how to write about poetry

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How to write about poetry so that your essay stands out from the crowd!

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Page 1: How to write about poetry

How to write about poetry so that your essay stands out

from the crowd!

Page 2: How to write about poetry

‘Poetry is that which is lost in translation’

Robert Frost

Page 3: How to write about poetry

What is the difference between the given poem(s) and a prose

paraphrase of the same material?

Page 4: How to write about poetry

In other words…

what does the poem accomplish beyond its prose meaning?

Page 5: How to write about poetry

Do you recognise this ‘translation’?

Page 6: How to write about poetry

I’d never experienced love before but when I did feel it, I was blown away! I went pale, my legs went numb and nothing in my life previously made any sense any more. I was flushed, my vision went and it was as if I was in the dark – I was dumb struck and I could feel my heart pounding. Is love always so painful? She didn’t seem to acknowledge me but I can’t help myself – I’ll never be the same again.

Page 7: How to write about poetry

What has been sacrificed in the prose version? Here is your starting point to analysing and appreciating the craft of

poetry.

If you can understand how it works and why a writer might choose verse, you can write

intelligently about it.

Page 8: How to write about poetry

I ne'er was struck before that hour With love so sudden and so sweet, Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower And stole my heart away complete. My face turned pale as deadly pale. My legs refused to walk away, And when she looked, what could I ail? My life and all seemed turned to clay.

I’d never experienced love before but when I did feel it, I was blown away! I went pale, my legs went numb and nothing in my life previously made any sense any more.

Page 9: How to write about poetry

How do images, rhythms, patterns, and aural devices modify or extend the prose meaning of the poem?

Page 10: How to write about poetry

Then… •Examine the content•Examine the form And then ask yourself…

‘What is the relationship between the content of this poem and its form’?

Page 11: How to write about poetry

A key discriminator between the middling and top grade candidates is that the best students write intelligently about this relationship.

Remember champagne flutes, brandy tumblers and shot glasses?!

Page 12: How to write about poetry

Some ways to organize your observations:

ImageryPatterns & shiftsLanguage choicesAural poetic devicesMood/toneNarrative perspectiveAnd of course form / structure

(there are others!)

Page 13: How to write about poetry

Ask yourself "What is the total effect of all the little things I've been noticing?"

What do the parts of the poem cooperate to tell me about the poet’s treatment of the topic?

Page 14: How to write about poetry

Don't let your paper turn into a laundry list of observations – find synthesis statements.

Make sure that no one could title your essay "Some things I liked (or simply noticed) about this poem."

This is a sure recipe for a ‘C’ grade at best!

Page 15: How to write about poetry

Furthermore there are no marks for ‘gushing’ or making unfounded statements about a poem’s greatness!!

Don’t be him!

Page 16: How to write about poetry

It is likely that you will be given a topic or theme and will be asked how the poet presents this within their poem.

Find 3 or 4 ways in which the poet has done this and then consider the combined effect of these choices.

This will give you your THESIS statement.

Page 17: How to write about poetry

A poetry essay, then, no matter what the task, invites you to investigate these underlying questions while addressing the named topic…

Page 18: How to write about poetry

Given that the writer could just as easily have written their thoughts on this topic in prose, why have they elected to do so in verse?

What has this combination of form and content achieved in addition to the prose alternative and how has the poet used the toolbox of poetic devices to reflect and comment on the given subject?

Page 19: How to write about poetry

Examine the way in which marriage is presented in Smith’s ‘Wedlock Blues’

Page 20: How to write about poetry

Smith conveys a bitter message about his experience of marriage. The poet’s use of bleak metaphor, anaphora, and the disrupted rhyme scheme and syllable structure in the poem allow him to reveal his deepest and darkest thoughts about the social institution of matrimony.

Page 21: How to write about poetry

How does Jones present love in ‘The Ghost of a Wedding Cake’?

Page 22: How to write about poetry

Jones here presents a poem which examines his narrator’s conflicting psychological thoughts about the experience of romantic love. The poet’s use of free verse, pastoral imagery, and caesura combine to reflect his character’s inner struggle to resolve the vulnerability and confusion he feels alongside an obvious passion and commitment to his ‘tender’ and ‘gentle love’.

Page 23: How to write about poetry

Then be sure that every new paragraph thereafter (you should have at least 3 or 4!) presents a topic sentence which takes one of these observed details and develops it with close embedded quotation in order to further your argument about the treatment of the given topic…

Page 24: How to write about poetry

The poem makes good use of a series of brooding metaphors which reinforce the narrator’s pessimistic view of marriage. In the 2nd stanza, the reference to a ‘golden barbed wire band’ takes the wedding ring, a traditional symbol of matrimony, and subverts it; the plosive alliteration reinforcing the tension already established…

Page 25: How to write about poetry

Once you have presented this evidenced argument which remains topic focused throughout, you should conclude in a way that does more than just repeat the ground you have just covered as a list.

(a sure fire way of throwing away marks with the finishing line in sight!)

Page 26: How to write about poetry

Try instead to have something up your sleeve to wow the examiner so that they are left in no doubt that you are deserving of the top band.

You could broaden your argument…

Page 27: How to write about poetry

There is no doubt then that for Smith, marriage is a source of torment and disillusionment and yet a glimmer of hope remains; he is not quite willing to abandon his faith in the redemptive promise of a shared life and this is perhaps why in another poem from the same period ‘Heart felt’, he concludes that ‘Love is what remains when all is done’.

Page 28: How to write about poetry

Or you could reinforce that you are offering a personal response (AO4):

‘To conclude, while I cannot align myself with Jones’ position on romantic love as a parasitic and ultimately destructive force, I do find this poem to be both striking and thought provoking. Arguably, while he fails to woo his lover, he does successfully seduce his reader and in this sense the poem is successful!’

Page 29: How to write about poetry