The Émigrée
Each poetry anthology in the GCSE contains 15 poems, and in the poetry question in the exam you will be given one poem on the paper - printed in full - and asked to compare this given poem to one other from the anthology. You will not have access to the other poems in the exam, so you will have to know them very well from memory. Fifteen poems is a lot to learn. However, understanding four things will enable you to produce a top-mark response:
- The meaning of the poem
- The ideas and messages the poet wanted to convey
- How the poet conveys these ideas and messages through their methods
- How do these ideas compare and contrast with the ideas and themes of other poems in the anthology
Below is a guide to The Émigrée by Carol Rumens, from the Power and Conflict anthology.
It includes:
- Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
- Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods
- Context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes
- What to compare it to: ideas about which poems to compare it to in the exam
Exam Tip
It is really important that you read the question carefully, and consider which other poem would be the most appropriate to compare thematically with the poem given to you on the exam paper. Students who get lower marks often do not know their choice of the second poem very well, so are unable to demonstrate understanding and include detail in their answers. The detail has to be focused on the theme in the question, which is why you will find comparison suggestions by theme in the “What to Compare it to” section.