A four-part plan for your response:

1. What I think the poet is saying

The themes and ideas the poet is expressing. For example in ‘Nettles’ the poet is expressing his anxiety about his son’s immediate pain, his efforts to soothe his son, his fury at the nettles, his helplessness that he cannot protect his son – he links the relatively minor incident of his son falling in nettles with the much larger threats that his son will encounter throughout life and his inability as a parent to protect him. Scannell uses an extended military metaphor to express the threats to his son

2. Why does the poet feel like this?

Explore why the poet has these feelings, if the poet has a purpose (ie the larger picture of parental helplessness in ‘Nettles’) and what is the tone/mood of the poem. Does this change?

3. How does the poet express himself/herself by the techniques used?

This is a very important part of your response, so try to analyse a number of techniques in detail. Select outstanding features used in the poems and compare and contrast them, making sure you analyse their effect on the reader. This is where you will analyse relevant poetic techniques such as form (what type of poem it is), structure (rhyme, rhythm, stanza, caesura, enjambment), language (word choice), syntax (word order), imagery (metaphor, simile, personification)You will be aiming to include at least 3 to 4 techniques in this section – linking each back to the question

4. How do I feel about these poems

Compare your personal response, explaining the different/similar effect of each poem on your own emotions or expressing a preference and saying why

A four-part plan for your response:

1. What I think the poet is saying

The themes and ideas the poet is expressing. For example in ‘Nettles’ the poet is expressing his anxiety about his son’s immediate pain, his efforts to soothe his son, his fury at the nettles, his helplessness that he cannot protect his son – he links the relatively minor incident of his son falling in nettles with the much larger threats that his son will encounter throughout life and his inability as a parent to protect him. Scannell uses an extended military metaphor to express the threats to his son

2. Why does the poet feel like this?

Explore why the poet has these feelings, if the poet has a purpose (ie the larger picture of parental helplessness in ‘Nettles’) and what is the tone/mood of the poem. Does this change?

3. How does the poet express himself/herself by the techniques used?

This is a very important part of your response, so try to analyse a number of techniques in detail. Select outstanding features used in the poems and compare and contrast them, making sure you analyse their effect on the reader. This is where you will analyse relevant poetic techniques such as form (what type of poem it is), structure (rhyme, rhythm, stanza, caesura, enjambment), language (word choice), syntax (word order), imagery (metaphor, simile, personification)You will be aiming to include at least 3 to 4 techniques in this section – linking each back to the question

4. How do I feel about these poems

Compare your personal response, explaining the different/similar effect of each poem on your own emotions or expressing a preference and saying why