Unseen Poetry

“Genuine poetry can communicate
before it is understood”
T.S.Eliot 1888-1965

Unseen Poetry
How to tackle the last part
of the Literature
Examination

What does “Unseen” mean?
It will be a poem you have probably
never seen before
You are being tested on your ability
to “read and respond” thoughtfully
You are thinking about what the
writer is trying to say
Every word of the poem will count

The Question
Write about the poem and its effect
on you.
You may wish to include some or all of these
points:
The poem’s content – what it is about
The ideas the poet may have wanted us to think
about
The mood or atmosphere of a poem
How it is written – words or phrases you find
interesting, the way the poem is structured or
organised
Your response to the poem

Content
What it’s about
What happens in each section
Is there an order or sequence?
Who’s speaking?
Story or idea?

Ideas
What did the poet want us to think
about?
Is it a story
or an idea
or an expression of an emotion?
Is there a message?

Mood and atmosphere
What is the tone of the poem?
How does it make you feel as you
read it?
Think about the 5 senses
Think about the setting

How it is written
Don’t just list or spot techniques
Pick out words or phrases that you
find effective and try to say why
Think about the sound and rhythm of
the poem. Does it have a beat? Or is
it disjointed?
Look at repetition of sounds or words

Imagery: a quick reminder
An image in poetry (or in writing generally) is a
picture in the reader’s mind created by the words
used.
Literal images can be effective ; “roses in snow”.
The reader sees this in an uncomplicated way.
Similes and metaphors are figurative images –
they are built on comparison :
SIMILE – “The pigeon bursts like a city”
METAPHOR – “The sun died” - this is also an
example of personification

How it is written 2
Think about the structure or form
Is it regular, uneven, awkward or
easy to read. Does that tie in with
the content?
Look at the first line of each stanza
to see how the meaning develops
Look at the title and last line to give
you a clue as to what the writer
intended

Your Response
It’s perfectly acceptable to say you find a
poem confusing or misleading if you can
explain why
Try to be positive about some aspect of
the poem or explain how you relate to an
idea or event in it
Uses phrases to show your sadness,
surprise, enjoyment, anger, frustration,
empathy……
The examiner basically wants to know you
have read and thought about this poem

Things you should NEVER write!
At first I didn’t understand the poem but
after reading it a couple of times I think…
The poem has no rhythm
I think the poem needed to rhyme more
because I like poems that rhyme…
I think the poet has done a very good job
of writing this poem and they obviously
thought carefully about it…

Ok – so let’s try an example
It is absolutely essential to get into
the habit of reading the poem at
least twice before even trying to
think of what you will write.
Try to hear the poem aloud in your
head – notice how it makes you feel
and which words felt important as
you read it.

He liked he said
TRAMP
By William Marshall
rainbows and the sky
and children who passed him in the
street
without staring.
And he liked he said the
ordinary things

like
roses in snow
and the way he
remembered
the first time
the first time he
really smelt the
rain on
a green hillside
back home
just before the sun died

And he liked he said
thinking about
who slept beneath the red
brick roofs he
walked by in the
early part of the day
from Land’s End to John O’Groats.
but he said
as a full time tramp with no
other place to go he
was worried
where he would die -
Land’s End or John O’Groats.

Start by annotating ….
Tramp
Any tramp –
no name
Like a child
– a simple
treat
He liked he said
rainbows and the sky
and children who passed him in
the
street
without staring.
The speaker is
someone reporting
The tramp’s opinions
Most children stare - likes the ones
who don’t – why?

Using P-E-E
Making sure you always use P-E-E
statements in the poetry question
will help you get a C
Write two P-E-E statements about
this poem now
Point Evidence Explanation

How to get a C
sustained response to situation/ideas
or author's purposes
effective use of details to support
answer
explanation of features of language
interest
explanation of effects
achieved/authors' purposes

How to get a B
qualified, developed response, exploring
writers' ideas or methods
details from poem linked to authors'
intentions and purposes
exploration of effects achieved/authors'
purposes
qualified/exploratory response to writers'
ideas or methods

Check your response
Have you explained?
Have you used details?
Is your writing on the poem
sustained?
Are you beginning to explore?
Do you evaluate the writer’s
techniques?

Improving your answer
Go back and think about what you
need to add to your notes to ensure
you get a C or B

Remember:
Read the poem carefully more than once
Annotate the poem quickly
You have 30 minutes
Spend 5 mins reading the poem and
annotating
Think about the poem.

Writing your answer
Use the bullet points provided to structure
your answer
Use P-E-E throughout
Make at least two points for each bullet
point – that’s 10 marks!
Don’t panic if you don’t get it all – it is not
a trick!

Practice makes perfect
Practise annotating poems.
Remember to annotate in different ways:
questions, points, meanings, links,
language techniques, poet’s ideas
Thinking about the poems and questioning
the ideas in them will help you be more
confident in the exam.