âA little trickyâ
Mr Girdham said the question on Boland was âa little trickyâ but that the expected appearance of Heaney would have âsent the country home happyâ and the Durcan question was âa doddle [with students asked about] tone and mood expressing emotionsâ.
Candidates who answered poetry also had to take on the unseen poem. âLouise Greigâs How to Construct an Albatross had an arresting title and was an interesting one,â said Mr Girdham.
âI think that this may have disconcerted quite a few candidates; itâs certainly testing, but it was a good choice.â
Paul McCormack, an English teacher at the Institute of Education in Dublin, said that the single text questions on King Lear were âbeautiful and subtle questions that challenged candidates to think carefully and use their argumentative writing skills effectivelyâ.
» Ciarán Quinn For the NIO to try and co-opt Heaney is a disservice. I see also some unionist commentators have taken exception to the criticism of the NIO approach, bizarrely claiming that it is akin to saying that Heaney only belongs to nationalists. A ludicrous accusation and position.
- Ciarán Quinn
This week s controversy over the use of an image of Seamus Heaney to celebrate partition has been another example of NIO arrogance.
First a confession. For years I didn’t get Seamus Heaney’s poetry or politics.
My first introduction to his poetry was in secondary school when we had to dissect his poem, ‘Digging’ like you would a dead frog. When dismembered and reduced to its component parts of alliteration, rhyme, and rhythm.