Kay Poetry: The 8 Mark Question

Success Criteria Learning Intention To understand how to structure the final question for the Scottish set texts. To be able to structure your own answer to an unseen question. To be able to choose relevant material from the seen and unseen poems. Success Criteria

How to answer the Q… All questions are worth 8 marks and should be structured using bullet points and headings. Use the headings: General Comment (2 marks) Exam poem (2 marks) Other poem (4 marks)

(1) General Comment Write a sentence for each poem to show how it ties in with the question. Example: Show how “Lucozade” and another of Kay’s poems explores an important theme. “Lucozade” and “Gap Year” explore the theme of family relationships. In “Lucozade” we see a family relationship in the form of a young girl who is afraid to lose her dying mother. In “Gap Year” we see a family relationship in the form of a mother struggling and missing her son who is on a gap year.

(2) Exam Poem Quote a relevant example from your exam poem. Pick out the techniques used in the quote. Explain what they show us and link this back to what the question is asking. NOTE: Try to avoid using examples that you have covered in the textual analysis questions earlier.

(3) Other Poem Do exactly the same as Primary text but do it twice. You can focus on one or two other poems. NOTE: Remember to always link back to the question at the end of each bullet point.

Last Year’s Question POEM: “Keeping Orchids” By referring closely to this poem and to at least one other poem by Kay, show how the poet uses personal experience to explore wider themes. (8 marks)

Last Year’s Question POEM: “Keeping Orchids” By referring closely to this poem and to at least one other poem by Kay, show how the poet uses personal experience to explore wider themes. (8 marks)

My Answer General Comment * The personal experience in “Keeping Orchids” is the speaker’s troublesome meeting with her birth mother. * The personal experience in “Divorce” is a teenage adolescent’s fall out with her parents. These are both used to explore the wider theme of family relationships.

Exam Poem * “I have rearranged the upset orchids with troubled hands. Even after that the closed ones did not open out.” As the orchids symbolise the fragile relationship between Kay and her birth mother, the fact that the buds won’t open shows that Kay wants to become closer to her but the birth mother is remaining secretive. The fact she is having to “rearrange” the flowers shows that Kay is trying to fix the problems between them and it is taking a lot of time and effort. The personification of “upset orchids” shows that it is actually Kay who is upset with the lack of connection. Her “troubled hands” show that she is concerned about the fact she may never form a close bond with her mother. This gives us a clear impression of their unusual and troublesome family relationship.

Other Poem * “These parents are not you. I never chose you.” The poets use of short sentences show how blunt and unforgiving the girl is. We can see that she clearly does not like her parents at this moment and there is tension in their relationship. * “all you ever say is: ‘Are you off in the cream puff, Lady Muck?’” The speaker’s complaint about her father’s reply shows that her father doesn’t realise she is this angry and tries to mock her further. Obviously the girl is irritated by his attempt at humour emphasising the conflict between daughter and father.

Practice Question By referring closely to “Gap Year”, and to at least one other poem by Kay, show how the poet uses poetic techniques to explore a conflict. (8 marks)

1) With close textual reference, show how the narrator in “Divorce” helps the reader understand the central concerns of the poem, and in at least one other poem by Jackie Kay. 2) Discuss the positive parental relationship that is established in “Gap Year” poem and go on to discuss a poem that has a difficult parental relationship as its central concern. 3) Place is an important aspect of “My Grandmother’s Houses”. Discuss how place has helped you understand the central concerns of this poem, and in at least one other poem by Jackie Kay. 4) Jackie Kay has used a tense atmosphere in “Keeping Orchids”. Explain how this atmosphere helps you understand the meeting in the poem, and go on to discuss another poem that uses a particular atmosphere to help you have a greater understanding of the poem. 5) Parental relationships are an important theme in Jackie Kay’s poetry. With close reference to this poem discuss the nature of the parental relationship, and go on to discuss a parental relationship in another Jackie Kay poem. 6) Discuss the mother daughter relationship in “Bed”, and go on to explain another poem that describes a mother daughter relationship.