1. Poetry Across Time- 1 ¼ hours
Section A: Moon on the tide Anthology- Poetry of Conflict 45mins (36 marks)
Section B: Unseen Poetry analysis: 30 Minutes (18 marks)

2. Literature Key Skills
Show an understanding of the message/meaning of a text
Identify the key themes/ideas
Identify key features of language and structure:
language- similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, imagery, word choice etc
Structure- Repetition, sentence structure, sentence length, enjambment, foreshadowing, dramatic irony etc
Explain the effect on the reader
Compare texts (conflict poetry only)

3. What Not to Do! Don’t be vague! Don’t forget to answer the question!
Don’t forget to explain why the writer has used a technique!
Don’t forget to explain in detail!
Don’t forget to plan!

4. Meaning
Examiners report: “What some candidates find difficult is to link a comment on a feature of the writing with how it relates to what the writer is actually saying.”
Mark Scheme: AO2: Explain how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas themes and settings
Meaning
Meaning

5. Flag
The poem explores the dangers of how a flag can become a symbol of patriotism often to justify morally questionable actions

6. The Right Word
The poem explores how abstract words can be used to differentiate, define and divide people whereas we should seek for understanding and empathy

7. Futility
The poem explores the futility of life that only leads to death (especially in conflict). It asks why man even came into existence if he uses that existence to end life.

8. Falling Leaves
The poem uses the extended metaphor of falling leaves to represent the transitory nature of life and the tragedy of soldiers cut down in their prime

9. Mametz Wood
The poem explores the impact of conflict on the environment and the importance of remembering those who died without a voice

10. Bayonet Charge
The poem explores the brutal realities of war where the reasons and justifications for conflict become ‘luxuries’ in the face of the desperate fight for survival.

11. Out of the Blue
The poem focuses on the experience of the individual in a mass tragedy to try to help the reader empathise on a personal level in response to a large scale event.

12. Belfast Confetti
The poem explores how living in a place surrounded by conflict can dislocate and trap an individual leading them to lose a sense of their own identity

13. Poppies
The poem explores the response of a mother seeing her son go to war. It contrasts images of conflict with those of childhood, linking the idea of remembrance for those lost in conflict to the mother’s remembrance of the bond of childhood now lost.

14. Come on Come Back
The poem explores the devastating impact of war on the individual as something that you can not ‘come back’ from, while also emphasising the circularity and pointlessness of conflict.

15. Next to of course god…
The poem presents a speaker who is criticised by the poet for using patriotic rhetoric to justify the death of young soldiers. The confused dislocated style reflects the poet’s opinion that the speakers arguments are nonsensical.

16. Charge of the light brigade
The poem eulogises the heroic tragedy of soldiers sent to their death. It asks us to remember the sacrifice they made and honour the nobility of a heroic endeavour against the odds.

17. At the Border 1979
The poem explores the impact of conflict on refugees who have been separated from their homes. It looks at the patriotism and division caused by national and cultural boundaries, and emphasises the natural continuity of the landscape in contrast to the barriers mankind imposes.

18. The Yellow Palm
The poem juxtaposes the beauty of a culture/society in contrast with the ongoing impact of a conflict on the people and the place.

19. Hawk Roosting
The poem is a monologue from the point of view of a hawk. The hawk is portrayed as narcissistic and ruthless. He can be seen as representative of either a dictatorial leader or of the savagery of nature.

20. Themes Impact of conflict on a society/culture
Impact on the individual
Experience of conflict
Patriotism
Response to death
Remembrance
Attitudes created by conflict
Violence of conflict
Impact on nature

21. Approaching the question
4 Steps to success!
Step 1: Analyse the question
Step 2: Choose a poem
Step 3: Plan
Step 4: Write your essay!

22. Analyse the question
Compare how the poets write about death in Mametz Wood and one other poem

23. Choose a Poem Mametz Wood and… ?
Compare how the poets write about death in Mametz Wood and one other poem
Mametz Wood and… ?

24. Simple Essay Structure
Intro: What happens in the poems+ key themes + address the question.
Main body: Named poem/Poem 2
Language key quotes
Structure key quotes
Conclusion: What is the overall message of the poems? How do they deal with the theme of the question?
MEANING LS

25. Plan
Mametz Wood
Futility
Meaning- What is the message of the poem? How does this link to the question? Which quote sums up the poem?
Mametz wood- the way death has effected the landscape and the importance of remembering those who died without a voice. “have only now with this unearthing slipped from their absent tongues
Futility- The grief at the death of a friend which turns into anger at the nature of man’s destructive nature causing death where nature is aimed at producing life.
“what made the fatuous sunbeams toil”
Language- Which techniques have been used? Imagery etc.?
“The china plate of a shoulder blade” fragility of
soldiers/dehumanising
“whispering of fields half sown”- died too soon, assonance creates a sense of grief, nature disrupted.
Structure- Rhyme, rhythm, line length, stanza arrangement etc.
Uniform 3 line stanzas represent soldiers in grave
Juxtaposition between 1st and second stanza moves from grief/denial to anger
Conclusion: Both represent the tragedy of death. Futility is hopeful but leads to anger. Mametz wood shows the need for remembrance. Different attitudes due to when they were written? Futility more immediate?

26. PEEDCEED
Point- Link a feature you have spotted in poem 1 to the question.
Evidence- Short effective quote
Explain- What does the quote show (link to question)
Develop- Analyse what makes the quote effective (key words) and the impact on the reader
Compare- similarity/difference between how theme/idea in the question is presented in poem 2
Evidence-
Explain- SAME THING!
Develop-

27. PEEDCEED- Point Evidence Explain Develop Compare Evidence Explain Develop
In Mametz Wood one way the poet writes about death is… Evidence for this is “…” This shows… because … The words “…” are effective because… The effect on the reader is…
Similarly/in contrast in Futility one way the poet writes about death is… Evidence for this is “…” This shows… because … The words “…” are effective because… The effect on the reader is…

28. Your Task: Produce a plan for the question below
Compare how poets present the experience of Soldiers in Bayonet Charge and one other poem (36 marks)

29. Plan
What is the overall message of the poems? How do they deal with the theme of the question?
Poem 1
Poem 2
Meaning
Language
Structure

30. Unseen Poetry
30 minutes (18 marks)

31. Re-cap: Key Literature Skills
Show an understanding of the message/meaning of a text
Identify the key themes/ideas
Identify key features of language and structure:
language- similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, imagery, word choice etc
Structure- Repetition, sentence structure, sentence length, enjambment, foreshadowing, dramatic irony etc
Explain the effect on the reader
Compare texts (conflict poetry only)

32. Format of Question Foundation- 2 parts:
Part a) will ask you to show your understanding of a theme/idea in the poem
Part b) will ask you to explain how the poet has presented this theme/idea
Higher- 1 question but it will still ask you to show understanding of a key idea and then explain the methods used to present it!

33. Approaching the Unseen Poetry
5 Steps to success!
Step 1: Analyse the question
Step 2: Understand the poem
Step 3: Annotate the poem (LIES/FLIRTS/SMILE etc.)
Step 4: Plan your essay
Step 5: Write your essay!

34. Example plan- Does your planning look like this?

35. Analyse the question Question: answer both parts A and B: Part (a)
What is the significance of water in the poem?
And
Part (b)
How does the poet present the importance of water in the poem?

36. What is the poem about? (meaning)
Blessing:
The skin cracks like a pod. There never is enough water. Imagine the drip of it, the small splash, echo in a tin mug, the voice of a kindly god. Sometimes, the sudden rush of fortune. The municipal pipe bursts, silver crashes to the ground and the flow has found a roar of tongues. From the huts, a congregation : every man woman child for streets around butts in, with pots, brass, copper, aluminium, plastic buckets, frantic hands, and naked children screaming in the liquid sun, their highlights polished to perfection, flashing light, as the blessing sings over their small bones.
Key Questions:
What happens in the poem?
What is the mood of the poem?
What does it make us think about?
What is the central message of the
poem?

37. Annotate the poem (LIES)
Blessing:
The skin cracks like a pod. There never is enough water. Imagine the drip of it, the small splash, echo in a tin mug, the voice of a kindly god. Sometimes, the sudden rush of fortune. The municipal pipe bursts, silver crashes to the ground and the flow has found a roar of tongues. From the huts, a congregation : every man woman child for streets around butts in, with pots, brass, copper, aluminium, plastic buckets, frantic hands, and naked children screaming in the liquid sun, their highlights polished to perfection, flashing light, as the blessing sings over their small bones.
Described as “silver” valuable
Image of water as a benign
Deity- shows importance
LIES
Excitement/joy water brings
“sings” shows overflow of
emotion
Long, list-like sentence
Shows frantic
excitement/ mirrors
Flow of water (contrast to
Start)

38. Plan your essay MEANING LIES
Intro: (part a) What happens in the poem+ how is the key theme/idea mentioned in the question presented?
Main body: (part b)
Language key quote
Imagery key quote
Emotion key quote
Structure key quote
Conclusion: What is the overall message of the poems? How do they deal with the theme of the question?
MEANING
LIES

39. Plan
Intro (What is the poem about- Link to key words in the question):
Poem describes a pipe bursting in a village. Exciting/important event. The poem is about the importance of water in developing countries where it is scarce. The water is a blessing.
Main body (2-4 paras on techniques used):
Language key quote “The municipal pipe bursts, silver crashes to the ground”
Imagery key quote “the voice of a kindly god.”
Emotion key quote “as the blessing sings over their small bones.”
Structure key quote “butts in, with pots, brass, copper, aluminum, plastic buckets, frantic hands”
Conclusion: Makes us think about the importance of basic human needs (like water) which we take for granted. Shows how community can be brought together by good fortune. The importance of water is huge both for survival and as a positive force, a gift from God.

40. PEED/PEEA Format
Point: One way (key idea/theme in the question) is presented by the poet is…
Example: Evidence for this is “…”
Explain: This shows…
Develop/analyse:
The words “…” are effective because…
The effect on the reader is…

41. Exemplar
One way the importance of water is presented by the poet in Blessing is the use of the extended metaphor of water as a “blessing”. An example of this is “the blessing sings over their small bones”. This shows that water has almost a divine importance in their culture and that it is almost acting as a baptism, purifying the children. The word “sings” creates a jubilant, celebratory association with the water and the description of children with their “small bones” suggests the water is nurturing as well as linking it to the innocence and purity of youth. The effect on the reader is to emphasise the importance of water in developing countries and to make the point that something we see as abundant and common is actually extremely precious and valued in these societies, similar to a gift from God.
Address the question Evidence Technique
Explanation/analysis Effect on the reader

42. PEED Format
Point: One way (key idea/theme in the question) is presented by the poet is…
Example: Evidence for this is “…”
Explain: This shows…
Develop: The words “…” are effective because…
The effect on the reader is…