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20
"Songs of Ourselves" Poetry Anthology Exam Essays
Remember
1) Make sure
you write about
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effects of a wide range of poetic devices and language features
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| the
mood and tone of the poem
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| what
the poem is about beneath the surface narrative - ideas, issues, themes,
thoughts, feelings, the poet’s “message”
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| your
personal response to the poem
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2) Include a
WIDE RANGE OF QUOTATIONS and use the quotations as an opportunity for detailed
analysis of the effects of language (the key to an A grade).
3) Make a
brief plan of your essay before you begin writing.
As part of your revision practise writing essays
under timed conditions (45 minutes for an essay). Also make some 10 minute essay
plans.
- Explore
the ways in which the Wordsworth presents Lucy in She Dwelt Among the
Untrodden Ways.
- Norman
Nicholson uses childhood as a means of exploring other ideas in Rising
Five. Identify the ideas of the poem and comment on the ways in which
they are presented.
- Explore
the ways in which Mervyn Morris presents the relationship between a small
child and an adult in Little Boy Crying.
- How
does James K. Baxter develop our understanding of character in Farmhand?
5.
Comment on the ways
in which ideas are presented in Before the Sun.
- Explore
the ways in which memories of childhood are presented in Plenty.
- Comment
on the ways in which changes in perspective between childhood and adulthood
are explored in two of the following poems: Plenty, Rising Five, Little
Boy Crying
8.
Explore the
significance of the ways in which Liz Lochhead presents the Storyteller and
Storytelling in her poem.
- Consider
the significance of the ways in which women are presented in two of the
following poems: Muliebrity, Plenty, She dwelt Among the
Untrodden Ways
,
- Consider
the ways in which Charles Lamb reminisces and conveys regret in The Old
Familiar Faces.
- Consider
the ways in which one or two of the following poems present ideas about
social injustice and lack of liberty: Caged Bird, Song to the Men
of England, Monologue, Spectator Ab Extra, Carpet weavers,
Morocco
.
- Explore
the ways in which Maya Angelou uses the caged bird metaphor to present her
ideas.
- Consider
the ways in which one or two of the following poems present ideas about
work: Song to the Men of England, Carpet weavers,
Morocco
, Monologue, Muliebrity, Storyteller.
- Comment
on the ways in which Heaney presents the experience of grief in Mid- Term
Break.
- Explore
the ways in which Sujata Bhatt presents her memory of the girl in Muliebrity.
- Comment
on the way the relationship between individuals and the natural world is
presented in two or three of the following poems: Farmhand, Before the
Sun, She Dwelt Among the
Untrodden Ways
, Rising Five.
- Comment
on the way character is created in one or two of the following poems:
Before the Sun, Farmhand, She Dwelt Among the
Untrodden Ways
, Spectator Ab Extra, Monologue.
- Explore
the ways in which the poet has used language and other poetic devices to
present ideas in …….. (apply
this question to any of the poems)
19. Which poem from the collection do you find most moving and
thought-provoking? Write about the poet's ideas and the ways in which he or she
has presented them to successfully affect your emotions and thoughts.
20. Contrasts and oppositions
are used as a means of conveying ideas in several poems in the collection.
Explore the ways in which contrasts in the language and imagery in one or two of
the following poems are used: Spectator
Ab Extra,Song to the Men of England, Carpet weavers,
Morocco
, Plenty, Caged Bird
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