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What is your response to it?



What does that question even mean?!
Personal Response
Learning Objectives:
To understand how to give a personal response to poetry
Learning Outcomes:
C+/B-: be able to give a simple opinion, using quotes
to support
B+/A-: be able to give a sophisticated response to
poems, using quotes to support
A+/A*: be able to give an assured response to the
poems, using quotes to support
Personal Response:
It means having an opinion of your own, whatever that
might be.
Dont be afraid to say something honest and truthful.
Dont expect to be taught to have an opinion, or to
have an opinion on the poems you read straight away.
It might be something you actually have to think
about.
A simple opinion
I liked this poem because
I found this poem sad/happy because
I enjoyed this poem because
I found this interesting

Certainly, theres nothing wrong with these responses:
they show that you have engaged and interacted with
the poems.
A sophisticated opinion
I found this interesting because
I thought it was unusual how
I found the most powerful phrase in the poem to be

These are better, because they sound a little more
confident and educated than simple I like, dont like
comments.
An assured opinion
I found the most powerful phrase in the poem to be
I thought the contrast in was interesting because
I found the poets use of
I thought the way the poet handled
What struck me about the poems was

Assured means that you have reached a decision after
considering what is available. It is confident and has
poise about it.
Even when writing about your opinion, you should still
(ABSOLUTELY!!!!) use quotes to back up your points
or refer to specifics in the poems.
Is this an assured response?
I thought the character that Browning created in the first poem
was the most interesting. Both characters in the two poems have
clearly been dealt a harsh blow by love, but I found the spite with
which Brownings character responded to be the most powerful.
Her desire to let death be felt by the adulterous lover shows
that in the poets opinion, hatred is a more powerful emotion
than love. Browning handles such a range of emotions in this
poem, which I think brings the character to life more than in the
second poem. Here, Hughes character appears weak and broken
by the loss of his love. Personally, I prefer characters with a bit
more bite! Which I think Browning has created.
Timing
You will be advised to spend one hour on your
response to this question.
Draw a time pie chart showing how you would use your
hour.
Go back through your poems
Choose two linked poems
Have a go at writing a personal response to them
Remember there should be an element of contrast or
comparison between the poems
Use your sentence starts, but remember this is a
personal response write what you think, what you
found, what you noticed, what you enjoyed

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