1. IGCSE 2017 Unseen poetry
Wednesday, 07 November 2018

2. FORMAT OF QUESTION Always “modern”
Bullet points assist in structuring response.
Spend about 45 mins on the question.
Required to have a personal response.
Not required to play “i-spy devices” but to engage with the language and its effects.
AQA GCSE: In preparing for the unseen poetry section of the examination students should experience a wide range of poetry in order to develop their ability to closely analyse unseen poems. They should be able to analyse and compare key features such as their content, theme, structure and use of language.

3. APPROACH Read the question and underline any key points.
The bullets are there to help you–use to them.
Reading 1 – annotate simply – look for powerful language or unusual effects using structure, punctuation or language.
Reading 2 – Find the VOICE and SITUATION. Who is speaking and does the situation produce a recognisable tone – angry, sad, scared…?

4. VOICE and SITUATION Who is speaking? Consider person…
What is their perspective on the matters under discussion?
SITUATION (or setting):
Where, when (era), when (hour), who is involved, what actually happens.

5. Now you can develop further.
Language is used to create images.
Simple imagery (literal imagery) tells the reader “as it is”. It can be very direct and effective.
More complex or “figurative” imagery uses metaphor or simile, for example and presents more challenging images that require the reader to respond to suggestion.
It is vital that you comment on the effect of language choice rather than offer bland platitudes of the “makes the reader think” variety.

6. If in Doubt:
Look for the anomalies: they are interesting and will probably be important…
Single line stanzas, very short lines, powerful images, sudden polysyllabic words, sudden rhyme or absence of rhyme, unexpected repetition…

7. And finally -
Respond – what do you feel?
Trust your intuition.

8. This is the title_ it is relevant. What ideas does it produce for you?
An essay question
HOW does the poet create a feeling of solitude in the poem: ‘Stopping by woods on a snowy evening?’
In your answer, focus on:
Descriptive skills
Choice of language
Use of structure and form
This is the title_ it is relevant. What ideas does it produce for you?
This question-stem tells you that this is an anlysis question and requires detailed discussion of the poet’s techniques and quotations to prove your points
This is the focus – try to remain fixed on this idea and don’t just waffle!

9. Descriptive skills : use of the senses
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”: Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer 5  To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. 10  The only other sounds the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, 15  And miles to go before I sleep.
Descriptive skills : use of the senses
Language choice
Structure and form

10. My ‘way in’
SCASI
Setting
Character
Action
Style
Ideas

11. Setting Setting: Where - is there a micro setting? when (time of day)
‘here’ a precise location in the woods- ‘fill up with snow’: snow hides detail and is cold and forbidding; it cuts one off
Woods are suggestive of a maze, or a dangerous location
The narrator has no house and is cut off from the village
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”: Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer 5  To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. 10  The only other sounds the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, 15  And miles to go before I sleep.
Setting:
Where - is there a micro setting?
when (time of day)
Pathetic Fallacy
‘without a farmhouse near’
The lake is ‘frozen’ –lifeless and it is the ‘darkest evening’ suggesting isolation, potential danger and nearing death, perhaps
Lovely, dark and deep – note word order- deep –potential for isolation
He craves this loneliness but has to move on – repetition accentuates his sadness and the distance. NOTE potential metaphor: Darkness and sleep both link to death –is this a poem about a man craving release from the world?

12. Reverts to original persona
Character
First person narrator/persona. Internal thoughts presented on paper. Uncertainty in the oxymoron.
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer 5  To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. 10  The only other sounds the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, 15  And miles to go before I sleep.
His: the antagonist- Might this be God? If so, why? And what other readings are there?
Character 3: The horse is thinking and becomes a character in its own right
The horse is impatient –does not share the same thoughts as the rider. Personification.
Reverts to original persona

13. The horse tries to communicate. A vigorous movement
Action
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer 5  To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. 10  The only other sounds the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, 15  And miles to go before I sleep.
Stopping to watch: a voyeur pause sin the middle of an unspecified journey. Unusual, emphasised in next stanza
The horse tries to communicate. A vigorous movement
The nature is ‘easy and ‘downy’: peaceful and soft. The sound is ‘sweep’ – again gentle in this context.
Note that he does not set off, simply repeats the idea of a long journey – his life must go on.

14. Style
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer 5  To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. 10  The only other sounds the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, 15  And miles to go before I sleep.

15. Whose woods these are I think I know
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer 5  To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. 10  The only other sounds the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, 15  And miles to go before I sleep.