How do you structure out a GCSE English Literature poem where you compare 1 Duffy 1 Armitage & 2 Pre 1914?

Question

I need help, I have revised every poem but I don’t know how to structure out the poem when it comes to the exam, how would I structure out the essay to get good marks,


E.g. intro, paragraph 1 etc ... (what would I do to make it flow and make it fully understandable)

Where would I place each poem, so they are all linked and get full marks?

the poems are from the anthology, duffy, armitage and pre 1914

Answer 1

how i did this was:
I wrote about each poem individually, then commented on the aspects of each that were similar or different and then gave an explanation of which author i felt had stuck to the pattern (rhyme or sonnett for example) consistently.

another method is to comment on each poem's structure, linking them by using phrases like, 'Duffy and Armitage use different writing styles due to the period in which they were writing'

what are the poems? I still have my Anthology so could probably help you loads??

Emma

Answer 2

Ok, this is what my teacher told me to do to get most possoble marks and to include everything ISLAP 1) Introduction-just say what the poems you will be talking baour are, who they are written by and about a line about what each poem is about. 2) Structure-compare the stuructures about the 4, or 2 poems, you could comment on the stanza shape, line lenghth, enjembment... BUT NOT ALL OF THE STRUCTURAL DEVICES YOU WILL WAST TOO MUCH TIME 3) Language-compare the linguistic devices about the 4, or 2 poems, you could comment on the mehaphors, similies, imagery... BUT NOT ALL OF THE STRUCTURAL DEVICES YOU WILL WAST TOO MUCH TIME 4) Attitudes-compare what the attitudes of the poets are and explain a different what the attitude is expressed in the poem 5)Personal response- say which poem you prefer and why, also just give a brief conclusion,-Overall both Carol ann duffy and armitage use utilise many different linguistic devices to express the feelings of jelousy, where armitage uses metaphors duffy uses... REMEMBER TO GIVE QUOTES AND ALWAYS LINK BACK TO THE QUESTION AT THE NED OF PARAGRAPHS AND ALSO USE COMPARING CONNECTIVES eg. correspondingly, whereas, on the other hand, similarly sorry about the spelling mistakes, in a bit of a rush.. Good luck

Answer 3

You can either write about each poem in a seperate paragraph or compare each feature of all the poems together.

You could do it this way...:
- Para 1: Intro
- Para 2: Write about the language - that means imagery, personification, oxymorons, metaphor, simile...etc
- Para 3: Write about the structure of all the poems
- Para 4: Write about the Tone of all the poems
- Para 5: Your personal response to the poems
- Para 6: Final conclusion

Answer 4

Hi,

As far as I can see you have two choices:
Order by poem
Order by concept.

It's a tricky one. I would think that ordering it by concept would allow you to be more critical/analytical, so that is probably what I would do if I thought I had enought time and enough to say. I would consider each concept, comparing and discussing each poem.

I am not sure what your exam mark scheme would be so refer to that more than anything else, but as a rough guide I would go for...

Intro (fairly long): Which poems you're studying, authors, background and eras, what you will consider in your essay.
Para 1 - Themes (war, peace, love, gender, death ...)
Para 2 - Structure
Para 3 - Literary devices, rhyme, alliteration, metaphor etc..
Para 4 - Meaning w reference to background/context and above
Conclusion - How effectively message is conveyed, key similarity and difference.


It is totally going to depend on the question, but if it is a standard compare and contrast I'd tackle it like that (roughly.)

Good luck in your exams.

Answer 5

hi!
i also got the exam 2mrw.. im kinda nervious now..
in my opinion in ur intro u should say 1 sentence about the theme like death, love, u know.. and then u just write about all four poems in general like 2 sentences per poem.
then u do structure paragraph and in this one u can say what is happening in each stanza or u can say somethin about use of enjambments, alliteration, assonance..
then u do ph about the language.. this includes metaphors, similes, etc.. well, my english teacher said that if u pick only one metaphor from he poem an write about it a LOT then u can get really gd marks.. well that is what i do and i get pritty gd marks for my english essays.
in the fourth ph u say stuff about attitutes of the persona
and in the conclusion u just say ur opinion
DONT FORGET!!! always compare the poems !!!!

Answer 6

you have to coss refrence poems 2 get good marks. i believe the best ways is
1) Subject- write a short description (one sentence) of what each poem is about
2) Theme- what are the main ideas in the poems?
3) Meaning- is each poem straightforward or ambigious in meaning? what do u think it means?
4) Viewpoint- what is the viewpoint?
5) Tone and mood- Comment on each poems tone n mood. does either poem make any use of humour or irony?
6) Interenting Details- comment on any details which you find interesting in the poems
7) Structure and form- Describe the structures and the form of the poems- look at such things as rhyme, rhythm, stanza form
8) Key images- look for the key images in each poem. in each say
- what the image is
-what it means
-how it works in the poem
9) Other technical features- are there any other technical feautures, such as contrast, colloquialism or wordplay?
10) Personal Response- give your own response to the poems, with reasons.

Answer 7

OK, what you do is you choose the poem your least strong on, aka the one you want to talk about least of out of the four you chose for the theme (eg nature, death etc). your weakest poem is the one ull talk about least, right at the end. then, choose two of the other, stronger ones (your favourite two) and write about those two, comparing them as you go, commenting on the three main areas of a basic essay (so ur intro, structure, language, attitudes/feelings and conclusion). then u write about ur third favourite poem, go through the whole intro - conclusion thing, but without any comparison, just that poem. finally, write a paragraph on ur least favourite poem, covering the basic points, before summarising all four poems at the end. (oh, and it doesn't hurt to briefly explain the theme in your introduction either!) good luck!!

Answer 8

yeah i cant do that either! i have an exam tomorrow! do you put language and imagery in the same paragraph?
and...do you just say like "the poet uses sensory imagery, for example "warm light and bright earth" and this adds to the positve tone he uses to describe war" and then move on to the next point? i dont know how to answer this coz i missed poetry lol :S

Answer 9

my english teachr said not 2 do each poem individually!!!!!!!!!! you have 2 compare them in EVERY paragraph 2 get good marks, and she said to get top marks you could bring in a third poem for reference every onece in a while! good luck! i have my english lit exam on tuesday! ahhhhhh