how many poems should you know from each poet in english leaving cert

fontdor

I am doing higher level English. Just wondering how many poems should you know from each poet in english leaving cert

peekachoo

fontdor wrote: »

I am doing higher level English. Just wondering how many poems should you know from each poet in english leaving cert

It depends on your writing style. If you answer your poetry question in a poem-by-poem format I'd say around 4-5. You don't need to know each poem fully off, just try and identify key quotes you can use in most style questions.

I take a different approach to poetry where I learn quotes from every poem under a poet on the course and discuss the poetry by themes etc (depending on the question) and could end up discussing 3 poems in one paragraph and referring to the same poem later on in the answer.

fontdor

peekachoo wrote: »

It depends on your writing style. If you answer your poetry question in a poem-by-poem format I'd say around 4-5. You don't need to know each poem fully off, just try and identify key quotes you can use in most style questions.

I take a different approach to poetry where I learn quotes from every poem under a poet on the course and discuss the poetry by themes etc (depending on the question) and could end up discussing 3 poems in one paragraph and referring to the same poem later on in the answer.

Would you know where I can find some useful quotes for each poet's poem? Thank you for the answer btw.

peekachoo

fontdor wrote: »

Would you know where I can find some useful quotes for each poet's poem? Thank you for the answer btw.

Have you any sample answers done? Tbh all I did was highlight a few lines in each poem, have a look through the notes your teacher gives you or maybe some sample answers and exams you've done! I find the same quotes from each serves me well every time. Good luck

fontdor

peekachoo wrote: »

Have you any sample answers done? Tbh all I did was highlight a few lines in each poem, have a look through the notes your teacher gives you or maybe some sample answers and exams you've done! I find the same quotes from each serves me well every time. Good luck

Honestly We never got any notes from our teacher she say's she can't spoon feed us blah blah blah. And never done any exam well except christmas which no one ever got back.

peekachoo

fontdor wrote: »

Honestly We never got any notes from our teacher she say's she can't spoon feed us blah blah blah. And never done any exam well except christmas which no one ever got back.

Jaysus seriously? We have 2 hardbacks full of poetry notes! I'd say your best bet is the textbook - we have the New Explorations book which is s**t for notes but comes with a good CDR with notes. Probably a Revision book of some sort is your way to go.

fontdor

peekachoo wrote: »

Jaysus seriously? We have 2 hardbacks full of poetry notes! I'd say your best bet is the textbook - we have the New Explorations book which is s**t for notes but comes with a good CDR with notes. Probably a Revision book of some sort is your way to go.

I am dead serious dude. It is such a pain in the back at them moment. Maybe I should buy the less stress more success book for HL English maybe that will be a help.

thegreatescape

I've learned 5 poems per poet.

kingcobra

I've learned 6 poems for 6 poets, although depending on the poet, I'll generally use 5 in the exam

decisions

I have 6 for each poet, but I only use 4/5 when writing depending on the question.

ray2012

You honestly don't need to (and shouldn't IMO) learn off the full length of all poems. All you really need to do is pick certain lines from the poems you are studying you know and try incorporate them into various questions on that poet. Maybe get 4/5 lines from each poem (or more or less), and get phrases (can be just 2 or 3 words) too. We had to learn off the poems last year (in 5th year) for some poets and I honestly feel it was a waste time. I knew them for maybe a day at most, and then just forgot. I think a far better idea is simply to pick out quotes you would feel comfortable using in an exam and that you feel would exemplify some points you could write on a certain poet, for example, quotes that show a certain theme, quotes that help show the style of the poet, etc.

Colinoneill

peekachoo wrote: »

I take a different approach to poetry where I learn quotes from every poem under a poet on the course and discuss the poetry by themes etc (depending on the question) and could end up discussing 3 poems in one paragraph and referring to the same poem later on in the answer.

Could you expand on your style? Sounds pretty unique and interesting.


I'd say 4 to 5 aswell op. Less than that and you're showing a narrow knowledge, more and you might be too vague. Ask your teacher in terms of your own writing though.

peekachoo

Colinoneill wrote: »

Could you expand on your style? Sounds pretty unique and interesting.


I'd say 4 to 5 aswell op. Less than that and you're showing a narrow knowledge, more and you might be too vague. Ask your teacher in terms of your own writing though.

why thank you well for my mocks I did the Shakespearean sonnets. So while preparing in advance I'll study by making out graphs with headings under themes eg. Love, transience of live, death, mortality etc. Then under each heading I'll take 1 or 2 quotes and phrases from any of the sonnets on the course that fall under the heading (eg. Love - sonnet 18 "thou art more lovely" etc).

Then when it comes to the exam and the actual structuring of the question it's all about paying attention to the question.
The mock question was about Shakespeare's insight into love death and mortality combined. So I started off discussing how Shakespeare had a difficult love life and then showed how he deciphered this in his sonnets about the Fair Youth, then I discussed how this subject matter can be seen in "Shall I compare thee" and "Like an Imperfect Actor", how the beauty and love of the Fair Youth paradoxically renders him weak, then putting some quotes in. Then I further developed the point by saying the theme is carried on into "Let Me Not To The Marriage" although there is a change in his love and sees it less physically and instead mentally.

Then I went on to discuss how the passage of time also dominates Shakespeare's subject matter and his fascination with the personification of Time as the Grim Reaper. Then discussed each sonnet that included Time - "As I Do Count The Clock", "Like As The Waves" and "That Time of Year", not going into them in too much detail but just discussing the similarities and using some quotes and phrases.

As my closing I combined the themes and discussed how his sonnets are at their strongest when love, death and mortality are combined. Then I discussed "Shall I Compare Thee" again (BUT STAYING AWAY FROM THE QUOTES I PREVIOUSLY USED!) where he talks about wanting to make his love immortal. Also in "Let Me Not To The Marriage".
Then I just did the usual conclusion.

Although it seems like a lot my answer was only 3.5 pages and my writing is fairly big.

ray2012

peekachoo wrote: »

why thank you well for my mocks I did the Shakespearean sonnets. So while preparing in advance I'll study by making out graphs with headings under themes eg. Love, transience of live, death, mortality etc. Then under each heading I'll take 1 or 2 quotes and phrases from any of the sonnets on the course that fall under the heading (eg. Love - sonnet 18 "thou art more lovely" etc).

Then when it comes to the exam and the actual structuring of the question it's all about paying attention to the question.
The mock question was about Shakespeare's insight into love death and mortality combined. So I started off discussing how Shakespeare had a difficult love life and then showed how he deciphered this in his sonnets about the Fair Youth, then I discussed how this subject matter can be seen in "Shall I compare thee" and "Like an Imperfect Actor", how the beauty and love of the Fair Youth paradoxically renders him weak, then putting some quotes in. Then I further developed the point by saying the theme is carried on into "Let Me Not To The Marriage" although there is a change in his love and sees it less physically and instead mentally.

Then I went on to discuss how the passage of time also dominates Shakespeare's subject matter and his fascination with the personification of Time as the Grim Reaper. Then discussed each sonnet that included Time - "As I Do Count The Clock", "Like As The Waves" and "That Time of Year", not going into them in too much detail but just discussing the similarities and using some quotes and phrases.

As my closing I combined the themes and discussed how his sonnets are at their strongest when love, death and mortality are combined. Then I discussed "Shall I Compare Thee" again (BUT STAYING AWAY FROM THE QUOTES I PREVIOUSLY USED!) where he talks about wanting to make his love immortal. Also in "Let Me Not To The Marriage".
Then I just did the usual conclusion.

Although it seems like a lot my answer was only 3.5 pages and my writing is fairly big.

That is so weird. :P I do my poetry questions the exact same way as you, I did the Shakespeare Question in the mocks and you had the same question as me! :P I managed to get 50/50 in my poetry answer which I was fairly shocked by! Examiners love quotes from critics!

peekachoo

ray2012 wrote: »

That is so weird. :P I do my poetry questions the exact same way as you, I did the Shakespeare Question in the mocks and you had the same question as me! :P I managed to get 50/50 in my poetry answer which I was fairly shocked by! Examiners love quotes from critics!

Woo I'm not alone I got 46, got fairly flustered towards the end of the exam :P

Lc201395

3/4 poems for each of 5 poets

SmidgeBall

Learn 6 and talk about 4 (maybe 5) because sometimes not all the poems will suit the question.

Leaving Cert Student

ray2012 wrote: »

That is so weird. :P I do my poetry questions the exact same way as you, I did the Shakespeare Question in the mocks and you had the same question as me! :P I managed to get 50/50 in my poetry answer which I was fairly shocked by! Examiners love quotes from critics!

I managed to get a football scholarship to Harvard because Zidane said I was the next Messi! Which I was fairly shocked by! Harvard love unbelievable talents!

Monsieur Folie

I think it's actually suggested that you flesh out a point referring to several poems and do the essay point by point instead of just going poem by poem. So the style described in this thread is a very good one to emulate if going for high marks!

Honestly poetry is probably my weakest part of the course. You have to learn so much for so little marks (i.e. studying 5 poets at least with around 4-5 poems each). Learning quotes and themes and techniques from 25+ poems is tough. =(

ViveLaVie

fontdor wrote: »

Honestly We never got any notes from our teacher she say's she can't spoon feed us blah blah blah.

peekachoo wrote: »

Jaysus seriously? We have 2 hardbacks full of poetry notes! I'd say your best bet is the textbook

I don't see why you need notes from the teacher. The whole point is that it is your personal response to the poet.

Whatsernamex33

My teacher gave notes about the poet, the poet's style of writing, notes about the poems, what sort of poem etc. I then made out my own notes in my own words, based on those first notes and also searched the Internet for more impressive info to include.
Doesn't hurt to have other people's thoughts and opinions.

I think you should atleast aim to be able to write about 6 poems. Style/theme/personal responses from each. How to link up each poems into its relevant paragraph or statement. Learn off a few lines of the poems, any striking features or descriptions.

Plan the opening paragraph, always refer back to the question in each paragraph to show the corrector you know the material. Remember to summon up in short what you just answered in the concluding paragraph.

ViveLaVie

Whatsernamex33 wrote: »

Doesn't hurt to have other people's thoughts and opinions.

Hmm... there's a word for that, you know. Unless you reference the original author, it's plagiarism. :rolleyes:

Monsieur Folie

Monsieur Folie wrote: »

I think it's actually suggested that you flesh out a point referring to several poems and do the essay point by point instead of just going poem by poem. So the style described in this thread is a very good one to emulate if going for high marks!

I'm pretty sure it's okay to do it poem by poem, as long as you make each poem and discussion and relevant. However, coherence may be harder to get your marks in.
I do my poetry essays poem by poem as I find this style matches the Comparative (my strongest section) and I've never had problems. It helps me keep focused.
47/50 in my mock answer with this style.

mossy95

Im studying 3 poets and know 4 poems per poet and 5 quotes per poem.
Wordsorth, Bishop and shakespeare

ViveLaVie

mossy95 wrote: »

Im studying 3 poets and know 4 poems per poet and 5 quotes per poem.
Wordsorth, Bishop and shakespeare

What if they don't come up?

Vito Corleone

ViveLaVie wrote: »

Hmm... there's a word for that, you know. Unless you reference the original author, it's plagiarism. :rolleyes:

:rolleyes:

ViveLaVie

Vito Corleone wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Just sayin' :P

aimzLc2

mossy95 wrote: »

Im studying 3 poets and know 4 poems per poet and 5 quotes per poem.
Wordsorth, Bishop and shakespeare

You are doing yourself no favours doing only 3, at least do a fourth one the other 4 could come up!What would you do then?

amymak

Our teacher for the Leaving Cert corrects every year and although she didn't entirely agree with it, she said that some examiners count the number of poems you reference and if it's less than five, they'll immediately mark you down.

She also says that it's fine to go poem by poem, but you shouldn't do it if you're looking for high marks. It looks like you have a much better understanding of the poet if you're able to discuss individual aspects of their themes and style. (Also, you need to reference both theme and style in your answer, i.e. you have to talk about both what the poet talks about and how they talk about it.)

Definitely don't learn off all the poems. You'll only need a tiny fraction. Just make a list of the themes and styles you're going to talk about and then ensure you have quotes from the poems to support your points.

Also, if you can avoid it, don't use the same quote twice.

MegGustaa

The syllabus says you're expected to know at least 6 by each poet

ViveLaVie

amymak wrote: »

She also says that it's fine to go poem by poem, but you shouldn't do it if you're looking for high marks. It looks like you have a much better understanding of the poet if you're able to discuss individual aspects of their themes and style.

Hmm well there were five A1s in my class the year I did my Leaving and we were taught to do poem by poem - we did link poems in pairs according to themes but the format poem by poem is entirely valid. I myself got an A1 and that's how I did it.

aimzLc2

It doesn't matter if you do it poem by poem or by theme , it just depends on the content and you need at least 5 poems! I would do 6, anyone who says less than 5 is not preparing themselves entirely.I know sometimes it seems easier to do less poems but you need your answer to be longer so use more poems and have more to talk about!:) They won't say you did too many poems once you talk about each poem for at least a paragraph each