“A GREAT POEM PUTS INTO WORDS WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW BUT HAD NOT THOUGHT OF SAYING.” HOW FAR AND BY WHAT MEANS HAVE AT LEAST TWO POETS THAT YOU HAVE STUDIED ACHIEVED THIS? WHAT ARE THE KEY WORDS IN THIS QUESTION? TAKE THESE KEY WORDS AND REPHRASE THE QUESTION IN YOUR OWN TERMS.
CHOICE OF POEMS ● Which ones would you pick? ● Why? Make your selection and justify their “fit” in terms of the question you're addressing.
HERE’S AN EXAMPLE INTRODUCTION: Great poetry is able to articulate the unexpressed. Something that we as readers may have previously felt as being personal and private is often surprisingly and affectingly laid down on paper, reflecting our own experience or knowledge back to us. So in ‘Tonight I Can Write’, Pablo Neruda conveys the raw yearning after a lost relationship, as if it were the first to ever fail, whilst in ‘Valentine’, Carol Ann Duffy helps us to acknowledge a universal truth; that love hurts. Duffy’s ‘Mrs Midas’ reminds us of the fact that riches cannot replace closeness and intimacy. All these works achieve greatness through their ability to make the reader reconsider what might have seemed a familiar feeling, notion or story. Through the poet's words we are made to reflect on what we already know, reassessing it in a new light.
NOW LOOK AT IT AGAIN AND HIGHLIGHT PHRASES THAT CONNECT WITH THE QUESTION Great poetry is able to articulate the unexpressed. Something that we as readers may have previously felt as being personal and private is often surprisingly and affectingly laid down on paper, reflecting our own experience or knowledge back to us. So in “Tonight I Can Write”, Pablo Neruda conveys the raw yearning after a lost relationship, as if it were the first to ever fail, whilst in “Valentine”, Carol Ann Duffy helps us to acknowledge a universal truth; that love hurts. Duffy’s “Mrs Midas” reminds us of the fact that riches cannot replace closeness and intimacy. All these works achieve greatness through their ability to make the reader reconsider what might have seemed a familiar feeling, notion or story. Through the poet's words we are made to reflect on what we already know, reassessing it in a new light.
● So what MUST you do? – Reflect/rephrase the words of the question back to the examiner. Notice how the word “great” is used in the very first line. – State the name of the poems and the poets in your introduction. At Higher you should always write about at least THREE poems. – Begin with a statement (see my example). This conveys confidence and a surety in the direction of your essay. – Try to get a sense of the “crux” of the question. Strip it down to one or two key points. – Avoid quoting. There's plenty of time for that in the main body of your essay.
THE MAIN BODY – HOW TO STRUCTURE 1) Firstly decide what it is that “we already know”. What feelings/experiences does each poem touch on? In other words WHAT do they put into words? Paragraph 1 – point 1 Poem1 Paragraph 2 – poem 1 Poem 2 Paragraph 3 – point 2 poem 1 Paragraph 4 – point 2 poem 2 etc
Let's look at Valentine as an example. What does Duffy do to make us reassess what we “already know”? NOW ADDRESS THE “HOW” HOW – always invites you to refer to language/structure/ imagery
NOW THINK ABOUT YOUR OTHER TWO POEMS
● Now begin to structure a full essay response to this question. ● Address what is put into words – 2/3 poems ● Then consider the how – all three poems – Tackle lexis/imagery first – Then consider how structure/form might enhance the poet's meaning. ● Attempt a conclusion in which you revisit the key terms of the question, consolidating your introductory points.