unseen poetry essay example gcse

Unseen Poetry

Unseen poetry is an essential part of the GCSE English Literature exam, requiring you to analyse and interpret poems you have not previously studied. Here are some key points and strategies to help you in your unseen poetry exam:

Initial Reading:

Read the poem through carefully at least twice to understand its literal meaning.

Pay attention to the title, as it often provides clues about the poem's themes or subject matter.

Note down your initial thoughts, feelings, and interpretations as you read.

Structure and Form:

Consider the poem's structure (stanza length, line length, rhyme scheme, etc.) and how it contributes to the overall meaning.

Look for any shifts or changes in structure throughout the poem and consider their significance.

Analyse the form of the poem (sonnet, free verse, ballad, etc.) and how it affects the poem's meaning and impact.

Identify and analyse the poet's use of language (figurative language, imagery, symbolism, etc.).

Consider the connotations of words and phrases and how they contribute to the poem's themes or mood.

Look for patterns of language use (repetition, alliteration, etc.) and their effects.

Themes and Messages:

Identify the main themes and messages of the poem.

Consider how the poet explores these themes through the use of language, imagery, and structure.

Look for any deeper meanings or layers of interpretation within the poem.

The video below will help you analyse poetry.

Tone and Mood:

Analyse the tone (the attitude of the speaker towards the subject) and mood (the atmosphere or feeling created by the poem).

Consider how tone and mood are created through the poet's choice of language, imagery, and other literary devices.

Consider the historical, cultural, and biographical context of the poem and how it might influence your interpretation.

Look for any references or allusions within the poem that may require additional context to fully understand.

Comparison:

If the exam requires you to compare two unseen poems, look for similarities and differences in their themes, structures, language, etc.

Consider how each poem approaches similar themes or subjects differently and the effects of these differences.

Conclusion:

Summarise your interpretation of the poem, focusing on its main themes, messages, and literary techniques.

Reflect on the poem's overall impact and any personal responses or insights it has prompted.

Practice analysing a variety of poems from different time periods, cultures, and styles to develop your skills.

Use the P.E.E.L. (Point, Evidence, Explanation, Link) or P.E.T.E.R. (Point, Evidence, Technique, Explain, Reader's Response) structure to structure your analysis paragraphs effectively.

Don't be afraid to explore multiple interpretations of a poem, as long as you can support your ideas with evidence from the text.

By following these strategies and practicing regularly, you'll be well-prepared to tackle unseen poetry questions with confidence in your GCSE English Literature exam.

MR HENNEMAN'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Free worksheets, study guides, essay writing, revision guidance and youtube links. writing styles, fiction and non-fiction reading skills. analysis of plays, novels and poetry. for teachers and independent learners., gcse unseen poetry, how to approach an unseen poem: a step-by step guide.

PAGE REVISED

This page deals with how to approach a GCSE poetry unseen, using the AQA legacy paper GCSE May 2012 paper 2, which was on ‘Children in Wartime’ by Isobel Trilling.

TIP :  As always, the first thing to do is read the question – and read it before you read the poem because in an exam you cannot afford the luxury of first ‘experiencing’ the poem before you know where your focus should be.   You must concentrate on the question because you only have limited time to get something down on paper.  In this case the question is:

How does this poet present the ways children are affected by war?  

All questions on poetry ask you to do two things: (1) look at the content , i.e. one specific  aspect of what the poem about; and (2) look at how the poet presents his/her ideas.

Now the poem …

Children In Wartime

by Isobel Thrilling

So, here is the question broken into parts (2) How does this poet present (1) the ways children are affected by war?  

TIP : Do not think about (2) yet.

TIP : First look at (1) the content.  Here  it is ‘the ways children are affected by war’ .  Each of these different ways will be a Paragraph Starting Point (P) .  Each of your paragraphs will always answer the question , with something about the way children are affected by war.

TIP : Read the poem and break it down into the different sections (sometimes verses) that deal with the different ways children are affected by war and give each ‘section’ an overall summarising phrase/Point .  Do this now.

There is no ‘wrong’ about your choice of summarising phrase/ Point (P) as long as you have the evidence for your view.  When you have finished click here to see if you have marked up the poem as I have done.

TIP :  Start each paragraph with a summarising phrase/ Point (P) .  This is your lead sentence for each new paragraph.  So you answer the question at the start each paragraph.

TIP: Do not write an introductory paragraph if you tend to waffle.  If you can be very disciplined and quick, orientate your reader by listing the Points you intend to cover in a single sentence … but there is no need to do this at GCSE.

Now it’s time to write the rest of the paragraph

TIP :   Support each Point (P) with a quote or example.  This is the Evidence (E) for your Point (P) being a good one.  This alone will take you to Grade 4.

Now for (2): The other part of the question (‘how the author presents’).  Let us say that you have made this Point (P) : The children are affected because their sleep is broken.  Now you introduce a quote/example, which is Evidence (E) to support your view.

TIP :   In the model below a couple of quotes are used (‘ripped’ and ‘soft silk’) but one would be enough Evidence (E).

Once you have the Evidence (E), you can discuss how the author presents that Evidence (E) to give it greater impact.  This is Analysis (A) .

TIP :   Notice how the Analysis (A) can be inserted as you go along.  This is a much quicker way of getting your thoughts down on paper.  So now you have the structure of a PEA paragraph .(Also called PEE PQA etc)

TIP : Put a PEA in every para.

SUPER MODEL Grade 9++ PARAGRAPH:

War affects children’s lives by breaking their sleep  .  The noise of the sirens metaphorically tears the material   of sleep.  The sibilant alliteration of ‘soft silk’ draws attention to the peacefulness of children’s sleep and makes its sudden loss seem more sudden and disorientating.

Why is this such a good paragraph?  Well. look at my comments in red ….

War affects children’s lives by breaking their sleep  [Point (P)] .  The noise of the sirens metaphorically tears the material [use of literary term and Analysis (A) showing understanding of the link between ‘ripped’ and ‘silk’ Evidence (E)] of sleep.  The sibilant alliteration [Literary term]  of ‘soft silk’ [Evidence (E) embedded within the sentence]  draws attention to the peacefulness [Explanation/Analysis (A) of effect of language] of children’s sleep and makes its sudden loss seem more sudden and disorientating [Explanation and further Analysis (A) of significance] .

Do the the remaining sections and finally …

TIP :   conclude with a short sentence that considers your overall reaction to the way that children are affected or the poet’s overall perspective about the ways children are affected by war.

This last part of your essay is what makes it all worthwhile because it is your chance to give a  personal response.  It stops the exam being just a simple regurgitation.  This is for you: it’s what you get out of the whole process.    Also examiners love to read what you really think about the poem as a result of your analysis .  Some teachers say you must never use ‘I’ in a literary essay but an essay’s conclusion is that one place where you truly can say ‘I’.  In this particular essay, a student might begin the conclusion with: ‘I found the most alarming part of this poem is the children’s disorientating trauma …’  Note: giving a personal perspective should still answer the specific question!

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English: unseen poetry

International schools, tes resources team.

Explore and analyse unseen poetry with these engaging lessons, worksheets and guides

Poetry is a key aspect of the English literature curriculum throughout secondary and analysing the content, theme, structure and use of language of an unseen poem can be daunting for students. So, to help you build their confidence and encourage them to write their own poems, we have hand-picked a range of resources to support your learners as they examine and analyse unseen poetry.

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Comparing Unseen Poetry Knowledge Organiser/ Revision Mat!

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Unseen Poetry

In your exam you'll be presented with a poem, which you should spend about half an hour analysing. there'll be another poem though and you should spend about 15 minutes writing a comparison between the two poems. this is because the first poem is worth 24 marks, while the comparison is only worth 8 marks., though this sounds complicated, especially under exam conditions, it's completely doable., for the first poem, just make sure you write about the following things:, a brief summary of what the poem is about, analyse some language - two or three specific words will do, analyse a couple of techniques - again, two or three techniques will be plenty, say something about the structure of the poem., for the comparison , just make sure you compare the two poems using a couple of things that they both feature - if they both have a simile in them, for example, or have very different rhythms or rhyme schemes., controversial opinion : you might find it easier to understand the first poem when you've read both of them. it's likely that they'll have a different view of the same idea, and it might be helpful for you to look at this idea from two different perspectives before you start writing about them from either..

CIE Unseen Poetry Essay Example — An Abandoned Factory, Detroit

Here’s a CIE Unseen Poetry Essay Example that I completed for the Cambridge IGCSE Unseen Poetry exam question, based off of the 2017 English Literature exams. I left my plan and notes in there so you could see all the working out! I also wrote the timings there for you to see roughly how long it took me.

For extra revision or help with Unseen Poems, take a look at my Unseen Poetry Course here .

THE QUESTION:

How does the poet’s writing strikingly portray the abandoned factory?

To help you answer this question, you might consider:

• How he portrays the gates and fence that surround the factory.

• How he describes the inside of the building.

• How he explores the relationship between the factory and the people who once worked there.

THE POEM (10 minutes reading/annotating):

An Abandoned Factory, Detroit

“The gates are chained, the barbed-wire fencing stands, An iron authority against the snow, And this grey monument to common sense Resists the weather.”

For the full poem, click this link .

THE PLAN (9 minutes):

• Man and machine
• Working-class / factory work

Through layering imagery of abandoned machinery and the neglected building with memories of the people who once worked there, the writer creates an intensely reflective psychological space that in a sense is its own eulogy for the factory and its workers.

• Sinister gates
• Appears foreboding / prison-like
• Inside it’s full of large equipment gone rusty
• Giant machinery abandoned
• Silence, stillness, decay
• Fence is ‘charged’ with memories and emotions
• Exploration of the passing of time, both for the workers and the place
• Decay / erosion

THE ESSAY (45 minutes writing, 5 minutes checking):

The poem’s title reflects its sombre tone, telling us that the factory is described is both ‘abandoned’ and in ‘Detroit’; a location that was once famous for its industry which has now fallen into disrepair. Through layering imagery of the neglected building and machinery with memories of the people who once worked there, the writer creates an intensely reflective and symbolic psychological space that in a sense is its own ‘eulogy’ for the factory and its workers.

The exterior of the factory is portrayed as sinister, with the ‘chained’ gates and ‘barbed-wire fence’ creating visual imagery with strong connotations of security and protection. The sharp qualities of ‘barbed-wire’ further give the impression of a tightly controlled facility such as a prison or workhouse, suggesting that it was not an enjoyable place to work. After the factory’s abandonment, the poet observes that the fence is an ‘iron authority against the snow’, using personification to maintain the fence’s impression of being unwelcoming and forcefully strict. Furthermore, the abstract noun ‘authority’ implies that the fence is itself a kind of powerful entity, which in present times still serves to keep trespassers out of the grounds. It stands in direct contrast to the whiteness of the ‘snow’, which creates a cold, wintry atmosphere and perhaps symbolises the peace and purity of nature that is juxtaposed with the unnatural and manmade ‘iron’ structure. Ultimately, the gate is physically imposing, but it could also be argued that it is symbolically representative of restraint and strictness; remaining powerful long after those who built it have left.

The interior of the factory creates a more poignant tone to the poem, as there is a sense of silence and stillness, intermingled with decay. The focus of the poem shifts in the second stanza, as the poet invites us to look ‘through broken windows’ at the inner space of the building. There is a semantic field of industry created through the visual imagery of ‘presses’, ‘wheels’ and ‘spokes’; however this machinery is no longer functional which creates a sense of bathos as we realise that its power has long subsided. For instance, we are presented with ‘presses paused between their strokes’, an uncanny picture of the machinery stopped in its function mid-action which almost personifies the presses, suggesting they are frozen in their movement. In addition, the poet observes that the wheels ‘have stopped; one counts the spokes / Which movement blurred’. The use of the semicolon as a caesura demonstrates an abrupt pause to the flow of the poem, which in turn imitates the abruptness with which the factory’s operations ceased to exist; we are given the impression that the factory closed down suddenly, unexpectedly, and that this must have had a devastating effect on its workers, who would have lost their jobs instantly. The use of the past tense intertwined with present here — ‘one counts’ / ‘blurred’ further emphasises this shift between the factory’s busy past and its silent present. It seems an unnatural observation, as if the spokes were not meant to be seen except in constant motion, and it adds to the eerie impression of stillness and decay of the factory’s interior.

With both the interior and exterior, the poet makes clear that it is charged with the energy of the past, in particular of the people who frequented the place daily. The listing of ‘fears of idle hands…protest..men in league’ creates the impression of a workers’ union, or a tension that once existed between the owner of the building and its employees; we are told that these fears still ‘charge’ the fence, as if a residual memory or energy trace has left a foreboding feeling there, even after the initial intentions of building the fence have long gone. The phrase ‘slow/Corrosion of their minds’ contributes to the impression of decay, but also creates a sombre tone in that it suggests that the workers eventually gave in to the rules and regulations of the place, becoming more placid over time. It is interesting to note that ‘corrosion’ is a particularly scientific and industrial term, which is being transferred from its common usage in industry to the workers themselves, and this process is further emphasised with the use of enjambment, which slows the pace of the poem down at this point to enhance the image. Furthermore, we are told that ‘nothing’ the workers made ‘outlived the rusted gears’, a curious observation which again implies the erosion and decay of energy and materials over time. It perhaps functions symbolically to creates the impression that the workers’ lives and their products were ephemeral, passing a cynical judgement on the concepts of consumerism and mass production.

Overall, the poet uses symbolism to layer images of the past over the present, and to create a forlorn, sombre tone when describing the abandoned factory. There are possible references to the struggle of workers against higher authorities, as well as suggestions of the tragedy of consumerism. With final word being ‘eulogy’, we are left with the impression that the poem itself is a commemorative piece that seeks to capture the impressions of Detroit, both in the past and its present, creating the notion that the city is no longer thriving and that it has always been a place of hardship and struggle.

Thanks for reading! For extra revision or help with Unseen Poems, take a look at my Unseen Poetry Course here .

Check what else I have prepared for you on CIE IGCSE by clicking this link .

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