Leaving Cert - English Poetry Poll 2011

electrictrad

. . .I know its the most talked about lottery on the LC course, so I've thrown up the poll to gauge what people think. . .

Personally I'd love to see Yeats up again. . .loads to talk about with him. . . and there is a guarantee of one of last year's poets this year, either him or Kavanagh is likely, by the "trying to catch students out" principle. . .

Of course, Boland will be on the paper as well. . .probably alongside one american (Frost or Dickenson probably) and one Englishman (Wordsworth or Hopkins). . .

Cant rule out Rich either, as she is the one poet practically no-one has studied, and no-one expects. . .

flyaway.

I'm hoping Rich comes up. I know her poetry inside out at this stage! I voted for Rich, Kavanagh, Frost and Hopkins but that was just a random guess. I think Dickinson will probably come up though, actually.

Gah, wish we just knew! :P

mikeydublin

As long as you know 2 of the main ones (ie boland dickinson yeats wordsworth) you surely are guaranteed one of them!

augmented reality

I'm doing 5

Kavanagh, Frost, Boland, Yeats and Hopkins.
Would love if Kavanagh came up, if he does I think it will just be a "write a personal response to the poetry of Patrick Kavanagh" seen as he came up last year, hope so anyway.
Boland will probably come up but it'll be an awful question on mythology or something like that.
Only have an essay left on Hopkins to do so hopefully it will go well

partyatmygaff

mikeydublin wrote: »

As long as you know 2 of the main ones (ie boland dickinson yeats wordsworth) you surely are guaranteed one of them!

You're guaranteed to get 4 poets. That's all you're guaranteed.

randylonghorn

mikeydublin wrote: »

As long as you know 2 of the main ones (ie boland dickinson yeats wordsworth) you surely are guaranteed one of them!

No, you're not!

The only way you're guaranteed to get at least one poet you have studied is to have studied at least five.

Ok, you may choose to concentrate a bit more on a couple of those if you feel they're more likely, but to be sure of seeing a familiar poet, you must cover five at least at a basic level.

RHunce

mikeydublin wrote: »

As long as you know 2 of the main ones (ie boland dickinson yeats wordsworth) you surely are guaranteed one of them!

Who decides who the main poets are? I'd like to meet this person.

The English paper 2 last year was a big kick up the arse for some people and I'm glad it happened. I was talking to a girl who was studying just Boland and I warned her not to, when Boland didn't come up she wrote about her anyway. She missed out on her course and is now doing a PLC and rightly so. Anybody who doesn't use last year as a warning, beware!

Study 5!

partyatmygaff

RHunce wrote: »

Who decides who the main poets are? I'd like to meet this person.

I'd say we'd all like to meet the person who wrote the exam :pac:

Salty

mikeydublin wrote: »

As long as you know 2 of the main ones (ie boland dickinson yeats wordsworth) you surely are guaranteed one of them!

I've 3 generic essays on Boland, Yeats, and Wordsworth. They're adaptable enough, so I'm learning them off. I know Rich quite well, and the other poet I did was Kavanagh. Kavanagh's f*cking awful though. I have no notes on him, and lack a general understanding of his poetry. I'd a different teacher to my usual one for Kavanagh, so if he's my only option, I'm screwed. That said, (and I know there are no guarantees), I really don't think he'll be up again.

partyatmygaff

_meehan_ wrote: »

I've 3 generic essays on Boland, Yeats, and Wordsworth. They're adaptable enough, so I'm learning them off. I know Rich quite well, and the other poet I did was Kavanagh. Kavanagh's f*cking awful though. I have no notes on him, and lack a general understanding of his poetry. I'd a different teacher to my usual one for Kavanagh, so if he's my only option, I'm screwed. That said, (and I know there are no guarantees), I really don't think he'll be up again.

I hope not. I hate his poetry.

RHunce

partyatmygaff wrote: »

I hope not. I hate his poetry.

Oh, "Alexander Selkirk knew the plight"!....of studying Kavanagh's god awful poetry

NotExactly

electrictrad wrote: »

Personally I'd love to see Yeats up again. . .loads to talk about with him. . . and there is a guarantee of one of last year's poets this year,.

No there isn't.

electrictrad

NotExactly wrote: »

No there isn't.

Sincere apologies for the inaccuracy:rolleyes::D. . .

Mathematically, assuming that each poet has an equal chance of coming up, there is an 92.86% chance that at least one of the 3 poets that came up last year will come up. . .to put that in layman's terms, if the SEC produced 14 different exam papers for this year, with no biases, 13 of them would contain a poet who came up last year. . .

Poets aren't banned from coming up two years in a row; in fact, we have precedent; Sylvia Plath came up in both 2003 and 2004. . .

So, you are dead right, my friend. The sentence really should have read "almost guaranteed". I hope to God I didn't confuse anyone by stating the word guaranteed, without including a clause before it. . .I also hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive my grave error. . .:rolleyes:

xclw

I don't see what the big deal everyone makes about the poets is, theres no point trying to predict, just pick 5 and 4 poems from each and learn a few quotes, people spend way more time on poetry than they do on the essays and short stories that are twice the marks.

Iceboy

xclw wrote: »

I don't see what the big deal everyone makes about the poets is, theres no point trying to predict, just pick 5 and 4 poems from each and learn a few quotes, people spend way more time on poetry than they do on the essays and short stories that are twice the marks.

This

J_E

I've got Boland/Dickinson/Frost/Wordsworth as my hopefuls, and Kavanagh and Yeats on reserve.

electrictrad

. . .just to nail my colours to the cross, I reckon Frost, Yeats, Boland and Wordsworth. . .would love either Yeats or Wordsworth, not fussy

We've done 6. . .hoping to have a basic knowledge of all, and know my order. . .

Just a little shout for those who feel under pressure with friends boasting about their study prowess. . .forget them, they're usually covering for their own insecurities. . .don't over-study, just skim and test, or whatever it is u do best. . .put time aside for relaxation. . .its only a little exam, there are thousands of ways of making your dream in life. . .the Leaving is just the first, and the most hyped one. . .

. . .thats what I keep telling myself anyway. . .

DessieMG

Is it dodgy to have only Wordsworth, Boland, and Dickinson essays prepared for the leaving cert English HL? I've studied Frost I just don't have the time/desire to write out an essay, Is this a big mistake?

busyliving

DessieMG wrote: »

Is it dodgy to have only Wordsworth, Boland, and Dickinson essays prepared for the leaving cert English HL? I've studied Frost I just don't have the time/desire to write out an essay, Is this a big mistake?

Correct me if i'm wrong but i think a women poet has to come up(eqality and all) so i think youcan get away with just studying women poets...Well when i did my LC I'm it was like that:D

feels2gd2btrue

busyliving wrote: »

Correct me if i'm wrong but i think a women poet has to come up(eqality and all) so i think youcan get away with just studying women poets...Well when i did my LC I'm it was like that:D

it's not a rule that a woman has to come up, it's more of an unwritten rule! it has never happened that it was an all male paper, it just comes down to whether you are brave enough to take the risk:)

busyliving

feels2gd2btrue wrote: »

it's not a rule that a woman has to come up, it's more of an unwritten rule! it has never happened that it was an all male paper, it just comes down to whether you are brave enough to take the risk:)

Well if it did happen you'd have everyone up in arms about eqaility...Fecking women:rolleyes:

GoldFour4

How many more threads are we going to see on this topic before the 9th of June ? The only way to be safe is to study 5 poets !

flyaway.

Only studying 3 would be a HUGE risk. 4 come up, and there are 8 on the course altogether. You'd have to be quite lucky for the 3 you studied to come up and for the questions to be ones you can answer well! Just study 5, that's the only way you're guaranteed to have something you can answer on.

There are no other ''guarantees.''

mty92

Studying 3 Irish poets is a better tactic than studying female poets. Overall Yeats, Kavanagh and Boland are the least difficult poets on the course. Bishop appeared 3 years in a row so there no reason why Kavanagh can't and because there is 3 female poets on the course and Rich has often been complained about by teachers and students I feel she is less likely to come up 3 years in a row instead of Kavanagh.

LifesaverNiall

Wordsworth and Frost for me..
i hate Boland and every other poet..
*fingers crossed

Salty

I'm learning off essays on Wordsworth, Boland and Yeats. I have an essay on Kavanagh that I might learn too, but I hate him with a passion. Rich is my only other poet, so I'll probably just learn off quotes, themes and general issues in her poems, just to be safe.

You shouldn't just learn 3 and completely neglect the other 2. Just learn off the quotes and general contents of the poems of the 2 you're not covering as well. At least you'll definitely have something to write on the day!

Keano!

boland, dickenson, frost

feels2gd2btrue

i knew 5 poets last year, three very well and 2 others that i could have written on if i was stuck. i wouldn't be surprised if the there was another surprise on the english paper like last year, boland not being on the paper totally caught people off guard! there used to be other unwritten rules, like there will always be one dead poet, one non-irish poet or one anglo irish poet on the paper but afaik these rules were broken a few years ago!

Griffen262

Keano! wrote: »

boland, dickenson, frost

With you on that, so much to learn, so little time...

Grindylow

I've learned Boland and Dickinson..

Might learn Frost, and I know a few of Yeats, but I think I'll just leave it at Boland and Dickinson as they're the two poets who I enjoyed studying the most.

I love Dickinson.

MagicIRL

I'm dealing with it as such:

Studying Dickinson, Frost and Boland in huge detail, but also going to have a gander at Hopkins and Yeats too. The top three poets being my favourite and the poems I prefare myself. The lesser two being the more difficult in my opinion.

PinkScarlett

I reckon Wordsworth, Hopkins, Boland and possibly Dickinson?
I know thats 2 females though..
I'm only studying them anyway!

squishness

Just noticed poll says "DickEnson." Wonder how many people are going to lose marks if she comes up because they're spelled her name wrong the whole time. :rolleyes: My English teacher does it the whole time!

Hoping for Hopkins, Dickinson, Frost and I don't really care who comes up after that. Boland would be good because I've studied her too but if she comes up everyone is going to write about her. I'd rather stay out of that.

randylonghorn

squishness wrote: »

Just noticed poll says "DickEnson." Wonder how many people are going to lose marks if she comes up because they're spelled her name wrong the whole time. :rolleyes: My English teacher does it the whole time!

Fixed!

randylonghorn

malachyscott wrote: »

How many more threads are we going to see on this topic before the 9th of June ? The only way to be safe is to study 5 poets !

Indeed ... threads merged.

busyliving wrote: »

Correct me if i'm wrong but i think a women poet has to come up(eqality and all) so i think youcan get away with just studying women poets...Well when i did my LC I'm it was like that:D

Absolutely no offence intended, but you're wrong.

Again: the only way you're *guaranteed* to get at least one poet you have studied is to have studied at least five.

Ok, you may choose to concentrate a bit more on a couple of those if you feel they're more likely, but to be sure of seeing a familiar poet, you must cover five at least at a basic level.

There is no rule that says a female poet *has* to come up.

There is no rule that says an Irish poet *has* to come up.

There is no rule that says a poet will come up because they haven't been up in years.

And the SEC are getting fed-up with teachers / students predicting and cutting the course to the barest of bones, and have been deliberately throwing in some unexpected twists over the last couple of years.

rosskind

I don't understand all this 'is it okay to do one poet?' nonsense. Sure, it's only naturally to favour some poets over others and focus on a couple, but is it really that hard to remember the poems of the poets you are neglecting and to learn a few themes and what not?

MikeHough

if you study 4 of the poets that didnt come up last year you'd be fair unlucky not to get one of them on the exam. Like 3 of the poets who came up last year would have to all come up again. Now I know a poet can come 2 years in a row but I'm sorry; THREE coming up 2 years in a row is a bit too unlikely for me.I'm not gonna get the actual probability of it (i dont plan on doing Q6 and 7 in maths PII) but i think ye'll all agree that tis fairly slim.I don't want to be given out to for encouraging people not to study enough poets, I'm simply stating it wud be more sensible to focus on 3 4 or 5 of the poets that didnt come up last year (i.e. boland frost hopkins worsworth dickinson)
So now....Hope ive helped and not confused everyone more.

randylonghorn

Well, if you study 5, you're mathematically bound to get at least one of them right!

And yes ...

MikeHough wrote: »

if you study 4 of the poets that didnt come up last year you'd be fair unlucky not to get one of them on the exam.

... I'd have to agree that you would be fairly unlucky not to get at least one out of 4 on the exam, if none of the four had appeared last year.

lukeo17

Anyone have a thought about which poets are due ? ? ?

LC2010HIS

Only one I liked was Eliot.



FML

LC2010HIS

lukeo17 wrote: »

Anyone have a thought about which poets are due ? ? ?

Dickinson Frost Boland Wordsworth "apparently"

MarkTheBaby

Wordsworth hasn't come up. Some say this makes it more likely he will come up (this is what I believe) and some say he definitely won't come up.

There's always the chance the paper is leaked and the back-up paper is sent out. The back-up paper could have totally different poets to the first or it could only have one poet changed.

Study 3 in detail and be able to chance your arm on 2.

Cygni

Wordsworth - never been on.
Frost - has been long.
Dickinson - same as Frost.
Boland - likely.

I'm answering either WW or Frost .. maybe Dickinson. That's all I got prepared.

Fireball07

If Frost doesn't come up, I'm in trouble. Well unless there's a major shock and Kavanagh and Yeats come up.


I quite like Dickinson but I really don't know where to start writing an essay about her. I've looked at a few samples and just wished we had done her properly in class. I suppose I'll have to learn Boland to cover myself...

bradleyboy

Theres no point trying to predict what comes up, new minister for Ecucation reckons he turning the leaving upside down and removing the "prediction factor" which would apply to history and english mainly! i'm sure there will be big surprises come next thursday!

Salty

bradleyboy wrote: »

Theres no point trying to predict what comes up, new minister for Ecucation reckons he turning the leaving upside down and removing the "prediction factor" which would apply to history and english mainly! i'm sure there will be big surprises come next thursday!

That's probably more relevant for next years leaving certs, since the papers were already compiled by the time there was an election. Freaked to be sitting it next year!

Tara_Rxxx

Surely they cant make a BIG surprise in the paper, there'd be uproar!
But still something unexpected will come up, I have a strong feeling...
All the same I'm focusing on Boland, Frost, Wordsworth...:rolleyes:
Our teacher didnt do Dickinson...We did Hopkins instead, who I think is waaaaay harder!
The surprise could be Kavanagh?
Any way no point predicitng at this stage, just get down and learn em!
One other thing, If the likes of Boland, Frost and Dickinson came up, what if the questions are rotten?
This is what scares me :eek:

Alv_M

Eavan Boland! Every honours english teacher in my school reckon she will definatley make an appearence!

Evan93

I don't see the big fuss over poetry, it's only 12 and a half per cent. Saying that, every per cent is equally important, however, it's ridiculous the way people say your only guaranteed if you do 5 poets. If we put the situation in context, there's over 30000 doing higher english if I'm not wrong, in saying this, I could assume that 90% do not learn 5+ poets, many only learning three. The SEC love statistics & want to keep a fine bell curve year in year out, therefore, it would be logical that they would not omit one of the tipped poets. Not only because there would be uproar, but also because it would drastically alter the bell curve which they aspire to maintain. Many people forget that the part B in paper 1 carries the same marks & very few worry about that. People even forget that the comparative carries 70 marks, much more than prescribed poetry. Maybe one or two of the tipped poets won't come up, but one most certainly will. In conclusion, don't worry if you dont have 5 poets done. It's a huge amount of work for a little reward, in my opinion.

xclw

Boland is on the course next year and dickinson isn't so i think dickinson is more likely to be on

Salty

According to a very experienced teacher who corrects every year...Boland and Wordsworth are seriously worth learning. They don't want to be controversial, apparently.