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As you read through the below, you’ll find our model ideas in orange and green. There are tasks for you to complete in purple.

We always love the summer term. Especially when we’ve got records as brilliant as Holding Absence’s ‘The Greatest Mistake Of My Life‘ and YONAKA’s ‘Mixtape‘ to listen to.

And of course we don’t only love these records because they offer us a deeper understanding of ideas that are so crucial to our GCSE and A-Level English studies! But we’re definitely grateful that they do.

Huge thanks to Lucas Woodland and Theresa Jarvis for talking to us about their use of light imagery.

Here’s what Lucas had to say about the “holy light” in ‘nomoreroses‘…

And here’s what Theresa had to say about her use of light imagery in ‘Call Me A Saint‘…

Sooooo interesting. And sooooo releveant to ALL of the texts we’ll come across during our English lessons.

And if we really want to score BIG, then we can take inspiration from both Lucas and Theresa.

Think about how Lucas presents ideas about light in ‘nomoreroses’…

  1. It has religious connotations
  2. It’s a positive force
  3. It suggests power
  4. It symbolises information

Now, Think about how Theresa presents ideas about light in ‘Call Me A Saint’…

  1. It symbolises information
  2. It’s a positive force
  3. It symbolises a fresh start
  4. It’s a constant force

All of the above ideas will be useful to you when analysing the word ‘light’. In the case of ‘nomoreroses’, you might write:

Woodland’s use of light imagery is significant. He writes that: “I’ve waited all my life / To see this holy light.” That he believes in “light” as a positive force is made clear by the way he pairs the motif with that pre-modifier “holy”. The assertion that Lucas has been waiting for so long also indicates that he thinks of this light as something positive. It will offer him information he desires.

Okay, so this kind of paragraph would show the examiner that you can explore the light ‘motif’ from different angles. You understand that image as more than one-dimensional. It’s a multi-layered metaphor and thus gives us a sense of Woodland’s multi-layered experience.

TASK 1: Use our bulletpointed ideas (or ideas of your own!) to write the same kind of paragraph about ‘Call Me A Saint.

You could start like this:

Jarvis’s use of light imagery is significant. She writes that: “I’m tryin’ to shine a light on, light on, light on / Anybody sittin’ in the dark and cryin’“.

Right, now let’s see if we can contextualise the light in a way that will have your examiner falling off her chair in excitement!

Here are some of the things we know about light…

  1. The sun formed about 4.5 million years ago – the MOST important source of energy, warms us, allows plants to manufacture oxygen etc.
  2. In the opening book of The Bible – Genesis – it’s quickly established that: ‘God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.’
  3. According to Roger Ekirch, never in human history had we been more afraid of the night than in the period – end of 1700s – that immediately preceded our ability to vanquish it.
  4. Commercial incandescent light bulbs becoming widely available in the 1880s.
  5. Fiber optics is the technology used to transmit information as pulses of light through strands of fibre over long distances. In 1988, the first transatlantic telephone cable went into operation.

Okay, let’s use some of these contextual ideas to develop our analysis of ‘nomoreroses’.

Woodland’s use of light imagery is significant. He writes that: “I’ve waited all my life / To see this holy light.” That he believes in “light” as a positive force is made clear by the way he pairs the motif with that pre-modifier “holy”. Light has been linked to goodness since the words of Genesis were first carved into human consciousness. The assertion that Lucas has been waiting for so long also indicates that he thinks of this light as something positive. It will offer him information he desires. The idea of light as representative of information could be embedded in the more recent use of fibre optics. Since the 1980s, information has been transported as pulses of light.

TASK 2: Now try using some of the 5 listed contextual details to develop your ‘Call Me A Saint’ paragraph.

Now, you can apply that same process to any of the zillion ‘light’ quotes that you’ll come across. Almost every author uses the word so it’s a good one to understand in detail.

Below, you’ll find our whole list of light facts. We’ve paired each one with a text. Have a go at working out why we’ve matched each fact with that particular quote. How does knowing each fact really help us dig more deeply into its associated quote?

Send your ideas – or any work you’ve completed today – here.

Now, explore ALL our Holding Absence lessons and listen to our full interview with Lucas: Wormholes podcast.

Or go here to look at our songs of 2021 so far – they’ll help you to develop the way you start your essays, and show you how to wow your examiner with ideas of mindblowing originality!

Holding Absence’s ‘The Greatest Mistake Of My Life’ is out now. YONAKA’s ‘Mixtape’ is out on July 15th – and will be followed by Theresa’s full Wormholes session.