How Are We Supposed To Do It?

AO1• respond to texts critically and imaginatively; select and evaluate relevant textual detail to illustrateand support interpretations (WHAT ARE THE IDEAS, ISSUES, FEELINGS, THEMES?)

AO2• explain how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas, themes and settings

These are the only two assessment objectives for Section B (Unseen Poetry)They carry equal weighting

Now you just need to think about how to write it to show the examiner your skills

Some facts:• You will write for 30 minutes in

response to the unseen question.

• You should plan for 5 minutes, write for 20 minutes and check for 5 minutes.

• You should aim to write 5-7 paragraphs key ideas in this time.

You have 5 minutes

To create your perfect pizza…• What will it look like?• What toppings will be

on it?• Be adventurous!

Cheese burger and chips pizza anyone?

Think of approaching the unseen like making a pizza…..

There are certain things you need to have: base, tomato sauce, cheese

So what three things would you definitely need to put into your answer to make it successful?

But if you add extra toppings (details) you would have a incredibly exciting feast.

So what other elements would you add to your answer to make it an extra special response?

Your basic ingredients and your special toppings – make a note of your ingredients

• Meaning – what are the ideas/themes/issues/feelings that the poem explores.• Main Structure/Form points– how does it look on the page? • Main Language and Techniques – that are used to explore the

ideas/feelings/themes. Inc. Diction - Are there any words or phrases that you find interesting? And Imagery – Some of the words and phrases you have used create a visual image. What are these visual images and what do they make you think of?

• Personal Response – how does the poem make you feel? What do you think it’s about? What are you meant to learn from this?

• Voice – What type and tone of voice do you imagine? who is speaking in the poem? What is the persona of the poem? Why do they stand out to?

• Title – what does the title make you think? How does it link to the poem?• Opening and Closing lines are really important – how do they link with the title?• Other, more detailed observations about structure eg What lines seem to really

stand out? Any very long or very short lines? What are the stanzas like? Any differences in the length and why?

• Other, more detailed observations about language and techniques eg alliteration.

Putting it all into practice

• You now have an “unseen” poem. • Read it and read the question about the poem.• Use ‘pizza topping’ method to make 5-7 key

comments about the poem.

Havisham by Carol Ann Duffy Beloved sweetheart bastard. Not a day since thenI haven't wished him dead, Prayed for itso hard I've dark green pebbles for eyes, ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with.  

Spinster. I stink and remember. Whole days in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall; the dress yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe; the slewed mirror, full-length, her, myself, who did this  

to me? Puce curses that are sounds not words. Some nights better, the lost body over me, my fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear then down till I suddenly bite awake. Love's  

hate behind a white veil; a red balloon burstingin my face. Bang. I stabbed at a wedding-cake. Give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon. Don't think it's only the heart that b-b-b-breaks.

How does the person feel about the person they are speaking about? What techniques does Duffy use to present these feelings?

We’ll discuss this using one box at a time and fill them in after each discussion…

Key Term What does it mean? Why is it used?

Stanza Verse

Simile Comparison using “like” or “as”

Metaphor Comparison -saying something is something it is not

Personification Something non-human is given human characteristics

Onomatopoeia A word that replicates the sound it describes

Alliteration: Two initial sounds repeated close together

•Sibilance The S- sound

•Plosives The P and B-sound

•Fricatives The F and TH sound

Assonance Repetition of vowels

Enjambment Sentences run on across verses

Rhyme Same Endings

Rhythm Beat

Tone Feel

Juxtaposition Placing close together

Hyperbole Exaggeration

Euphemism Kind or nice version

Cliché Overused phrase

Oxymoron Two word phrase that contradicts

Meaning Main Structure/Form Points

Main Language and Techniques Personal Response

Extra topping 1 Extra Topping 2

The Next Unseen Poem…

Nettles

My son aged three fell in the nettle bed.'Bed' seemed a curious name for those green spears,That regiment of spite behind the shed:It was no place for rest. With sobs and tearsThe boy came seeking comfort and I sawWhite blisters beaded on his tender skin.We soothed him till his pain was not so raw.At last he offered us a watery grin,And then I took my billhook, honed the bladeAnd went outside and slashed in fury with itTill not a nettle in that fierce paradeStood upright any more. And then I litA funeral pyre to burn the fallen dead,But in two weeks the busy sun and rainHad called up tall recruits behind the shed:My son would often feel sharp wounds again.

1. Use the techniques sheet to annotate the poem. It is not exhaustive and you should be able to find more.

2. Write the techniques into the boxes.

3. Fill in the remaining boxes.

Meaning Main Structure/Form Points

Main Language and Techniques Personal Response

Extra topping 1 Extra Topping 2

Key Term What does it mean? Why is it used?

Stanza Verse

Simile Comparison using “like” or “as”

Metaphor Comparison -saying something is something it is not

Personification Something non-human is given human characteristics

Onomatopoeia A word that replicates the sound it describes

Alliteration: Two initial sounds repeated close together

•Sibilance The S- sound

•Plosives The P and B-sound

•Fricatives The F and TH sound

Assonance Repetition of vowels

Enjambment Sentences run on across verses

Rhyme Same Endings

Rhythm Beat

Tone Feel

Juxtaposition Placing close together

Hyperbole Exaggeration

Euphemism Kind or nice version

Cliché Overused phrase

Oxymoron Two word phrase that contradicts

Key Term What does it mean? Why is it used?

Stanza Verse

Simile Comparison using “like” or “as”

Metaphor Comparison -saying something is something it is not

Personification Something non-human is given human characteristics

Onomatopoeia A word that replicates the sound it describes

Alliteration: Two initial sounds repeated close together

•Sibilance The S- sound

•Plosives The P and B-sound

•Fricatives The F and TH sound

Assonance Repetition of vowels

Enjambment Sentences run on across verses

Rhyme Same Endings

Rhythm Beat

Tone Feel

Juxtaposition Placing close together

Hyperbole Exaggeration

Euphemism Kind or nice version

Cliché Overused phrase

Oxymoron Two word phrase that contradicts

Finally, do one as a group.

1.Fill in the first box2.Discuss your answers as a group,

filling yours in with anything that comes from the discussion that you missed.

3.Fill in the second box4.Etc

Shall I compare you to a summer's day?

You are more lovely and more constant:

Rough winds shake the beloved buds of May

And summer is far too short:

At times the sun is too hot,

Or often goes behind the clouds;

And everything beautiful sometime will lose its beauty,

By misfortune or by nature's planned out course.

But your youth shall not fade,

Nor will you lose the beauty that you possess;

Nor will death claim you for his own,

Because in my eternal verse you will live forever.

So long as there are people on this earth,

So long will this poem live on, making you immortal.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Mon • B Hol

Thur• Style – lot about a little etc

Fri• Test – How to eat a poem

Then 3 weeks poetry from anthology