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Leaving Cert - English Poetry Poll 2011

  • 28-05-2011 11:36am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 367 ✭✭


    . . .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. . .

    Who do you think will be on the Leaving Cert Studied Poetry Question 613 votes

    Frost
    0% 0 votes
    Yeats
    22% 139 votes
    Boland
    6% 37 votes
    Rich
    31% 191 votes
    Wordsworth
    2% 17 votes
    Hopkins
    18% 115 votes
    Kavanagh
    14% 88 votes
    Dickinson
    4% 26 votes


«13456710

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 519 ✭✭✭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


  • Registered Users Posts: 35 mikeydublin


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


  • Registered Users Posts: 117 ✭✭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


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭partyatmygaff


    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.


  • Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 29,509 Mod ✭✭✭✭randylonghorn


    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.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,405 ✭✭✭RHunce


    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!


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭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:


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,116 ✭✭✭Salty


    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.


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭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.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,405 ✭✭✭RHunce


    I hope not. I hate his poetry.

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


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  • Registered Users Posts: 814 ✭✭✭NotExactly


    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.


  • Registered Users Posts: 367 ✭✭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:


  • Registered Users Posts: 348 ✭✭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.


  • Registered Users Posts: 373 ✭✭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


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,734 ✭✭✭J_E


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


  • Registered Users Posts: 367 ✭✭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. . .


  • Registered Users Posts: 64 ✭✭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?


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,428 ✭✭✭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


  • Registered Users Posts: 65 ✭✭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:)


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,428 ✭✭✭busyliving


    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:


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  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 4,940 Mod ✭✭✭✭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 !


  • Registered Users Posts: 519 ✭✭✭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.''


  • Registered Users Posts: 39 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.


  • Registered Users Posts: 408 ✭✭LifesaverNiall


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


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,116 ✭✭✭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!


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,030 ✭✭✭Keano!


    boland, dickenson, frost


  • Registered Users Posts: 65 ✭✭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!


  • Registered Users Posts: 286 ✭✭Griffen262


    Keano! wrote: »
    boland, dickenson, frost


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


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,919 ✭✭✭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. :D


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  • Registered Users Posts: 6,902 ✭✭✭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.


This discussion has been closed.
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