Poetry, Year 11: comparing poems and the poetry toolkit

Their methods: language, form and structure

HintHow each poem says it, as well as what it says.

The whyFor example: both poems show the power of nature, but one does it in a single unbroken block of verse and the other through a story with a turning point.

Moving between the two poems point by point

HintThe comparison should run through the whole answer.

The whyWriting about one poem and then the other tends to produce two separate essays with a comparison bolted on at the end.

Both poems, and the idea in the question that links them

HintGet the pair on the page at once.

The whyFor example: Both poems present power as something that does not last, but one mocks it and the other mourns it. That gives you a line of argument to follow.

Whereas

HintWhich one could you swap for the word but?

The whyComparison words do real work. Use them at the start of sentences and in the middle, so the reader always knows whether you are showing a likeness or a contrast.

It deals with the idea in the question and gives you a clear likeness or contrast to argue

HintIt is not simply your favourite.

The whyChoose for the question, not for the poem you know best. A clear difference in viewpoint or method often gives more to say than a close match.

30

HintThe same as each of the essays on your set texts, without the extra marks for accurate writing.

The whyTwelve of the marks are for your response and evidence, twelve for analysing methods and six for context.

Enjambment

HintA term taken from French; it begins with en-.

The whyIt can speed a poem up, carry the reader forward or put weight on the word left waiting at the start of the next line.

A caesura

HintA Latin word beginning with c that means a cutting.

The whyIt can slow a line, break it in two or make the reader stop on a thought. A full stop in the middle of a line is a strong one.

14

HintAn octave and a sestet together.

The whySonnets are traditionally about love, so a poet who uses the form for another subject, such as power, is doing something worth noticing.

The volta

HintAn Italian word.

The whyIn many sonnets it falls after the eighth line. The term is also used more loosely for a turning point in any poem.

Free verse

HintThe first word of the term means unrestricted.

The whyIt is still shaped: the poet chooses where each line ends. Free verse can sound like natural speech or like thought.

A dramatic monologue

HintThe second word of the term means a long speech by one person.

The whyThe speaker often gives away more about themselves than they intend. The reader has to judge the speaker from their own words.