Are all poetry questions a personal response?

cuprugby333

So my English teacher has said to always say how I felt though the poets work and to aim to avoid summarising the poem, but I was reading a chief examiners report on exemplar material of 2008 and a 50/50 answer was awarded without very much 'responding' by the student.

So basically I'm wondering if either the course aim has changed recently , or my teacher is just flat out wrong.

Leavingcert16

My teacher said that the reward for personal engagement

TSMGUY

Emphatically yes. As corny as it sounds, "I" is the most important word in any English essay. You can even go off on to little tangents about how you relate to the poetry as long as it's grounded in the question and your appreciation of it. The poetry answers in key notes are dire. Great for analysis but the sample essays read like stiff, rote-learned dissections of poetry.
Don't be disingenuous though (e.g. "I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Larkin or some ****e like that)

spurious

Would it not depend on the question and how it is worded?

TSMGUY

spurious wrote: »

Would it not depend on the question and how it is worded?

Nah, even if it''s imagery you should show some personal engagement with the poem. It's tacitly understood you're meant to give your own interpretation. Even the sample D grafe answers attempt a personal response.

Otherwise you're just listing techniques without explaining the impact they had on you.

cuprugby333

It wasn't sample answers though, it was
A students answer that they take from the actual 2008 leaving cert exam