1. Choose a poem in which contrast is important in developing theme.
Explore the poet’s use of contrast and show why it is important in developing a key theme of the poem.

2. Intro:
Title & author;
Brief summary of poem, which should identify your chosen theme;
Task statement, using words from the question. (Avoid In this essay I will ….)

3. Intro
E.g.
“The Thread”, by Don Paterson, is a poem which contrasts Paterson’s delight in his young son Jamie with the despair he felt when Jamie nearly died at birth. Paterson skilfully uses contrasts in imagery, tone and structure throughout the poem to explore the theme of the fragility and preciousness of human life.

4. Main body of essay: Use topic sentences Give evidence
Analyse in detail
Stay relevant to the question
Aim for a logical line of thought

5. Main body of essay 3 points to make, relevant to this question:
The contrast between the past (Jamie’s birth) and the present
The contrast in the way the image of flight is used through the poem
The contrast in the way the image of the thread is used

6. Topic Sentences & Evidence
The main structural contrast in the poem is between the past and the present.
Past: Jamie’s near-death & Paterson’s feelings of bitterness & cynicism (“all that trouble …”)
Present: happiness and joy – family together and enjoying simple pleasures of play.
The contrast in tones used to express these feelings
This contrast brings out the fragility of happiness – this family could so easily have been mourning a dead son, rather than celebrating his health and happiness.

7. Topic Sentences & Evidence
The image of flight runs through the poem as an extended metaphor, and Paterson uses it in contrasting ways to explore the fragility of human life.
“Jamie made his landing in the world / so hard he ploughed straight back into the earth.”
“The great twin-engined swaying wingspan of us”
Comment fully on the literal and metaphorical meanings of each image, and on the contrast between their uses. What do they tell us about life?

8. Topic Sentences & Evidence
The image which gives the poem its title, of human life as hanging by a thin and fragile thread, is also used throughout the poem in contrasting ways.
“They caught him by the thread of his one breath / And pulled him up.”
“Now the thread is holding all of us.”
Again comment fully on the literal and metaphorical meanings of the image, and explain how it is used to suggest both the fragility of life and the strength of the bond which holds the family together.

9. Conclusion: Don’t just repeat yourself – vary your vocabulary
Don’t say In this essay I have shown …
Do give a general overview of the text, summing up what your argument has shown, referring to the question.

10. Conclusion
e.g.
“The Thread” is a moving and subtle poem about the fragility of human life. Through his skilful handling of extended metaphor, Paterson meditates on the contrast between his despair at the near–tragedy of his son’s traumatic birth and the delight he now feels in Jamie’s health and happiness. He thus takes what could have been a simple private moment shared between father and sons, and opens it out to become a celebration of the preciousness of life that all the poem’s readers can share in.

11. Choose a poem in which contrast is important in developing theme.
Explore the poet’s use of contrast and show why it is important in developing a key theme of the poem.