UNSEEN POETRY

1. UNSEEN POETRY Years 10-11 Monday 14th April 11.30-14.00

2. Contents • Exam Details • Exam Example • Mark scheme • FLIRTS • Example

3. Exam EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT (1 Hour) 20th May Unit 1: Poetry (contemporary) Section B 14% (COMPARATIVE STUDY) Contemporary: Unseen poetry comparison

4. Exam Structure Section B will consist of a question offering some structure for candidates to explore, respond to, and compare two contemporary unseen poems.

5. Exam Example Spend about 1 hour on this section. Think carefully about the poems before you write your answer. • Both poems describe the experience of being old. • Write about both poems and their effect on you. Show how they are similar and how they are different. • You may write about each poem separately and then compare them, or make comparisons where appropriate in your answer as a whole.

6. You may wish to include some or all of these points: • the contentof the poems – what they are about; • the ideas the poets may have wanted us to think about; • the moodor atmosphereof the poems; • howthey are written – wordsand phrasesyou find interesting, the way they are organised, and so on; • yourresponses to the poems, including how they are similarand how they are different.

7. Marks – Effect, similarities, differences • 0 marks Nothing written, or nothing worthy of credit. • 1-4 marks Simple general comments on the poems. Probably very brief, with simple and basic points of comparison. • 5-9 marks Emerging discussion and awareness of the mood, atmosphere, and themes of the poems as well as their similarities and differences. • 10-14 marks Focused and thoughtful discussion of the detail of both poems with clear points of comparison made. • 15-20 marks Assured appreciation and analysis of both poems, with confident and appropriate links and comparisons.

8. FLIRTS • FORM • LANGUAGE • IMAGERY • RHYTHM • TONE • SUBJECT

9. FORM • Structure • Stanzas • Lines • Enjambment

10. LANGUAGE • Simile • Metaphor • Personification • Rhetorical question • Repetition • Personal pronouns • Rhyme • Onomatopoeia • Alliteration

11. IMAGERY • What images are created in the mind? Link to metaphor, simile, personification RHYTHM • Slow • Fast • changeable

12. TONE • Formal/Informal • Friendly, sarcastic, angry… SUBJECT • What is it about? • What’s the message? • What intention did the poet have?

13. DON’T WRITE… • At first I didn’t understand the poem but after reading it a couple of times I think… • The poem has no rhythm • I think the poem needed to rhyme more because I like poems that rhyme… • I think the poet has done a very good job of writing this poem and they obviously thought carefully about it…

14. Get started! • It is absolutely essential to get into the habit of reading the poem at least twice before even trying to think of what you will write. • Try to hear the poem aloud in your head – notice how it makes you feel and which words felt important as you read it.

15. TRAMP By William Marshall He liked he said rainbows and the sky and children who passed him in the street without staring. And he liked he said the ordinary things

16. like roses in snow and the way he remembered the first time the first time he really smelt the rain on a green hillside back home just before the sun died

17. And he liked he said thinking about who slept beneath the red brick roofs he walked by in the early part of the day from Land’s End to John O’Groats. but he said as a full time tramp with no other place to go he was worried where he would die - Land’s End or John O’Groats.

18. NOW ANNOTATE IT! TRAMP Any tramp – no name He liked he said rainbows and the sky and children who passed him in the street without staring. And he liked he said the ordinary things Like a child – a simple treat The speaker is someone reporting The tramp’s opinions Most children stare - likes the ones who don’t – why?

19. PEE…D • Making sure you always use P-E-E statements in the poetry question will help you get a C • Write two P-E-E statements about this poem now • Point Evidence Explanation • D=Development – You go into much more detail for a higher grade

20. Get a ‘C’ • sustained response to situation/ideas or author's purposes • effective use of details to support answer • explanation of features of language interest • explanation of effects achieved/authors' purposes

21. Get a ‘B’ • qualified, developed response, exploring writers' ideas or methods • details from poem linked to authors' intentions and purposes • exploration of effects achieved/authors' purposes • qualified/exploratory response to writers' ideas or methods

22. Check Your Work • Have you explained? • Have you used details? • Is your writing on the poem sustained? • Are you beginning to explore? • Do you evaluate the writer’s techniques?

23. Writing Your Answer • Use the bullet points provided to structure your answer • Use P-E-E throughout • Make at least two points for each bullet point • Remember to talk about both poems • Have enough time to compare and contrast • Don’t panic if you don’t get it all – it is not a trick!

24. For comparing and contrasting poems… • Either: After a general introduction about both poems, write about poem 1, then about poem 2, then make points of similarity and comparison between them. • Or: After a general introduction about both poems, write about poem 1, then write about poem 2, referring back to poem 1 and noting similarities and differences • as you do so. • Or: Discussing both poems at the same time (sometimes called the integrated • approach) • Whichever you choose, make sure that you write a roughly equal amount on each poem, and highlight similarities and differences between them, considering for example, the similarities and differences in content, theme, tone, structure, language and imagery.

25. Example 1 Woman Work and Overheard in County Sligo are two poems that differ in several ways but are essentially similarly themed. Both poems are written by women and follow the theme of a woman whose freedom has been restricted. While Overheard in County Sligo is more focused upon a woman’s yearning for freedom from the menial life as a housewife, “and the road runs down through the open gate and freedom’s there for the taking”, Woman Work has more to do with the persecution and enslavement of black people in 19th century America. This is indicated by the line, “and the cotton to pick”, as cotton was a booming industry in colonial America, with black slaves being forced to pick it in the fields.

26. Example 2 The two poems to compare are Woman Work by Maya Angelou and Overheard in County Sligo by Gillian Clarke. Woman Work gives us an idea of what the poem will be about, the jobs a woman has to do. Overheard in County Sligo is a more obscure title that does not really tell us anything about the content of the poem. Woman Work begins with a long list of jobs in rhyming couplets. This makes the pace fast as the lines are read one after the other with very few pauses. This has the effect of demonstrating to the reader how busy the woman’s life is and how she is very rushed.

27. Example 3 Woman Work and Overheard in County Sligo are both poems written by women about two women’s lives. They are similar in theme and mood, as in both poems the women seem unhappy with their lives, and the mood is fairly bleak.

28. Example 4 The poem Woman Work is written by Maya Angelou and is about a black woman from the south of the U.S.A. who speaks about her life. Overheard in County Sligo is written by Gillian Clarke and is about a woman speaking about her life in Ireland.