How to answer the poetry question Look again at The Badger by John Clare and Foxes Among the Lambs by Ernest G Moll. With close reference to the ways each poet uses language, compare and contrast what the speakers in the poems say about nature. You should include relevant contextual material. Which poem do you find more interesting? Give reasons for your opinions.

Say a LOT about a little.

Writing your introduction Make a general introduction about both poems The cruelty which exists within nature is explored in John Clare’s The Badger and Ernest G Moll’s Foxes among the Lambs. Clare vividly describes the communal violence which is inflicted upon a badger by ‘a host of dogs and men’. In the second poem, Moll presents the personal vendetta which the narrator, a farmer, has against a fox who has maimed his lambs and which results in the fox’s agonising death by ‘strychnine’.

How to compare Five steps for each point. Make a linked point referring to both poems. Give evidence and explanation from the first poem. Linking phrase. Give evidence and explanation from the second poem. Further analysis of both texts.

Make a linked point referring to both poems. Both poets effectively enable the reader to visualise the cruelty which is inflicted upon nature; particularly through their use of vivid detail. Give evidence and explanation from the first poem. In The Badger the hunted animal is tortured mercilessly by both man and beast until ‘He falls as dead and kicked by boys and men’. The badger displays tenacity as he rises and ‘drives the crowd agen’ but his death is inevitable as he lies ‘kicked and torn and beaten’. The use of verbs in the penultimate line enable us to imagine the destruction to his body. The word ‘and’ is repeated here and effectively conveys the relentlessness of the physical abuse endured by the badger. Linking phrase. In comparison, Foxes Among Lambs shares this view that man and nature live in disharmony, which will often result in brutality by man upon beast. Give evidence and explanation from the second poem. For instance, Further analysis of both texts. The descriptions of the agonising deaths of both animals are made more powerful through the descriptions of both creatures’ death cries. In The Badger the use of onomatopoeia in the final line adds to the montage of cruelty he suffers, where his dying ‘cackles’ and ‘groans’ are heard. Furthermore, in the second poem, the poisoned fox makes ‘a wild cry with death and terror in it’ which exemplifies the pain which this animal is also in and emphasises the cruel nature of this punishment.

Try and make at least 2-3 points of comparison. Then move on to contrasting (differences). This should also have 2-3 points, done in the same way as your comparison section. Introduce this part of the essay with However, the poets take a different approach when __________________ On the other hand, there is a sharp contrast in ________ between the 2 poems.

Summarise your main points of comparison. Summarise your main points which contrast. Tie it all up!