Which poem Why The Poetry Exam Friday 27

Which poem? Why?

The Poetry Exam Friday 27 th May 2016 25% of your LIT qualification Section A = Unseen - 20 marks – 45 minutes Section B = 1 comparison question on 2 Anthology poems - 30 marks – 1 hour

Year Single poem Comparison Theme June 2014 Belfast Confetti Exposure Conflict June 2013 Cousin Kate Catrin Conflict Jan 2013 Half Caste Parade’s end Prejudice June 2012 Conscientious objector Your Dad Did What? Death Jan 2012 Invasion Oh What is that sound? War June 2011 Our Sharpeville Belfast Confetti Violence

Half-caste Parade’s End For each poem you need to know 5 things: Belfast Confetti 1. 2. Exposure 3. Catrin 4. Your Dad Did What? 5. Our Sharpeville The Class Game Cousin Kate Without your anthology! Hitcher The Drum O What is that Sound Conscientious Objector August 6, 1945 Invasion Possible question topics. 2 language features to comment on. 2 structural features to comment on. Personal response Partner poems

Shopping Trolley Scoot down the aisles in my shopping trolley, I could go for miles in my shopping trolley. Never say excuse me, never say please, ram it in the back of someone’s knees. You really won’t believe your eyes, my shopping trolley’s been customised. It’s got bull bars, radio controls, engine in the back and it purrs like a Rolls. It’s got a Volvo chassis, a velvet seat, and around the store it can’t be beat. It does somersaults and big backflips. roly-polys and wheely dips. It goes over seventy miles per hour, flashing past in a burst of power. Scoot down the aisles in my shopping trolley, I could go for miles in my shopping trolley. Never say excuse me, never say please, ram it in the back of someone’s knees.

Section A Explore how Brian Moses presents his ideas about a Shopping Trolley (20 marks) • What happens in the poem (Cover the Meaning) • How the writer has organised the poem. (Structure) • How the writer uses language for effect. (Language) Idea about the Trolley 1 2 3 Poetic feature Personal response

MITS + P Meaning § what is the poem about? § who is the speaker? - are they dramatized (a character) § who is being spoken to or addressed? § what is being spoken about? § Theme(s) of the poem - what is it really about? § Setting/culture - where’s the poem set? Culture it is from/about? § where does the poem “get to” from start to end? Tone § How would the poem be spoken? (angry, sad, nostalgic, bitter, humorous etc) Imagery and language § Alliteration - the repeating of initial sounds. § Assonance - is the term used for the repetition of vowel sounds within consecutive words as in, 'rags of green weed hung down. . . '. § Metaphor - comparing two things by saying one is the other. § Simile - comparing two things saying one is like or as the other. § Personification - giving something non-human qualities. § Onomatopoeia - words that sound like thing they describe. § Repetition - does the poet repeat words or phrases? What kinds of words are used? § Puns - a pun is a play on words - “Shear Class!” if Shearer scores. §Adjectives - what are the key describing words? § Key words and phrases - do any of the words or phrases stand out? Do they shock? Are the words “violent” or “sad” etc? § Slang or unusual words and misspellings - Does the poet use slang or informal language? Are American words used ? Structure § Rhyme - is there a rhyme scheme? Couplets? Internal rhyme? § Rhythm - how many syllables per line? Is it regular or free verse? Why are some different lengths? § Stanzas - How many? How do they change? Is there a narrative? § Lines - how many are their in each verse? Do some stand out? § Enjambment - do the lines “run on” to the next line or stanza? § End stopping - does each line finish at the end of a sentence? § Form - does the poem have a shape to it? Personal Response § Complement, Criticise or say how you felt. Always link everything to meaning. Ask yourself how does this contributes to the meaning? Why has the poet used this technique?

3 paragraphs in 45 minutes Covering structure and language at least once.

Structure example – B grade How the topic is presented n o s T ent te m quo m co the wo Relevant quote Brian Moses presents the idea that the Shopping Trolley fast and makes the narrator aggressive. For example, “Never say excuse me/never say Ide please/ram it in the back/of someone’s knees. ” ntify fe The use of short lines creates a high tempo and at ur es presents the pace of the Trolley. Also the mixture of commas and enjambment in the third line emphasise how the narrator is moving through the aisles, aggressively dealing with obstacles. I like this use of structure because it helps create a humorous image of the Trolley and an entertaining shopping trip. Personal response

Language example How the topic is presented Relevant quote Id en tif n o s T ent te m quo m co the yf wo Personal response ea tu r es

Section B The Anthology

Year Single poem Comparison Theme June 2014 Belfast Confetti Exposure Conflict June 2013 Cousin Kate Catrin Conflict Jan 2013 Half Caste Parade’s end Prejudice June 2012 Conscientious objector Your Dad Did What? Death Jan 2012 Invasion Oh What is that sound? War June 2011 Our Sharpeville Belfast Confetti Violence

Half-caste Parade’s End For each poem you need to know 5 things: Belfast Confetti 1. 2. Exposure 3. Catrin 4. Your Dad Did What? 5. Our Sharpeville The Class Game Cousin Kate Without your anthology! Hitcher The Drum O What is that Sound Conscientious Objector August 6, 1945 Invasion Possible question topics. 2 language features to comment on. 2 structural features to comment on. Personal response Partner poems

Revision objectives 1. To develop links between the poems. 2. To develop practice questions for the class. 3. To demonstrate your knowledge and comparison skills.

Section B Question 3 (a) One poem is selected with a topic This should be the easy question of the whole exam. 3 (a) Explore how the writer conveys her thoughts and feelings about prejudice in The class game. Use evidence from the poem to support you’re answer.

Section B Question 3 A named poem compared with another poem of your choice. 3 (b) (i) Compare how the writers of ‘Class Game’ and one other poem of your choice present thoughts and feelings about prejudice in different ways.

Complete the Comparison Questions 1. Compare how the writers explore different feelings about prejudice in “Half Caste” and ________. 2. Compare how the writers explore different feelings about family in “Catrin” and _______. 3. Compare how the writers explore different actions against others in “Hitcher and _________. 4. Compare how the writers explore the different effects of war in “Exposure” and _________. 5. Compare how the writers explore different types of betrayal in “Cousin Kate” and __________. 6. Compare how the writers explore different ideas on violence in Belfast confetti and __________.

Compare how the writers explore different feelings about prejudice in “Half Caste” and “Parade’s End” Half Caste 1. Feeling about prejudice= passionate – celebrate mixed race 2. Poetic feature = Metaphor - piano 3. Analysis = Mixing keys = mixing race positive 4. Personal response = Compliment – memorable way to present prejudice. Connective: Different = In contrast Parade’s End 1. Feeling about prejudice= Sadness – terrible treatment 2. Poetic feature = Metaphor - car 3. Analysis = Destruction of car = destruction of family 4. Personal response = Angry – terrible situation

P E E L John Agard uses metaphors to express his passion and belief that mixed race people should be celebrated not discriminated against. An example of this is the lines, “When yu say half-caste/yu mean Tchaikovsky/sit down at dah piano/an mix a black key/wid a white key/is a half-caste symphony? ” Agard uses a metaphor to compare the mixture of race to the mixture of keys on a piano. He is suggesting that Tchaikovsky’s ‘symphony’ is celebrated and acclaimed and the same should be done with mixed race people. In my opinion Agard successfully uses this metaphor because not only does it emphasise that prejudice towards a race shouldn't be tolerated but the comparison is memorable and makes intelligent links to an expected subject. In Contrast Daljit Nagra uses metaphors to express his sadness at the racial treatment of the family. An example of this is the line, “From gold to the brown of our former colour. ” Nagra is comparing the destruction of the car to the racial torment of the family. The words ‘former colour’ suggest that they have given up trying to be something they are not. Prejudice has blocked their social mobility. In my opinion the poet is successful at creating sadness with this metaphor because it emphasises how the family have surrendered to racism and can’t escape their situation. It also makes the reader feel angry that they have to put up with this treatment. Example

Comparison Questions for Practice 1. Compare how the writers explore different feelings about prejudice in “Half Caste” and “Parade’s End” 2. Compare how the writers explore different feelings about family in “Catrin” and “Cousin Kate” 3. Compare how the writers explore different actions against others in “Hitcher and “Cousin Kate” 4. Compare how the writers explore the different effects of war in “Exposure” and “August 6, 1945” 5. Compare how the writers explore different types of betrayal in “Cousin Kate” and “o What is that Sound” OR – take the first poem in the question and choose the second poem yourself.

Section A – 45 minutes An Unseen poem 1. Read and highlight the question. 2. Read the poem 3. Annotate for poetic techniques. (MITSL) 4. Bullet point plan ideas on the question making sure you cover meaning, language and structure. 5. Write 3 -4 paragraphs focusing on different poetic techniques and always addressing the question 6. Give a personal response to the poem – compliment, criticise or your feelings.

*1 Explore how Rossetti presents ideas related to death in ‘Remember. ’ Use evidence from the poem to support your answer. (Total for Question 1 = 20 marks) TOTAL FOR SECTION A = 20 MARKS Remember By Christina Rossetti Essay plan Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you plann'd: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad. Ideas about death: Technique(s): Quotes: Analysis: Personal response:

*1 Explore how Judith Nicholls presents the arrival of winter and its effect on the world. Use evidence from the poem to support your answer. (Total for Question 1 = 20 marks) Winter crept through the whispering wood, hushing fir and oak; crushed each leaf and froze each web – but never a word he spoke. Winter prowled by the shivering sea, lifting sand stone; nipped each limpet silently – and then moved on. Winter raced down the frozen stream, catching at his breath; on his lips were icicles, at his back was death. Judith Nicholls

Section B Question 3 30 marks Clashes and Collisions 1. One poem from the anthology will be selected. 2. You have to select another poem to compare it with. 3. The question will be on a key theme or idea in that poem. 4. You have to compare how the idea/theme is presented in the selected poem and your chosen poem. 5. Comment on poetic techniques in your answer. 6. Give a personal response in your answer. 7. 4 paragraphs. 8. Use connectives to start new paragraphs.

Year Single poem Comparison Theme June 2014 Belfast Confetti Exposure Conflict June 2013 Cousin Kate Catrin Conflict Jan 2013 Half Caste Parade’s end Prejudice June 2012 Conscientious objector Your Dad Did What? Death Jan 2012 Invasion Oh What is that sound? War June 2011 Our Sharpeville Belfast Confetti Violence

Half-caste Parade’s End For each poem you need to know 5 things: Belfast Confetti 1. 2. Exposure 3. Catrin 4. Your Dad Did What? 5. Our Sharpeville The Class Game Cousin Kate Hitcher The Drum O What is that Sound Conscientious Objector August 6, 1945 Invasion Possible question topics. 2 language features to comment on. 2 structural features to comment on. Personal response Partner poems

Hitcher I'd been tired, under the weather, but the ansaphone kept screaming: One more sick-note, mister, and you're finished. Fired. I thumbed a lift to where the car was parked. A Vauxhall Astra. It was hired. I picked him up in Leeds. He was following the sun to west from east with just a toothbrush and the good earth for a bed. The truth he said, was blowin' in the wind, or round the next bend. I let him have it on the top road out of Harrogate - once with the head, then six times with the krooklok in the face - and didn't even swerve. I dropped it into third and leant across to let him out, and saw him in the mirror bouncing off the kerb, then disappearing down the verge. We were the same age, give or take a week. He'd said he liked the breeze to run its fingers through his hair. It was twelve noon. The outlook for the day was moderate to fair. Stitch that, I remember thinking, you can walk from there. For each poem you need to know 5 things: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

The physical Weather Surroundings Events The emotional Boredom Despair Futility Spirituality Shock Weather + Irony Personification Exposure Weather + Sibilance + Personification Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us… Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent… Low, drooping flares confuse our memories of the salient… Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous, Sibilance But nothing happens. Weather + Personification Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire, Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles. Northward, incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles, Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war. What are we doing here? Nature Detached - bored The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow… We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy. Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey, But nothing happens. Personification – who is ‘her’? Lists

Trapped between life and death Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence. Soft sounds vs. violent images Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow, Sibilance + Alliteration ‘S’ + ‘F’ With sidelong fl owing flakes that flock, pause, and renew, We watch them wandering up and down the wind’s nonchalance, But nothing happens. animalistic Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces – We cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams, and stare, snow-dazed, ABBAC – half rhymes Deep into grassier ditches. So we drowse, sun-dozed, Littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses. Is it that we are dying? Trapped between life and death Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires, glozed With crusted dark-red jewels; crickets jingle there; For hours the innocent mice rejoice: The house is theirs; Shutters and doors, all closed: on us the doors are closed, – We turn back to our dying. Repetition of ‘Doors’ – symbolic? Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn; Nor ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit. Structure – Last line? For God’s invincible spring our love is made afraid; Therefore, not loath, we lie out here; therefore were born, For love of God seems dying. Tonight, His frost will fasten on this mud and us, Shrivelling many hands, puckering foreheads crisp. The burying party, picks and shovels in the shaking grasp, Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice, But nothing happens. Repetition x 4 Weather

Your Dad Did What? Iambic pentameter Quatrains – link to teacher? Where they have been, if they have been away, or what they’ve done at home, if they have not – you make them write about the holiday. One writes My Dad did. What? Your Dad did what? Brackets – shows what? That’s not a sentence. Never mind the bell. We stay behind until the work is done. You count their words (you who can count and spell); all the assignments are complete bar one Grammatical error – Teacher? Forgotten, busy Italics Rhyme scheme ABAB Repetition – link to the title and though this boy seems bright, that one is his. He says he’s finished, doesn’t want to add anything, hands it in just as it is. No change. My Dad did. What? What did his Dad? You find the ‘E’ you gave him as you sort through reams of what this girl did, what that lad did, and read the line again, just one ‘e’ short: Repetition of the This holiday was horrible. My Dad did. letter E – what does it symbolise?

First person Cousin Kate narrative I was a cottage maiden Hardened by sun and air Contented with my cottage mates, Not mindful I was fair. Why did a great lord find me out, And praise my flaxen hair? Why did a great lord find me out, To fill my heart with care? Relationships Gender Society Jealousy Regret Revenge Repetition of Questions He lured me to his palace home Woe's me for joy thereof. Oxymoron To lead a shameless shameful life, His plaything and his love. He wore me like a silken knot, He changed me like a glove; Similes x 2 So now I moan, an unclean thing, Who might have been a dove. Metaphor O Lady Kate, my cousin Kate, You grew more fair than I: He saw you at your father's gate, Chose you, and cast me by. He watched your steps along the lane, Alliteration Your work among the rye; He lifted you from mean estate To sit with him on high. Metaphoric Because you were so good and pure Contrast He bound you with his ring: The neighbors call you good and pure, Call me an outcast thing. Even so I sit and howl in dust, Animal imagery You sit in gold and sing: Now which of us has tenderer heart? You had the stronger wing. O cousin Kate, my love was true, Your love was writ in sand: If he had fooled not me but you, Alternate line rhyme If you stood where I stand, He'd not have won me with his love Nor bought me with his land; I would have spit into his face Past tense And not have taken his hand. Yet I've a gift you have not got, Metaphor And seem not like to get: For all your clothes and wedding-ring I've little doubt you fret. My fair-haired son, my shame, my pride, Oxymoron Cling closer, closer yet: Your father would give his lands for one To wear his coronet.

Section B Question 3 30 marks Clashes and Collisions 1. A poem from Clashes and collisions will be selected. 2. You have to select a suitable poem to compare it with. 3. The question will be on a key theme or idea in both poems. 4. You have to compare how the two poems present theme/idea differently. 5. Comment on poetic techniques in your answer. 6. Give a personal response in your answer. 7. 4 paragraphs.

The Class Game How can you tell what class I’m from? I can talk posh like some With an ‘Olly in me mouth Down me nose, wear an ‘at not a scarf With me second-hand clothes. So why do you always wince when you hear Me say ‘Tara’ to me ‘Ma’ instead of ‘Bye Mummy dear’? How can you tell what class I’m from? ‘Cos we live in a corpy, not like some In a pretty little semi, out Wirral way And commute into Liverpool by train each day? did I drop my unemployment card Sitting on your patio (We have a yard)? How can you tell what class I’m from? Have I a label on me head, and another on me bum? Or is it because my hands are stained with toil? Instead of soft lily-white with perfume and oil? Don’t I crook me little finger when I drink me tea Say toilet instead of bog when I want to pee? Why do you care what class I’m from? Does it stick in your gullet like a sour plum? Well, mate! A cleaner is me mother A docker is me brother Bread pudding is wet nelly And me stomach is me belly And I’m proud of the class that I come from. Mary Casey

Parade’s end Dad parked our Granada, champagne-gold by our superstore on Blackstock Road, my brother’s eyes scanning the men who scraped the pavement frost to the dole, one ‘got on his bike’ over the hill or the few who warmed us a thumbs-up for the polished recovery of our new-sprayed car. Council mums at our meat display nestled against a pane with white trays swilling kidneys, liver and a sandy block of corned beef, loud enough about the way darkies from down south Come op ta Yorksha, mekkin claaims on aut theh can befor buggrin off theh flash caahs! At nine, we left the emptied till open, clicked the dials of the safe. Bolted two metal bars across the back door (with a new lock). Spread trolleys at ends of the darkened aisles. Then we pressed the code for the caged alarm and rushed the precinct to check it was throbbing red. Thundering down the graffiti of shutters against the valley of high-rise flats. Ready for the getaway to our cul-de-sac’d semi-detached, until we stood stock –still: watching the car skin pucker, bubbling smarts of acid. In the unstoppable pub-roar from the John O’Gaunt across the forecourt. We returned up to the shop, lifted a shutter, queued at the sink, walked down again. Three of us, each carrying pans of cold water. Then we swept away the bonnet-leaves from gold to the brown of our former colour.

How to start Mary Casey presents the idea/feeling_________________ in the poem ‘The class game’. One way she achieves this is with the use of______. For example, “__________________. ” - 2/3 interpretations /comments - Personal response In contrast Daljit Nagra presents the idea/feeling_________________ in the poem ‘Parade’s end’. One way he achieves this is with the use of______. For example, “__________________. ” - 2/3 interpretations /comments - Personal response