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.