AQA English Literature Poetry Exam Discussion

I thought that it went really well today. I did character and voice: Les Grand Seigneurs and Medusa. I was really hoping this one would come up and I wrote tons of language analysis. For the unseen I just analysed about 4 words in depth. I think I said something like "new" could show how he is still holding onto the past or could show him moving on, black is associated with mourning and "raw" could show he still feels like it was recent and the feelings are still fresh and painful.

Overall, a GREAT exam I thought :smile:

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Reply 41

BogglingBug

6

Original post by LSEMaybe?

Personally I felt it was easier to compare in relation to structure than any of the other ones because it also contained rhyming couplets. Talked about poor grammar in manhunt, both using enjambment, repetition of first word of the couplet throughout and talked about how use of a rhyming couplet was similar to the relationships describe especially in manhunt (ie two lines joined indicates love forever). What about you?

I spoke about how both are written in 2 line stanza's. In Ghazal this is because it's as though each of the thoughts is contained within one stanza, making the idea clearer. In Manhunt I spoke about how this is effective as each stanza talks about a different part of his body, and also how the 2 line stanzas make the poem look fragmented, just like the fragility of the relationship. Also, I said about how the fact it was written using 2 line stanzas makes the poem longer and this is similar to the fact that the recovery for the injured soldier in the manhunt will also take a long time.

As well as that I spoke about In ghazal the line where it mentions about a moth to a flame, showing that the lover is physically attracted to the speaker in the poem like a moth is attracted to bright lights such as flames. I said how this was different to the Manhunt where the sweating unexploded mine indicates that the relationship, as well as perhaps the soldiers mental state is about to explode into chaos and how the relationship will end.

I wrote about more but can't really remember.

I presume for the unseen everyone pretty much did the same sort of thing. such as mentioning that both the speaker and his father are both struggling to let go of the mother..

Is this similar stuff to what other people said?

Reply 42

ScarletXxXRose

17

Original post by Sacred Ground

It is a tad hypocritical but you mocked the points I made :frown:

I thought they had to mark whatever you wrote?

they do mark it, but you won't actually get into the highest bands if you don't directly answer the question

Reply 43

Mattjg

8

I'm gutted I didn't pick out the fact that his father actually dies at the end.....this proves how **** I am at unseen poetry. I picked up about the ideas the poet presented e.g. about the grieving process, inevitably of death, linked it to the cycle of life and also talked about the life after death alternating beliefs.

I got it wrong in that I thought the bit about "though sure that very soon he'd hear her key scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief" was about potentially life after death (and compared this to his sons belief ) or once the father dies or possibly a spirit visiting him etc (I can't remember exactly what I put).

Ive done crap on the unseen bit.

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Reply 44

Sacred Ground

19

Original post by ScarletXxXRose

they do mark it, but you won't actually get into the highest bands if you don't directly answer the question

Is it still entirely possible to get around 22/36 do you think?

Reply 45

r p

5

I did character & voice and compared On a Portrait to Brendon Gallacher.

I quite liked the unseen (although some people at my school had seen it before!). My best point for the unseen was quite deep; 'the repeated references to "phone" and "calling" are significant as they refer to the ever advancing methods of communication (which undermine the importance of a "long distance" between two people). This is ironic as despite technological advances allowing many new ventures, no future invention will be able to bring the mother back".

Reply 46

legoody

12

Les Grands Signeurs with Medusa for the Voice & Character Cluster - though it went pretty well, some top level BS.

Wasn't a fan of the Unseen but I got by I guess.

Wrote 12 pages in total, wasn't a bad exam overall.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 47

LSEMaybe?

2

Did any one else think the unseen poem was far too simple. It had virtually no language features in it! One thing I did was that the rhyming scheme changed in the last paragraph showing the poet was hiding how upset she really was.

Reply 48

liamwli

2

Question 1, compared with The Clown Punk (I know others did).

What was the unseen again?

Reply 49

Sacred Ground

19

Original post by MattJGUK

I'm gutted I didn't pick out the fact that his father actually dies at the end.....this proves how **** I am at unseen poetry. I picked up about the ideas the poet presented e.g. about the grieving process, inevitably of death, linked it to the cycle of life and also talked about the life after death alternating beliefs.

I got it wrong in that I thought the bit about "though sure that very soon he'd hear her key scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief" was about potentially life after death (and compared this to his sons belief ) or once the father dies or possibly a spirit visiting him etc (I can't remember exactly what I put).

Ive done crap on the unseen bit.

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aha I've done bad altogether considering I didn't answer the question. Oops. But... I think I wrote the key is symbolic of his segregation from reality as it represents he is lost and locked away, something horrendous like that.

Reply 50

Mattjg

8

Original post by liamwli

Question 1, compared with The Clown Punk (I know others did).

What was the unseen again?

Long Distance II

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Reply 51

Kirankhalsa

10

I compared the farmers bride to ghazal. I did the question about how the ending is effective however I only did one paragraph on the ending. And in the rest of the paragraphs I talked about themes of nature and love and how it led up to the ending.

I said things like: how similes and links to the nature in both poems implied the man was more dominant in the relationship and that it was about unrequited lovers feelings and then I said this built up to confusion by the end of the poem as the end of the poem(my main point) suggests that the unrequited lovers lacked passion due to quotes like "if I am only half the world you are to me" and "oh, poor maid" which shows that the farmer doesn't care about his wife anymore and it's sarcasm. This showed that the rest of the poem is juxtaposed with the ending.. Do u think those points can get me an A?

Reply 52

ScarletXxXRose

17

Original post by Sacred Ground

Is it still entirely possible to get around 22/36 do you think?

nothings impossible if you have faith :tongue:

Reply 53

username1076571

4

OMG I studied the unseen poem before the exam I did not know it was going to come up....(the moment i opened the exam paper I was smiling throughout the exam!)....I'm sooo glad! :banana2:

Reply 54

Haroldu

Original post by liamwli

What was the unseen again?

Some poem about a mother dying and the father being in denial. I don't think I did very well on this part, so I'm kind of unhappy.

I compared Out of the Blue and Flag in the conflict section, both are easy poems.

Reply 55

sanfrancisco-x

1

Original post by r p

I did character & voice and compared On a Portrait to Brendon Gallacher.

I quite liked the unseen (although some people at my school had seen it before!). My best point for the unseen was quite deep; 'the repeated references to "phone" and "calling" are significant as they refer to the ever advancing methods of communication (which undermine the importance of a "long distance" between two people). This is ironic as despite technological advances allowing many new ventures, no future invention will be able to bring the mother back".

finally thought i was the only one who compared those two poems :redface:

what were your points?

Reply 56

CarbonBoron

7

I compared ghazal to the manhunt and wrote 2 pages and a couple of lines for this. I thought the unseen poetry was amazing and wrote 3/4 pages for this one.

Reply 57

KongShou

10

I got lucky. I did Les Grands Seigneurs for the mock at school and got full marks, since it was the only poem I prepared for. And it did come up. If it didn't then I would have been screwed. Compared it to the Ruined Maid. Confident to get at least 30/36, since I basically repeated everything I wrote in the mock.

Also the unseen poetry one was kinda easy, just realised that it is the revision guide, should have actually looked at it before doing the exam...

I didn't get the part where his father died tho, even tho i kinda see it now. Will I lose marks? The question only asked about how the poet and his father reacted to their loss, not actually about the death of his father, if you see what i mean. Shouldn't lose marks i dont think?

Reply 58

r p

5

Original post by sanfrancisco-x

finally thought i was the only one who compared those two poems :redface:

what were your points?

Feelings of love.
Feelings of reminiscence (memories shared together)
Feelings towards their death.
Those 3 were the main points but I wrote in quite a lot of detail so hopefully it'll be fine :smile:

what did you write and what are you predicted?

Reply 59

ToLiveInADream

17

I predicted it to be Ghazal & THCM structure and form so I has so much to write about! I write really tiny and filled up around 3 sides with detailed analysis yay :biggrin:

Also, the unseen was really good for me talked about how -
caesura = son's anger at father & being shut out of life OR alternatively representative of mid-life crises
''that's'' = apostrophe is possessive which reflects father's inability to let go of the mother
''rused'' = rusted is a metaphor for his life after the mum's death as metals are once shiny & bright but is now dull which reflects his current life
son called his mum ''mother'' but father 'dad' = attempting to distance himself and shield himself from the confrontation of emotion & realisation that his mother is dead because mother is far more professional

etc, etc. I ended up writing 2 sides for unseen :smile:

AQA English Literature Poetry Exam Discussion

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