1. Literature Paper – Poetry
Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage and Pre-1914 Poetry.
Literature Paper – Poetry

2. Examination Requirements
You have a choice of three questions in the exam – this is Section B of the literature paper and you need to focus on poems by Duffy and Armitage (or Heaney and Clarke), together with the pre-1914 poetry bank;
You need to be able to compare four poems in order to gain the higher grades in the exam;
You don’t need to give equal focus to all four poems – a ‘glancing reference’ to one or two poems is fine – as long as you are comparing all four poems;
You need to pick one poem by Duffy, one by Armitage and two pre-1914 poems;
The questions may name poems and ask you to choose other poems with which to make your comparison or you may have lists to choose from or alternatively you may have a two part question where you have to answer part a and then part b – don’t fall into the trap of thinking it is a or b and remember the best answers link both parts together effectively;
It is essential that you know the key theme of each poem in order to select quickly in the exam.

3. Remember…
You will be provided with an anthology in the exam… but you won’t have any of your notes – you need to know these poems inside out and to be able to form your own opinions about them.

4. Assessment Objectives
3.1 respond to texts critically, sensitively and in detail, using textual evidence as appropriate; 3.2 explore how language, structure and forms contribute to the meaning of texts, considering different approaches to texts and alternative interpretations; 3.3 explore relationships and comparisons between texts, selecting and evaluating relevant material.

5. Key Themes Death; Love; Relationships; Parent/child relationships;
Attitudes; …

6. Knowing the themes… Use the grid in your booklets;
Fill in details in all columns;
Now colour code the themes, this will help you to see instantly how poems can be grouped thematically.

7. Comparing… Choose a theme from the list;
Select four poems (remember the rule from earlier) that link to that theme;
Write a paragraph that compares all four poems in respect of how they present your chosen theme…

8. Preparation for the exam …
Practise writing paragraphs that link to key themes, in which you compare four poems;
Re-read the poems as much as possible, the more familiar you are with them, the easier it will be to write about them in the exam;
As long as you can back up your argument, your opinion of a poem can be justified – the more original the idea, the more likely the examiner will be impressed with what you have to say, they get fed up with reading the same thing about the same poems – aim to surprise them!

9. Top Tips for Literature Poetry ...

10. Some revision methods for the Literature Paper ...
Produce cards for each poem (or character from the novel), on the front of the card write the title of the poem (character name), the theme (which is relevant to that character) and a sentence which sums up the poem (character), you can also write down some key methods used by the poet on the poetry cards;
On the back of the card, write between 3 and 5 quotations – keep them brief, one of the worst things you can do in the examination response is to use quotations that are half a paragraph long, concise quotations show you are focused!
Use the list of essay questions in your revision booklets to practise planning. Allow yourself 15 minutes to begin with, then aim to cut the time it takes you to plan an essay down to 5 minutes – this is all the time you will have in the examination;
Use methods that work for you, think of a song that sums up each poem/character/chapter for you and create a revision play-list, draw cartoons to remind you of the story within each poem/chapter or draw mind-maps for groups of poems based on themes or a mind-map for the whole novel.

11. Example… Love
The poem ‘Havisham’ presents love in a destructive way as it focuses on the rejection of the speaker, “Beloved sweetheart bastard.” The juxtaposition of the terms shows the range of emotions experienced by the speaker and the change from love to hate. The phrase expresses the bitterness she feels. In slight contrast, ‘Mother any distance…’ (MAD) presents love in a slightly negative way, but between mother and son, as the son in the poem describes his mother pinching “the last one hundredth of an inch” of the tape measure, a metaphor for the umbilical chord that joins mother and child. The fact that she ‘pinches’ gives a sense of possessive love the mother feels for her son, not wanting to let him go; this seems to convey a sense of claustrophobia on the part of the son. The modern poems I have selected seem to show a negative side to love, whereas the pre-1914 poems, particularly ‘On My First Sonne’ (OMFS) and ‘Sonnet 130’ treat love in a more respectful way. ‘OMFS’ conveys the depth of love a father feels for his dead son when he claims he wishes he could ‘loose all father now’, this suggests that love ties him to the pain he feels at the death of his son and he wishes he could be freed from this. Without the depth of love, there would be no pain, which contrasts sharply to the sense of resentment in both ‘Havisham’ and ‘MAD’. ‘Sonnet 130’ conveys love in the most positive light of all the four poems. Despite the initial confusing criticism of his lover, Shakespeare is actually saying that he loves her deeply for who she is, despite her faults and that ‘Coral is far more red that her lips’ red’ showing that although he seems to put her in a negative light, he is showing how much he loves her for who she is, not the goddess status that other sonnet writers placed women in.