Each question on this exam paper assesses all four Assessment Objectives equally. This means it is important that you know what skills these Assessment Objectives require you to demonstrate in order to get the most marks.
- AO1 is about demonstrating knowledge of the poem’s content through reference to specific sections of the text:
- As you read through the poem, annotate any questions you have
- This objective is about working out what is going on in terms of content, structure and word choice
- AO2 is about going beyond the surface meaning and story to look for underlying ideas and attitudes – the poet’s and our own:
- This requires you to ask “why” the author has made the choices they have
- Some elements of the writer’s context can be used to inform your personal response, but only if relevant to the focus of the question
- AO3 requires critical engagement and evaluation of how the text works:
- “Meanings and effects” suggests that there is more than one meaning for a text, and the language, structure and form of the poem contribute to those meanings
- It does not mean just listing the literary techniques the writer has used
- AO4 refers to the way you shape your writing in order to communicate your engagement with the text:
- A personal response means that you may wish to make comparisons with similar experiences of your own, whether in real life or in your reading
- Any comments, comparisons or contextual information should help reinforce your own interpretation, but not replace it
- Your own response is valid as long as it is supported by evidence
The following sections explore the skills you will need to demonstrate in more detail:
- Analysing a poem
- Developing a personal response
Analysing a poem
Poetry gives us an image that is not realistic, but which needs to be interpreted. It is important to remember that the choices a writer has made in terms of how the poem is set out and the language they have used are all deliberate – a poem is a crafted piece of work. It is therefore useful to consider not only the language choices a writer has made, but also what decisions they have taken in terms of structure and form.
What to do when analysing a poet’s methods
- Take a whole-text approach to the poem:
- This could involve commenting on structure: “at the start”/“this changes when”/“in contrast…”
- This could involve commenting on a poet’s choice of form:
- How have they conformed to, or subverted, the form of sonnet/dramatic monologue etc.?
- What deliberate choices has the poet made with their verse form? Are there reasons there is a regular or irregular rhyme structure?
- Think about how tone is presented and develops: why has the poet chosen to present this tone? Why have they included a tonal shift?
- Are characters in the poem presented differently from each other? Why? What does each represent?
- Do characters’ relationships with each other change? Why might a poet have chosen to do this?
- Remember that personas, and characters in a poem, are constructs, not real people:
- Think about what each character’s function is in the poem
- What does the poet use their persona, or characters, to say about the theme?
- Why has the poet chosen to write their poem in first, or third, person?
- Is the first-person narrator reliable or unreliable?
- Always frame your essay with the poet in mind:
- As the examiners say: “writers use methods, including language and structure, to form and express their ideas – the choices the writer makes are conscious and deliberate”
- Therefore, write that a poet “highlights X”, “suggests Y”, “challenges Z”
- And always use the poet’s (last) name in your essay
- Use the words “so” and “because” to push you to explain your own ideas further
- Zoom out to big ideas in your analysis:
- Go from analysing language, or other writer’s choices, to a poet’s overall intention or message
- This should also link to your thesis, and argument, throughout
- You can begin these “zoom out” sentences with “The poet could be suggesting that because X, then Y” or “The poet could be using the character of X to challenge contemporary ideas about Y”
- Use modal language to present sophisticated ideas:
- Using words like “could”, “may” or “perhaps” shows that you are thinking conceptually
Form
The form of the poem can be thought of as “genre”. Poetry itself is a form of text, as are prose and drama. WIthin the form of poetry, there are many subforms. Some of the main forms of poetry are detailed below:
Form
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Explanation
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Sonnet
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- Traditionally made up of 14 lines, usually dealing with the theme of love
- Petrarchan (Italian) sonnets typically follow an ABBA, ABBA, CDE, CDE rhyme scheme
- Shakespearean (English) sonnets typically follow an ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG rhyme scheme
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Epic
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- A ancient type of lengthy, narrative poem
- Typically deals with heroic deeds
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Free verse
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- A type of poetry defined by a lack of rules
- It can rhyme or not, have as many lines or stanzas as the poets want and can be about any subject matter
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Villanelle
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- A old, rule-driven type of poetry made up of 19 lines
- It has five stanzas of three lines each (tercets) and a final stanza of four lines (quatrain)
- There are only two rhyming sounds (ABA) and a lot of repetition
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Ode
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- One of the oldest forms of poetry, originally performed with a musical instrument
- Typically written to praise a person, event or thing
- Usually quite short in length
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Ballad
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- An old, traditional form of poetry that typically tells a dramatic or emotional story
- Typically structured into quatrains with a rhyme scheme of ABAB or ABCB, although this can be modified to suit a writer’s needs
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When writing about form in poetry, it is important to consider why the poet has chosen that particular form, and especially if they have altered the rules of that particular form and why. It is also useful to consider how the form reflects the themes of the poem.
Let’s take a look at an example. The following poem is called “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
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- The form of this poem is a sonnet, made up of 14 lines
- However, Shelley blends elements of the Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets
- It is Petrarchan in that the poem is structured as an octave and a sestet, but Shelley alters the rhyme scheme
- This could reflect the theme of the fleeting nature of human power compared to the overwhelming power of nature
- Shelley breaks away from the traditional sonnet form to imply that power doesn’t last and can be broken
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How to apply this in an exam response:
Exam question
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Incorporating analysis of form in your response
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Explore how Shelley conveys ideas of power in “Ozymandias”
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Shelley conveys ideas of power in “Ozymandias” by taking the traditional form of a sonnet and subverting it. He blends Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet forms, and alters the rhyme scheme. This reflects the fleeting nature of human power when compared to the overwhelming power of nature, and implies that power does not last and can be broken down and re-arranged
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Structure
The structure of a poem refers to how the poem has been put together in its particular form. The choices a poet can make in terms of how to structure their poem includes stanza length, the use of repetition and refrains, a circular structure, and the use of particular types of punctuation, such as caesura, or a lack of punctuation at the end of a line, called enjambment. Structure also includes rhyme scheme and changes in line length. The poet’s choices regarding structure can affect a poem’s meaning or message.
Let’s look at an example of structural choices made by a writer and how these shape meaning. The following stanzas are taken from John Agard’s poem “Checking Out Me History”:
Dem tell me bout 1066 and all dat
dem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he cat
But Toussaint L’Ouverture
no dem never tell me bout dat
Toussaint
a slave
with vision
lick back
Napoleon
battalion
and first Black
Republic born
Toussaint de thorn
to de French
Toussaint de beacon
of de Haitian Revolution
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- Agard deliberately structures the stanzas into two distinct styles through the use of italics to emphasise the separation between the history he was taught at school and Black history
- The poet also juxtaposes sometimes frivolous British and white history taught in colonial schools with powerful Black history
- The stanzas dealing with the history the speaker was forced to learn use simple rhyming couplets
- This emphasises the superficial nature and lack of relevance of this history to the speaker
- Each of these stanzas also start with “Dem tell me” – the repetition suggesting a frustration with the colonial control that has dominated the speaker’s life, and which now dominates these stanzas of the poem
- The stanzas in italics are longer and use an unconventional structure, to suggest these are unconventional ideas
- The lines in these stanzas are shorter and written in free verse to sound more like speech and in contrast with the nursery-rhyme rhythm of the “white history” stanzas
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How to apply this in an exam response:
Exam question
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Incorporating analysis of structure in your response
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How does Agard strikingly convey the differences in personal experiences of history in “Checking Out Me History”?
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Agard structures his poem to show a clear distinction between the white, colonial history he was taught at school, and the history that is more important to him that he was not taught. He does this by deliberately changing the font of the poem between the stanzas. In addition, the stanzas containing “white” history are structured using simple rhyming couplets, giving them a nursery-rhyme and simplistic quality, while the stanzas written in italics and dealing with his history are written in free verse and are longer, suggesting they deal with more complex and unconventional ideas
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Language
When analysing language in a poem, you need to consider the specific choices of words and phrases the writer has used, as well as the imagery they have created and the language techniques they have used, all of which contribute to the themes and meanings in the poem.
In order to do this, you should consider both the denotation and the connotations of particular words:
- Denotation = the literal meaning of a word or phrase
- Connotation = the associations or implied meanings of the word or phrase
When commenting on words and phrases from the text, you should always try to consider why you think the writer has chosen that particular word to use. Below are some questions that you might ask yourself when analysing the words and phrases in a poem:
Denotations and connotations
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Emotional impact
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Charactеrisation
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Formality and informality
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How do these layеrs of mеaning add dеpth to thе poem?
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How do the words evoke еmotions or fееlings in thе rеаdеr? Do thеy crеatе joy, sadnеss, fеar or еxcitеmеnt?
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Do the words rеvеal aspеcts of the narrator's pеrsonality, background or еmotions?
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Do the words make the text morе rеlatablе or distant?
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The following table provides you with a list of some terms and definitions to use when analysing individual words and phrases:
Term
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Definition
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Example
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Comparative adjectives
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Used to compare differences between two nouns, such as “larger”, “smaller”, “faster”, “stronger”
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“When you’re small, no one is smaller,
You’ll wish you were tall…”
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Superlatives
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Words used to express something of the highest quality of its kind
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“From fairest creatures we desire increase”
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Emotive language
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Emotivе language rеfеrs to words and phrases that arе intentionally usеd to evoke strong emotional responses in thе rеadеr
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“Thе voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamouring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude”
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Colloquial language
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Colloquial languagе is informal, еvеryday languagе that is usеd in casual convеrsations and familiar sеttings
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“How can you tell what class I’m from?
I can talk posh like some
With an ‘Olly in me mouth”
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Imperatives
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Imperatives are verb forms or sеntеncеs that are usеd to givе commands
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“Gilgamesh, fill your belly,
Day and night make merry”
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Once you are able to identify particular words and phrases within a text, you need to develop this skill further by considering why the writer has chosen to include these within their writing.
Rеmеmbеr thе goal of analysing words and phrasеs is to uncovеr layеrs of mеaning, understand thе writer’s intent and explore how languagе contributes to the ovеrall impact of thе poem.
Language features
It is important that you are familiar with key literary terms to support your analysis of the poem. While the examiner will expect you to use relevant subject terminology to support your views, this does not mean that you will secure more marks for demonstrating a wide understanding of literary terms. It is much more important that you clearly articulate the intended effects of any terms that you use.
The table below provides some definitions of key literary terms. This list is not exhaustive, but it is simply a guide to some of the techniques that might be most useful when analysing a poem:
Language technique
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Definition
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Example
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Similе
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A similе is a figurе of spееch that dirеctly comparеs two diffеrеnt things, using "likе" or "as" to highlight thеir similaritiеs
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“I wandered lonely as a cloud”
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Metaphor
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A mеtaphor is a figurе of spееch that еquatеs or dеscribеs onе thing in tеrms of anothеr, assеrting that thеy arе thе samе
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“Thе moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas”
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Imagery
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Imagеry еngagеs thе rеadеr's sеnsеs by using vivid and dеtailеd languagе to crеatе mеntal imagеs
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“When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze”
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Allitеration
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Allitеration involvеs thе rеpеtition of consonant sounds, usually at thе bеginning of words or strеssеd syllablеs, within a phrasе or sеntеncе
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“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary”
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Pеrsonification
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Pеrsonification attributеs human charactеristics or qualitiеs to inanimatе objеcts, animals or abstract concеpts
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“Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so”
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Onomatopoеia
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Onomatopoеia is the use of words that imitatе or mimic the sounds thеy rеprеsеnt
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“I heard the ripple washing in the reeds,
And the wild water lapping on the crag”
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Rеpеtition
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Rеpеtition involvеs thе dеlibеratе rеpеtition of words, phrasеs, sounds or grammatical structurеs to crеatе еmphasis, rеinforcе idеas or еstablish rhythm
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“Dem tell me
Dem tell me
Wha dem want to tell me”
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Juxtaposition
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Juxtaposition placеs two contrasting idеas, imagеs or concеpts sidе by sidе to highlight thеir diffеrеncеs or crеatе a striking еffеct
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“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference”
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Knowing the names of sophisticated language techniques will not gain you any more marks in the exam, especially if these techniques are only “spotted” and the writer’s intentions are not explained. Once you are able to identify and understand different literary techniques, you need to develop this skill further by considering why the writer has chosen to include these techniques in their writing.
How to apply this in an exam response:
Exam question
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Incorporating analysis of language in your response
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How does Hughes create such a compelling portrait of the hawk in “Hawk Roosting”?
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The poem begins with the hawk as the narrator, personifying it with the human quality of dreams, as it describes dreaming “about killing my prey perfectly and eating them”. Hughes gives the hawk the powers of conscious thought, but juxtaposes this with the lack of human qualities such as mercy and remorse. This leads to a contradiction that runs throughout the poem: the hawk’s natural instinct is the non-human one to kill, yet it can only express this nature through human language
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