Course summary

This two-day HSC English Advanced course supports students studying NSW English Advanced Module A: Textual Conversations. It focuses on textual conversations between the poetry of John Keats and the contemporary film Bright Star, directed by Jane Campion (2009).

Through a guided study of carefully selected extracts from both texts, students will explore how representations of culture are shaped by contextual beliefs, values, and assumptions. Students will also examine the representation of Keats and Fanny Brawne. While Keats has long been celebrated as one of the great Romantic poets, Brawne was historically overlooked and only more recently recognised for her connection to Keats's life.

The course will also introduce the influence of the first-generation Romantic poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth to enrich the student experience of both the poetry and the film. The context of both composers will be illuminated by a focus on the ideals and legacy of English Romanticism in terms of the individual, nature, art and the imagination.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• evaluate the ways in which the personal and historical contexts of the composers inform the intentional intertextuality of the film with the poems set for study and so shape meaning for readers in our time
• analyse and discuss the Romantic aesthetic of the prescribed poems and the film as a pair in terms of literary perspectives on love, loss, the individual, the natural world and the imagination through consideration of poetic form and devices and the parallel use of visual poetry in the film, particularly its deployment of Keatsian imagery and symbolism
• recognise that the exploration of key concerns in the poetry and film enable informed judgements on the ways in which these texts illuminate, as well as eclipse, each other in particular ways.

Content

This two-day course will help students refine their process writing skills while developing a deeper understanding of layered ‘Textual Conversations’. Students will use a clear conceptual framework to explore key terms from the HSC rubric.

Students will engage with selected literary theory to deepen their understanding of disputes in the conversations around the texts, as well as to guide recognition of points of resonance and dissonance both within and between the texts. Students will apply this framework through class discussion and guided analysis of the prescribed poetry and film.

Selected literary commentary will inform students’ understanding of critical debates surrounding the texts and highlight points of resonance and dissonance both within and between them. Excerpts from this commentary are included in the course materials. A glossary of the keywords of Romanticism will be provided to extend students’ vocabulary for complex analytical commentary in essays on this pairing of texts.

A brief exploration of English Romanticism will inform students’ reading of John Keats’ selected poetry and its cinematic reimagining in Jane Campion’s film Bright Star (2009). The poems set for study will be discussed with a focus on the key concerns of art, mortality, the natural world and the imagination. Study of the film will explore the ways in which Campion draws on imagery, motifs, and complex metaphors in the poetry and letters of Keats to create her distinctive cinematic vision.

The prescribed suite of poems by Keats comprises:

‘On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer’, ‘When I have fears that I may cease to be’, ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’, ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’, ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, ‘Ode on Melancholy’, ‘Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art’.

The poems set for study will be explored with the Romantic aesthetic of John Keats at the forefront of learning. Concurrent study of the film Bright Star directed by Jane Campion (2009) will highlight the relationships between the texts and encourage analysis that recognises the ways in which form shapes meaning. Students will be guided to identify cinematic strategies that follow the patterns of sensual imagery in Keats’ poetry in a contemporary visual medium. Particular focus will be given to Campion’s embrace of the Keatsian notion of ‘negative capability’ in the representation of culture.

Who this course is for

This course is for Year 12 students studying NSW English Advanced Module A: Textual Conversations. It is designed for students studying John Keat’s Selected Poems and Jane Campion’s film Bright Star (2009) as their paired texts.

Delivery style

A combination of mini lectures, class and small group guided discussion, along with opportunities for process writing and student activities based on supplied commentary.

Learning will be built on a unique conceptual framework through a combination of mini-lectures, class and small group-guided discussion, along with opportunities for process writing and thoughtful annotation of the poems. Students will be guided in evaluating the extent to which changing context and values can influence how texts are composed and interpreted. Discussion will help students explain how imagery and symbolism shape meaning for different audiences and purposes, evaluate the use of textual conventions and patterns across different contexts, and critically analyse how intertextuality (broadly interpreted) shapes meaning.

Materials

Course materials will be shared electronically.

What you need to do before the course

Please bring a device to access the course learning materials. You are also encouraged to bring your own copies of Selected Poems, along with any relevant school notes, assessment notifications or draft responses.

Relevant syllabus outcomes

This course is informed by the NSW English Advanced 11–12 Syllabus (2024). The most relevant Year 12 outcomes are:

• EAV-12-01 Critically analyses the ways an author’s choice of language, form and structure shapes meaning in complex texts of different modes and mediums.

  Analyse and discuss the Romantic aesthetic of the prescribed poems and the film as a pair in terms of literary perspectives on love, loss, the individual, the natural world and the imagination through consideration of poetic form and devices and the parallel use of visual poetry in the film, particularly its deployment of Keatsian imagery and symbolism.

•  EAV-12-02 Evaluates the relationships between texts through context, form and language.

  Evaluate the ways in which the personal and historical contexts of the composers inform the intentional intertextuality of the film with the poems set for study and so shape meaning for readers in our time.

• EAV-12-03 Evaluates the ways context and values influence composition and audience response.

  Recognise that the exploration of key concerns in the poetry and film enable informed judgements on the ways in which these texts illuminate, as well as eclipse, each other in particular ways.

Getting Through Your HSC: A Practical Guide

While you progress through this journey and also the conclusion of your schooling life, we know you’ll have a lot on your mind – exams, future study, careers – but remember, while keeping focused on these bigger goals and aspirations, it’s also important not to forget your own health and well-being.

For tips on staying motivated and keeping focused, dealing with anxiety, keeping healthy, relaxation, pre-study exercise and more, read our article Getting Through Your HSC: A Practical Guide.