CONTEMPORARY POETRY English Literature Exam

The Exam The exam is an hour and a half. There are TWO sections and you must answer ONE question from each. Section 1 is Literary Prose (Animal Farm) and section 2 is the poetry. This means you should spend 45 minutes on each section. I do not know the questions. What I do know is you will ONLY be asked to write about either the EVENTS of a poem or the SPEAKER in the poem.

A Typical Question What do you find so fascinating about the poem ‘Wintering Out’?

A Typical Question - Speaker How does Duffy’s writing maker her portrayal of the speaker in EITHER ‘Kid’ or ‘Alaska’ so interesting? Support your ideas with details from the poem you choose. You can substitute the word ‘interesting’ for a number of other words like; vivid, engaging, fascinating, etc… It all means the same thing…write about what we learn about the speaker.

A Typical Question - Events What do you find so disturbing in either ‘Hitcher’ or ‘Gooseberry Season’? Remember to support your ideas with details from your chosen poem. You could replace the word ‘disturbing’ with words like; upsetting, worrying, sad, etc… The question stays the same. Write about the events that take in the poem and make sure you use the keyword.

Tips 1. Use the key words from the question as often as you can (or a variation of that word) 2. Remember to make your point, provide evidence, highlight the poetry technique, analyse in depth and explore the impact of a word. 3. Use the poet’s name – but always refer to the person in the poem as the speaker 4. Include the reader and how they would feel at certain points in the poem 5. Titles, tone, and structure are all valid points and in some cases can lead to extra marks

Should I write everything I know? Depends on the poem. If the poem is small then it makes sense to write as much as you can about the poem. For example, ‘My Father Thought it Bloody Queer’ is quite a short poem. However, if the poem is long and has lots of content, language and structure (like ‘Kid’ or ‘Hitcher’) then you must pick and choose the most important points.

A Typical Plan Small poem (three or four stanzas) 1. Explore stanza 1. What happens in this stanza that links to the question? Comment on the thoughts, feelings, images, word choices and language features of this stanza. 2. Explore stanza 2. Repeat as above. 3. Explore stanza 3. You get the picture… In a larger poem, you will have to choose five to six points to make. The key is to make sure you cover a large chunk of the poem (don’t focus your whole response on one or two stanzas)

A Bad Response Look the poem ‘Answer’. What do you find fascinating about this poem? The poem uses a metaphor. “Your kiss a fossil sealed up in your lips”. This is an effective metaphor as it puts a message into your head and makes you think about it. What is wrong with this response?

A Better Response Same question as before on the poem ‘Answer’ The poem is fascinating because it uses a variety of interesting metaphors to describe how much she will always love her partner, “Your kiss a fossil sealed up in your lips”. This metaphor suggests that even if her lover’s kiss is cold and emotionless, like stone, she will still love her regardless of what happens. Why is this response better?

A Top Response Same poem and question as before The poem is fascinating because it uses a variety of interesting metaphors to describe how much she will always love her partner, “Your kiss a fossil sealed up in your lips”. This metaphor suggests that even if her lover’s kiss is cold and emotionless, like stone, she will still love her regardless. The word ‘fossil’ makes me think about the idea of something being ancient or even dead. Does this suggest that her lover may one day no longer care for her? The relationship may die. The word ‘sealed’ also shows us that the kiss is trapped in stone and cannot escape. Even if the poet’s lover refuses to let her have a kiss, she will still love her.

A Bad Response Look the poem ‘Answer’. What do you find fascinating about this poem? The poem uses a metaphor. “I reach towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky to fall or fly”. This is an effective metaphor as it puts a message into your head and makes you think about it. What is wrong with this response?

A Better Response Same question as before on the poem ‘Answer’ The poem is fascinating because it uses a variety of interesting metaphors to describe how much the speaker needs his independence, “I reach towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky to fall or fly”. This metaphor suggests that the speaker is desperate to be free of his mother’s control and influence, regardless of whether he succeeds or fails in the future. Why is this response better?

A Top Response Same poem and question as before The poem is fascinating because it uses a variety of interesting metaphors to describe how much the speaker needs his independence, “I reach towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky to fall or fly”. This metaphor suggests that the speaker is desperate to be free of his mother’s control and influence, regardless of whether he succeeds or fails in the future. Armitage’s use of the word ‘endless’ is interesting here as it seems to connote a world of infinite possibilities. Perhaps this is how many young people see the world, as a world where they can do anything. The phrase ‘fall or fly’ is equally interesting as the order seems to suggest that we have to fail before we are able succeed. Even with this as the case, the speaker is excited to be free.

Your Turn Take one interesting language feature or powerful image from the poem ‘Gooseberry Season’ and explain why it is an effective language technique. Remember: Make your point Use evidence to support this point Analyse the effectiveness Develop your analysis focusing on word choice

Swap Books Mark your partner’s response out of 10. If you think it is like the first response we looked at, award it 1-3 marks. If it is more like the second response, award it 4-6 marks. If the response fits the final example, ward it 7-10 marks. Be honest.

Essay Plan your response to the following question: What do you find so fascinating about the speaker in either ‘Gooseberry Season’, ‘Alaska’ or ‘In our tenth Year’

PREPARING FOR ASSESSMENT Wednesday 11 th February

Objectives To be able to plan effectively to help answer a poetry question from the Literature exam

Starter A student had the following question: What do you find so disturbing about the poem “Hitcher.” On the next slide are the four quotation the student picked to help answer the question. With your partner discuss which quotations are good choices and explain why.

What do you find disturbing… 1. “I’d been tired, under the weather, but the ansaphone kept screaming.” 2. “Once with the head, then six times with the krooklok in the face.” 3. “Saw him in the mirror bouncing off the kerb, then disappearing down the verge.” 4. “He said he liked the breeze to run it’s fingers through his hair.”

Pupil A One pupil wrote the following as part of their answer. The poem is disturbing because it uses disturbing images. For example, “Once with the head, then six times with the krooklok in the face.” This is disturbing because is puts a disturbing image in your head about someone dying. What grade would the pupil get for this style of response? Can you explain why?

Pupil B A second pupil wrote the following response: Armitage makes this poem so disturbing by some of the shocking imagery he uses to describe the murder of the hitcher, “Once with the head, then six times with the krooklok in the face.” This is disturbing to the reader because of the horrific violence of the speaker towards the hitcher for no apparent reason. First the speaker seems to head-butt the hitcher and then repeatedly strikes him about the face. The reader would be asking questions as to why the speaker needed to react in a such a violent way. This style of paragraph is a middle C grade. Rewrite this paragraph, but drop it down to a D grade. What will you have to change/take away?

Pupil B - repair How can we help this pupil move from a C grade to at least B grade? Armitage makes this poem so disturbing by some of the shocking imagery he uses to describe the murder of the hitcher, “Once with the head, then six times with the krooklok in the face.” This is disturbing to the reader because of the horrific violence of the speaker towards the hitcher for no apparent reason. First the speaker seems to head-butt the hitcher and then repeatedly strikes him about the face. The reader would be asking questions as to why the speaker needed to react in a such a violent way.

Essay Plan your response to the following question: What do you find so fascinating about the speaker in either ‘Gooseberry Season’, ‘Alaska’ or ‘In Our Tenth Year’? In this lesson you will choose one of the poems and plan a response for the assessment next lesson.

Planning 1. Choose the poem you are going to write about 2. In your exercise books, write down five or six quotations from the poem that you are going to explore. Leave a couple of lines under each quotation. 3. Write a brief sentence explaining why you chose that quotation (include the language technique if there is one, remember, powerful imagery is also a technique) 4. Underline one or two words in each quotation that you could explore in more depth.

Plenary Read out one of the quotations you have selected and justify to the class why you have chosen that quotation to help you answer the question.