COMPARING AND CONTRASTING POEMS What feature to look for in each poem How to plan and write your response

COMPARING AND CONTRASTING POEMS YOU NEED TO LOOK FOR ALL THE FEATURES THAT YOU LOOK FOR WHEN STUDYING A SINGLE POEM Content of poem Tone and mood Form in which it is written and structured Ways in which language is used

WRITING YOUR RESPONSE Avoid writing an examination of one poem and then the other and comparing them in a final paragraph Integrate your comments on the poems throughout Compare features in all 3 poems Look at each poem individually to plan your response but when writing your response you need to integrate your ideas on all 3

INTEGRATING EACH POEM MOVE FROM ONE POEM TO THE OTHER THROUGHOUT ESSAY/START EACH PARAGRAPH WITH A TOPIC SENTENCE WHICH SUMMARISES HOW EACH POEM IS RELATED TO YOUR POINT All three poems demonstrate... Although the first poem has a positive tone, the second poem... Each of the poems takes a slightly different approach... The three poems contrast in... There is a similar description of... in two of the poems.

PLANNING YOUR RESPONSE 1.Read All 3 poems through carefully – get an overall sense of what each one is about and how poets handle their topics 2.Re-read poems and make brief notes around each one 3Note key words, phrases, images etc. and your response to them

4 Note down some brief quotations from each that you will use to illustrate your ideas 5 Or underline or circle them if you are writing on the copy of the poem 6 Make 2 lists – similarities and differences 7 List main points underneath each heading

WRITING YOUR RESPONSE Try to avoid writing an essay on each poem and then joining them together Best responses are those that integrate the ideas in parallel throughout the essay

WRITING YOUR RESPONSE ONE WAY TO APPROACH THIS…… Introductory paragraph –commenting on what each poem is about and capturing the ‘flavour’ of eachMain body- several paragraphs based on your detailed reading of the poems – good idea to make a point about poem A, then poem B then poem C Helps you to structure essay in a logical way E.g. one paragraph could compare the way each uses imagery while another paragraph could focus on structure etc.

CONCLUSION Concluding paragraph – summing up the main similarities and differences Saying which you find most effective and why Keep all 3 poems at the centre of your focus and don’t be tempted to write all about one then the other