Pop meets poetry at uni

They might not be Shakespeare or Wordsworth but lyrics by soul singer Amy Winehouse have been included in a Cambridge University literature exam for the first time.Final year English students were asked to compare a song by the singer with verses from Elizabethan poet and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh.The university defended its decision to include lyrics from the 24-year-old's hit single Love is a Losing Game in the exams, while critics accused it of dumbing down.On the same day last week that the song, from Winehouse's breakthrough release Back to Black, won a prestigious Ivor Novello award, students were being asked to compare it to the 16th century poet's work As You Came from the Holy Land.They could also write about Bob Dylan's Boots Of Spanish Leather or Billie Holiday's Fine And Mellow during the practical criticism exam.Cambridge officials said students were then asked to compare Raleigh's poem, written in 1592, with one or two of the designated songs while making reference to the "diverse senses of lyric".




Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education group, said it amounted ot "dumbing down" the exams.- REUTERS

Spears undergoing psychiatric evaluation

Spears undergoing psychiatric evaluation

Britney Spears is on a psychiatric hold in a Los Angeles infirmary as she undergoes rating.
The 26-year-old was taken from her home to hospital yesterday by ambulance.
Speaking to Hoi polloi magazine, Spears' spokesperson, SAM Lutfi, said that Spears was undergoing evaluation on the orders of her psychiatrist.
"She went volitionally," Lufti told the magazine. "It was like something in her nerve was recounting her she should go. She knew something was legal injury."
UCLA Medical examination Center declined to substantiate if Spears was a patient role, citing confidentiality.
Spears' parents and Lufti were pictured going the infirmary on Th. When asked if her daughter was "OK" by reporters, the singer's mother Lynne said: "Yes."
Friends and class own said they believe that the 26-year-old is suffering from bipolar disorderliness or other psychiatric problems.
An unnamed beginning told Us Weekly that Spears had not slept since Saturday.
The seed said that the "intervention" by Spears' family and shrink had been planned for a identification number of years.
The National Bond on Mental Unwellness in the US has pleaded for Spears' privateness during her treatment.




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