Unseen Poetry

1. Unseen Poetry WJEC from 2014

2. use of time • The question gives the common subject of both poems – it is very important to note this. • Spend up to 15 minutes working on the poems • Spend another 5 minutes planning your answer – bullet points or spider diagram or a chart – a list of similarities and a list of differences • Up to 20 minutes the first poem in detail, beginning with its title • Up to 20 minutes comparing/contrasting the second • Leave time to check SPandG, including poets’/poems’ names.

3. method • Begin with noting the title – once you understand WHY the title was given, you have understood the point of the poem. • It is MOST important than you write your thoughts on the poem so that you don’t forget them – then order them – you can use numbers – and put them in order in your plan. • Annotate the first poem – look for and highlight • How it is STRUCTURED – what does it talk about first, then… next… and finally – draw lines to show the sections unless each stanza clearly deals with a separate points. • Draw and label a pin-man by the side – with your impressions of the ‘persona’ speaking in the poem, including the mood they are in. • Anything REPEATED – words, ideas, lines, a chorus

4. poetic features • Circle together any words that rhyme – look for a link between the meaning of the words – the poet wants your ear to catch these pairs of words because they are important – what do they tell you that is so important? • Reading aloud silently notice the rhythm – does it remind you of anything to do with the meaning of the poem ? does it sound like natural speech ? how do the line lengths add to the rhythm and tone of the poem ? • Underline / highlight any words or phrases, or even whole lines which are non-literal – where is the similarity between the two ideas e.g. birds flying – freedom. • Shade/highlight words which are linked – semantic fields.

5. using the question • Look at the bullet points in the question: You may wish to include some or all of these points: • the content of the poems – what they are about; • the ideas the poets may have wanted us to think about; • the mood or atmosphere of the poems; • how they are written – words and phrases you find interesting, the way they are organised,andso on; • your responses to the poems, including how they are similar and how they are different

6. planning • the content of the poems – what they are about; • the ideas the poets may have wanted us to think about; • Short paragraphs with key words from the poems – quotations dropped into your own sentences • ‘content’ – use the information in the question • Should begin with the word ‘Both’ – first area of comparison • ‘ideas’ – the point being made about the ‘content’ – the ideas will be different. • Should begin ‘Whilst xxxx feels yyyyyy, zzzzzzfeels qqqqqqq. OR xxxx shows yyyyyy but zzzzzz feels qqqqqq.

7. using the pin-men the mood or atmosphere of the poems; • Talk about the persona in the poem • Give evidence about how they feel or their attitude towards the ‘content’ and ‘ideas’ in the poem. • Drop quotations into your sentences and develop your ideas. • Depending on the poems you can compare and contrast the persona or the similar/different moods of the personas.

8. the main analysis • how they are written – words and phrases you find interesting, the way they are organised, and so on; • your responses to the poems, including how they are similar and how they are different • You now need to look at your notes about the first poem and now prove what you have said about the ‘ideas’, the ‘mood’. • Use TEAMwork – Begin with a point and name the method or technique BEFORE you give the quotation. Say how this method or these words ADD to the MEANING of that line AND the poem as a WHOLE. • Write about ‘the reader’ and how they could feel or think OR ‘I’ and ‘me’ – e.g. The violent language makes the reader think …. The violent language makes me think ….

9. AO3 comparing and contrasting • Now look at the second poem: begin each paragraph with either a comparing or contrasting WORD – • Similarly …. Just like …. • Both poems ….. Both poets…. • Just as …. In the same way …. • In contrast …. Unlike …. • Whereas …. Although ….

10. final paragraph – personal response • It is VITAL for above half marks to end your essay with a personal comment about how the poems have affected you. • You are expected to say which poem had the greater affect on you – which you preferred and why …. • Begin your final paragraph with ‘Whilst both poems …. I felt …