[aguideToansweringliteratureexamquestionsonunseenpoetry]

CONTENTS

PART1:INTRODUCTION
Acautionarynote/Whatwilltheexamquestionlooklike?/WhatdoIneedto
knowabouttheformatoftheexam?/WhatshouldIdofirst?/Themark
scheme/5things
PART2:THEME
Whatisatheme?/Matchthethemeexercise/Amodelparagraph/WhatcanI
dotorevise?
PART3:LANGUAGE
Aglossaryoflanguageterminology/Acautionarynote/Keywordsin
quotations/Websofconnotations/Amodelparagraph/WhatcanIdoto
revise?
PART4:STRUCTURE
Thegoldenrule/Aglossaryofstructure/amodelparagraph/WhatcanIdoto
revise?
PART5:TONE
Adefinitionoftone/Whatarethekeyquestions?/2tonetasks/Amodel
paragraph/WhatcanIdotorevise?
PART6:THEPOEMS

DONTPANIC
DouglasAdamsTheHitchhikersGuidetotheGalaxy
Acautionarynote:

A POEM IS NOT A
RIDDLE, IT DOES
NOT HAVE TO BE
SOLVED!

Allyouneedtodoisexplainyourreactionstoit
andexplainhowitcausedthosereactions.

Whatwilltheexamquestionlooklike?

Keyfeatures:
Thequestionisalwaysthesame!
Itisagoodideatoannotate(writenotes)uponthe
poem.
Difficultvocabularyisoftenfootnotedatthebottom.
Rememberthetitleisakeypartofthepoem.
 Thequestionalwayslookslikethis:

SECTION C
Spend about 30 minutes on this section. Think carefully
about the poem before you write your answer.
17.Writeaboutthepoemanditseffectonyou.
Youmaywishtoincludesomeorallofthesepoints:
thepoemscontentwhatitisabout;
theideasthepoetmayhavewantedustothinkabout;
themoodoratmosphereofthepoem;
howitiswrittenwordsorphrasesyoufind
interesting,thewaythepoemisstructuredororganised,
andsoon;
yourresponsetothepoem.[10]
WhatdoIneedtoknowabouttheformatofthe
exam?

Keyfactsabouttheexamquestion:
Itisthelastsectionoftheexam.
Youwillnothaveseenthepoembefore.
Thequestionisalwaysthesame;theonly
thingthatchangeseachyearisthepoem.
Youranswerwillbeanessayofaboutaside.
Itisworth10marks(theothersectionsare
outof30).
Youhave30minutestocompletethe
question.
510minutesshouldbespentreadingand
planning,1520writingand5checking.

Rememberyouanswershouldbewrittenin
analyticalparagraphs.MakesureyoureviseSEAL.

Whatdoesthemarkschemelooklike?

E/DAnswerswillbedependentonparaphrase,
withawarenessofmoodand
atmosphere,andsomeawarenessofsubtext,
perhaps,atD.

CCandidateswillselectandhighlightdetailin
ordertoprobethetext.Therewillbesome
appreciationofsomestylisticfeaturesandaclear
personalresponse.

BCandidateswilldiscussthepoemthoroughly
andwithsomeconfidence.Somestylisticfeatures
willbeaddressedwithsomeinsight.

AAnswersatthislevelwillbetypifiedbyoverview,
sensitivityofresponse,andappreciationofa
rangeoffeaturesandtheircontributiontothe
overallmeaning.

A*Alltheabove,inacogentandconfident
response,withanalysisandappreciationof
stylisticfeatures.

WhatshouldIdofirst?

READ THE
POEM
CAREFULLY
(twice)

5Things
Agoodtechniquetohelpyoutogetintothe
poemistothinkaboutwhatitisactuallyabout
beforeyoustart.Thiswillgiveyousomethingto
hangyouransweron.Thebestwaytodothisis
beforeyoudoanythingelseafterreadingthe
poemistowritedown5wordswhichsumitup.

They can be connected words
or separate ones.

They can be from the poem
or from your reaction.

Thenselectthemostimportantones.
Theimportantthingisthatthisgivesyouahandle
onthepoemwhichyoucanbaseyouransweron.

PART2:THEMES
Whatisatheme?
Athemeisaconcept,oridea,thatthepoem
explores.

Oftenthethemeswillbecontainedinthe5words
youinitiallycameupwith.

TASK:Readeachofthepoemsatthebackofthis
bookletandidentifythefivekeywordsforeach.
MatchtheThemeExercise
Trytomatchthelistofthemestothepoemsinthebackof
thisbooklet.Trytofindaquotationforeachpairwhich
backsupyourchoice.
Isolation

Loneliness

Naturestriumph

Hope

Change

NaturereflectingLove

Theme Poem Evidence(quotation)

AmodelSEALparagraphfortheme

One of the poems key themes is

isolation. this is an alien city. The
Persona of the poem finds the city to
be alien this suggests he/she is
lonely and does not fit in. This is
strange because city suggests that
there are lots of people around. The
poet seems to be exploring the idea that
you can be isolated and alone even in
a crowd.

WhatcanIdotorevise?
Writeaparagraphaboutthethemeofanyof
thepoems.

WhatcanIdotopractiseevenmore?
Writeaboutthethemesoftheotherpoems.

PART3:Language
AGlossaryoflanguageterminology
Expressing something by using
Irony words that mean the opposite
(humorous or sarcastic).
Comparing the likeness of two
Analogy
things.
Giving an inanimate object human
Personification
characteristics.
Comparing two objects as they have
Simile something in common (e.g. as white
as snow).
Repetition of a consonant in a
Alliteration phrase (e.g. Harry had a hole in his
hard hat).
Repetition of vowel sound (e.g. cold,
Assonance
told, bold).
Parataxis Use of very short, sharp sentences.
Metaphor Comparisons which don't use "like"
or "as", but say that something "is"
something else because it is similar.
Using language to convey an
Imagery
atmosphere.
When spoken, a word which sounds
Onomatopoeia the same as its meaning (e.g. "hiss"
- a snake).
Exaggerating something so much
Hyperbole
that it cannot be taken literally.

Acautionarynote:

WHEN WE TALK
ABOUT COMMENTING
ON LANGUAGE WE
MEAN COMMENTING
ON ITS EFFECT ON
THE READER.

Task:Underlinekeywordsinthequotations.
Oftenthesewillbethewordsusedinanusual
way.
Themooncuts,/Clearandround,

Ateverydeskastillchildstaredatme

ofsnowdropsbloomingbetweendaffodilshoots

afieldofsorrow/thatseemedhardfrozen

Likeanexperiencedrobber

icebergsofwhitefeather,

Websofconnotations.

Thisexampleshowsaset
ofconnotations(related
wordsandideas)forthe
wordicebergs.

Drawtwomorewordwebsfortheseotherquotationsfrom
thepoems.

AmodelSEALparagraph

Language is used in a dramatic

and unsettling way with the line:

At every desk a still child stared at

me

The phrase still child seems strange

as we would expect children in a school
to be full of life and energy. The fact
they are staring at the narrator as if
they are inspecting him/her makes
them sound quite hostile. They seem
to be very strange, ghostly and
unsettling children.



WhatcanIdotorevise?[partI]:
Learnthetechnicalvocabulary:
Look/Cover/Write/Check.
YOUWILLGAINMOREMARKSIFYOUUSETHE
TECHNICALVOCABULARY!

WhatcanIdotorevise?[part2]
Writeaparagraphforanyoftheother
quotationsdescribingtheeffectsofthe
languageonthereader.Compareittothe
modelparagraph.

WhatcanIdotopractiseevenfurther?

Beingabletocommentonlanguageisthekey
skillinEnglish,youshouldpracticethisover
andoveragainwiththepoemsatthebackof
thisbooklet.
PART4:Structure:TheGoldenrule:

Aglossaryofstructureterminology
Continuing a sentence beyond
Enjambment the end of a line, couplet, or
stanza.
The same / similar sound used
Assonance in syllables of words near each
other.
Ballad Ancient poem telling a story.
A pair of lines of verse usually
Couplet
the same length.
Octet / Octave First 8 lines in a sonnet.
Pentameter A line of 10 syllables.
A stanza / group of 4 lines
Quatrain
usually with alternate rhymes.
Sonnet A 14-line poem.
Four or more rhymed lines
Stanza
repeated as a unit.
Verse A group of lines in a poem.

Thekeyquestions:
Isthestructureregularorirregular?
Howdoesthisfitinwithwhatthepoemisabout?
Amodelparagraphonstructure

The structure of the poem is regular.

There are six stanzas with each one
being made up of three lines. The first
and third line of each stanza rhyme.
This regular structure suggests two
things. Firstly, it seems to reflect the
shopkeepers straight forward, black
and white view of the world. Secondly,
it creates a sense of straight forward
honesty on the part of the narrator who
seems aware of the things that sadly
the shopkeeper has missed.


WhatcanIdotorevise?[part1]
Learnthestructureterminology:Look/Cover/
Write/Check.

WhatcanIdotorevise[part2]
Practicewritingaparagraphonstructurefor
oneormoreofthepoemsinthebackofthis
booklet.Haveinmindthethemeofthe
poemsbeforeyoudothisasthiswillgiveyou
cluesastowhythepoethasstructuredthe
poeminthisway.

PART5:Tone
Adefinitionoftone.
Whenwesaytonewemeantheemotions
expressedandexploredinthepoem.
Whatarethekeyquestions?
Whatisthetoneofthepoem?

Doesthetonechange?

Wheredoesitchange?

Whatdoesitchangeto?

Task1:Identifythetoneofanyofthe
poems.

Task2:identifyoneofthepoems
wherethetonechanges
Amodeltoneparagraph

The tone of the poem remains

constant. It seems to be hopeful
Sometimes a man aims high and all
goes well.
Although it is quiet sad as it
acknowledges bad things can happen
it seems positive that it does not have
to be that way. It is as if it is saying
we should be positive despite the
possibility that things can, and often
do, go wrong. It could almost be
describes as a poem about desperately
clinging on to hope.
WhatcanIdotorevise?[part1]
Writeyourowntoneparagraph
aboutoneofthepoems.Then
compareittothemodel
paragraph.

WhatcanIdotorevise?[part2]
Tryandidentifythetone,andany
changesinit,oftheremaining
poems.
PART6: