English LC HL Unseen Poetry Sample Answers

Unseen Poetry Sample Awnsers

2011

Section 3 Unseen Poem

Poem: Poetry

1. (a) Comment on one emotion expressed by the poet in this poem. Refer to the text in your

answer.

(b) Choose a line or phrase from the poem that impressed you. Explain your choice.

OR

2. Write a personal response to this poem. Your answer should make close reference to the text.

1.

a. Comment on one emotion expressed by the poet in this poem. Refer to the text in your

answer. (10 marks)

In my opinion, the strongest emotion conveyed by the poet of this poem is that of frustration. This

poem seems to be the poets response to being unprepared for poetic inspiration when it strikes. I

can never find a pen when you come, when you snap me up on your lizard tongue. The poet talks

about being consumed by her need to capture the idea on paper before it disappears like

feathering clouds, and says that until she manages to do so, while you are half born I will never

sleep.

The poets frustration is very skilfully captured here, as she writes of inspiration as though it is an

animal, telling us that it commands all of her attention (wrap yourself around me as if I were a

spool)and that it taunts her with its presence (vague as metaphors you tease). What makes the

frustration of the poet very apparent is her admission that you will never be perfected, letting us

know that she will never be satisfied in transferring her inspiration to the page.

In the second stanza the poet tells is that the action of capturing the inspiration sours it for her

somehow, telling us that in pickling ink I preserve all your fruits. It is the way that the poet

Unseen Poetry Sample Awnsers

describes the vagueness of poetic metaphors, the manner in which she feels poetry teases her, and

her admission that she will never perfect her poems, which adds to our sense of the poets

frustration. The final three lines of the poem announce the poets realisation that despite years of

attempting to drain the reddest blood from your throat that she is still none the wiser. In this

way, the poem concludes as it began - with feelings of frustration.

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b. Choose a line or phrase from the poem that impressed you. Explain your choice. (10

marks)

I found the first line of this poem to be incredibly evocative, and one which inspired striking

imagery. I can never find a pen when you come, when you snap me up on your lizard tongue. We

are instantly shown how powerless the poet is in the face of inspiration. It is this line which sets the

scene of the poem, with all other imagery simply harkening back to this powerful phrase. The term

lizard tongue is incredibly specific, but which effectively creates the overpowering image that the

poet sets out to impart. The act of inspiration is clearly likened to a giant lizard arriving and

overpowering the poet. The use of the verb snap is sharp and violent, and also explains how the

act of inspiration can suddenly hit and consume an individual.

Interestingly, the poet seems to imply that by being consumed by this inspiration, it is what keeps

her from getting the pen in her hand to record it. When she is snapped up, her mind is filled with

this one idea only, and marshalling her thoughts together in order to do something so mundane as

find a pen and jot it down becomes impossible. This idea is repeated in later parts of the poem, but

never so clearly and succinctly as in this first line.

Added to that, the line itself is a very satisfying rhyming couplet, with the come and tongue

pleasantly rolling off each other. It is a pleasant line on the ear, and very apt when one considers

that poetry is the subject matter of the poem itself.

OR

2. Write a personal response to this poem. Your answer should make close reference to the

text. (20 marks)

Unseen Poetry Sample Awnsers

I thoroughly enjoyed this poem by Leanne OSullivan. Two of the most enjoyable aspects of the

poem are her ability to anthropomorphise the idea she speaks about so that it resembles an animal,

and her succinct, honest and imaginative description of the poetic process.

She begins the poem by instantly turning her inspiration into an animal, telling us that I can never

find a pen when you come, when you snap me up with your lizard tongue. Instantly we can picture

her idea as a large beast which overpowers her. The mythical elements of her description this

animal create fantastic imagery, as she tells us vague as metaphors you tease, trawling your

shadow as feathering clouds do. OSullivan manages to paint her inspiration as something of a

mythical dragon, a large lizard that boasts a vaporous image. The contrast between the power of

the idea that snapped her up and her inability to grasp it firmly is deftly handled in this poem, with

evocative and unusual language.

In the second stanza of the poem, OSullivan talks about the creative process, and is very honest in

telling us that she feels like she loses some of the sweetness or mysticism of her ideas when they

are trapped on paper In pickling ink I preserve all your fruits. Fruits are sweet and juicy, but

pickling dries them out and turns them sour. Its obvious that she is unhappy with her inability to

grasp her inspiration perfectly, and even admits in the first stanza you will never be perfected.

This stanza is dedicated to conveying the mystery behind where bolts of inspiration come from

(perhaps you are a prophecy) and how the poet struggles to do the idea justice on the page. In my

opinion, OSullivan makes it very clear that the art of writing poetry can sometimes be a huge

undertaking. The phrase, shedding infant vowels helped me to understand that she feels that

writing a poem is like giving birth.

Personally, I found the final three lines of this poem to be the most striking, as they starkly convey

the poets realisation that despite years of attempting to drain the reddest blood from your throat

that she is still none the wiser. The imagery here is almost shocking, as OSullivan seems to

compare herself to a vampire draining her victim dry, possibly trying to tell us how desperately she

delves into her ideas to pull as much as she can from them. The language here is very striking and

thought-provoking and I think that the poet very skilfully shows the reader that the process of

writing is not only frustrating but is actually physically draining. I really enjoyed this poem, and I

think I will look up more of Leanne OSullivans work in the future.