1.  Choose a poem in which a chance encounter or a seemingly unimportant incident acquires increased significance by the end of the poem. Show how the poet’s development of the encounter or incident leads you to a deeper understanding of the poem’s theme. In your answer you must refer closely to at least two of: imagery, tone, rhyme, word choice, or any other appropriate feature.

2.  What is the ‘seemingly unimportant incident’ in the poem?  Why does this incident gain significance by the end of the poem?  What is the theme of the poem?

3.  What your line of thought is.  A suitable line of argument or line of thought for this essay would be to prove that this seemingly unimportant event in the poem actually highlights the fishermen’s desperation to survive in such difficult conditions.

4. You then need to outline this in your opening paragraph of your essay. Remember to mention:  the title  what type of text it is  who the author is, e.g:

5. ‘The poem ‘Haddock Fishermen’ by George Mackay Brown shows how a seemingly unimportant incident such as the day in the working life of a Shetlandic fisherman actually represents the men’s struggle to survive and support their family on the Shetland Islands…’

6. You should then refer to the task by explaining how this theme of survival will be analysed in this poem by looking at many of the key poetic features, e.g: imagery and word choice. Remember that you should pick at least two from the list, but do not attempt to cover all the techniques.

7.  Paragraph Two: ‘The story of the poem begins late at night. This is highlighted by the caesura in the first line of stanza one; ‘Midnight.’ The placing of this short sentence highlights the time reference as being significant. The geographical location of the poem is also indicated by the colloquial description of the wind ‘yawing nor-east’ which indicates that it is set in the Shetland Isles.’

8.  Elaborate on how a sense of foreboding is quickly established in the first line through the use of assonance, after you have explained how it is written in the first person from the point of view of one of the fishermen:  Technique:Assonance.  Example: A short quotation from stanza one.  Effect:Explain why this is effective in highlighting his sense of unease

9.  Then move on to explain how the pace suddenly changes in the second stanza:  Technique:Word choice  Example:A short quotation from stanza two  Effect:Explain why the writer chose to change pace (remember to relate it to the task.)

10. Techniques used:Oxymoron and metaphor Examples:Two short quotations from stanza three. Effect:Why this is effective in showing the difficult nature of their work.

11. Technique:Synecdoche (pronounced ‘See- neck-tock-key’) when the part of a number of things represents the whole.) This is used to describe the catch.  Examples:Provide two examples – one from stanza five, another from stanza six.  Effect:Explain why the poet chose to describe the fish in this way (hint – he seems to emphasize their number – 12 in this.)

12.  In your topic sentence, explain how the narrator highlights the growing despair of the fishermen after they had caught their meagre catch:  Technique:Metaphor  Example: Quotation from stanza six  Effect:Explain why this image is so effective in highlighting their desparate situation.

13. Now explain how another reference to time is made through imagery to show that the end daylight means more than simply the fishermen’s working day:  Technique:Personification  Example:Quotation from stanza seven  Effect:Explain what this brutal imagery tells us about what their poor day’s catch means for the fishermen and their families.

14. Explain how, at the end of the working day, the vulnerable state of their wives is shown as they return home:  Technique:List of three and verb to describe them  Examples:Provide examples  Effect:Explain how by listing their wives with cats and gulls, the women are seen to be as vulnerable as those creatures. Also explain what the effect of describing them as ‘mewling’ is.

15. Summarise how by using these techniques, George Mackay Brown has used a seemingly unimportant event such as the working day of a group of Shetland fisherman to highlight the theme of survival.  Remember to you signpost words e.g ‘To conclude,’ or ‘In summary’ etc. Explain how effective you thought the poet was in achieving this goal.  Do not provide new quotations in your conclusion; this is a summing up of your findings from analysing the poem.

16.  Completed essays should be handed in to Miss Miah by Tuesday 2 nd February 2010.  This will give you excellent practice for the prelim, so it’s in your best interest to get this essay completed and marked by Miss Miah, so you will know where to improve.