Unseen Poem

The Unseen Poem

The second part of the poetry exam is not something to fear.  The examiners are not seeking to trip you up, nor are they asking you to do the impossible.

You all have a response to poems, in the same way that you all have a response to song lyrics.  Watch this youtube clip to realise that you are all analysing, understanding and responding to 'poems' every day.

The question will always have two parts to it.  The first part will ask you to show that you understand what the poem is about and the second part will ask you to explain how the poet effectively expresses this/these ideas.

Aim to spend at least 5-10 minutes reading and annoting the poem before you start answering the question and remember to jot down a quick plan of your answer (the examiner will credit you for it)

Example questions:

• Read the poem below.  What do you think the poet is saying about her mother?  How does the poet express her ideas?  (18 marks)

Handbag by Ruth Fainlight

My mother's old leather handbag,
crowded with letters she carried
all through the war. The smell
of my mother's handbag: mints
and liptsick and Coty powder.
The look of those letters, softened
and worn at the edges, opened,
read, and refolded so often.
Letters from my father. Odour
of leather and powder, which ever
since then has meant womanliness,
and love, and anguish, and war.

• Read the poem below.  What do you think the poet is saying about choice?  How does the poet present his ideas?

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

A Good Frameword for your answer would be:


P1:

• Answer the question, using quotes from the poem to support your opinion.  Explain how the the quotes you have chosen support your answer. 
• Aim to repeat the key words in the question in your answer.

P2: 

• Make a point on how the poet has used structure to express their ideas (this could be anything about the stanzas, rhythm, rhyme (or lack of it), punctuation, particular poetic form)
• Use a quote to support your point
• Make sure you explain how this structural technique is effective and the effect on the reader.

P3:

• Make a point on how the poet uses language and/or imagery to express their ideas (this could be anything about word choice, tonal words, words in same semantic field, alliteration, repetition, metaphors, emotive words, similes, personification)
• Use (ideally embedded) quotes (short ones) to support your point/s
• Explain how this technique is effective and the effect on the reader

P4:

• This could be a another point on language or structure -  linking to how it helps express the poet's ideas
• Include your own response to the poem