Structure Of Poetry Answers

dontlikeurmam

Hello!!!...was just wondering which systems of answering poetry q's will ye be using...do ya go 1.poem by poem...2.theme by theme...3.or some other mad way(i've heard one where you giv two general statements on the poet and back them up with reference??)...which way do ya think will get the most marks?...thanks!

Pooner

Pick a theme you are going talk about
-then start the paragraph with a general statement summing up the theme throughout the poetry(1 or 2 sentences)
-speak about its relevence to the poems you have studied, backing up with relevent quotes of course
-them sum up what you said but not repeating you opening statement and leaving it slightly sugesting the next theme to follow on(coherence).

Also dont forget that quotes are seen as "better" if they are part of the sentence and not breaking up the flow of the answer eg. his past is something "only he can recapture"- Derek Mahon

dontlikeurmam

Thanks...thats good thats the same way i'm doing it...how may points do you think you should have?? I would have three/four on my two poets Longley and Walcott.Is that enough?...i'm sorry i'm so useless:o

Homicidal_jesus

dontlikeurmam wrote: »

Thanks...thats good thats the same way i'm doing it...how may points do you think you should have?? I would have three/four on my two poets Longley and Walcott.Is that enough?...i'm sorry i'm so useless:o

Ya plenty 3-4 for each poet would be fine where told do point per paragraph so 3-4 points=3-4 paragraphs with the intro and conclusion is 6 paragraphs which is loads for ya!!

and yes go theme by theme you eliminate the trap of telling the entire story of a poem by talking about a theme!!best of luck:D;)

Fluorescence

I always go theme by theme unless the question is split into two (in which case I split up each part into 2 points). I usually make 4 points, 20-25 lines each, so with the opening and conclusion that brings me to 3.5 pages (I have pretty small writing lol).

SarcasticFairy

Sort of both, poem by poem really, but the poems are always ordered in such away that similar themed poems follow one another.

TanG411

I think it helps to speak about imagery as well.

For example, Liz Bishop goes into a lot of detail in her poetry so you could talk about that, with quotes of course