Writing on Unseen poetry

Language, structure and formLanguage Structure Form• Word choice• Imagery• Simile• Metaphor• Personification• Sound devices

(assonance, alliteration, sibilance, fricative/plosive alliteration, onomatopoeia etc.

• Word groups (semantic fields)

• Rhyme scheme (or lack of)

• Rhythm• Pace• Repetition• Stanza arrangement • Punctuation (or lack of)• Sentence length• Caesura• Enjambment• What does the poem

look like?• Order (or lack of)• Overall shape (circular,

contrasts etc.)

It is a poem! What are the conventions of poetry?

• Hidden meaning• Different interpretations• FLIRTS/LIES etc.• Sound devices etc.• 1st person/3rd person• Poetic voice• Is it a sort of poem you

recognise (e.g. sonnet etc)

None of this matters unless you can link it to meaning- What effect is the poet trying

to create?Language Structure Form• Word choice• Imagery• Simile• Metaphor• Personification• Sound devices

(assonance, alliteration, sibilance, fricative/plosive alliteration, onomatopoeia etc.

• Word groups (semantic fields)

• Rhyme scheme (or lack of)

• Rhythm• Pace• Repetition• Stanza arrangement • Punctuation (or lack of)• Sentence length• Caesura• Enjambment• What does the poem

look like?• Order (or lack of)• Overall shape (circular,

contrasts etc.)

It is a poem! What are the conventions of poetry?

• Hidden meaning• Different interpretations• FLIRTS/LIES etc.• Sound devices etc.• 1st person/3rd person• Poetic voice• Is it a sort of poem you

recognise (e.g. sonnet etc)

Themes?• A theme is an idea that is explored in a text e.g.• Nature• Death• Time• Love • Youth • Conflict• Grief• Human nature • Etc….

Themes are ideas! They are usually abstract nouns that the poet explores in concrete forms!

meaning

• The poem explores…

Writing on poetry

• Detailed exploration of the techniques used and how they contribute to the writer’s ideas on the themes explored.

• Which means…• Find a poetic technique

(language/structure/form) and explain how and why the poet has used it to put across their message

• Stage 1 (point)- Explain which technique the poet uses and what they use it for.

• E.g. The poet manipulates the line length to evoke the spectre of death.

• Stage 2 (evidence)- Find a good quote to support your point:

e.g. For example: “and breathIs short”

• Stage 3- Analyse the quote in detail:

“and breathIs short”

Examiners love:• Detailed analysis- focus

on key words etc.• Link the specific quote to

other parts of the poem to develop/support your point

• Confident explanation of why a technique has been used

• Different interpretations/layers of meaning

• Stage 3- Analyse the quote in detail linking it to the rest of the poem and offering different interpretations:

• E.g. The shortened lines mirror the message that life is coming to an end. The use of foreshortened lines in comparison to the previous stanza suggests a countdown or a diminishing into nothingness which can be seen to represent the act of aging and death. By moving from ‘time’ to ‘life’ to ‘breath’ the poet is narrowing in from the abstract to the particular, focusing on the physical decline of the body. By measuring the countdown to death in individual breaths the poet emphasises the immediacy, and perhaps inevitability of it. Furthermore the short lines can be seen to represent either the shortness of breath of the dying man or the ticking down of time until the inevitable.

• Stage 4- Link back to the question/meaning. • E.g. Thus the poet uses the structural

technique of foreshortening lines to mirror the trajectory of the poem and highlight the inevitable march of time and the inescapable reality of death.

All together…The poet manipulates the line length to evoke the spectre of death. For example: “and breathIs short”The shortened lines mirror the message that life is coming to an end. The use of foreshortened lines in comparison to the previous stanza suggests a countdown or a diminishing into nothingness which can be seen to represent the act of aging and death. By moving from ‘time’ to ‘life’ to ‘breath’ the poet is narrowing in from the abstract to the particular, focusing on the physical decline of the body. By measuring the countdown to death in individual breaths the poet emphasises the immediacy, and perhaps inevitability of it. Furthermore the short lines can be seen to represent either the shortness of breath of the dying man or the ticking down of time until the inevitable. Thus the poet uses the structural technique of foreshortening lines to mirror the trajectory of the poem and highlight the inevitable march of time and the inescapable reality of death.

Your turn

• Stage 1-(point)- Explain which technique the poet uses and what they use it for.

• Stage 2 (evidence)- Find a good quote to support your point.

• Stage 3- Analyse the quote in detail linking it to the rest of the poem and offering different interpretations.

• Stage 4- Link back to the question/meaning.

Key Exam Tips1. Be confident on meaning (start with meaning then link back

throughout)2. Take your time3. Use FLIRTS/LIES if they help but you don’t have to! However

you must cover Language Structure Form4. Each technique you focus on should be a detailed paragraph 5. Detailed analysis- connotations of key words, links to themes6. PLAN!7. Terminology8. Different interpretations9. Refer to the rest of the poem10. Use sophisticated/specific language