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Poem A: ‘Preface to an Anthology’ by Roy Fuller

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What did the national curriculum do for poetry? Pattern, prescription and contestation in the poetry selected for GCSE English literature 1988-2018. Julie Vanessa Blake Homerton College June 2019 This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared and specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the relevant Degree Committee. Abstract For schools in England and Wales, the 1988 Education Reform Act established the foundation for a national curriculum and a new type of public examination for all pupils at the end of their compulsory schooling. In the statutory orders for English in the national curriculum and the new GCSE qualifications in English and English literature, the study of poetry was made mandatory. My object of enquiry is the poetry selected and prescribed as material for the GCSE English literature examination between 1988 and 2018. Configuring these poems, poets and collections in an original database underpins a “scalable reading” method derived from Digital Humanities. This method uses quantitative data and close reading to track the effect of policy on the poetry set text. That effect is striking: in 1988 there was a combined GCSE corpus of 6,903 poems by 1,039 poets, in 2018 there were 119 poems by 73 poets. This study explores the shifting pattern of government prescription and professional contestation over 30 years. By tracking the relationship between poets named in the national curriculum and those featured in six series of GCSE anthologies, I show the dynamics by which the pedagogical canon was reshaped. Through close reading of the most salient poems I demonstrate how this process operated within a longer historical stewardship of the pedagogical canon rooted in the poetry of Victorian mass schooling. Quantitative analysis allowed me to model the process of real-time canon formation I observed using a theoretical framework derived from anthology studies, literary reception history and period studies. This contributes a case study to debate about how schooling shapes public taste and understanding of poetry. I argue that the possibilities of poetry as encountered by young people at school have been diminished, in part the consequence of a depletion of the state’s processes and infrastructure for principled expert curriculum review. I conclude that it is timely for a less polarised debate about the place of poetry in the English curriculum, more securely grounded in the empirical evidence of subject history. ii Table of contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. ii List of tables and figures ....................................................................................................................... v List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................................ vii Poem A: ‘Preface to an Anthology’ by Roy Fuller ............................................................................ viii 1. In living memory: schooling, curriculum and social class ............................................................. 1 Implementing a new national curriculum and examination system ............................................. 6 In living memory ............................................................................................................................... 9 Why poetry, why now? .................................................................................................................... 14 2. Finding a better anchor: the problem with “the problem with poetry”....................................... 18 The “problem with poetry” ............................................................................................................. 22 Value ................................................................................................................................................. 26 Relevance ......................................................................................................................................... 31 3. Unsettling ways of seeing: a methodological challenge ............................................................... 38 Three methodological principles.................................................................................................... 43 Data sources ..................................................................................................................................... 46 Research instrument: the GCSE poetry database ......................................................................... 52 Analytical methods .......................................................................................................................... 59 The research design ........................................................................................................................ 60 Poem B: ‘Teaching Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan’ by Karen Lockney ................................ 63 4. Parameters for poetry: defining a national curriculum for English ............................................. 64 Initial Conservative definitions: English in the National Curriculum (1) and (2) ...................... 70 Conservative amendment: English in the National Curriculum (3) ............................................ 74 Labour revision: Attainment Targets and Programmes of Study in English (4) ........................ 78 Labour amendment: English Programme of Study: key stage 4 ................................................. 81 Coalition “Significant reform”: English programmes of study: key stage 4 ............................... 85 5. Following the things: the hybridisation of school poetry anthologies. ........................................ 90 GCSE English literature assessment ............................................................................................. 94 The corpus of poetry books for GCSE English literature ............................................................. 99 The changing material form of poetry books for GCSE English literature .............................. 122 The changing aesthetic encounter with poetry ........................................................................... 128 6. Tracing power and agency: the naming of poets ........................................................................ 136 Tracing power and agency ............................................................................................................ 143 The effects of statutory power ...................................................................................................... 145 Effects at the tension point ........................................................................................................... 150 iii The effects of professional agency ............................................................................................... 154 7. A tacit definition of ‘adolescent poetry’: the super-salient poems ............................................. 162 Poem C: ‘Casabianca’ by Felicia Hemans ................................................................................... 163 Identifying the super-salient poems............................................................................................. 166 The relationship between generations ......................................................................................... 170 A gothic tenor ................................................................................................................................ 175 The tragedy of doomed youth ...................................................................................................... 180 Familiar simplicity: form, style and storytelling .......................................................................... 183 8. Observing canon formation: a real-time case study .................................................................... 187 Tracking and visualising poet status over time ........................................................................... 193 Weaving the web of a pedagogical canon .................................................................................... 213 9. “And miles to go before I sleep”: reflecting on the journey. ...................................................... 218 Implications for education policy and practice ........................................................................... 222 Original contributions to knowledge ........................................................................................... 227 Poem D: Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost ............................................ 235 References
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