Title: Unseen Poetry

LO: To equip ourselves with the skills needed to answer the unseen poetry question.

Literature Unit 2

AO1 – Evaluating the evidence, discussing what it suggests, means and the impact of it.

AO2 –Specific comments about language devices, themes and ideas.

Example Markscheme

How many poetic techniques/devices can you think of?

Similes Metaphors (Extended Metaphor)

Imagery Personification

Alliteration Assonance

Consonance Sibilance

Juxtaposition Oxymoron

Rhyme Rhythm

Enjambment Caesura

Rhetorical Questions End stopped line Onomatopoeia

Things to discuss…

• Tone of the poem – the emotion or mood.

• Theme of the poem – underlying themes – love, romance, death, war.

• Motif – an image that runs throughout a poem, for example: a rose, a white flag, eyes, a gun.

• The voice/speaker/narrator – discuss them using terms like ‘perhaps’, make suggestions rather than assumptions.

A new key term…

‘Martial Language’ – language to do with war or combat.

Why I didn’t tell you it before – it applies to virtually all of the conflict poems and I

worry that it will be overused! Use it sparingly.

Title: Independent Analysis.

LO: To deconstruct and analyse a poem.

The Manhunt.

• Looking for:

• Metaphors

• Juxtaposition

• Emotive language

• Repetition

• Voice/Narration/Speaker

• Enjambment

• Past Tense Verbs

What do you think this poem is about?

1. Who is the speaker?

2. What are some of the themes?

3. What emotions are explored?

4. What do you notice about the structure?

5. What is the tone of the poem, how does it change?

18 mark question…

• 30 minutes.

• An introduction that briefly outlines what you think the poem is about or explores (2-3 lines)

• Main body – aim for 2 or 3 PEEA paragraphs that tell the reader about the language devices used, try to add one comment about structure.

• Conclusion – a brief summary IF you have time.

An ideal answer…

• Mentions at least three language techniques and use a quotation to show each one.

• Makes a comment about structure – short stanzas, long stanzas, enjambment, caesura, repetition, tone change.

• Discusses what you think the themes are and links quotations in.

Choose one example of a language device used in ‘The Manhunt’

• Metaphor

• Juxtaposition

• Enjambment

• Imagery

• Emotive language

• Martial language

Find a short quotation and write a PEEA paragraph to explore what the impact of it is/what does it show?

Look at the modelled example.

After the first phase,

after passionate nights and intimate days,

only then would he let me trace

the frozen river which ran through his face,

The word phase – suggests that there are different stages. ‘Passionate’ and ‘Intimate’

are loving and emotional words between lovers.

Positive image.

‘Let me’ – the image of needing permission.

Distance and separation.

Imagery – frozen, cold, shut out. River suggests

water, tears. METAPHOR.

ENJAMBMENT

only then would he let me explore

the blown hinge of his lower jaw,

and handle and hold

the damaged, porcelain collar-bone,

Repetition of ‘let me’. Desperation. ‘Explore’ –

imagery of searching.

Blown hinge – violent imagery. Suggests his jaw has seized up. He has shut her out with his words.

METAPHOR

Handle and hold sounds like ‘to have and to hold’ – marriage vows.

METAPHOR - Imagery is gentle and fragile. Suggests he is broken, not a

strong man.

and mind and attend the fractured rudder of

shoulder-blade,

and finger and thumb the parachute silk of his

punctured lung.

Fractured – double meaning. Not just physical. ‘Rudder’ – steers, ‘dd’ sound

is harsh and strong.

Juxtaposition of military imagery with delicate ‘silk’

A pair, tending, mending.

Only then could I bind the struts

and climb the rungs of his broken ribs,

and feel the hurt

of his grazed heart.

Skirting along,

To bind – to fix together.

Extended Metaphor – a ladder. Climbing to the top to reach him. Emphasis on broken.

Grazed – image seems childlike. Damaged and

hurting.

only then could I picture the scan,

the foetus of metal beneath his chest

where the bullet had finally come to rest.

Medical and clinical. Desperate to look

through and to see more.

Imagery of a baby – a wife’s wishes?

Closeness?

Foetus – something growing.

Finally and rest suggest relief.

JUXTAPOSITION??

Then I widened the search,

traced the scarring back to its source

to a sweating, unexploded mine

buried deep in his mind,

Military terminology – what is she

searching for? Traced – repetition. ‘Scarring’ – not physical here.

A metaphor for his mental state?

Suggests death? Hidden from her.

around which every nerve in his body had

tightened and closed.

Then, and only then, did I come close.

Nerve- nervous, on edge.

Uncomfortable imagery. Shut off.

Only when she begins to look below the surface.

‘close’ suggests she has not yet found what she’s

looking for.

5 minutes.

• Read through the poem.

• Annotate the poem with… metaphors, imagery, plosive sounds, emotive language, martial language, juxtaposition, tenses, use of voice, relationships.

Title: Unseen Poem – Nettles.

LO: To complete a mock poetry question.

Example answer…

Look back at the example answer I gave you yesterday.

What makes it a top band answer?

Annotate the good bits.

Nettles…

1. What relationship does this poem explore?

2. Who is the speaker, what is the tone?

3. How are metaphors used?

4. What do the nettles represent?

5. How is martial language used?

Planning…

• Choose three quotations that you are definitely going to write about.

• What language devices are they?

• What are you going to say?

• Can you link it to a theme?

18 mark question…

• 30 minutes.

• An introduction that briefly outlines what you think the poem is about or explores (2-3 lines)

• Main body – aim for 2 or 3 PEEA paragraphs that tell the reader about the language devices used, try to add one comment about structure.

• Conclusion – a brief summary IF you have time.

30 minutes. The poem ‘Nettles’ explores the idea that…

Throughout the poem, Scannell develops the image of…

The metaphor … is used to present the idea…

Scannell structures the poem by…

The effect of the phrase “…” is…

The voice of the poem feels that… as demonstrated by “…”

Scannell explores the emotions of… through…

Write yourself a WWW and EBI

What is your checklist? What are you going to do when you

get an unseen poem?

Success Criteria.

Write yourself a success criteria for the Unseen poetry question.

Remember – Metaphors.

Describing something as something else.

Example – ‘frozen river runs down his face’

Ask yourself – is there really a frozen river on his face?

Answer – No, so it’s a metaphor for his tears.

Look at the poem ‘Valentine’

You have 5 minutes.

Annotate everything you can find

IN SILENCE – EXAM STYLE

Use your checklist to support you.

(Remember, language and structure)

Swap with the person next to you…

• Did you get the same things?

• What did they spot that you didn’t?

• What would your three strongest points be for an essay question?