Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>

AQA GCSE poetry exam

Hi guys,

Can anyone give me any tips onto how to actually do this poetry exam? I am aiming for at least an A but my teacher really hasn't given me any guidance on what to write or how to write it.

Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

skinny_love

I sat my poetry exam in november i think? and i got an A. the question will ask you 'how' does this happen or how does that happen or how is the idea of ..... shown. You need to analyse the text. has it got unusual punctuation? structure? if so, how has the writer done it and what is the effect.. how does it make the reader feel.. what message does it give. things like similies, metaphors, oxymorons,cesura,alliteration, rule of three.. get al of your devices in your head and see what ones they have used, write why they have used them i was always told to use PEE.. Point, Evidence, Explain. say WHAT the other does or the point that your making.. give EVIDENCE for it.. a quote.. (try to keep them consice. you lose marks for big quotes) and then explain it.. like i said the effect, why the writer has put it there, the effect on the reader, what does it mean?

for the part a you should try to get around 4-5 points of PEE down and for the unseen poem try around three good ones.. i had an awful unseen but just managed to pull it out the bag on focusing on themes..

hope this helped

Reply 2

Hecate1

I've always felt that you need to try and first understand the poem and discuss the ways in which certain segments could be interpreted and link this understanding to the question. Then, you can comment on how the writer's use of devices has more effectively presented that idea; however, I wouldn't try to merely try to find devices and tick them off in long lists - better you spend more time on the actual question, and make a few, very relevant points about the structure/form/language ect.

Reply 3

allypetal

The key to A/A* is at least 3 different interpretations of what you're explaining about, if you want a B go for 2. So explode quotes, zoom in on the text and then at the end of your essay zoom back out; if you do all of this trust me you'll come out with an A at least. I'm doing it on monday too, good luck! :smile:

Reply 4

Hecate1

I've always felt that you need to try and first understand the poem and discuss the ways in which certain segments could be interpreted, linking this understanding to the question. Then, you can comment on how the writer's use of devices has more effectively presented that idea; however, I wouldn't try to merely try to find devices and tick them off in long lists - better you spend more time on the actual question, and make a few, very relevant points about the structure/form/language ect.

Just to show you what I mean - here is a poem from a past AQA paper and the question underneath

MORNING SONG

Love set you going like a fat gold watch.The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cryTook its place among the elements.Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue.In a drafty museum, your nakednessShadows our safety. We stand round blankly as walls.I'm no more your motherThan the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slowEffacement at the wind's hand.All night your moth-breathFlickers among the flat pink roses. I wake to listen:A far sea moves in my ear.One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floralIn my Victorian nightgown.Your mouth opens clean as a cat's. The window squareWhitens and swallows its dull stars. And now you tryYour handful of notes;The clear vowels rise like balloons.WHAT DOES THE NARRATOR FEEL ABOUT THE BIRTH OF HE CHILD AND HOW DOES THE POET PRESENT THESE FEELING?

Perhaps for one of my paragraphs, I would write the following:

The title betrays a complexity to the narrator's feeling, that is not at first obvious: morning is, of course, associated with initiation; however, the ease at which this title could be aurally heard as a "mourning" song is highly suggestive that the poet's feeling are dual: both positive and negative. This emotion can perhaps be linked with the first line itself - "love set you going," - which seems like a reference to the act which caused the child: sex. The monosyllabic blandness of such a line, however, creates the impression that the narrator has difficulty in associating these two things. It is, however, likely that the answer will be found within the 2nd and 3rd stanza, of which the tone is strange. The 3rd stanza, indeed, begins with the assertion that she is "no more" the "mother/ than a cloud." Primarily, this could be perceived as a rejection of the baby; however, the whole image seems rather more complex. The cloud itself creates a mirror - through which to see itself - by raining and creating a lake; through this process, however, it reflects its own "slow/effacement (=breaking apart) at the wind's hand. Hence, perhaps the narrator is commenting how a child highlights the fact that the parents are themselves aging, and thus, are closer to death.

Reply 5

yazzieee

I have my English Literature Poetry exam tomorrow, and I have been revising as many poems and techniques as I can, but would just like some advice on what poems you think have a more likelihood of coming up? I have mainly focusing on the sonnets and harmonium. Thanks (:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 6

skinny_love

Original post by yazzieee

Go look at past papers. The ones that came up last year (the exam I sat) have a very low chance of coming up this year.. The two years before that also haven't got much chance of coming up. They tend to do ones they haven't done in a few years

AQA GCSE poetry exam

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you