Approaching the Unseen Poetry Question (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Your exam question paper will ask you to answer one question on an unseen poem. This can seem daunting, especially as you have to write about a poem you have never seen before. However, examiners just want to see your ideas and opinions about the poem. The guide below will enable you to best express these ideas and opinions in a way that will gain the highest marks. It includes guides on:

• Answering the question
• Approaching unseen poetry
• Planning your essay
• Writing your essay

You will be set a question that asks you to write about an unseen poem. 

It is tempting to jump straight in and start analysing the given poem immediately. However, completing the steps below first will ensure you answer the question in the way that examiners are looking for.

4 key steps to answer the unseen poetry exam question effectively:

1. The very first thing you should do once you open your exam paper is to look at the question:

• This sounds obvious, but it’s really crucial to read through the question a few times 
• Why is this important? Regardless of what subject you’re being examined in, the single-biggest mistake most students make in their exams is not reading the question through carefully enough that they answer the question they think they’re being asked, rather than the question they’ve actually been asked 
• It’s especially important to get this right in your GCSE English Literature exams, because you only have five essay questions to answer across two papers, so if you misread a question, you’re potentially costing yourself a large number of marks

2. Identify the key words of the question

• The key words are the focus of the question: the specific themes or ideas the examiners want you to focus on
• For the above question, the key words of the question are “ideas about living a happy and contented life” 
• This is the theme the examiners want you to explore in your essay
• Do not be tempted to write a question on any other theme: this will affect your overall mark badly, as you won’t be directly answering the question!
• In the example above, the theme is living a happy and contented life, so make sure you plan and write an essay about this

3. Read and analyse the unseen poem

• You should only now start reading and analysing the printed poem
• Your reading and analysis will now be focused on the terms of the question, and the theme you have identified (living a happy and contented life)
• This will change the way you approach the given poem, and make your reading more efficient

4. Consider your given poem in terms of this key idea or theme

• Use your definition of the key terms of the question to frame your thinking about the given poem
• Where do we see examples of living a happy and contented life in the given poem?
• Who is presented as living a happy and contented life? 
• How is living a happy and contented life presented by the poet?
• What is the poet’s overarching message about living a happy and contented life?

Approaching an unseen poem can seem very intimidating, especially as you will have to comment on a poem that you probably have not come across before. However, examiners just want to see you demonstrating your ability to ‘notice’ things in the text. They do not expect you to know and understand everything about a poem you have just read for the first time, so you should try not to be anxious about addressing this section of the exam. Indeed, examiners often comment that students generally excel in this section, as it is an opportunity for them to write about their own ideas and interpretations of the poem.

This section will provide some suggestions to help you develop a skillset that will enable you to read and explore any unseen poem. You don’t have to follow these in the sequence provided, nor are the strategies either exhaustive or to be treated as prescriptive. They are simply a list of some useful strategies that you might wish to use when approaching a poem you have not seen before. This section will show you how to develop some ideas about:

• Reading strategies
• Titles, openings and endings
• Language patterns and structures

Reading Strategies

• You only need to have a simple strategy for approaching the unseen poetry question in the exam:
  • Be confident in the repertoire of tools and strategies you already have in order to help you unlock what the poem is about
• Usually the poem will have one big idea and this will generally be stated in the exam question 
• When approaching an unseen poem, you should try not to worry about understanding what the meaning of the text is on your first reading:
  • Often that meaning is not unlocked on a first reading so you need to be able to read, pause, reflect and re-read the poem in order to uncover its meanings
• It is important to understand the difference between the surface reading of a poem and the inferential reading
  • The distinction here is between what the poem says and what the poem means
  • Therefore, the examiner wants to see what you think the poem means, not what the poem says
• Using an active and reflective reading strategy, like the one outlined below, can help you to develop a personal response to the poem:

Titles, openings and endings

• Sometimes titles can get overlooked and neglected, yet they are often key to understanding the poem’s meaning or a reflection on the content
• The title can even become a source of exploration in itself in your response to the poem
  • So feel free to use it as ‘evidence’ in your essay if it is relevant
• Look at the title of the poem
  • What predictions can you make about the poem from its title? What do you think the meaning of the title is? Why do you think the poet chose this particular title for their poem?
• Look at the opening and closing lines of the poem
  • How do these lines link to the title? Do the opening and closing lines link to each other? What has taken place between the opening and closing lines? Why has the poet used this line to open and end the poem?

Language patterns and structure

• It is crucial to look more deeply into the poem and to identify any interesting instances of language or structural features
• This is very much about noticing things and considering why they stand out
  • You should try to start to see patterns emerging and begin to see how language and structure are working together to make meanings
• Structure is about the small and big building blocks of the poem
  • It is about how the poem has been put together and the impact this has on the reader to make meaning
    • Think about what the poet has chosen to include at the beginning, middle and end of their poem
    • Can you spot any changes in mood, or tone as the poem progresses?
  • How the poem is structured is part of being able to explore what is said, how it is written and what it might mean
• Some examples a poet might make in terms of structure are: repetition, use of white space, pace created by punctuation, enjambment, caesura or rhythm
  • How do these structural devices impact the meaning of the poem? What other aspects of structure do you ‘notice’ as you read the poem? How does the structure link to the opening and ending lines of the poem?
• You should also consider language choices the poet has made in order to create meaning
• Scan the poem and look for any repeated words, linked words, phrases, images, or any other connections that you can make in relation to language choices
  • Can you identify any particular vivid/stand-out words or phrases? Can you identify any emotive words? Can you find examples of imagery? How does the imagery help you to understand the ideas in the poem? What patterns can you see? 

Further in-depth information about analysing a poem can be found in the Writer’s Methods & Techniques Section

Planning your essay is absolutely vital to achieve the highest marks. Examiners always stress that the best responses are those that have a logical, well-structured argument that comes with spending time planning an answer. This, in turn, will enable you to achieve the highest marks for each assessment objective. The main assessment objectives are:

• Your plan should include all aspects of your response, covering all of the assessment objectives, but mainly focusing on AO1:
  • Your overall argument, or thesis (AO1)
  • Your topic sentences for all your paragraphs (AO1)
  • The quotations you will be using and analysing from the given poem (AO1)
  • A sense of why the poet has made the choices they have (AO2)
• Therefore, a plan may look like the following:

Some other tips:

• You do not need to include a counter-argument (disagreeing with the question/including paragraphs which begin “On the other hand”)
• The questions have been designed to enable as many students as possible to write essays 
• Examiners say that the inclusion of a counter-argument is often unnecessary and unhelpful
• It can affect your AO1 mark negatively
• Focus only on what is relevant

Once you have read and evaluated the question, analysed your given poem, and created a clear plan, you are ready to begin writing. Below is a guide detailing what to include.

Your essay should include:

• An introduction with a thesis statement
• A number of paragraphs (three is ideal!), each covering a separate point. It’s a great idea to start each paragraph with a topic sentence
• A conclusion

Introduction

• Your introduction should aim to clearly, and briefly, answer the question
• The best way to do this is to include a thesis statement
• A thesis statement is a short statement (one or two sentences) that summarises the main point or claim your argument is making
• You should include the exact words from the question in your thesis statement
• Examiners want to see your own opinion: your interpretation of what the poet is trying to show
• Your thesis statement should also attempt to explain why you think the poet presented the idea or theme of the question in the way that they have: what are they trying to say overall? What are the poet’s messages?
• A good way to think about this is to ask: what is the poet’s one big idea in terms of the ideas or themes addressed in the question?
• Including the poet’s message or one big idea helps create a “conceptualised response”, which examiners reward the highest marks

• An example of a thesis statement:

Question:

Thesis statement:

“In The Richest Poor Man in the Valley, Macrae presents ideas about living a happy and contented life through ‘Harry’ and depicts his concept of a simple existence: it is one free from monetary possessions, working in companionship with animals and nature and one that is built on valuable friendships.”

Some other tips:

• Introductions should not be too long, or include all the details of what each paragraph will include
• You will not be rewarded for including the same information twice, so don’t waste time repeating yourself
• Always include the poem in your thesis statement:
• Write your thesis in the third person, not the first person (don’t use “I”)
• “I believe that the poet presents ideas about living a happy and contented life in order to…” ❌
• “Macrae presents ideas about living a happy and contented life … in order to show …” ✅

Paragraphs

• Try to include three separate paragraphs that cover three separate points
• This will ensure your response is to what examiners call the “full task”
• Start each paragraph with a topic sentence
• A topic sentence is an opening sentence which details the focus of its paragraph
• It should include the words of the question
• All topic sentences must relate to your thesis
• They should be seen as sub-points that provide a more specific and narrower focus than your thesis statement
• Everything that follows a topic sentence in a paragraph must support the point it makes

Example of a topic sentence:

“Macrae uses a first name, ‘Harry’, almost as an afterthought, which brings a sense of familiarity to the reader.”

• Paragraphs should include an analysis of the poem
• The most important thing is that you include a detailed and expanded analysis of the poet’s methods to show how and why they present ideas about living a happy and contented life as they do
• Beware of writing an overly structured paragraph which follows a set pattern
• You may have learned PEE, PEAL, PEED, or other structures for your paragraphs
• However, examiners often say that although these are excellent for learning what to include in essays, they can be limiting in an exam
• Instead, be led by the ideas in the text, and prove your own argument (both the overall thesis and your topic sentences)

Conclusion

• It is always a good idea to include a conclusion to your essay so that your essay reads coherent and focused on answering the question throughout
• This can result in improved marks for AO1
• However, there is no need to spend a long time writing your conclusion
• A conclusion for an unseen poetry essay should only summarise the proof you have provided for your thesis
• It only needs to be two or three sentences long
• It should include the words of the question and your thesis
• Remember, you do not get rewarded for including the same information twice

An example of a conclusion:

“To conclude, in The Richest Poor Man in the Valley, Macrae presents ideas about living a happy and contented life to illustrate an existence which is free from the fixation on shallow material possessions to one which cherishes what Macrae considers to be the most important things in life, such as treasured friendships, the joy of nature and ultimately being content within your own self.”