1. For Excellent IB Lit HL Students
How to Ace Your IOC
For Excellent IB Lit HL Students

2. Preparation
Read the poem carefully - color marking and annotating as you go
Use guiding questions to help you focus on key aspects of the poem the examiner considers important
Write a bullet point plan
Jot down notes on evidence to use (e.g. note line #'s you'll be referencing) under each point you decide to make

3. Organisation
Your IOC should comprise:
Introduction
Body
Conclusion

4. Introduction
Give some background information (context of poem within Keats’s body of poetry/life/Romanticism) be RELEVANT and BRIEF
Identify your THESIS statement
What’s the point/theme of the poem?
Who’s the speaker? Point of view?
Predict the divisions of your commentary

5. Main Body Walk through the poem
discuss your main points in detail, one at a time, supporting them with evidence
Explain HOW the idea/theme is presented (poet’s techniques) and WHY (to what purpose?)
Connect discussion of literary features to effect and meaning

6. Main Body Optional: Remember:
Make small and quick references to other poems by Keats or the Romantics to bolster your argument
Remember:
It is pointless to mention techniques UNLESS you make a relevant point with them

7. Poetic Devices to consider
Tone, mood
Perspective, attitude of speaker or poet toward subject
Diction – word choice, style of language
Literary features – metaphor, simile, personification, oxymoron, apostrophe, irony, hyperbole, paradox
Sensory imagery: visual, auditory, gustatory, tactile, olfactory, synesthetic
Sound devices – onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme, meter
Repetition – words, ideas, anaphora, structural repetition

8. Poetic Devices to consider
Punctuation – dashes, end-stopping, enjambment, caesura, rhetorical questions, colons
Form – stanzas, sonnet form, ode form, etc.
Structure – organization of ideas, progression, comparisons, conjunctions
Allusions – how do they function to help Keats make his point?

9. Tone and mood
What is the writer’s tone? Does it remain the same throughout?
Is there a mood (atmosphere) or feeling which pervades the piece - eg gloom, joy, sorrow?
How specifically does the writer create this tone and mood – diction, imagery, sound techniques?
Is the poet’s attitude the same as the speaker’s?
How does the speaker function in the poem?

10. Diction
What do you notice about the writer’s diction (word choice)? Look for “jump” words. Consider both the denotation and connotation of the words.
Are there types of words which recur - eg diction relating to death? childhood?
Are there words which seem unexpected?
Is there an overall style to the language used?
What effect does the diction create?

11. Rhyme, rhythm, sound effects
Does the poem have a rhyme scheme? What is its effect? Does it make sense to mention rhyme in this poem? Does it have a distinct purpose?
Does the poem have meter? Where might it break? Does it make sense to mention meter in this poem?
What sound effects are used and why? Alliteration? Assonance? Consonance? Onomatopoeia?

12. Imagery What kinds (categories) of images are included in the poem?
What senses does the imagery appeal to? Sight? Sound? Smell? Taste? Touch?
Do the images build on each other? Are they similar or different? Does the imagery change in the poem?

13. Sound devices Onomatopoeia
Assonance - repetition of vowel sounds within words
Alliteration - repetition of initial sounds
Consonance - repetition of consonants within words
Rhyme – exact/slant; end/internal; masculine/feminine

14. Form and structure
Is this a strict form (Shakespearian sonnet, Petrarchan sonnet, ode, etc.)?
How does this form affect its meaning?
Does it deviate from the traditional form? Why?
How are the ideas of the poem organized? What’s the progression of the poem?
How does the syntax affect meaning and organization? Look especially at conjunctions. Long/short sentences?
Is Keats making comparisons?

15. Punctuation What punctuation is used and why?
Enjambment, end-stopping, caesura? Why?
Types of punctuation to consider – dash, question mark, exclamation point, ellipsis, colon

16. Focus on the Writer
Focus on how the writer uses language, poetic devices
Keats, the poet, he
Verbs (present tense!): conveys, highlights, uses, takes, implies, suggests, explains, describes, stresses, gives, presents, shows, illustrates, indicates, looks, confronts, makes, evokes
Keats’s use of alliteration helps to convey . . .

17. Conclusion Brings a sense of completion and closure
Affirms your central point
Should NOT repeat what you’ve already said
Better to omit a conclusion and finish with the last section of the extract than repeat yourself

18. Works Cited
Croft, S. & Cross, H. 2003, English for the IB Diploma, Oxford University Press: Oxford. Ms. Cathi Wiebusch (adapted from her original powerpoint presentation)