Unseen Poetry Anthology 8us

Unseen Poetry

Name:__________________________________________ __ Class:___________________________________________ __ Teacher:________________________________________ 1 __

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Unseen Poetry Typical Questions: What feelings does the narrator of the poem have about his students and his job as a teacher and how does Lawrence convey these feelings to the reader? 1. The first part of the question will ask you to think about the meaning and tone of the poem. Try to use a wide range of adjectives to sum up the feelings e.g. nostalgic, melancholy,

thoughtful, dreamy, romantic, hopeless etc. and use evidence to your points. AO1. 2. The second part of the question will ask you to think about the methods used e.g. LANGUAGE, STRUCTRE, IMAGERY. AO2. Methods •

Don’t worry too much if you cannot the name for a method/technique – if you think the quotation is interesting and powerful use it anyway and talk about the effect of the words. Refer to it as ‘emotive language’.

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Methods: to write about STRUCTURE as well as LANGUAGE and IMAGERY.

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MITSL – Meaning/Imagery/Tone/Structure/Language = My Itchy Toes Smell Loads.

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What to Do in the Exam Read the question before you read the poem – it will give you a clue for what to look for.

Read the poem through once and highlight words and phrases that stand out and that you think are interesting.

Read the poem through a second time and this time LABEL techniques and features.

Read the poem through a third time looking for more techniques and annotate the effect of the techniques around the poem.

Answer the question carefully aiming to write at least two sides of detailed analysis.

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Proofread your answer carefully – make sure you have used a wide range of quotations. What to Do if You Get Really Stuck…

 Count the number of lines in each verse. Does the number of lines in each verse change? Think of a reason for this.  Look at the punctuation !?... Think of a reason for why the punctuation has been used.  Look for a semantic field – what mood/feeling does it create?  Focus on individual words. Which words really stand out – what might be the effect?

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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 tears The boy came seeking comfort and I saw White 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 blade And went outside and slashed in fury with it Till not a nettle in that fierce parade Stood upright any more. And then I lit A funeral pyre to burn the fallen dead, But in two weeks the busy sun and rain Had called up tall recruits behind the shed: My son would often feel sharp wounds again.

Vernon Scannell

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Meaning

MITSL: Nettles Meaning, Imagery, Tone, Structure, Language (My Itchy Toes Smell Loads)

Always link everything to meaning. Ask yourself how does this contributes to the meaning? Why has the poet used this technique?

Structure

Tone

Language

Imagery

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Welltread Welltread was the Head and the Head’s face was a fist. Yes, I’ve got him. Spelling and Punishment. A big brass bell dumb on his desk till only he shook it, and children ran shrieking in the locked yard. Mr Welltread, Sir . He meant well. They all did then. The loud, inarticulate dads the mothers who spat on hankies and rubbed you away. but Welltread looked like a gangster. Welltread stalked the forms, collecting thrupenny bits in a soft black hat.

We prayed for Aberfan, vaguely reprieved. My socks dissolved, two grey pools at my ankles, at the shock of my name called out. The memory brings me to my feet as a foul would. The wrong child for a trite crime.

And all I could say was No. Welltread straightened my hand as though he could read the future there, then hurt himself more than he hurt me. There was no cause for complaint. There was the burn of a cane in my palm, still smouldering.

Carol Ann Duffy

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Meaning

MITSL: Welltread Meaning, Imagery, Tone, Structure, Language (My Itchy Toes Smell Loads)

Always link everything to meaning. Ask yourself how does this contributes to the meaning? Why has the poet used this technique?

Structure

Tone

Language

Imagery

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Hard Frost Frost called to water ‘Halt!’ And crushed the most snow with sparkling salt; Brooks, their own bridges, stop, And icicles in long stalactites drop, And tench in water-holes Lurk under gluey glass like fish in bowls.

In the hard-rutted lane At every footstep breaks a brittle pane, And twinkling trees ice-bound Changed into weeping willows, sweep the ground; Dead boughs take root in ponds And ferns on windows shoot their ghostly fronds.

But vainly the fierce frost Interns poor fish, ranks trees in harmed host, Hangs daggers from house-eaves And on the windows ferny ambush weaves; In the long war grown warmer The sun will strike him dead and strip his armour. Glossary:      

Brooks – streams Stalactites – rocks hanging from cave ceiling Tench – fish Boughs – branches Fronds – leaves Interns - keeps

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Meaning

MITSL: Hard Frost Meaning, Imagery, Tone, Structure, Language (My Itchy Toes Smell Loads)

Always link everything to meaning. Ask yourself how does this contributes to the meaning? Why has the poet used this technique?

Structure

Tone

Language

Imagery

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Hour Love’s time’s beggar, but even a single hour, bright as a dropped coin, makes love rich. We find an hour together, spend it not on flowers or wine, but the whole of the summer sky and a grass ditch.

For thousands of seconds we kiss; your hair like treasure on the ground; the Midas light turning your limbs to gold. Time slows, for here we are millionaires, backhanding the night

so nothing dark will end our shining hour, no jewel hold a candle to the cuckoo spit hung from the blade of grass at your ear, no chandelier or spotlight see you better lit

than here. Now. Time hates love, wants love poor, but love spins gold, gold, gold from straw.

Carol Ann Duffy

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Meaning

MITSL: Hour Meaning, Imagery, Tone, Structure, Language (My Itchy Toes Smell Loads)

Always link everything to meaning. Ask yourself how does this contributes to the meaning? Why has the poet used this technique?

Structure

Tone

Language

Imagery

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Catrin I can you, child, As I stood in a hot, white Room at the window watching The people and cars taking Turn at the traffic lights. I can you, our first Fierce confrontation, the tight Red rope of love which we both Fought over. It was square Environmental blank, disinfected Of paintings or toys. I wrote All over the walls with my Words, coloured the clean squares With the wild, tender circles Of our struggle to become Separate. We want, we shouted, To be two, to be ourselves.

Neither won nor lost the struggle In the glass tank clouded with feelings Which changed us both. Still I am fighting You off, as you stand there With your straight, strong, long Brown hair and your rosy Defiant glare, bringing up From the heart's pool that old rope, Tightening about my life, Trailing love and conflict, As you ask may you skate In the dark, for one more hour.

Gillian Clark 14

Meaning

MITSL: Catrin Meaning, Imagery, Tone, Structure, Language (My Itchy Toes Smell Loads)

Always link everything to meaning. Ask yourself how does this contributes to the meaning? Why has the poet used this technique?

Structure

Tone

Language

Imagery

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Brothers Saddled with you for the afternoon, me and Paul ambled across the threadbare field to the bus stop, talking over Sheffield Wednesday’s chances in the Cup while you skipped beside us in your ridiculous tank-top, spouting six-year-old views on Rotherham United.

Suddenly you froze, said you hadn’t any bus fare. I sighed, said you should go and ask Mum and while you windmilled home I looked at Paul. His smile, like mine, said I was nine and he was ten and we must stroll the town, doing what grown-ups do.

As a bus crested the hill we chased Olympic Gold. Looking back I saw you spring towards the gate, your hand holding out what must have been a coin. I ran on, unable to close the distance I’d set in motion.

Andrew Forster

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Meaning

MITSL: Brothers Meaning, Imagery, Tone, Structure, Language (My Itchy Toes Smell Loads)

Always link everything to meaning. Ask yourself how does this contributes to the meaning? Why has the poet used this technique?

Structure

Tone

Language

Imagery

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Extract from Out of the Blue You have picked me out. Through a distant shot of a building burning you have noticed now that a white cotton shirt is twirling, turning.

In fact I am waving, waving. Small in the clouds, but waving, waving. Does anyone see a soul worth saving?

So when will you come? Do you think you are watching, watching a man shaking crumbs or pegging out washing?

I am trying and trying. The heat behind me is bullying, driving, but the white of surrender is not yet flying. I am not at the point of leaving, diving.

A bird goes by. The depth is appalling. Appalling that others like me should be wind-milling, wheeling, spiralling, falling.

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Are your eyes believing, believing that here in the gills I am still breathing.

But tiring, tiring. Sirens below are wailing, firing. My arm is numb and my nerves are sagging. Do you see me, my love. I am failing, flagging.

Simon Armitage

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Meaning

MITSL: Out of the Blue Meaning, Imagery, Tone, Structure, Language (My Itchy Toes Always link everything to meaning. Ask yourself how does this contributes to the meaning? Why has the poet used this technique?

Structure

Tone

Language

Imagery

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