How to Write about Poetry

1
How to Write about Poetry
2
Why You Study Poetry

• As well as being important in itself, poetry is a
  good way of testing whether or not you are good
  at writing about Literature
• Because there is little plot, you are forced to
  discuss a writers techniques

3
Why Poetry Matters in Examinations

• If you are taking both English and English
  Literature, poetry will give you about a third of
  your marks
• In Literature, poetry is worth more than half the
  marks

4
Key Skills

• To do well, you must be able to
• Respond critically, in detail, using quotations
  as evidence
• Show how language and structure affect the reader
• Show similarities and differences between poems
  using quotations

5
Typical Questions

• Questions will be either
• Theme based
• Your task will be to show which techniques are
  used to get the theme across.
• Technique based
• The question will identify a technique used in a
  named poem and ask you to explain how it helps
  the reader understand the theme.

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An Example of a Technique Based Question

• Compare the methods used in Search for my
  Tongue to those used in one other poem of your
  choosing. Explain how they help the reader
  understand the poems ideas.

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A Example of a Theme Based Question

• Unrelated Incidents is interested in the way
  in which people speak. Write about this poem and
  one other, showing how their writers explore the
  importance of speech.

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To get a C you need to

• Show understanding of a variety of techniques
  used by the poet
• (Explain the effect of at least 3 techniques
  vocabulary, imagery, structure, tone etc.)

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Variety of techniques

• The poet uses imagery to have an effect on the
  reader. For example, two tongues in your mouth.
  This is good at making the reader feel how weird
  and difficult it can be to have two languages.
  Strong vocabulary like stump and spit also
  makes the reader understand the writers feelings
  of fear. (Go on to explore at least one other.)

10
To get a C you need to

• Make effective use of quotations to make your
  points
• (Select a short quotation then explain its
  impact.)

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Effective use of Quotations

• The poet uses imagery to have an effect on the
  reader. For example, two tongues in your mouth.
  This is good at making the reader feel how weird
  and difficult it can be to have two languages.
  Strong vocabulary like stump and spit also
  make the reader understand the writers feelings
  of fear.

12
To get an A you need to

• Show empathy with the poets feelings and
  attitudes
• (Show that the poem has let you experience the
  poets emotions for yourself.)

13
Show Empathy with the Poet

• The frustration and sense of panic felt by the
  poet is brilliantly conveyed by the disturbing
  image two tongues in your mouth, which is far
  more shocking than the gentler images in Half
  Caste, excuse me standing on one leg. Together
  with powerful vocabulary like stump and spit,
  the state of mind revealed is nightmarish and
  disturbing.

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To get an A you need to

• Be able to write about several techniques used
  and explain the effects on the reader in detail
• (Make more than one point about the impact of
  language in the poem.)

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Explain the effect of techniques in detail

• The frustration and sense of panic felt by the
  poet is brilliantly conveyed by the disturbing
  image two tongues in your mouth, which is far
  more shocking than the gentler images in Half
  Caste, excuse me standing on one leg. Together
  with powerful vocabulary like stump and spit,
  the mood created is nightmarish and disturbing.

16
To get an A you need to

• Show confidence in managing ideas, quotations
  and explanations
• (Assert your points clearly, use precise
  vocabulary. Drive ideas to their conclusions.)

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Confidence in Managing Ideas

• The frustration and sense of panic felt by the
  poet is brilliantly conveyed by the disturbing
  image two tongues in your mouth, which is far
  more shocking than the gentler images in Half
  Caste, excuse me standing on one leg. Together
  with powerful vocabulary like stump and spit,
  the mood created is nightmarish and disturbing.

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To get an A you need to

• Do everything that A grade students do, but
  also
• Evaluate in detail the effectiveness of
  techniques in each poem

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Evaluate the Effect of Techniques

• Perhaps it is in their use of imagery that the
  poets differing approaches are most evident.
  Bhatts unsettling two tongues in your mouth
  contrasts with Agards gentler Excuse me
  standing/ on one leg. Although both are striking
  images that expect a reaction, forcing the reader
  to engage with the theme of segregation that
  underpins both poems, it is Bhatts development
  of such visceral images, it grows back,
  together with what is almost a generic horror
  vocabulary, stump, Spit, that establishes
  hers as the more memorable technique.

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To get an A you need to

• Analyse how best you can explore links take on
  the question
• (Dont run through a revised list of techniques.
  Say why you are discussion a technique and show
  that you are arguing the question.)

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Analyse Links

• Perhaps it is in their use of imagery that the
  poets differing approaches are most evident.
  Bhatts unsettling two tongues in your mouth
  contrasts with Agards gentler Excuse me
  standing/ on one leg. Although both are striking
  images that expect a reaction, forcing the reader
  to engage with the theme of segregation that
  underpins both poems, it is Bhatts development
  of such visceral images, it grows back,
  together with an almost generic horror
  vocabulary, stump, spit, that establishes
  hers as the more memorable technique.

22
To get an A you need to

• Juggle poems as you discuss them
• (Dont deal with one poem fully then move on)

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Juggling Poems

• Perhaps it is in their use of imagery that the
  poets differing approaches are most evident.
  Bhatts unsettling two tongues in your mouth
  contrasts with Agards gentler Excuse me
  standing/ on one leg. Although both are striking
  images that expect a reaction, forcing the reader
  to engage with the theme of segregation that
  underpins both poems, it is Bhatts development
  of such visceral images, it grows back,
  together with an almost generic horror
  vocabulary, stump, spit, rot, that
  establishes hers as the more memorable technique.