rather than nice comments, because then this way i can improve. so once again, THANKYOU!
 

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