The Key to analysing any unseen poem is actually quite simple. Read the poem a couple of times over and start to make judgements about what you believe the poem to be about.
No one can take amrks off you for not knowing EXACTLY what the unseen poem is about - because no one knows EXACTLY. All you can do is make sensible suggestions and judgements based on what you've read. This may take two or three readings to sink in.
Once you have made these judgements, you can begin to turn these into your introduction, stating what you BELIEVE the poem MAY be about backing up what you say with EVIDENCE.
Try it with this poem:
StealingThe most unusual thing I ever stole? A snowman.
Midnight. He looked magnificent; a tall, white mute
beneath the winter moon. I wanted him, a mate
with a mind as cold as the slice of ice
within my own brain. I started with the head.
Better off dead than giving in, not taking
what you want. He weighed a ton; his torso,
frozen stiff, hugged to my chest, a fierce chill
piercing my gut. Part of the thrill was knowing
that children would cry in the morning. Life's tough.
Sometimes I steal things I don't need. I joy-ride cars
to nowhere, break into houses just to have a look.
I'm a mucky ghost, leave a mess, maybe pinch a camera.
I watch my gloved hand twisting the doorknob.
A stranger's bedroom. Mirrors. I sigh like this - Aah.
It took some time. Reassembled in the yard,
he didn't look the same. I took a run
and booted him. Again. Again. My breath ripped out
in rags. It seems daft now. Then I was standing
alone among lumps of snow, sick of the world.
Boredom. Mostly I'm so bored I could eat myself.
One time, I stole a guitar and thought I might
learn to play. I nicked a bust of Shakespeare once,
flogged it, but the snowman was the strangest.
You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?
Carol Ann Duffy.
So, in your intoduction, answer what you believe the poem is about and what sort of points you think the speaker and poet are trying to make. I will include an example answer in the next post.
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Unseen Poems!
Five steps to analysing an unseen poem
Here are five steps that you can use when you first see an unseen poem, to help you think about how to write about it.
STEP ONE: Work out what the poem is about…
Here is a poem for you to look at and have a go at the 5 step process with. You could cut and paste and print it so you are able to highlight if you like.
STEP ONE: Work out what the poem is about…
- What is the subject of the poem?
- Who is speaking?
- Who is the narrator speaking to?
- Why has the poet written the poem?
- What are they trying to say?
- What ideas are they using?
- Is it an emotional response to something that’s happened?
- Is it trying to get an emotional response from the reader?
- Is it portraying a message or opinion on a subject or event?
- What are the different emotions and feelings of the narrator or poet?
- What is the mood or atmosphere of the poem (e.g. sad, angry, etc.)?
- How has the poet used different poetic techniques to show these attitudes and feelings?
- What are the different poetic techniques that the poet has used to show the attitudes and feelings in the poem?
- How has the poet shown these feelings through form and structure (e.g. rhyme, rhythm, line length, stanza length, etc.)?
- How has the poet used poetic devices to show these feelings (e.g. metaphors, similes, caesura, enjambment, alliteration, juxtaposition, personification, etc.)?
- How do you feel about the poem?
- How well does the poet get the message across in the poem?
- What is the impact of the poem on the reader (refer to ‘the reader’, rather than ‘I’ when talking about the impact of the poem)?
- Are there any other ways the poem could be interpreted?
Here is a poem for you to look at and have a go at the 5 step process with. You could cut and paste and print it so you are able to highlight if you like.
November by Simon Armitage
We walk to the ward from the badly parked car
with your grandma taking four short steps to our two.
We have brought her here to die and we know it.
You check her towel. soap and family trinkets,
pare her nails, parcel her in the rough blankets
and she sinks down into her incontinence.
It is time John. In their pasty bloodless smiles,
in their slack breasts, their stunned brains and their baldness
and in us John: we are almost these monsters.
You’re shattered. You give me the keys and I drive
through the twilight zone, past the famous station
to your house, to numb ourselves with alcohol.
Inside, we feel the terror of the dusk begin.
Outside we watch the evening, failing again,
and we let it happen. We can say nothing.
Sometimes the sun spangles and we feel alive.
One thing we have to get, John, out of this life.
Monday, 20 May 2013
Key Terms
Types of Words
Verb – A doing word
Adjective – A describing word
Noun – A thing.
Adverb – A word that describes a verb (usually ends in ‘ly’)
Abstract noun – A noun which you can’t physically sense – like ‘love’ or ‘hope’ or ‘honesty’
Active verb – a verb which shows a lot of action. ‘exploded’
Techniques
Enjambment - When a line of a poem spills onto the next line. This can be done to show that the poet/poem is too full of action to worry about stopping at the end of a line. Or, it may be done to make sure that a more important word appears at the start/end of a line.
Onomatopoeia – A word which depicts a sound
Emotive language – any word or group of words that makes the reader feel emotion
Repetition – a word or group of words repeated to make them stand out.
Personification – When something non-human is made to sound human through its actions/emotions
Dehumanisation – Where a human is made to sound unhuman.
Rhetorical Question - You know what this is.
Alliteration - Words which begin with the same sound or letter to make them stand out or to bring sound to the poem.
Assonance - Similar to alliteration but using vowel sounds. eg. 'The brown owl howled'
Caesura - A break or pause in a line of poetry
Metaphor - When something is compared to something else by saying that it is something different, eg. 'Jack is a little monster.'
Simile - When something is compared to something else by saying it is 'like' or 'as' something else. Eg, 'Megan is as happy as a dolphin on skates'
Other terms
Lexical field - a group of words that link a theme or subject - ie, the poet uses a lexical field which is based around suffering and pain: 'nerves', 'blood' and 'suffering'
Rhythm - The pattern of beats in a line. A lot of old traditional/romantic poems used a rhythm called 'iambic pentameter' which puts roughly ten beats to a line. If there is a rhythm, it may be that the poet is trying to make the poem look more organised, or it might reflect the theme of the poem (army, war etc). If a poem has no rhythm, it may have been done deliberately to make the poem seem disorganised to relfect the things that are going on in the poem.
Rhyme - As above. If there IS rhyme, it may be to reflect organisation. Or, for example, a simpe rhyme may be used to make the poem seem more child-like or traditional. A lack of rhyme can reflect a lack of organisation or seriousness.
Tone - The feeling or mood that the poet creates
Stanza - Verse
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Really useful blog!!
Hi everyone,
Just found this really useful blog that some teacher from another school has obviously put up for her class. I strongly suggest you go and have a geg.
http://clashesandcollisions.blogspot.co.uk/
It goes through all of the poems and some exam technique.
NW
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