GCSE English

P
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GCSE AQA
English Unseen Poetry
Exam Board: AQA

The Poetry Guide

For the Grade 9-1 Course
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 GCSE AQA English

Unseen Poetry
Reading a poem for the first time can be a beautiful experience... unless you have
to write an in-depth essay about it on the spot. Which is exactly what you’ll need
to do for the Unseen Poetry questions in the new AQA English Literature exams.

But don’t worry. This brilliant CGP book has everything you’ll need
to write a top-grade answer — plenty of sample poems, plus worked examples,
practice questions, full answers and exam advice.

Once you’ve worked through all this, you should be able to

handle any poems the examiners can throw at you!

P
G
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The Poetry Guide

Published by CGP

Editors:
Catherine Heygate
Jennifer Underwood

With thanks to Matt Topping and Elisabeth Quincey for the proofreading.
With thanks to Jan Greenway for the copyright research.

EUAR42DK

Clipart from Corel®

Based on the classic CGP style created by Richard Parsons.

Text, design, layout and original illustrations © Coordination Group Publications Ltd. (CGP) 2015
All rights reserved.

For copyright reasons, this book is not for sale in the USA.

0800 1712 712 • www.cgpbooks.co.uk

 Contents
Section One — Exam Advice
What You Have to do in the Exam.............................................................................. 2
Five Steps to Analysing the Unseen Poems................................................................. 3
Question 1 — Analysing One Poem........................................................................... 4
Worked Answer......................................................................................................... 5
Question 2 — Comparing Two Poems........................................................................ 7
Worked Answer......................................................................................................... 8

Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice

Handbag — Ruth Fainlight........................................................................................10
Jumper — Tony Harrison...........................................................................................12
‘I Look Into My Glass’ — Thomas Hardy...................................................................14
When You Are Old — W.B. Yeats...............................................................................16
The Dead-Beat — Wilfred Owen..............................................................................18
Spring in War-Time — Edith Nesbit...........................................................................20
The Bereavement of the Lion-Keeper — Sheenagh Pugh...........................................22
The Tyger — William Blake.......................................................................................24
An Irish Airman Foresees His Death — W.B. Yeats.....................................................26
The Send-Off — Wilfred Owen.................................................................................28

Section Three — Marking Sample Answers

Mark Scheme............................................................................................................ 30
Composed Upon Westminster Bridge — William Wordsworth.................................. 32
Winter Night: Edinburgh — Andrew Forster.............................................................. 34
Eating Poetry — Mark Strand..................................................................................... 36
Volumes — Jo Shapcott............................................................................................. 38
The Way Through The Woods — Rudyard Kipling..................................................... 40
Echo — Walter de la Mare........................................................................................ 42

Section Four — Practice Exam Questions

At Sea — Jennifer Copley..........................................................................................44
The Sands of Dee — Charles Kingsley.......................................................................45
Don’t Say I Said — Sophie Hannah...........................................................................46
Flowers — Wendy Cope...........................................................................................47

Answers ................................................................................................................... 48
Glossary................................................................................................................... 60
Acknowledgements................................................................................................... 62
2 Section One — Exam Advice

What
Ctrl
You
+ Shift
Have+toClick
do into
the
Edit
Exam
As part of your AQA English Literature course, you’ll have to sit two exams.
This book will help you prepare for the Unseen Poetry questions, which are in Paper 2.

This is how your Paper 2 exam will work

1) The Paper 2 exam lasts for 2 hours and 15 minutes. It will be split into three sections like this:

Paper 2

Section A: Section B: Section C:

Modern Text Poetry Unseen Poetry

Answer one question on Answer one question on Answer two questions on

the modern text you have the poetry cluster you have poems you haven’t read
studied. studied from the Anthology. before.

2) For Section C you will be given two poems that you haven’t read before and will have to answer
two questions about them.
3) In the exam, you should spend about 45 minutes answering the questions in Section C.

You will have to answer two questions about the unseen poems
1) Question 1 is worth 24 marks and will ask you to analyse one poem. Your answer should cover:

• What the poem is about — the poem’s message, themes and ideas.
• How the poet uses form, structure and language to communicate these ideas.

2) For Question 2 you’ll have to compare both poems. This question is worth 8 marks.
3) You should write about similarities and differences between the two poems. Your answer to this
question must focus on the techniques the poets use, such as form, structure and language.
4) Question 1 is worth a lot more marks than Question 2, so in the exam
make sure you spend more time on your answer to Question 1.

The examiner is looking for four main things

To impress the examiner with your answers to the questions in Section C, you need to:

1) Show that you understand what the poems are about.

2) Write about the techniques used in the poems.
3) Support every point you make with quotes or examples from the poems.
4) Use the correct technical terms to describe the techniques used in the poems.

Section One — Exam Advice © Not to be photocopied

 3

Five Steps
Ctrl
to+Analysing
Shift + Click
the Unseen
to Edit Poems
There are five main things that you need to do to get to grips with poems that you haven’t seen before.
| || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| |
Pick out the important bits

| | | | | | | ||
1) Work out what the poem’s about of

| | | | | | | ||
the poem as you read it —
underline them or make not
es.
1) Work out the subject of the poem.
|
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

E.g. “The poem is about the narrator’s relationship with his parents”.
2) Look at whether it’s written in the first person (“I”), second person (“you”) or third person (“he / she”).
Think about who the poem is addressing — e.g. the narrator’s lover, the reader...

2) Identify the purpose, theme or message

1) Think about what the poet is saying, why they’ve written the poem, or what ideas they’re using.
2) The poem could be an emotional response to something. It might aim to get a response from
the reader, or put across a message or an opinion about something.
3) There could be more than one purpose, theme or message in the poem.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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It’s really important

|
| |

| | | | | | |
to comment

||
on the poet’s use of

| | | | | | | |
3) Explore the emotions, moods or feelings form and structure an
language,
d the effect
they have on the rea

|| |
|
der.
1) Think about the different emotions or feelings in the poem.
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| |
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2) Identify the poem’s mood (the general atmosphere, e.g. gloomy).

3) Look at how the poet has used different techniques to show these emotions (see step 4).

4) Identify the techniques used in the poem

1) Pick out the different techniques the poet has used and how they create the emotions, moods or feelings
in the poem. Make sure you use the correct technical terms when you write about these techniques:

• Form — things like rhyme and rhythm. You might recognise a particular form,
e.g. a sonnet. Also look at changes in the lengths of lines or stanzas.
• Structure — the order of ideas in the poem, as well as any changes in mood or tone.
• Poetic devices — things like metaphors, alliteration, personification and enjambment.
• Imagery — language that creates a picture in your mind, including things
like metaphors and similes.

2) Think about why the poet has used these techniques, and what effect they create.

5) Include your thoughts and feelings about the poem

1) Examiners love to hear what you think of a poem and how it makes you feel.
2) Think about how well the poem gets its message across and what impact it had on you.
3) Try not to use “I” though — don’t say “I felt sad that the narrator’s brother died”, it’s much better to say “It
makes the reader feel the narrator’s sense of sadness at the death of his brother.”
4) Think about any other ways that the poem could be interpreted.

Always support your arguments with quotes and examples...

EXAM In your essays, it’s really important that you back up every point you make with evidence from the poems.
TIP
As you’re analysing the poems, look out for key quotes that you’ll be able to use to support your arguments.

© Not to be photocopied Section One — Exam Advice

4

Question
Ctrl +1 Shift
— Analysing
+ Click to
One
Edit
Poem
The first question will ask you to analyse one of the unseen poems. Read the question carefully and
underline the key words, then annotate the poem to pick out the important bits. Here’s an example...

Here’s a sample exam Question 1

You need to write about the techniques the poet uses, e.g. form, structure and language.

Q1 In ‘Ninetieth Birthday’, how does the poet present

old age and people’s attitudes towards it? (24 marks)

It’s asking ‘what’s the poem’s message about old age and attitudes to old age?’

This is how you might annotate the first poem

|| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|| | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
Annotate your poem in any way

| | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | ||
that works for you — underline,
Read through the poem, and mark any bits of it that stand out. highlight or scribble notes.
| | ||
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Jot down your thoughts too — it’ll help you plan your essay (see p.5).

Voice — second person, Ninetieth Birthday Subject — visit to old

addresses reader. woman on her birthday.
You go up the long track
Feelings — slow actions That will take a car, but is best walked
suggests unwilling to visit. On slow foot, noting the lichen
That writes history on the page Mood — enjoying
looking at nature.
5 Of the grey rock. Trees are about you
At first, but yield to the green bracken,
The nightjar’s house: you can hear it spin Mood — long,
On warm evenings; it is still now hot, quiet journey.
Personification — nature
In the noonday heat, only the lesser
talking. Emphasises quiet.
10 Voices sound, blue-fly and gnat
And the stream’s whisper. As the road climbs, Strong image —
Image of sun You will pause for breath and the far sea’s high up/heaven.
over sea. Signal will flash, till you turn again
To the steep track, buttressed with cloud. Suggests cathedral/mountain.
Structure — new stanza:
focus changes from 15 And there at the top that old woman, Message — impersonal/
journey to destination. Born almost a century back rude to elderly.
In that stone farm, awaits your coming;
Waits for the news of the lost village Structure — pause
Feelings — pity,
shows her wait.
nostalgia. She thinks she knows, a place that exists
20 In her memory only.
You bring her greeting
And praise for having lasted so long Metaphor — close to death.
With time’s knife shaving the bone.
Message — young
Yet no bridge joins her own Rhyme (only one).
patronise old.
25 World with yours, all you can do
Is lean kindly across the abyss Message — gulf between
Odd rhythm.
To hear words that were once wise. old and young.

R. S. Thomas (1913 - 2000) Alliteration.

POEM DICTIONARY
lichen — a combination of fungus and alga that grows on trees and rocks.
nightjar — a type of nocturnal bird (i.e. active at night). Its call sounds like a spinning-wheel.
buttressed — supported to make it more stable (especially on cathedrals).
abyss — a bottomless pit.

Section One — Exam Advice © Not to be photocopied

 5

Ctrl +Worked
Shift + Answer
Click to Edit
So, you’ve read the poem and have some ideas about how you might answer the question.
The next step is to turn your scribblings into an essay plan.

Spend five minutes planning your answer

1) Always plan your answer before you start — that way, you’re less likely to forget something important.
2) Focus on three or four key quotes from the poem.
3) Remember to write about what the poet says and how they say it.
4) Don’t spend too long on your plan. It’s only rough work, so you don’t need to write in full sentences.

1. Intro 2. Old age lonely/isolated

• Subject — journey to visit • Quiet — no people, personification of nature
old lady on her birthday • “Lost village”
• How old people are viewed • Waiting for visitors, people reluctant to visit

6. Conclusion 3. People’s attitudes

• Sad tone Old age and • Not valued — “that old woman”
• Old people attitudes to old age • Patronising — “lean kindly”, “praise
misunderstood for having lasted so long”
& dismissed • Two stanzas — journey & meeting.
Change in mood.
5. Journey of life 4. Distance between old and young
• Journey is a metaphor for life — • Different world — “no bridge...”
irregular rhythm, walking up hill • Imagery — “abyss” between old & young
• “time’s knife...” — near death • Rhyming couplet emphasises this

5) Now you’ve got a plan for your essay, you just need to write the thing,
but today’s your lucky day, because I’ve done this one for you...
|| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
|| | | | | |

Use your essay plan to ma

This is how you could answer Question 1
|| | | | | |

ke
sure you answer the questio
n.
| | | | | | | | | |
|| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Clear start,
The poem ‘Ninetieth Birthday’ tackles the issue of old age and the generation mentioning
gap through a description of a journey to meet an old lady. It raises issues that make the subject
Write and the main
you think about old age and how old people are viewed by younger generations. themes of the
about the
poem’s main The poem shows how lonely and isolated old age can be. The journey is up a “long poem.
messages track”: the old lady is isolated from the real world. She isn’t named, which may show
early on in
your essay. that the poem is a general comment on old age, or may reflect her anonymity and lack
of importance for most people. The village is described as the “lost village” because
Always
she has no contact with people and real life any more. It is “a place that exists / In her use quotes
memory only”, meaning that it has changed so much that the place she knew no longer to back up
points.
exists, so her history is lost.
This answer continues
on page 6.

© Not to be photocopied Section One — Exam Advice

6

Ctrl +Worked
Shift + Answer
Click to Edit

The isolation of old age is also shown through the lack of visitors — the narrator
is only visiting because it is her birthday. The only other life mentioned is nature; there’s
the sound of insects, “Voices sound, blue-fly and gnat” and “you can hear [the nightjar]
Write about spin”. This suggests that she has no human contact, but the fact that she “awaits your
feelings and Mention
mood, and coming” and “Waits for the news”, suggests that she is eager for visitors. The use of the specific
use quotes to words “awaits” and “waits” shows her patience, but also her frustration as the world leaves language
back up your features and
points. her behind. explain why
By using cold language like “that old woman” and “that stone farm”, the poem the poet used
them.
emphasises distance and sounds impersonal and uncaring. The language is patronising
when talking about how people speak of this woman — there is irony in our “praise” for
her “having lasted so long”, and “lean kindly” suggests we think we are being kind by
Think about visiting her. The alliteration of the final line, “words that were once wise”, emphasises the
different lack of interest shown in old people’s views, although it could also hint at the onset of
interpretations
to help you
dementia.
get top marks. The personification of nature in the first stanza — “Voices sound, blue-fly and
gnat / And the stream’s whisper” — reflects the silence of old age, but it also sounds
disturbing, with the sibilance adding a secretive tone. “Time’s knife” is really effective
Mention any
as a harsh sounding metaphor for how the old woman is near to death.
Write about
poetic devices The poem is also using a metaphor to comment on old age. The journey along any imagery
that you spot.
the road could represent the journey of life. On reaching the top (old age) it’s almost in the poem.
as though the traveller is going towards heaven, “buttressed with cloud”.
The poem’s rhythm is reminiscent of old age — it is slow, with lots of pauses in Think about
the middle of lines. It also reflects the action of walking uphill, on “slow foot”, pausing the techniques
the poet uses
for breath. The caesuras make you pause: “In that stone farm, awaits your coming”, gets to back up
Comment
on form and across the old lady’s longing for company and her patient waiting. There’s hardly any the poem’s
the effect it message.
rhyme in the poem, but when there is, it’s a couplet that emphasises that there’s “no
has.
bridge” between the old and young, the past and the present — neither can relate to the
other.
The message about old age is that the journey of life is hard and can end in
Sum up the
what and how loneliness. This is shown through the use of natural imagery, which suggests how isolated
in your final the old woman is, and through the attitude of the narrator, who reveals how people
paragraph.
feel about the older generation. The poem cleverly puts across how the young and old Give a
personal
don’t understand each other, and makes the reader question their own attitude towards response to
growing old. the poem.

Always proofread your answers...

EXAM
The examiner won’t be very impressed if your answers are full of spelling mistakes and grammatical
TIP
errors, so make sure you leave a couple of minutes at the end of the exam to check through your work.

Section One — Exam Advice © Not to be photocopied

 7

Question
Ctrl2+—
Shift
Comparing
+ Click to
Two
EditPoems
Whew, that’s Question 1 over and done with. Now it’s time to tackle Question 2.
I’d have a nice cup of tea and a biscuit first if I were you.

Question 2 will ask you about two poems

1) Question 2 will ask you to compare the two unseen poems. This means that you
need to write about the similarities and differences between them.
2) This question is about the techniques the poets use and their effect on the reader,
so focus on the structure, form and language used in the two poems.
3) Remember, Question 2 is only worth 8 marks, so don’t spend too long on your answer — you just
need to make three or four clear points and back them up with examples from the poems.

Four steps to answering Question 2

• Don’t be tempted to start writing without thinking about what you’re going to say.
• Instead, use this handy four-step plan to quickly organise your thoughts and write an answer that’ll
knock the examiner’s socks off:

1) Read the question carefully and underline the key words.

2) Annotate the second poem, focusing on the techniques used and how
they affect the reader. Think about similarities and differences between
these techniques and those used in the first poem.
3) Plan your answer. Identify three or four key similarities and/or
differences that you are going to write about.
4) Write your answer. Use your plan to make sure that every paragraph
discusses one similarity or difference between the techniques used in
the two poems.

Here’s a sample exam Question 2

Before you start annotating the second poem, read the question carefully
and make sure that you understand exactly what you’re being asked to do.

Q2 ‘Ninetieth Birthday’ and ‘My Grandmother’ both explore

relationships between young people and the elderly. Compare
the ways these relationships are presented in the two poems. (8 marks)

This is the theme. You need to compare the poets’ techniques, e.g.
form, structure and language, in the two poems.

Make sure you answer the question...

EXAM It might sound obvious, but you won’t get any marks for writing things that aren’t relevant, no matter how
TIP
brilliant they are. So always read the question and underline the key words before you do anything else.

© Not to be photocopied Section One — Exam Advice

8

Ctrl +Worked
Shift + Answer
Click to Edit
Once you’re sure you understand the question, you need to get to grips with the second unseen poem.
Then you’ll be ready to plan your answer...

This is how you might annotate the second poem

Read through the poem, and mark the most important bits. Remember, in your essay you need to write about
the form, structure and language used in the poem and the effect they have on the reader.
Regular form — four My Grandmother Subject — the narrator’s
stanzas of six lines each. relationship with her
More structured than grandmother.
She kept an antique shop – or it kept her.
‘Ninetieth Birthday’.
Among Apostle spoons and Bristol glass,
The faded silks, the heavy furniture,
Iambic pentameter
used throughout. She watched her own reflection in the brass
5 Salvers and silver bowls, as if to prove Theme — cold
Polish was all, there was no need of love. relationship.
Voice — first person,
describes personal And I remember how I once refused
memories. Contrasts with To go out with her, since I was afraid.
more distant relationship in Feelings —
It was perhaps a wish not to be used
‘Ninetieth Birthday’. narrator’s guilt.
10 Like antique objects. Though she never said
That she was hurt, I still could feel the guilt
Simile — treating Of that refusal, guessing how she felt.
people like objects.
Later, too frail to keep a shop, she put Feelings — loneliness.
All her best things in one long narrow room. Similar to ‘Ninetieth
15 The place smelt old, of things too long kept shut. Birthday’.
The smell of absences where shadows come
Metaphor — That can’t be polished. There was nothing then
shows isolation. Theme — isolation.
To give her own reflection back again. Same as in ‘Ninetieth
Birthday’.
And when she died I felt no grief at all,
20 Only the guilt of what I once refused.
Theme — obsession I walked into her room among the tall Regular rhyme, ABABCC
with material things. Sideboards and cupboards – things she never used throughout. All full
But needed: and no finger-marks were there, rhymes in final stanza.

Image linked Only the new dust falling through the air.
to death. POEM DICTIONARY
Elizabeth Jennings Salver — a flat tray

This is how you could plan your answer

Cold, distant relationship in both poems Poem 1: second person,

Different techniques to general comments
show similar relationships Conclusion Introduction
Poem 2: first person,
Voice more personal
Poem 1: Ninetieth Birthday
Language Poem 2: My Grandmother
Poem 1: lots of pauses, reflects
Emotional isolation reluctance to visit
Poem 1: “abyss” Form and Poem 2: rigid structure, shows coldness
Structure and rigidity in relationship
Poem 2: “smell of absences”

Section One — Exam Advice © Not to be photocopied

 9

Ctrl +Worked
Shift + Answer
Click to Edit
So, you’ve read the question, you’ve annotated the second poem and you’ve made a cunning plan.
All you need to do now is write your essay...

This is how you could answer Question 2

Show that
you’ve ‘Ninetieth Birthday’ and ‘My Grandmother’ both present rather distant and
understood unsympathetic relationships between a younger narrator and an elderly woman. The poets
the question.
use narrative voice, form and language in contrasting ways to present these relationships.
‘Ninetieth Birthday’ is written in the second person. By addressing the reader Explain how
the techniques
directly (“You go up the long track”), Thomas turns the poem into a general comment in the poems
on relationships between young and old, and encourages the reader to think about their affect the
reader.
own relationships with the elderly. In contrast, ‘My Grandmother’ uses the first person to
present the poem as a reflection on the narrator’s relationship with her own grandmother (“I
remember”). This gives ‘My Grandmother’ a more personal tone than ‘Ninetieth Birthday’.
Remember to
Both poems use form to reflect the relationship between the narrator and the old compare the
woman. ‘My Grandmother’ has a regular form, with four stanzas of six lines each, and two poems.
a regular rhyme scheme, ABABCC. This regularity gives the poem a controlled, almost
Compare the rigid tone, which may reflect the rigid, cold relationship between the narrator and her
form of the grandmother. The form of ‘Ninetieth Birthday’ is much less regular than that of ‘My
two poems.
Grandmother’. Thomas’s poem has no regular rhyme scheme. He uses a lot of enjambment,
for example “you can hear it spin / On warm evenings”, and there are several caesurae, such
Write about
as the full stop in line 5. These techniques create an irregular rhythm with lots of pauses. how form
In the first stanza, these pauses reflect the way the narrator pauses repeatedly on his journey conveys
meaning.
to “that stone farm” because he is reluctant to spend time with the old woman.
Introduce your
paragraphs
In both poems, the language used demonstrates a sense of emotional distance
with a between the narrators and the old women. This distance is emphasised by the
comparison. Use quotes
metaphorical language used in both poems to describe the women’s emotional isolation. to support
In Jennings’ poem, the grandmother is surrounded by “The smell of absences”, a metaphor your
argument.
which shows that the grandmother’s focus on her possessions, rather than “love”, has
left her emotionally isolated. Even though she has “All her best things” around her, she
has no close relationships — “absences” surround her, rather than people. Similarly, in
Show that you
‘Ninetieth Birthday’ Thomas uses metaphorical language to show that the old woman is
understand emotionally cut off. The metaphor of “the abyss” vividly describes the emotional distance
the imagery in
the poems.
between the narrator and the woman, suggesting that the narrator finds it impossible to Summarise
reach her in “her own / World”. the similarities
and differences
Although the narrative voice, form and language used in ‘Ninetieth Birthday’ and in your
‘My Grandmother’ are different, the two poems use these techniques in similar ways to conclusion.

present similarly distant relationships between a younger narrator and an elderly woman.

Think about how to organise your time in the exam...

EXAM There’s lots to do in Paper 2, so you need to keep an eye on the clock. Think about how many marks you can
TIP
get for each question, and make sure you spend more time on the questions that are worth the most marks.

© Not to be photocopied Section One — Exam Advice

10 Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice

Handbag
This section gives you loads of poems and some rather tasty questions about them. Read each poem,
annotate it, then have a go at the questions. They’re great practice for your Unseen Poetry exam.

Ruth Fainlight was born in New York in 1931, but moved to England when she was fifteen.
She’s published short stories and poems, including this one about her mum’s old handbag.

Handbag

My mother’s old leather handbag,

crowded with letters she carried
all through the war. The smell
of my mother’s handbag: mints
5 and lipstick and Coty powder.
The look of those letters, softened
and worn at the edges, opened,
read, and refolded so often.
Letters from my father. Odour
10 of leather and powder, which ever
since then has meant womanliness,
and love, and anguish, and war.

Ruth Fainlight

POEM DICTIONARY
Coty powder — a face powder

Carrying letters round in

your bag can get messy.

Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice © Not to be photocopied

 11

Ruth Fainlight
I know by now you’ll be desperate to show off your poetry analysis skills, so here’s your chance...
Read and annotate the poem on page 10, then have a go at answering these questions.

Warm-up Questions
Q1 Explain briefly what you think the poem is about.

Q2 Why do you think the narrator is looking through her mother’s bag now?

Q3 Briefly describe the emotions that the poet puts across. How does the poet show these emotions?

Q4 What does the phrase “crowded with letters” suggest about the narrator’s mother?

Q5 Why do you think the poet uses enjambment to break up the phrase “carried / all through the
war”?

Q6 How does the poet convey the way the handbag smells? Why do you think these smells are
important to the narrator?

Q7 How does the poet use the sense of touch in this poem?

Q8 Why do you think “Letters from my father.” is the only complete sentence written on a single line?

Q9 The poet repeats the word “and” three times in the final line. What effect does this have?

Q10 What do you notice about the rhythm of the poem? What effect does this have?

Exam-style Question — Part 1 | || | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Part 2 of the exam questio
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | ||

| | | | | ||
n will ask you to compare
| | | | | | | | |

two poems. When you’ve

finished answering Part 1,
What do you think the narrator is saying about turn over for the next poe
m and Part 2.
||

her mother? How are these ideas presented?

| | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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12

Ctrl + Shift
Jumper
+ Click to Edit
Tony Harrison was born in Leeds in 1937. He has written plays and poetry, as well as translating works
from ancient Greek and French. This poem was published in the 1970s, but part of it is a memory from
World War Two. During the war, people hid in bomb shelters for protection during bombing raids.

Jumper

When I want some sort of human metronome

to beat calm celebration out of fear
like that when German bombs fell round our home
it’s my mother’s needles, knitting, that I hear,
5 the click of needles steady though walls shake.
The stitches, plain or purl, were never dropped.
Bombs fell all that night until daybreak
but, not for a moment, did the knitting stop.
Though we shivered in the cellar-shelter’s cold
10 and the whistling bombs sent shivers through the walls
I know now why she made her scared child hold
the skeins she wound so calmly into balls.

We open presents wrapped before she died.

With that same composure shown in that attack
15 she’d known the time to lay her wools aside —

the jumper I open’s shop-bought, and is black!

Tony Harrison

POEM DICTIONARY
metronome — a machine that ticks at a constant speed to help musicians stay in time
plain and purl — types of stitch in knitting
skein — a length of wool that has been loosely twisted or coiled

Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice © Not to be photocopied

 13

Ctrl +Tony
Shift Harrison
+ Click to Edit
In the exam you’ll have to read not one but two poems, and the second question will ask you to compare them.
Have a go at these questions to help you get to grips with ‘Jumper’, then try the exam-style question.

Warm-up Questions
Q1 Explain briefly what you think the poem is about.

Q2 How does the poet suggest that the narrator and his mother were in danger during the bombing?

Q3 Why do you think the narrator’s mother made him hold the wool as she was knitting?

Q4 Briefly describe the emotions that the poet puts across. How does the poet show these emotions?

Q5 The poet uses the words “shivered” and “shivers” on consecutive lines.
What effect does this have?

Q6 a) How are the last four lines of the poem different from the first twelve lines?
b) Why do you think the poet has done this?

Q7 How does the poet use the senses in the poem? Do you think this is effective?

Q8 Find an example of onomatopoeia in the poem and explain its effect.

Q9 What do you notice about the rhythm of the poem? What effect does this have?

Q10 Why do you think it is significant that the jumper is “shop-bought” and “black”?
Why has this description been separated from the rest of the stanza?

Exam-style Question — Part 2

The narrators of ‘Handbag’ and ‘Jumper’ both use an object to convey their feelings about their
mothers. What similarities and differences are there in the way these feelings are conveyed?

© Not to be photocopied Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice

14

Ctrl
‘I Look
+ Shift
Into
+ Click
My Glass’
to Edit
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) originally trained as an architect, but decided to give it up to become
a poet and author. He wrote around twenty novels and several poetry collections.

‘I Look Into My Glass’

I look into my glass,

And view my wasting skin,
And say, ‘Would God it came to pass
My heart had shrunk as thin!’

5 For then, I, undistrest

By hearts grown cold to me,
Could lonely wait my endless rest
With equanimity.

But Time, to make me grieve,

10 Part steals, lets part abide;
And shakes this fragile frame at eve
With throbbings of noontide.

Thomas Hardy

POEM DICTIONARY
glass — mirror
wasting — getting less healthy
undistrest — made up word meaning ‘not worried’
equanimity — calmness
abide — stay

Darren felt pretty stupid when

he realised that the angry
penguin that had been following
him was in fact his reflection.

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 15

Thomas Hardy
Have a bash at these warm-up questions to help you get to grips with the poem. Once you feel
like you know it inside out, you’re ready to write a stunning answer to the exam-style question.

Warm-up Questions
Q1 In just one sentence, explain what you think the poem is about.

Q2 What does the sentence “Would God it came to pass / My heart had shrunk as thin!” mean?

Q3 Explain the meaning of the phrase “throbbings of noontide”.

Q4 What does the use of assonance in the 2nd stanza suggest about the narrator’s feelings about
growing old?

Q5 What does the 2nd stanza tell you about the narrator’s attitude towards death?

Q6 How does the poet create a contrast between youth and old age in the final stanza?

Q7 What is the poem’s rhyme scheme? What effect does it have?

Q8 Find an example of alliteration in the poem and explain its effect.

Q9 How does the poet use personification in the final stanza of the poem? Why do you think he uses
this technique?

Exam-style Question — Part 1

How does the narrator feel about getting older?
How does he present these feelings?

© Not to be photocopied Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice

16

When You Are Old

W.B. (William Butler, in case you’re wondering) Yeats (1865-1939) is one of Ireland’s best-known poets.
His poetry is so good that he even won a Nobel Prize in Literature. Impressive...

When You Are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

5 How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

10 Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

W. B. Yeats

Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice © Not to be photocopied

 17

W.B. Yeats
And here’s the second set of questions for your delight and delectation. Remember to keep flicking back to
‘I Look Into My Glass’ on p.14 as you answer the exam-style question, to make sure you haven’t missed anything.

Warm-up Questions
Q1 Who do you think the narrator is addressing?

Q2 Briefly describe what you think the poem is about.

Q3 The poet repeats the word “and” six times in the 1st stanza. Why do you think he does this?

Q4 Describe the mood of the 1st stanza. How does the poet create this mood?

Q5 What does the use of repetition in the 2nd stanza tell you about the narrator’s feelings?

Q6 How is the pace of the 1st stanza different to the pace of the 2nd? Why do you think they are
different?

Q7 What do you think the “glowing bars” in line 9 represent?

Q8 According to the narrator, how will the subject feel in old age? How are these feelings put
across?

Q9 Find an example of personification in the poem and explain its effect.

Q10 Comment on the rhythm of the poem. What effect does this have on the reader?

Exam-style Question — Part 2

The narrators of ‘I Look Into My Glass’ and ‘When You Are Old’ both consider the effects of ageing.
What similarities and differences are there in the way these effects are presented?

© Not to be photocopied Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice

18

Ctrl +The
Shift
Dead-Beat
+ Click to Edit
Wilfred Owen wrote this poem during the First World War, so don’t go expecting it to be full of rainbows and
rays of sunshine. I’ll warn you, it’s pretty bleak, but it’s definitely worth a read...

The Dead-Beat

He dropped, – more sullenly than wearily,

Lay stupid like a cod, heavy like meat,
And none of us could kick him to his feet;
– Just blinked at my revolver, blearily;
5 – Didn’t appear to know a war was on,
Or see the blasted trench at which he stared.
‘I’ll do ’em in,’ he whined. ‘If this hand’s spared,
I’ll murder them, I will.’
A low voice said,
10 ‘It’s Blighty, p’raps, he sees; his pluck’s all gone,
Dreaming of all the valiant, that aren’t dead:
Bold uncles, smiling ministerially;
Maybe his brave young wife, getting her fun
In some new home, improved materially.
15 It’s not these stiffs have crazed him; nor the Hun.’

We sent him down at last, out of the way.

Unwounded; – stout lad, too, before that strafe.
Malingering? Stretcher-bearers winked, ‘Not half!’

Next day I heard the Doc’s well-whiskied laugh:

‘That scum you sent last night soon died. Hooray!’

Wilfred Owen

POEM DICTIONARY
Blighty — a nickname for Britain
pluck — courage
ministerially — like a church minister
stiffs — dead bodies
Hun — a nickname for German soldiers (the enemy)
strafe — an attack by low-flying aircraft
malingering — to fake or exaggerate an illness to get out of something

Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice © Not to be photocopied

 19

Ctrl + Wilfred
Shift + Click
Owento Edit
I’m sure you’re eager for more questions by now, and it’s your lucky day... Here are some questions about
the poem on page 18 — have a good read of the poem before you answer them.

Warm-up Questions
Q1 Write down what you think the poem is about, in just one sentence.

Q2 Why do you think the poet compares the man to “a cod” and “meat”?

Q3 People try to “kick him to his feet”. What does the word “kick” suggest about life in the trenches?

Q4 Why do you think the poet describes people at home as “valiant”, “Bold” and “brave”?

Q5 How do the medical staff react to the patient? What do you think about their reactions?

Q6 The poem ends in the word “Hooray!”. What effect does this have?

Q7 What do you think of the title of this poem? Why do you think the poet chose this title?

Q8 The poet uses direct speech in this poem. What effect does this have on the reader?

Q9 What do you notice about the rhyme scheme of the poem? What effect does this have?

Q10 Wilfred Owen felt sympathy for soldiers who had breakdowns during the war.
How does the attitude of the narrator differ from this view?

Exam-style Question — Part 1

What is the poet saying about how war changes people’s
behaviour, and how does he convey this to the reader?

© Not to be photocopied Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice

20

Spring in War-Time
Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) is famous for writing a book called The Railway Children, but she dabbled in a bit of
poetry too. She was also very interested in politics, but I’m not sure that shows in this poem...

Spring in War-Time

Now the sprinkled blackthorn snow

Lies along the lovers' lane
Where last year we used to go—
Where we shall not go again.

5 In the hedge the buds are new,

By our wood the violets peer—
Just like last year's violets, too,
But they have no scent this year.

Every bird has heart to sing

10 Of its nest, warmed by its breast;
We had heart to sing last spring,
But we never built our nest.

Presently red roses blown

Will make all the garden gay...
15 Not yet have the daisies grown
On your clay.

Edith Nesbit

POEM DICTIONARY
blackthorn — a bush with white flowers in spring

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 21

Edith Nesbit
Before you answer these questions, read the poem all the way through slowly. Read it again and underline
the bits that stand out to you. Then, and only then, are you ready to answer the questions, grasshopper.

Warm-up Questions
Q1 Write down what you think the poem is about, in just one sentence.

Q2 Who do you think the narrator is addressing in this poem?

Q3 What do you think the narrator means by “we never built our nest” in the 3rd stanza?

Q4 What do you think the narrator means when she says that the violets “have no scent this year”?

Q5 How does the poet link daisies and death in the last stanza?

Q6 How does the poet create a contrast between the signs of spring and the narrator’s feelings
in the poem?

Q7 What is the rhyme scheme of this poem and why do you think that the poet chose it?

Q8 The last line of the poem has a different rhythm. Why do you think that the poet has done this?

Q9 Which of the four stanzas do you find the most effective in showing the narrator’s emotions?
Give a reason for your answer.

Exam-style Question — Part 2

Both ‘The Dead-Beat’ and ‘Spring in War-Time’ consider the effects of war.
What similarities and differences are there in the way these effects are presented?

© Not to be photocopied Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice

22

The Bereavement of the Lion-Keeper

Sheenagh Pugh is a British poet, novelist and translator. She lives in Shetland, and lots of her poems
feature northern European landscapes. Not this one though — this one’s about lions...

The Bereavement of the Lion-Keeper

for Sheraq Omar

Who stayed, long after his pay stopped,

in the zoo with no visitors,
just keepers and captives, moth-eaten,
growing old together.

5 Who begged for meat in the market-place

as times grew hungrier, ||
|| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | |
This poem is about Marjan

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
and cut it up small to feed him, ,a

|| | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||
lion who lived in Kabul Zoo
in
since his teeth were gone. Afghanistan for 23 years unt
il his
death in 2002. Sheraq Om
ar,
whom the poem is dedicat
Who could stroke his head, who knew was Marjan’s keeper.
ed to,
10 how it felt to plunge fingers | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | |

into rough glowing fur, who has heard

the deepest purr in the world.

Who curled close to him, wrapped in his warmth,

his pungent scent, as the bombs fell,
15 who has seen him asleep so often,
but never like this.

Who knew that elderly lions

were not immortal, that it was bound
to happen, that he died peacefully,
20 in the course of nature,

but who knows no way to let go

of love, to walk out of sunlight,
to be an old man in a city
without a lion.

Sheenagh Pugh

Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice © Not to be photocopied

 23

Sheenagh Pugh
*Sob* This is such a sad poem. I’m going in search of cake and ice cream to cheer myself up. You, however,
need to have a go at these questions before you indulge in any sugary treats. Sorry about that.

Warm-up Questions
Q1 Briefly describe what you think the poem is about.

Q2 How does the poet suggest that the keepers were devoted to the animals and their jobs?

Q3 Each stanza apart from the last one starts with the word “Who...”. What is the effect of this?

Q4 What does “who has seen him asleep so often, / but never like this.” mean?

Q5 What do you think the line “wrapped in his warmth, / his pungent scent, as the bombs fell,”
suggests?

Q6 How does the poet appeal to different senses? Give some examples and explain their effect.

Q7 a) In what way does the poem show similarities between the ageing lion and the elderly keeper?
b) How does that make the reader feel?

Q8 Briefly describe the emotions that the poem puts across.

Q9 Do you think there is a feeling of hope in the poem? Pick out some quotes to explain your view.

Q10 Which of the six stanzas do you find the most effective in showing the keeper’s emotions?
Explain your answer.

Exam-style Question — Part 1

What does the poem say about man’s relationship with animals?
How does the poet put these ideas across?

© Not to be photocopied Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice

24

The Tyger
This poem was published in 1794, so it’s pretty old. Blake illustrated the original version of the poem himself
— he drew a big picture of a tiger at the bottom. Lovely.

The Tyger

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

5 In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, and what art,

10 Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?

In what furnace was thy brain?
15 What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,

And water’d heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
20 Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake

POEM DICTIONARY
frame — design or create
aspire — to strive towards an achievement
sinews — tendons or muscles
dread — frightening and awe-inspiring

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 25

William Blake
Your next mission, should you choose to accept it, is to have a good read of the poem on page 24,
annotate the most important bits, then have a go at answering these questions.

Warm-up Questions
Q1 Briefly explain what you think the poem is about.

Q2 What attitude do you think the narrator has towards the tiger?

Q3 Why does the narrator describe the tiger as “burning bright”? What do you think this means?

Q4 Why do you think the poet only mentions some parts of the tiger’s creator,
like the “hand” and “eye”?

Q5 The poem is made up almost entirely of questions. What effect does this have?

Q6 Give one example of alliteration in the poem. What does the alliteration achieve?

Q7 Which of the images in the poem do you think is the most effective? Explain your answer.

Q8 Comment on the rhythm of the poem. What effect does this have on the reader?

Q9 Why does the poet ask “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”

Q10 a) Why does the poet repeat the first stanza at the end of the poem?
b) Why does he replace the word “Could” with “Dare”?

Exam-style Question — Part 2

Compare the way poets present attitudes towards animals
in ‘The Bereavement of the Lion-Keeper’ and ‘The Tyger’.

© Not to be photocopied Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice

26

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

I’m afraid there’s a bit more death and gloom before you finish this section, because the final pair of poems
are about war. Still, this first one puts a fairly cheery spin on dying, so that’s nice.

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

I know that I shall meet my fate

Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
5 My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
10 Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
15 A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

W. B. Yeats

POEM DICTIONARY
Kiltartan — an area of Ireland

Yeats’s first attempt — ‘An Irish

Setter Foresees His Dinner’ —
didn’t meet with critical success.

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 27

W.B. Yeats
Once you feel like you know the poem on page 26 better than you know the inside of your underwear drawer,
have a go at answering these questions. Don’t forget to make a plan before you answer the exam-style question.

Warm-up Questions
Q1 Explain briefly what you think the poem is about.

Q2 What does the narrator mean when he says “No likely end could bring them loss”?

Q3 What is “this tumult in the clouds”? Why do you think the poet chose the word “tumult”?

Q4 How do you think the narrator feels about flying? How does the poet put these feelings across?

Q5 What do lines 3 and 4 tell you about the narrator’s attitude towards war?

Q6 Do you think the narrator is afraid of death? Explain your answer.

Q7 Comment on the rhythm of the poem. What effect does it have?

Q8 What is the effect of the poet’s use of repetition in the final four lines of the poem?

Q9 What do you notice about the poem’s rhyme scheme? What effect does it have?

Exam-style Question — Part 1

What do you think the poet is saying about death, and the
airman’s attitude to it? How does the poet present his ideas?

© Not to be photocopied Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice

28

The Send-Off
Nearly there — just one more poem to go and you can move on to the joys of Section Three. You know what
to do — read the poem, annotate it, then answer the questions on the next page.

The Send-Off

Down the close darkening lanes they sang their way

To the siding-shed,
And lined the train with faces grimly gay.

Their breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray
5 As men’s are, dead.

Dull porters watched them, and a casual tramp

Stood staring hard,
Sorry to miss them from the upland camp.

Then, unmoved, signals nodded, and a lamp

10 Winked to the guard.

So secretly, like wrongs hushed-up, they went.

They were not ours:
We never heard to which front these were sent;

Nor there if they yet mock what women meant

15 Who gave them flowers.

Shall they return to beatings of great bells

In wild train-loads?
A few, a few, too few for drums and yells,

May creep back, silent, to village wells,

20 Up half-known roads.

Wilfred Owen

Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice © Not to be photocopied

 29

Wilfred Owen
Woo — this is it, your final set of practice questions. When you’ve finished these, you should be able to
analyse poetry with the best of ‘em, which will put you in prime position for the exam...

Warm-up Questions
Q1 In just one sentence, write down what you think the poem is about.

Q2 What does the simile “Their breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray / As men’s are,
dead” mean? Why do you think the poet chose this simile?

Q3 Find an example of an oxymoron in the poem and explain its meaning.

Q4 What techniques does the poet use to emphasize the word “dead” in line 5? What effect does
this have?

Q5 Describe the mood of lines 6-8. How does the poet put this across?

Q6 What does the simile “like wrongs hushed-up” suggest about the narrator’s attitude towards war?

Q7 Comment on the rhythm of the poem. What effect does it have?

Q8 The poet repeats the word “few” three times in line 18. Why do you think he does this?

Q9 Why do you think the poet chose the title ‘The Send-Off’? Do you think it is an effective title?

Q10 What do the last two lines of the poem suggest about the impact of conflict on the returning men?

Exam-style Question — Part 2

The narrators of ‘An Irish Airman Foresees His Death’ and ‘The Send-Off’ have different attitudes
towards war. What similarities and differences are there in the way these attitudes are presented?

© Not to be photocopied Section Two — Unseen Poetry Practice

30 Section Three — Marking Sample Answers

Ctrl +Mark
Shift +Scheme
Click to Edit
I bet you’ve always wanted to be an examiner for the day, haven’t you? Thought so. That’s why I’ve
given you a whole section where you can mark some sample exam answers. I knew you’d be pleased.
But before you dive in, have a good look at these mark schemes...

This section lets you mark some sample answer extracts

1) Marking extracts from sample exam answers is a great way to find out
exactly what you’ll need to do to get the grade you want.
2) Remember, in this section you’re only marking extracts, not full answers. The essays
you’ll write in the exam will be longer than the answer extracts on the next few pages.
3) The mark schemes on these two pages are similar to the ones your examiner will use. The idea
is for you to use them to help you mark the sample answer extracts in the rest of the section.
4) These extracts should give you a good idea of what the examiner will be looking for when he
or she marks your exam answer. Don’t forget, grade 9 is the top grade you can get in the exam.
5) So before you do anything else, read the mark schemes and make sure you understand them.

Use this mark scheme to mark the answers to Question 1

Assessment
Grade What you’ve written
Objective
• Shows a critical, convincing and well-structured analysis of the poem
AO1
• Uses well-chosen examples to support interpretation(s)
8-9
• Gives an insightful analysis of the poet’s use of language, structure and form,
AO2 using technical terms effectively
• Presents a detailed exploration of how the poet’s techniques affect the reader

• Presents a thoughtful, well-developed analysis of the poem

AO1
• Uses a range of examples to support the interpretation(s)
6-7
• Explores the poet’s use of language and/or structure and/or form in detail,
AO2 using correct technical terms
• Examines the effect of the poet’s techniques on the reader

• Gives a clear analysis of the poem

AO1
• Provides some references and detail related to interpretation of the poem
4-5
• Gives some explanation of the poet’s use of language and/or structure and/or
AO2 form, using some relevant technical terms
• Explains how some of the techniques used in the poem affect the reader

You can also be awarded grades 1-3. We haven’t included any sample answer extracts at 1-3
level though — so those grades aren’t in this mark scheme.

Section Three — Marking Sample Answers © Not to be photocopied

 31

Mark Scheme
Here’s another lovely mark scheme for you — this one should give you a good idea of the sort of thing you
need to do in your answer to Question 2. Remember, Question 2 will ask you to write about two poems...

Use this mark scheme to mark the answers to Question 2

1) Question 2 will ask you to compare two poems.
2) Remember, this question is only worth 8 marks, so you don’t
want to spend too long on your answer.
3) This question is all about the techniques the poets have used and how they
affect the reader. Your answer must focus on similarities and differences
between the language, form and structure used in the two poems.

Assessment
Grade What you’ve written
Objective
• Explores similarities and differences between the use of language, structure
and form in the two poems, using technical terms effectively
8-9 AO2
• Convincingly explores and compares the ways the poets’ techniques affect the
reader

• Gives a thoughtful comparison of the poets’ use of language and/or structure

6-7 AO2 and/or form, using appropriate technical terms
• Compares the effects of the poets’ techniques on the reader

• Compares how the poets have used language and/or structure and/or form,
4-5 AO2 using some relevant technical terms
• Compares the way some of the poets’ techniques affect the reader

You can also be awarded grades 1-3. We haven’t included any sample answer extracts at 1-3
level though — so those grades aren’t in this mark scheme.

Look out for quotes and examples in the answer extracts

1) When the examiner marks your answers, he or she will be paying close attention to whether
you’ve used quotes and examples from the poems to back up your arguments.
2) Think like an examiner when you’re marking the answer extracts on the next
few pages and look out for the way they use evidence from the poems:

• The quotes and examples should have been carefully chosen — they must be relevant
to the point being made.
• There’s no need to quote large chunks of text.
• Exact quotes should be inside quotation marks (“ ”) like this: “I believe life ends with death.”
• If the text has been rephrased, you don’t need quotation marks.
E.g. The poet believes that life does not go on beyond death.
• Wherever possible, quotes should be integrated into the sentences so that the writing flows nicely.
E.g. The blunt, “I believe life ends with death”, makes the narrator sound cold and definite.

© Not to be photocopied Section Three — Marking Sample Answers

32

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was one of the most famous of the Romantic poets. His best-known
poem is ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ which, like many of his poems, is about the beauty of nature.

Q1 Read the poem below. What are the narrator’s feelings about the city?
What methods does the poet use to put these emotions across?
(24 marks)

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, Sept. 3, 1802

Earth has not anything to show more fair:

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
5 The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
10 In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

William Wordsworth

Ahh, beauteous London.

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 33

William Wordsworth
Here’s your first set of sample answer extracts. For each one, think about where it fits in the mark scheme for
Question 1 on p.32. Most answers won’t fit the criteria for one band exactly — it’s about finding the best fit.

1
The narrator thinks the city is really amazing and impressive. The poet shows this right at
the start with the opening line, “Earth has not anything to show more fair”. The narrator thinks
the city is the most beautiful thing in the world, which is a bit over-the-top, and makes him sound
really impressed and amazed. The line “Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!” shows how amazed
the narrator is too, especially the exclamation mark. The narrator also says “Dear God!” in line 13.
That’s the sort of thing you say when you’re excited about something, so it shows that the narrator’s
excited about the city and thinks it’s amazing.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

2
Using hyperbole, the narrator claims that there is nothing in the world “more fair” than the sight
of London at dawn. The narrator is so awestruck by the city’s beauty that he almost seems to be in
love with it. Wordsworth’s personification of the city as wearing “The beauty of the morning” makes
the city sound elegant and graceful, creating an image of it as a beautiful woman, whom the narrator
lovingly admires.
The poem is written as a Petrarchan sonnet, and this also suggests the narrator’s love for the city.
This form is usually used for love poetry, so Wordsworth’s choice of it to write about London reinforces
the picture in the reader’s mind of the city as a woman the narrator is in love with.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

3
Wordsworth uses evocative imagery to show that the narrator finds London very beautiful. The
phrase “bright and glittering” creates a beautiful image of sunlight shining on the city’s buildings,
suggesting the way precious jewels catch the light. The use of personification — “This City now doth,
like a garment, wear / The beauty of the morning” — also emphasises London’s beauty, making it sound
elegant and graceful.
Wordsworth also uses hyperbole to show how beautiful the narrator finds the city. For example,
the phrase “Never did sun more beautifully steep / In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill” describes
the sunrise over the city as more beautiful than any the narrator has seen in the countryside. This
exaggerated claim makes the narrator seem amazed and awestruck by the city’s appearance.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

© Not to be photocopied Section Three — Marking Sample Answers

34

Winter Night: Edinburgh

Andrew Forster has worked as Literature Development Officer for Dumfries and Galloway and Literature
Officer for the Wordsworth Trust. His first poetry collection, Fear of Thunder, was shortlisted for the 2008
Forward Prize for best first collection.

Q2 Read the poem below. In both ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’

and ‘Winter Night: Edinburgh’ the poets describe a city.
What are the similarities and differences in the way the cities are described?
(8 marks)

Winter Night: Edinburgh

Night falls quickly as turning back a clock

but the City is alive with light.
Shops and cafés deny the darkness,
throw light at the street like baited hooks.
5 Offices spill workers onto pavements,
the yellow drip of lamps washing colour
from their faces as they pass beneath.
Cars, trapped in a magnetic flow, controlled
by coloured lights, thrust beams at the blackness.

10 It can be seen for miles, this Metropolis:

glowing orange like a prehistoric fire.

Andrew Forster

Mike’s attempt to beat rush hour was

creative, but ultimately ill-advised.

Section Three — Marking Sample Answers © Not to be photocopied

 35

Andrew Forster
Question 2 asks you to compare two poems, so here you’re looking for answers that discuss similarities
and differences between the poems. You’ll need the mark scheme on page 31 for these answers extracts...

1
The two poems describe cities with very different atmospheres. In Wordsworth’s poem, London is
“calm” and “asleep” in “The beauty of the morning”, whereas Forster’s Edinburgh is busy and vibrant,
“alive with light” in the evening rush hour. Both poets use rhyme to create the atmosphere they
describe. Wordsworth’s poem is written in the form of a Petrarchan sonnet, so it has the rhyme scheme
ABBA, ABBA, CDCDCD. The regularity of this rhyme scheme gives the poem a tranquil atmosphere,
which mirrors the “deep” calm in the “silent” city. In contrast, ‘Winter Night: Edinburgh’ is written in
free verse and uses no rhyme. This gives the poem an irregular, stop-start rhythm, which reflects the
city’s busy atmosphere, mirroring the movement of the cars as they make their way home in the rush
hour, “controlled / by coloured lights”.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

2
Wordsworth and Forster both use metaphorical language to make the cities sound alive.
Wordsworth says that London is wearing the “beauty of the morning” “like a garment”, and describes
the city using the metaphor of a “mighty heart”. He also personifies the Thames — it “glideth at his own
sweet will”. This suggests that the city has a “will” of its own, independent from the people who live in it.
Similarly, Forster says that Edinburgh is “alive with light” and personifies the city’s “Shops and cafés”,
saying they use light like “baited hooks” to draw customers in. As in Wordsworth’s poem, this makes the
reader think of the city as a living being which is independent of the people who live there.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

3
Both poems describe the cities through similes. In ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, Sept.
3, 1802’, the poet says “This City now doth, like a garment, wear / The beauty of the morning”. This
sounds really pretty and gives you a good picture of what the city looks like in the early morning. In
‘Winter Night: Edinburgh’ the poet also describes the city through similes. For example, he says the
city is “glowing orange like a prehistoric fire”, and this helps you imagine how it looks when it’s dark
and all the streetlights are lit.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

© Not to be photocopied Section Three — Marking Sample Answers

36

Eating Poetry
Mark Strand was born in Canada but grew up in North, Central and South America. He served as the US
Poet Laureate and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1999 for his poetry collection Blizzard of One.

Q1 Read the poem below. What do you think the poet is saying about imagination and
reality? How does he present these ideas?
(24 marks)

Eating Poetry

Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.

There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.

The librarian does not believe what she sees.

5 Her eyes are sad
and she walks with her hands in her dress.

The poems are gone.

The light is dim.
The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.

10 Their eyeballs roll,

their blond legs burn like brush.
The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.

She does not understand.

When I get on my knees and lick her hand,
15 she screams.

I am a new man.
I snarl at her and bark.
I romp with joy in the bookish dark.

Mark Strand

Emily thought that eating

pottery was a great idea.

Section Three — Marking Sample Answers © Not to be photocopied

 37

Mark Strand
Here are some more sample answers extracts, so have another try at giving them a grade.
Don’t forget to explain what’s wrong with the answer as well as what’s right.

1
The narrator hasn’t really been “eating poetry”, it’s just a metaphor. He’s actually been reading
poetry, and it makes him really happy — “There is no happiness like mine”. The line “I romp with joy in
the bookish dark” also shows you that reading makes the narrator really happy. Not everyone is happy
though. The librarian is “sad” and she seems angry with the narrator. She “begins to stamp her feet”
and “she screams”. This shows that even if imagination makes you really happy, some people won’t like it
if you get carried away with imagination, and instead they’ll want you to be sensible all the time.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

2
The librarian may represent those outside the narrator’s imaginary world. The use of the phrase “does
not understand” in one of only two rhyming couplets in the poem shows how incomprehensible the librarian
finds the narrator’s behaviour. The poet uses assonant “ee” sounds to emphasise how angry and upset the
librarian is — she “stamp[s] her feet and weep[s]”. The librarian’s response to the narrator shows that an
individual’s imaginary world can seem incomprehensible and even frightening to those outside it.
The poet describes the librarian using lots of sibilant ‘s’ sounds, e.g. “sees”, “sad” and “dress”,
which reflect the “sshh” she might say in a library. This suggests that the librarian represents those who
control access to books. The contrast between the narrator’s “happiness” and the librarian’s “sad” eyes
and fearful response to him (“she screams”) suggests that, even though such figures spend their time
surrounded by books, they may “not understand” the world of imagination that books can open up.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

3
The metaphor of “eating poetry” shows the “happiness” that comes from reading works of imagination.
The image of “ink” running “from the corners” of the narrator’s mouth vividly shows how much the
narrator loves poetry, by likening it to something delicious that the narrator is really enjoying eating.
Although “eating poetry” makes the narrator happy, the imagery of the dogs suggests that the world
of imagination might be dangerous. The sudden appearance of the dogs “on the basement stairs” is
strange and a bit sinister and, combined with the alliterative description of their “blond legs”, which “burn
like brush”, makes them sound almost devilish. The way the dogs’ “eyeballs roll” makes them sound crazy,
which reinforces the sense of danger that they pose.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

© Not to be photocopied Section Three — Marking Sample Answers

38

Volumes
Here’s a poem that was published in 1992. Fun Fact #35 — 1992 was International Space Year.
It was also the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s first voyage to America. Anyway, back to poetry...

Q2 Read the poem below. ‘Eating Poetry’ and ‘Volumes’ both present strong
feelings about reading. What are the similarities and differences between the
ways the poets put these feelings across?
(8 marks)

Volumes

They put me in a fever. It’s not enough

to look. I want to hold them all
and stuff them in the gaps in my head.
I gallop past Health towards Travel
5 where I break into a muck sweat
as I lift and sniff a book about Verona.
The odour makes me stagger and long
to be a book mite, to live right inside
and gulp holes through the picture maps.
10 I don’t trust myself in Fiction. The thought
of those thousands and thousands of stories —
the crush and babble of other minds —
makes the whites of my eyes show and roll.
Last time I sauntered by those shelves
15 I slammed into the New Titles display
and crashed right through a pyramid of books
on to my back among the toppled photos
of authors winking at the carry on.
I got a cuppa and a pat on the rump
20 from the kind saleslady who has the bubble
of book hysteria herself, I’d guess.
If she could, she’d wear print on her skin.
There are words written for everything,
I think, and it’s only a matter of time
25 before I find a new ‘How To’ book:
how to stand upright, how not to fall
and how not to cry out when you do.

Jo Shapcott

Section Three — Marking Sample Answers © Not to be photocopied

 39

Jo Shapcott
You must be getting the hang of this now — if you get much more practice you’ll be putting those English
examiners out of a job. Remember, in these extracts you’re looking for comparison of the two poems.

1
Both poems use form to represent the narrators’ feelings about reading. ‘Eating Poetry’ is divided
into short stanzas of just three lines. It uses short sentences and lots of end-stopped lines, and has no
regular rhyme scheme. This gives the poem an uneven, stop-start rhythm, which creates the feeling that
you are moving suddenly, almost at random, from one image to another, as you do in a dream. This
dreamlike atmosphere represents the world of imagination that the narrator enters when he reads poetry.
The form of ‘Volumes’ is very different, but it also reflects the way the narrator feels about reading. Like
‘Eating Poetry’, it has no regular rhyme scheme, but in contrast to Strand’s poem, it is not divided into
stanzas, and uses a lot of enjambment. This makes the poem seem chaotic and disorganised, mirroring
the crazed “fever” the narrator experiences when she is surrounded by books.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

2
‘Eating Poetry’ and ‘Volumes’ both use animal imagery to convey the strength of the narrator’s
feelings about reading. In ‘Eating Poetry’, the narrator becomes dog-like: “I get on my knees and lick
her hand”, “I snarl at her and bark”. In ‘Volumes’, meanwhile, the narrator “gallop[s]” and “break[s] into
a muck sweat”, which makes her sound like a horse. In both cases, this animal imagery suggests the
narrators’ overwhelming excitement about books and reading.
The narrator’s dog-like behaviour in ‘Eating Poetry’ makes him seem crazy, as does the act of
“eating poetry” itself. This suggests that love of reading is a sort of madness. Similarly, the narrator of
‘Volumes’ describes her love of books as “hysteria”, a word usually associated with madness. She also says
that the thought of fiction makes the whites of her eyes “show and roll”, which makes her sound mad.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

3
Both poems describe eating books to show that the narrators love reading. The narrator of Strand’s
poem has been “eating poetry”, and in ‘Volumes’ the narrator says she wants to “be a book mite” and “gulp
holes” in the books. The narrators also behave like animals. For example, the narrator of ‘Eating Poetry’
says “I snarl at her and bark” like a dog, and the narrator of ‘Volumes’ says “I gallop” like a horse. This
tells you how much of a strong effect reading has on the narrators. The narrator of ‘Eating Poetry’ sounds
a bit crazy, and so does the narrator of ‘Volumes’ — she says books put her in a “fever” and she talks
about “book hysteria”. This shows that the narrators love reading so much it’s made them go a bit mad.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

© Not to be photocopied Section Three — Marking Sample Answers

40

The
CtrlWay
+ Shift
Through
+ Click
thetoWoods
Edit
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) wrote poetry, novels and short stories. Fun fact #47: two lines of his most
famous poem, ‘If—’ are written on the wall above the players’ entrance to Centre Court at Wimbledon.

Q1 Read the poem below. How does the poet present the way
that the closed road has changed over time?
(24 marks)

The Way Through the Woods

They shut the road through the woods

Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you would never know
5 There was once a road through the woods
Before they planted the trees.
It is underneath the coppice and heath,
And the thin anemones.
Only the keeper sees
10 That, where the ring-dove broods,
And the badgers roll at ease,
There was once a road through the woods.

Yet, if you enter the woods

Of a summer evening late,
15 When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools
Where the otter whistles his mate,
(They fear not men in the woods,
Because they see so few.)
You will hear the beat of a horse’s feet,
20 And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes,
As though they perfectly knew
The old lost road through the woods...
25 But there is no road through the woods.

Rudyard Kipling

POEM DICTIONARY
anemone – a flower of the buttercup family
“I’m not brooding, actually.
I’m thinking.”

Section Three — Marking Sample Answers © Not to be photocopied

 41

Rudyard Kipling
Have a gander at these sample answer extracts, then give them a grade. If in doubt, have a look
back at the mark scheme on page 30 for a bit of guidance...

1
The way the road through the woods has changed over time is really mysterious. The road was shut
a long time ago, and now it’s really overgrown and it has pretty much disappeared. The poet says it’s
“underneath the coppice and heath” and “now you would never know” it was there, and this shows that the
wood has grown over the road. There are still sounds of people using it though. For example, “You will
hear the beat of a horse’s feet” is a line that sounds like a horse riding along the road, and “the swish of
a skirt” is onomatopoeic and makes you hear the sound of people who used to walk along the road. The
fact you can hear people on the road even though it’s gone makes you think they might be ghosts.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

2
The opening line of the poem, “They shut the road through the woods”, uses single syllable words and
heavy stresses on the words “shut”, “road” and “woods” to make the closure of the road sound final and
certain, and to give the impression that man is in control. However, the poem suggests that it is nature,
rather than man, which has made the road disappear over time. For example, the use of internal rhyme
makes the lines “Weather and rain has undone it again” and “It is underneath the coppice and heath”
stand out, and this highlights the role that weather and plants have played in making the road disappear.
Similarly, the image of “badgers roll[ing] at ease” suggests that animals have taken over the wood where
the road used to be and made themselves at home there, while humans don’t really go there any more.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

3
The poet suggests that, even though the road has been “undone” over time, so that now “you would
never know” it was there, it has not disappeared entirely, but is still used by mysterious figures. These
figures are described through sound, which makes them seem ghostly, as if they can be heard but not
seen. For example, “You will hear the beat of a horse’s feet” uses internal rhyme to mirror the sound of
horses’ hooves on the road, while “swish of a skirt” uses onomatopoeia and alliteration to reflect the sound
and movement of someone walking along the road. The poet’s evocative depiction of these ghostly figures
suggests that no matter how much time passes, the road will never be completely forgotten.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

© Not to be photocopied Section Three — Marking Sample Answers

42

Echo
Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) worked in the London offices of the Anglo-American Oil Company for eighteen
years before becoming a full-time writer. He wrote poems, novels, short stories and children’s literature.

Q2 ‘The Way Through the Woods’ and ‘Echo’ both have a mysterious atmosphere.
Compare the methods the poets use to create this atmosphere.
(8 marks)

Echo

‘Who called?’ I said, and the words

Through the whispering glades,
Hither, thither, baffled the birds —
‘Who called? Who called?’

5 The leafy boughs on high

Hissed in the sun;
The dark air carried my cry
Faintingly on:

Eyes in the green, in the shade,

10 In the motionless brake,
Voices that said what I said,
For mockery’s sake:

‘Who cares?’ I bawled through my tears:

The wind fell low:
15 In the silence, ‘Who cares? who cares?’
Wailed to and fro.

Walter de la Mare

Section Three — Marking Sample Answers © Not to be photocopied

 43

Walter de la Mare
Last chance for you to use your sound sense of judgement to mark some sample answer extracts. Then you
can take that examiner’s hat off, safe in the knowledge that you know what they’re after come exam day.

1
De la Mare and Kipling use rhyme in different ways to make their poems seem mysterious. In
‘Echo’, the rhyme scheme changes from ABAC in the first stanza to ABAB in the rest of the poem,
although de la Mare uses some half-rhymes, such as “shade” / “said” and “tears” / “cares”, in stanzas
2-4. This irregularity in the rhyme scheme creates a sense of confusion and uncertainty, which mirrors
the narrator’s confusion at the mysterious sounds around him. In contrast, ‘The Way Through the
Woods’ has a complex rhyme scheme, which contributes to the mysterious atmosphere of the poem.
The last line doesn’t fit into this rhyme scheme though, and this makes the end of the poem sound
confused and uncertain, as if the mysterious spirits of the people who once travelled along the road are
somehow unsettling the narrator.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

2
Both poets use language to create woodland settings in which mysterious, hidden things are
happening. In ‘Echo’, de la Mare’s personification of “the whispering glades” makes the woodland
seem alive and suggests secretive messages being passed among the trees. His description of “leafy
boughs” that “Hissed in the sun” also brings the trees to life, using onomatopoeia and sibilance to evoke
the mysterious, threatening noises they make. In a similar way, Kipling uses the secretive behaviour
of woodland animals to heighten the mysterious atmosphere of his poem. For example, when “the
otter whistles his mate”, he seems to be sending a secret message that the reader cannot understand.
Similarly, “the trout-ringed pools” contribute to the sense of mystery in the poem, because the rings
suggest the presence of the trout, but the fish themselves remain hidden and secret under the water.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

3
Both poems have mysterious sounds in them. In ‘Echo’ there’s the words “Who called? Who called?”
and “Who cares? who cares?”, that the narrator can hear, but he doesn’t know where they’re coming from.
There’s also the sound of “the whispering glades”, which seems quite mysterious and uses onomatopoeia
to help you imagine it. There’s also onomatopoeia in ‘The Way Through the Woods’, for example “the swish
of a skirt”. This is quite a mysterious sound, because there isn’t actually anyone there, so you don’t know
where it’s coming from and it might be a ghost.

a) Write down the grade band (4-5, 6-7 or 8-9) that you think this answer falls into.
b) Give at least two reasons why you chose that grade.

© Not to be photocopied Section Three — Marking Sample Answers

44 Section Four — Practice Exam Questions

At Sea — Jennifer Copley

Here’s your first sample exam. Give yourself 45 minutes to answer both questions. Don’t forget, Question 1 is
worth a lot more marks than Question 2, so you’ll want to spend more time on your answer to Question 1.

Q1 Read the poem below. What do you think the poet is saying about what it
can feel like to be left alone? How does the poet present her ideas?
(24 marks)

At Sea

With nothing to do now he’s gone,

she dusts the house,
sweeps the bleached verandah clear of sand.
The broom leaves a trail of grit on the step,
5 a sprinkling under the hook where it hangs.

A coat for a pillow,

she sleeps downstairs,
dreams the loathed ocean is coming for her,
climbing the cliffs,
10 creeping in through the door.

She wakes to the screaming gulls,

his shirts on the line
and the high tide’s breakers’
chill in her arms.

Jennifer Copley

Section Four — Practice Exam Questions © Not to be photocopied

 45

The Sands of Dee — Charles Kingsley

Q2 ‘At Sea’ and ‘The Sands of Dee’ both describe the power of the sea.
Compare the way the poets present the sea in these two poems.
(8 marks)

The Sands of Dee

‘O Mary, go and call the cattle home,

And call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home
Across the sands of Dee;’
5 The western wind was wild and dank with foam,
And all alone went she.

The western tide crept up along the sand,

And o'er and o'er the sand,
And round and round the sand,
10 As far as eye could see.
The rolling mist came down and hid the land:
And never home came she.

‘Oh! is it weed, or fish, or floating hair—

A tress of golden hair,
15 A drowned maiden's hair
Above the nets at sea?
Was never salmon yet that shone so fair
Among the stakes on Dee.’

They rowed her in across the rolling foam,

20 The cruel, crawling foam,
The cruel, hungry foam,
To her grave beside the sea:
But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home,
Across the sands of Dee.

Charles Kingsley

POEM DICTIONARY
Sands of Dee — a sandy bay in North Wales
dank — damp and unpleasant
o’er — over
tress — a piece of hair or a plait

© Not to be photocopied Section Four — Practice Exam Questions

46

Don’t
Eating
SayPoetry
I Said —
— Sophie
Mark Strand
Hannah
Just what you’ve always wanted — another sample exam. I know you can’t wait to get started, but make sure
you analyse the poem and jot down a quick essay plan before you answer each question.

Q1 Read the poem below. What do you think the poet is saying about the way people
react when a relationship ends? How does the poet convey her ideas?
(24 marks)

Don’t Say I Said

Next time you speak to you-know-who

I’ve got a message for him.
Tell him that I have lost a stone
Since the last time I saw him.
5 Tell him that I’ve got three new books
Coming out soon, but play it
Cool, make it sound spontaneous.
Don’t say I said to say it.

He might ask if I’ve mentioned him.

10 Say I have once, in passing.
Memorize everything he says
And, no, it won’t be grassing
When you repeat his words to me –
It’s the only way to play it.
15 Tell him I’m toned and tanned and fine.
Don’t say I said to say it.

Say that serenity and grace

Have taken root inside me.
My top-note is frivolity
20 But beneath, dark passions guide me.
Tell him I’m radiant and replete
And add that every day it
Seems I am harder to resist.
Don’t say I said to say it.

25 Tell him that all my ancient faults

Have been eradicated.
I do not carp or analyse
As I might have when we dated.
Say I’m not bossy any more
30 Or, better still, convey it
Subtly, but get the point across.
Don’t say I said to say it.

Sophie Hannah

Section Four — Practice Exam Questions © Not to be photocopied

 47

Flowers — Wendy Cope

Q2 Read the poem below. In both ‘Don’t Say I Said’ and ‘Flowers’, the narrators
reveal their feelings about the end of a relationship.
What are the similarities and differences in the way these feelings are described?
(8 marks)

Flowers

Some men never think of it.

You did. You’d come along
And say you’d nearly brought me flowers
But something had gone wrong.

5 The shop was closed. Or you had doubts –

The sort that minds like ours
Dream up incessantly. You thought
I might not want your flowers.

It made me smile and hug you then.

10 Now I can only smile.
But, look, the flowers you nearly brought
Have lasted all this while.

Wendy Cope

© Not to be photocopied Section Four — Practice Exam Questions

48 Answers

Ctrl + Shift
Answers
+ Click to Edit
These are only suggested answers — Q6 The poet mentions several Exam-style Question — Part 1
there are lots of different possible very distinctive smells, such as You’ll need to spend about 25 minutes
answers to these questions. Just make “mints”, “Coty powder” and on this, and your answer will probably
sure that you back up all your points “leather” to create a sense of bring in some of the things you
with evidence from the poems. how the handbag smells. The thought about when you answered the
use of enjambment emphasises other questions on the page. Here are
Section Two — Unseen the words “smell” and “Odour”, some points you could include in your
showing how powerful the
Poetry Practice narrator finds these smells. They
answer:
• The poet’s mother is summed up
are important to the narrator
Page 11 — Handbag by the contents of her handbag.
because they are strongly
The letters that she “carried / all
Q1 The narrator is looking through associated with the way she
through the war” are still in there,
her mother’s old handbag. remembers her mother — her
suggesting that they are the most
“womanliness” — and because
Q2 The narrator may be looking precious thing she owns. This is
they bring back vivid memories
through her mother’s handbag quite a sad image — perhaps she
of the experiences the narrator
because her mother has recently lost her husband during the war
and her mother went through
died. The smells of the handbag and never got over it.
during the war.
are still strong, suggesting that • The poet uses the senses to
it was used fairly recently, but Q7 The poet uses touch to describe
evoke memories. The smell of
the fact that the narrator is the way the narrator’s mother
“mints / and lipstick and Coty
looking through it, and the vivid treated her husbands letters, and
powder” remind the narrator of
memories evoked by doing so, to show how valuable they were
her childhood. Specifying the
suggest that her mother is no to her. The word “softened”
brand of face powder emphasises
longer alive. shows how often she looked at
that this is a memory of a specific
them, while the verbs “opened”
Q3 The poem shows the mother’s person and a specific time period.
and “refolded” emphasise how
love for her husband by • The sense of touch is also very
carefully she handled them.
emphasising the importance of important — the letters are
his letters to her. It also describes Q8 This makes the sentence stand
“softened / and worn at the
the mother’s “anguish”, which is out, so that it catches the eye,
edges”, which shows how often
linked to her husband’s absence even when you just glance
they have been read. The three-
— possibly his death — during at the poem. This technique
part list “opened, / read, and
the war. The slow rhythm of the emphasises the importance of the
refolded so often” emphasises how
poem and the strong memories it letters. It suggests that the letters
carefully they were looked at and
describes suggest that the narrator may have dominated the mother’s
put away.
feels sad and wistful as she thinks life, making them stand out in
the narrator’s memories of her, in • The alliteration in “The look of
about her mother.
the same way that this sentence those letters” creates a rhythm
Q4 This phrase suggests that the that stresses the word “letters”.
stands out on the page.
letters were so important to The word is repeated three times,
the mother that she filled her Q9 This use of repetition slows the
which shows how important the
handbag with them. It may also pace of the poem and emphasises
letters are.
hint at the mother’s loneliness, the words “womanliness”, “love”,
“anguish” and “war”. This shows • The enjambment of the last
suggesting that her life was
how important these concepts two lines (“womanliness, / and
“crowded” with letters and
are in the narrator’s memories of love, and anguish, and war”)
the memories they contained,
her mother, and creates a contrast separates “womanliness” from
rather than being filled with
between the two positive words the other items in the list. This
relationships with the people
and the two negative ones. emphasises that, for the narrator,
around her.
the smell of her mother’s handbag
Q5 The use of enjambment here Q10 The poem has no regular rhyme
represents much more than the
emphasises the phrase “all scheme, and uses a lot of
“womanliness” you might expect
through the war”. This suggests enjambment, e.g. “The smell /
— it also evokes much stronger
the impact of the war on the of my mother’s handbag”. This
memories of her mother’s suffering
narrator’s mother, and also gives the poem a slow, thoughtful
during the war.
indicates the importance of these rhythm and makes it seem wistful
and melancholy. It creates the • The use of commas and the
letters to her during the war —
impression that the poem records repetition of “and” in this list
perhaps the mother saw them
the narrator’s train of thought, slows the pace of the poem
as a sort of charm to ensure her
which makes it seem very and emphasises each idea. The
husband would come home.
personal. alliteration of the final word of

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Answers
each line particularly stresses shelter (“cold” with walls shaking) ‘Jumper’, the word “bombs” is
“womanliness” and “war”. This which creates a vivid image to repeated at random points, echoing
contrasts the mother’s natural state help transport the reader into the the random explosions of bombs
with the effect of the war. scene. This is effective because it during the war. This shows the
adds to the sense of fear. danger the family faced and the
Page 13 — Jumper Q8 The bombs are described as mother’s courage in facing it so
“whistling”. This helps the reader “calmly”.
Q1 In the poem a man remembers
how his mother used to knit in imagine the sound of them • The two poems use form in
their bomb shelter during the falling, and the narrator’s fear. different ways. The lack of
war, and how she used knitting to Q9 The rhythm of the poem is quite rhyme and use of enjambment in
give her family courage. regular, which brings to mind the ‘Handbag’ give the poem a slow
rhythmic sound of the narrator’s rhythm, which sounds wistful and
Q2 The narrator says that bombs
mother knitting. melancholy, reflecting the narrator’s
fell “round our home”, so they
sadness when she looks back on
must have been quite close. The Q10 The jumper is “shop-bought”
her mother’s life and the “anguish”
bombs sent “shivers through the because his mother realised
she suffered during the war. In
walls”, reinforcing the image that she was too frail to knit one
contrast, in ‘Jumper’, the regular
in “walls shake” — the walls herself. It is “black”, which is the
rhyme scheme creates an even
physically shook with the impact colour of mourning — she knew
rhythm, which mirrors the sound
of the explosions. she would die soon when she
of the mother’s knitting needles.
Q3 The narrator’s mother made her bought it. Separating the last line
This emphasises the narrator’s
“scared child” hold the wool as emphasises the contrast with his
admiration for the calm way his
a way of distracting him from mother’s knitting and recreates
mother carried on knitting as
the bombs. The child could the shock of opening the present.
“German bombs fell”.
concentrate on holding the wool Exam-style Question — Part 2
instead of the bombs. It also You’ll need to spend about 15 minutes Page 15 — ‘I Look Into My
gave the child a strong link with on this, and your answer will probably Glass’
his mother, which would have bring in some of the things you
reassured him. thought about when you answered Q1 The poem is about the contrast
Q4 The first emotion in the poem the other questions on the two poems. between the narrator’s ageing
is fear, when the narrator talks These are some points you could body and his emotions, which
about being a “scared child” in mention: are still as strong as when he was
the bomb shelter. The second • In Fainlight’s poem, the contents young.
main emotion is the admiration of the handbag represent the Q2 The narrator’s “heart” symbolises
the narrator now feels for his narrator’s memories of her mother, his emotions — he wishes that
mother’s “composure” when especially her mother’s love for her the strong feelings of his youth
she was faced with death. The husband, and her courage in facing had faded with his youthful
poet shows these emotions by the “anguish” of his absence, appearance.
highlighting his mother’s bravery perhaps his death, during the war. Q3 The poet uses different times of
and its effect on him in the past The jumper in Harrison’s poem also day to represent different phases
and the present. represents the narrator’s mother’s of the narrator’s life. “Noontide”
Q5 The poet says the people in the courage during the war, as well as represents his youthful prime,
shelter “shivered” and that the her role as a source of comfort and so the “throbbings of noontide”
bombs made the walls “shiver”. practicality in times of crisis. are the strong emotions the
This comparison personifies the • Both poems use the senses to narrator felt as a young man and
walls, making it seem like they’re convey vivid memories. In continues to experience now.
also afraid of the bombs. ‘Handbag’, the poet emphasises the Q4 The assonance of repeated ‘o’
Q6 a) The first twelve lines very specific smell of the handbag, sounds in “grown cold” and
describe the narrator’s memories while in ‘Jumper’, the poet uses “lonely” emphasises these words
of his mother when he was a onomatopoeia to convey the sound and gives them a sorrowful
child. The last four lines move to of the mother’s knitting needles. sound. This suggests the
the present day. • The poems both use repetition. In narrator’s sadness at how isolated
b) The narrator uses his memory ‘Handbag’, repetition of the word he has become in old age.
of his mother to highlight her “letters” emphasises how important Q5 The image of death as “endless
courage in later years, when she the “Letters from my father” were rest” almost makes it sound
was approaching death. to the narrator’s mother, and appealing, especially because the
Q7 The poet describes the sound how they dominate the narrator’s narrator is so physically weak.
(“click of needles”) and feel of the memories of her. Similarly, in However, the narrator goes on to

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Answers
say that he cannot await death young. The fact that he feels this addressing a woman he knows
with “equanimity”, which shows way every time he “look[s] into my and loves.
that, even though his body seems glass” suggests that this is not just a Q2 The narrator is asking the woman
physically ready for this “endless fleeting feeling, but an emotion he to imagine the future and
rest”, psychologically he is not feels regularly. instructing her future self to look
ready to die. • Old age is a lonely time for the back on her past self. The poem
Q6 The poet uses the symbolism of narrator — the image of “hearts seems to be a warning that if the
different times of day to create grown cold to me” may suggest woman rejects true love now, she
contrast between youth and old that he feels people no longer take will regret it in old age.
age, with youth represented by an interest in him now that he’s Q3 This gives the first stanza a slow
“noontide”, while old age is old, or it could refer to friends and rhythm which mirrors the slow
represented by “eve”. loved ones who have died, leaving pace of life that the narrator
Q7 The poem has a regular rhyme him alone. envisages for the woman in
scheme, ABAB, with strong • The narrator is distressed by the loss old age. It also emphasises the
rhymes such as “glass”/”pass” of the people who have “grown effects of ageing, such as “grey”
and “skin”/”thin”. This gives cold” to him, and finds it difficult and “full of sleep”.
the poem a regular rhythm that to bear his loneliness calmly, with Q4 The first stanza has a gentle,
brings to mind the beating of “equanimity”. However, he avoids dream-like mood, created by the
a heart. This reinforces the expressing these feelings directly, use of lots of gentle ‘s’ sounds,
message that the “throbbings” of perhaps because he is afraid to let e.g. “slowly”, “soft”, “shadows”,
emotion are just as strong for the such strong emotions shake his and several words associated
elderly as they are for the young. “fragile frame”, or maybe because with sleep, such as “nodding”
Q8 The use of alliteration in “fragile he believes that no-one cares how and “dream”. The slow rhythm of
frame” makes this phrase stand he feels. the first stanza also contributes to
out, emphasising the physical • The personification of “Time” as this gentle, sleepy mood.
fragility that comes with old a thief, deliberately stealing the Q5 The word “loved” is used in
age. This encourages the reader narrator’s physical vitality “to make every line of the second stanza.
to empathise with the narrator, me grieve”, makes ageing seem like This suggests the strength of the
and makes it seem unfair that a cruel process, and suggests the narrator’s love for the woman and
such a frame “shakes” with the narrator’s bitterness at the effects of emphasises the contrast between
“throbbings of noontide”. getting older. the narrator, who loves her
Q9 The poet personifies time • The phrase “to make me grieve” “pilgrim soul”, and other men,
as a thief who “steals” the also points to the suffering that who only love her “beauty”.
narrator’s physical youth without getting older causes the narrator, Q6 The pace of the first stanza is
weakening the “throbbings” as does the pitiful metaphor of his slow and gentle, reflecting the
of his emotions. The idea of “fragile frame” being “shake[n]” sort of life that the narrator
time doing this deliberately “to by the powerful “throbbings of imagines for the woman in
make me grieve” makes the noontide”. old age. The second stanza is
ageing process seem cruel, and • The form of the poem is very brighter and has a slightly faster
emphasises how powerless the regular. It has a regular rhyme rhythm, because it describes the
narrator is to prevent the physical scheme, ABAB, and each stanza woman as she is now, and the
changes that come with old age. has the same pattern of 6 syllables strength of the narrator’s love for
Exam-style Question — Part 1 in lines 1, 2 and 4, and 8 syllables her.
You’ll need to spend about 25 minutes in line 3. This gives the poem a Q7 The “glowing bars” represent
on this, and your answer will probably strong rhythm like a heartbeat, the metal grate of the fire the
bring in some of the things you which mirrors the “throbbings” woman will sit by in old age. The
thought about when you answered the of the narrator’s emotions. fire offers heat and comfort, but
other questions on the page. Here are However, it also creates a sense could also represent the warmth
some points you could include in your of predictability and inevitability, of the love that she rejected and
answer: perhaps reflecting the tedious now craves. The word “bars”
pattern of the narrator’s lonely life, also brings to mind the idea of a
• The narrator feels frustrated by
and the inevitability of the “endless prison, suggesting that in old age
the contrast between the physical
rest” that he feels he is waiting for. the woman will be trapped by the
decline that comes with ageing
— his “wasting skin” and “fragile “glowing bars”, while the love
Page 17 — When You Are Old she rejected will soar free “amid
frame” — and the powerful
“throbbings” of emotion that Q1 The narrator seems to be a crowd of stars”.
remain as strong as when he was

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Answers
Q8 The narrator suggests that the reflect the effects of ageing. In judge “crazed” soldiers like the
woman will feel wistful for the ‘I Look Into My Glass’, the poet one in the poem as cowards.
loss of her youth — she will uses lots of punctuation to create Q5 The stretcher-bearers “winked”,
“dream” of the way her eyes a slow rhythm with numerous making fun of the man, and
once looked. The image of the pauses, which mirrors the elderly agreeing that he must be faking
woman sitting alone by her narrator’s physical weakness and his condition. The doctor calls
fire, “Murmur[ing]” to herself, slow, isolated lifestyle. Similarly, him “scum” and celebrates his
suggests that she will be lonely in the repetition of the word “and” death by saying “Hooray!”. These
old age, and will regret rejecting in the first stanza of ‘When You reactions are shocking because
the man who truly loved her Are Old’ gives it a slow rhythm, medical staff are supposed to care
— she will think “a little sadly” which reflects the slow pace of life about their patients, but instead
about him. that the narrator imagines for the they mock him.
Q9 The narrator’s love for the woman woman in old age.
Q6 People use the word “Hooray!”
is personified in the final three • The poems both depict the when they are celebrating, but
lines of the poem. This makes the loneliness and isolation that can the poet uses it here to emphasise
narrator’s love sound important, come with old age. In ‘I Look the fact that there isn’t anything
and reinforces the idea that he is Into My Glass’, the narrator’s to celebrate. It leaves the reader
the only man who truly loves her. isolation is shown by the phrase feeling unsettled and confused,
It also suggests the permanence “hearts grown cold to me”. The as well as horrified and disgusted
of the narrator’s love — although narrator of ‘When You Are Old’, by the doctor’s attitude.
it has “fled”, it is still waiting, meanwhile, claims that, although
Q7 ‘Dead-beat’ can mean ‘good-for-
hidden among the “stars”. he loves the woman’s “changing
nothing’. This hints at how the
Q10 The poem has a regular rhyme face”, other men only love her
medic and the narrator see the
scheme, ABBA, and is written in “glad grace”. This suggests that
patient — they think he’s lazy
iambic pentameter. This gives when the woman is “old and
and useless. It can also mean
the poem a slow, steady rhythm, grey” and her “beauty” has faded,
‘very tired’, so the title suggests
which makes it sound calm and she will be lonely and isolated
how exhausted the soldiers
thoughtful, and perhaps mirrors because these other men will no
were. Looking at the two words
the constancy of the narrator’s longer love her.
separately also hints at what
love for the woman. happens in the poem — the
Exam-style Question — Part 2
Page 19 — The Dead-Beat soldier dies, and he has been
You’ll need to spend about 15 minutes Q1 The poem is about a soldier who beaten by his situation.
on this, and your answer will probably has a mental breakdown and dies Q8 Using direct speech for the
bring in some of the things you after being accused of faking his different characters brings them
thought about when you answered condition. to life, and makes the reader
the other questions on the two poems. Q2 By comparing the man to dead feel as if they are witnessing the
These are some points you could animals, the poet is saying that scene first-hand.
mention: he isn’t being treated like a living Q9 There’s a lot of rhyme in the
• In ‘I Look Into My Glass’ the creature — he’s just “meat”. poem, but the rhyme scheme is
narrator describes his own Q3 The man’s fellow soldiers are not regular. This could reflect the
experience of the effects of willing to kick him when there chaos of war, or the turmoil of
ageing, whereas in ‘When You Are is clearly something wrong with the patient’s mind.
Old’, the narrator describes the him. This shows how brutal life Q10 Owen was sympathetic towards
imagined effects of ageing upon a in the trenches was, and that the soldiers who had breakdowns,
woman he loves. normal rules of how you should but the narrator clearly feels no
• Both poems create similar images treat people didn’t apply. sympathy for the soldier. He
of the physical decline caused Q4 There is heavy sarcasm in Owen’s doesn’t understand that the
by ageing. In ‘I Look Into My choice of these words, usually man is ill as there is no wound.
Glass’, the narrator refers to his associated with the behaviour He and the other soldiers try
“wasting skin” and “fragile frame”. of soldiers in battle, to describe to “kick him to his feet” and
Similarly, in ‘When You Are Old’, “smiling” uncles and a carefree the narrator points a gun at
the narrator describes the old “young wife” at home. This him to make him move.
woman as “grey” and “full of reminds the reader that those Exam-style Question — Part 1
sleep”, and suggests that her eyes who have never experienced You’ll need to spend about 25 minutes
will lose “the soft look” they had trench warfare have no idea on this, and your answer will probably
when she was young. of the horror and suffering it bring in some of the things you
• Rhythm is used in both poems to involves, and so have no right to

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52

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Answers
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thought about when you answered the confusion that it has caused in the what the narrator is saying.
other questions on the page. Here are shell-shocked soldier’s mind. Q8 The final line is missing four
some points you could include in your • The use of direct speech and syllables compared to the other
answer: colloquial expressions, such as lines. This emphasises it and
• The poem describes the treatment “I’ll do ‘em in” and “It’s Blighty, makes it feel like it finishes
of a soldier who suffers a p’raps”, bring the characters to too soon, which reflects the
breakdown while fighting in the life and makes the poem seem relationship between the narrator
trenches. It presents war as a very real. Because the characters and her lover — it ended too
dehumanising experience, which are so life-like, their brutal and soon, and now something is
causes people to stop behaving as inhuman behaviour seems all the missing.
they would normally be expected more shocking. Q9 I think the final stanza is the
to. most effective in conveying the
• Even though he is ill, the soldier Page 21 — Spring in War-Time narrator’s emotions, because
receives no sympathy from Q1 It’s about the narrator’s sense of it sharply contrasts the beauty
his fellow soldiers. Harsh, loss after someone she loves dies and gaiety of red roses with the
negative words like “sullenly” in the war. barrenness of the grave, which
and “whined” show that the is a strong image. Also, the final
narrator views him with contempt Q2 She’s addressing the person who line “On your clay” is shorter
and does not believe there has died — she uses “your”, than the other lines, which makes
is anything wrong with him. “our” and “we”. it sound almost like the narrator
The other soldiers are equally Q3 The narrator means that she and has broken off because she’s
unsympathetic: they try to “kick her lover never got the chance to unable to carry on once she’s
him to his feet”, the sharp, live together and make a home, mentioned death directly.
monosyllabic words emphasising because he died. Exam-style Question — Part 2
the violence of their behaviour. Q4 I think the narrator means that You’ll need to spend about 15 minutes
• The people who should care all the things she used to love, on this, and your answer will probably
for the soldier show him no and enjoyed with her lover, now bring in some of the things you
compassion and view him as mean nothing to her because he’s thought about when you answered
“scum”. The stretcher-bearers not there to enjoy them with her. the other questions on the two poems.
mock him — they “winked” and So she doesn’t notice, or can’t These are some points you could
accuse him of “Malingering”. enjoy, the smell of the violets, mention:
Similarly, the doctor, instead of because she is overwhelmed by
grief. • ‘The Dead-Beat’ describes the
trying to save his life as you would
effects of war upon men fighting
expect, celebrates his death — he Q5 The final line, “On your clay”, in the trenches, using sarcasm to
“laugh[s]” and says “Hooray!”. describes the earth used to fill a suggest that people at home are
This celebratory tone is the grave. The daisies that will grow untouched by the conflict. In
opposite of the normal response to on the grave haven’t yet had contrast, ‘Spring in War-Time’
death and emphasises the way that time to do so, because it’s too vividly conveys the suffering that
war transforms people, so that they recent. The white colour of the conflict can cause for people at
no longer behave as they should. daisies may also be reminiscent home.
• The brutality of the trenches of funeral flowers, but whilst they
carry on living, the person they • Both poems show the personal
contrasts with the sarcastic
cover is dead. effect of war on particular
depiction of people at home
individuals. In ‘The Dead-Beat’,
“smiling ministerially” and Q6 The descriptions of spring this is achieved through the use
having “fun”. This suggests are vivid and life-like, which of direct speech, which brings
that the people at home have contrasts with the narrator’s dead individual characters to life and
no understanding of the horror lover. Phrases like “the violets conveys their varied responses to
and suffering of the trenches, peer” and “Every bird has heart to the violence and suffering of war.
and suggests that war can cause sing” describe the beauty and joy In ‘Spring in War-Time’, however,
soldiers to become angry and of spring and rebirth. At the same the poet conveys the personal
resentful towards the people they time, the final line of each stanza effects of war by focusing on just
love at home. describes the narrator’s feelings one individual, and writing from
• The form of the poem is very — she is unable to appreciate the her perspective about the effects of
irregular. There is some rhyme, beauty around her, and feels only the loss of a loved one in conflict.
but no regular rhyme scheme, and loss and regret, rather than joy.
• In contrasting ways, both poets
the length of the stanzas varies. Q7 The rhyme scheme is ABAB. This use form to convey the effects of
This reflects the violent chaos gives the poem a simple rhythm, war. ‘The Dead-Beat’ does not
of conflict, and the chaos and which emphasises the sadness of
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have a regular rhyme scheme, nor rhythm of his daily life. Exam-style Question — Part 1
a regular rhythm. This makes the Q4 This means that the lion that the You’ll need to spend about 25 minutes
poem seem confused and chaotic, keeper had watched so regularly on this, and your answer will probably
reflecting the chaos caused by war. is no longer sleeping, but has bring in some of the things you
‘Spring in War-Time’, on the other died of old age. thought about when you answered the
hand, has a very regular rhyme other questions on the page. Here are
Q5 This suggests that, even with
scheme and rhythm, except that some points you could include in your
bombs falling, the keeper and the
the last line is four syllables shorter answer:
lion still felt safe because they
than all the others. The cutting
were together. • The poem describes the close,
short of this line symbolises the
Q6 “Deepest purr in the world”, loving relationship between the
cutting short of the narrator’s lover’s
“plunge fingers / into rough zookeeper and the lion, suggesting
life, and the way that his death
glowing fur”, “wrapped in his that sometimes the relationship
has interrupted the rhythm of the
warmth” and “pungent scent” between a person and an animal
narrator’s life.
create a strong image of the can be as close as that between
• The two poets use very different two people.
sound, feel and smell of the
language to create contrasting
lion. They give the impression • The poet emphasises the
effects. In ‘The Dead-Beat’, harsh,
of a gentle, loving, mutual zookeeper’s loyalty to the lion.
ugly similes comparing the soldier
relationship, even though man Even though “his pay stopped”
to “a cod” and “meat” show the
is expected to be afraid of lions, and he is in danger from “bombs”,
dehumanising effect of war on
and lions are predators. he stays with the lion and cares
those fighting. In ‘Spring in War-
Q7 a) Both the lion and the old for him. The use of emotive words
Time’, by contrast, the poet uses
man are “moth-eaten” and (e.g. “begged”) and imagery (e.g.
beautiful, vivid depictions of nature
“growing old together”, and “as times grew hungrier”) highlight
(e.g. “the sprinkled blackthorn
when in the second stanza the the hardship that the man endured
snow”) to stress the difference
keeper “begged for meat” that for the sake of the lion.
between the past and the present
and show how much happier needed to be “cut... up small to • The poet uses onomatopoeia
things were before the war. feed him” it could be referring to (e.g. “purr”) and appeals to the
the lion and the man, too. senses (e.g. “rough glowing fur”,
Page 23 — The Bereavement b) It makes the reader pity “pungent scent”) to demonstrate
the old man, who was living in the mutual affection and trust
of the Lion-Keeper between the lion and the keeper,
poverty and struggling to survive.
Q1 The poem is about an old It also suggests that, after the lion who remained together throughout
zookeeper, who stays on to look dies, the old man probably won’t the war, feeling safe because they
after a lion in the zoo after it has have long to live. were together.
closed. Q8 The keeper’s sadness, loss, love, • The imagery in the poem suggests
Q2 The keeper stayed “long after his devotion, pain and helplessness. that, for the zookeeper, the lion
pay stopped,” suggesting that the represents a family he lost, or
Q9 You are left with a feeling that the
zoo had closed, and he stayed perhaps never had. The image of
old man doesn’t have much to
on out of love for the lion. Even the keeper and the lion “growing
look forward to, as he walks “out
though he was hungry himself old together” almost makes the
of sunlight” and becomes “an old
(“times grew hungrier”), the pair sound like a married couple,
man in a city”, as though he has
keeper still begged for food for something that is reinforced by the
no identity without the lion. Also,
the lion, not for himself. description of them “curled close”
the idea that “elderly lions / were
Q3 The stanzas beginning with together. The way the zookeeper
not immortal” hints that humans
“Who” reflect the keeper’s cuts the lion’s food “small to
aren’t either. But there is hope in
certainty about his life, and feed him”, meanwhile, creates
the idea that humans can be kind,
the rhythm of his daily routine. an image of the lion as an infant,
caring, loving and loyal.
The final stanza starts with a being fed by its father.
Q10 The final stanza really puts across
lower case “but”. It also uses • The final stanza shows the depth
how lost the keeper feels without
enjambment and marks the of grief the man feels when the
the lion, that he knew “no way
change of subject to how the lion dies. The old man “knows no
to let go / of love”; his love of the
keeper is struggling to accept the way to let go” of his love for the
lion is compared to “sunlight”,
lion’s death and “knows no way lion, and doesn’t know how to go
and when the lion dies he is in
to let go”. This emphasises the on without him. This stanza shows
the dark. The final short line
impact of the lion’s death on the that the keeper’s identity is so tied
“without a lion” emphasises his
lion keeper, showing how the feeling of loss. up with his role looking after the
bereavement has destroyed the lion, that when the lion dies, he

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no longer knows who he is — he various parts of the tiger. The impressive that the narrator cannot
doesn’t know how to live “in a city strength of the blacksmith fully comprehend it.
/ without a lion”. This makes his represents the power of the • Metaphors relating to light are
grief and loss even more profound, creator. used in both poems to convey
because, as well as losing his Q8 The rhythm of the poem is very the animals’ power and beauty.
closest companion, he has also regular. This brings to mind Sheenagh Pugh refers to the lion’s
lost his own identity. the rhythmic hammering of a “rough glowing fur”, while Blake
• The poem is written in the third blacksmith as he beats metal into describes the tiger as “burning
person, but often seems to be shape, so it reinforces the main bright” and refers to “the fire” of its
speaking from the keeper’s image of the poem. eyes.
perspective. This emphasises Q9 The poet is asking whether the • Blake uses the extended
the comfort and companionship same creator could have created metaphor of a blacksmith’s forge
that the lion gave the keeper, and the tiger as well as the lamb. to emphasise the power of the
makes his love and pain more real This raises questions about what creator who made the tiger and,
and pitiable. kind of creator could make by extension, the power of the
something as innocent as a lamb, tiger itself. In contrast, although
Page 25 — The Tyger and something as dangerous as Pugh does convey the lion’s power
Q1 This poem is about the nature of a tiger. The contrast between the and beauty, she also stresses that
the tiger and its creator, and the two animals makes the tiger seem the animal is “not immortal”,
narrator’s wonder that a single even more frightening. In the the metaphorical depiction of it
creator could make something so Bible, Jesus is referred to as the as “moth-eaten” emphasising its
beautiful yet so terrifying. ‘Lamb of God’, so the lamb may frailty.
also represent Jesus. • The poems both use alliteration,
Q2 The narrator admires and fears
the tiger. He describes the tiger’s Q10 a) It reminds the reader that but to very different effect. In ‘The
“fearful symmetry” — he is the original question of who Tyger’, the use of alliteration in
frightened by it, but also inspired created the tiger has still not been the question “what dread grasp
by its beauty. answered. / Dare its deadly terrors clasp?”
b) The first stanza asks who emphasises the narrator’s fear of
Q3 It creates an image of the “bright”
“Could” make the tiger — who the tiger. In Pugh’s poem, however,
fur of the tiger in the dark forest.
has the ability. The last stanza there is no fear in the zookeeper’s
It also gives a sense of the power
asks instead who would “Dare” attitude towards the lion. Instead,
of the tiger, making it seem more
make the tiger — this reinforces the alliterative phrase “curled
beautiful and more dangerous.
the power and mystery of a close” highlights the closeness and
Q4 Only mentioning parts of trust between them.
creator who has the courage to
the tiger’s creator makes the
make such a creature.
creator sound more mysterious
Exam-style Question — Part 2
Page 27 — An Irish Airman
— he can’t be fully known or
You’ll need to spend about 15 minutes
Foresees His Death
understood.
Q5 The poem asks lots of questions on this, and your answer will probably Q1 The poem is narrated by the pilot
and doesn’t give any answers. bring in some of the things you of a fighter plane, who explains
This is very effective because thought about when you answered that he expects to die while flying
it reflects the fact that however the other questions on the two poems. his plane.
much we try to find out about These are some points you could Q2 The narrator means that,
the creator, we will not get any mention: whether he lives or dies, it will
answers. It creates a tone of • Both poems present a sense not make any difference to his
amazement and wonder too. of admiration and respect for “countrymen” in “Kiltartan Cross”
Q6 There is alliteration in “what the animals they describe. The — even if he dies, it will not
dread grasp / Dare its deadly hyperbolic description of the be a “loss” to them. This could
terrors clasp?” This emphasises lion’s purr as “the deepest purr in also be seen as a more general
“dread”, “Dare” and “deadly”, the world” makes the lion sound comment on the futility of war —
which adds to the impression that extraordinary and shows the nothing that the airman does in
the narrator fears both the tiger narrator’s respect for him. In ‘The battle, not even laying down his
and its creator. Tyger’, meanwhile, the narrator’s life, will make any difference to
admiration for the tiger is conveyed the lot of “Kiltartan’s poor”.
Q7 I think the image of the creator
through images such as “thy Q3 It is the experience of flying a
as a blacksmith is very effective.
fearful symmetry”, and by the use fighter plane into battle. The
You get a sense of a powerful
of repeated rhetorical questions, word “tumult” contrasts with
man straining to shape the
which suggest that the tiger is so the calm, restrained language

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Answers
in the rest of the poem, and this among the clouds above;”, slows through the calm, restrained
highlights the excitement the down the rhythm of the poem language the poet uses (e.g. “I
narrator feels while flying. and forces the reader to pause balanced all, brought all to mind”).
Q4 The pilot seems ambivalent about for thought as they move through The regular rhyme scheme and use
flying. The phrase “A lonely the narrator’s argument. This of iambic tetrameter give the poem
impulse of delight” suggests that regular, controlled rhythm reflects a calm, consistent rhythm, which
he enjoys flying, but the choice the narrator’s “balanced”, logical reinforces the impression of the
of the word “lonely” is open to thought process and his calm airman’s rationality.
several different interpretations. resignation to his “fate”. • The caesura in the final line of
For example, it could indicate Q8 The poet repeats “balance” in the poem, “this life, this death”,
that the “impulse” which led lines 13 and 16, and “waste of might suggest that the airman feels
the narrator to become a pilot breath” in lines 14 and 15. This some hesitation at the thought of
was a solitary one that has now means that these pairs of lines his death. However, it could also
passed, suggesting that the balance one another, so that the be interpreted as emphasising the
narrator now regrets becoming a structure of the final four lines airman’s conviction that, in order to
pilot. Alternatively, the contrast mirrors the balanced weighing up enjoy “this life” as a pilot, he must
between the narrator’s “lonely of life and death that these lines also accept the inevitability of “this
impulse” and the “cheering describe. death” while flying.
crowds” in line 10 may point Q9 The poem has a regular rhyme
to a sense of independence scheme, ABAB, and uses strong Page 29 — The Send-Off
and autonomy that the narrator rhymes such as “fate” / ”hate” Q1 The poem describes the muted
experienced through his decision and “above” / ”love”. The send-off received by a group of
to become a pilot. The ambiguity regularity of this rhyme scheme soldiers as they board a train to
of the language here reflects the reflects the “balanced”, logical go to war.
narrator’s mixed feelings about argument presented in the poem.
flying. Q2 This simile compares the
It also gives the poem a resolute,
flowers that the soldiers wear
Q5 These lines show that the pilot definite tone, reflecting the pilot’s
to the wreaths laid on bodies
does not feel invested in the war, certainty that he will die.
at a funeral. The comparison
because neither side is important Exam-style Question — Part 1 between the soldiers and corpses
to him. He feels no anger
You’ll need to spend about 25 minutes creates a sense of foreboding,
towards the enemy, and while
on this, and your answer will probably pointing to the probable fate of
others may fight for ‘king and
bring in some of the things you these men.
country’, the people he is fighting
thought about when you answered the Q3 “grimly gay”. This alliterative
for are not important to him —
other questions on the page. Here are oxymoron could mean that,
they are not his “countrymen”,
some points you could include in your although the men are cheerful,
and he does not “love” them.
answer: the poet knows what awaits them,
Q6 The narrator does not seem to
• The airman seems resigned to and so views their cheerfulness
be afraid of death. The opening
death and unafraid, an attitude “grimly”. Alternatively, it might
line of the poem, “I know that I
that is reflected in the simple, mean that the men are trying to
shall meet my fate”, suggests a
monosyllabic language of the line hide their true feelings behind a
calm, matter-of-fact acceptance
“I know that I shall meet my fate”. cheerful façade.
of death. This sense of calm
resignation is also apparent in • The airman insists that this Q4 The poet emphasises the word
the final four lines of the poem, acceptance of death is his own “dead” by putting it at the end of
when the narrator insists that he decision (“A lonely impulse”), and the stanza, and separating it from
has “balanced all, brought all that he has not been influenced the other words in line 5 with a
to mind” and concluded that, by a sense of “duty”, nor won comma. By making death the
without flight, life is “A waste of over by “public men” or “cheering final image in the stanza, the poet
breath”. The choice of “death” crowds”. seems to suggest that the men on
as the final word in the poem • Even though the airman accepts the train are already dead, which
further emphasises the narrator’s that he is going to die, he doesn’t points to the inevitability of the
certainty that he will die, and his believe that his death will be fate that awaits them.
calm acceptance of this. meaningful or worthwhile. It will Q5 There is a mood of boredom and
Q7 The poem is written in iambic not have any impact, either positive disinterest in lines 6-8, created
tetrameter, which gives it a or negative, on his “countrymen”. by the depiction of “Dull porters”
regular rhythm. The use of • The poet presents the airman’s watching them leave. The
punctuation to create pauses at attitude towards death as rational “tramp” is “Sorry to miss them”,
the end of lines, e.g. “Somewhere and logical. This is conveyed but the use of the adjective

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Answers
“casual” to describe him suggests just three words. rhythm of Yeats’s poem convey the
that he is not really interested in Q10 The word “creep” in line 19 narrator’s indifference to war and
the soldiers’ fate either, and may contrasts with the confident his calm acceptance of death. In
only be “Sorry” they are leaving way the men “sang” as they left, Owen’s poem, meanwhile, the
because they gave him food or suggesting that those who return contrast between long lines and
money. will feel guilt and shame at their very short ones mirrors the brutal
Q6 This simile creates a sense of survival. The “half-known roads” way that the soldiers’ lives will be
conspiracy around the men’s of the final stanza suggest that cut short.
departure, which suggests that those who survive will have
those sending the men to fight are changed so much that their old Section Three — Marking
trying to hide the true awfulness lives will seem unfamiliar. Exam Answers
of the war. The simile also Exam-style Question — Part 2
introduces the idea of shame,
You’ll need to spend about 15 minutes Page 33 — Composed on
suggesting that sending men
on this, and your answer will probably Westminster Bridge
to die in war is a “wrong” that
bring in some of the things you
people ought to feel ashamed of. Q1 a) 4-5
thought about when you answered
Q7 The poem has a regular ABAAB the other questions on the two poems. b) Two from, e.g.:
rhyme scheme, with rhymes These are some points you could • It addresses the question and
continuing over stanza breaks. mention: makes a valid point about the
This gives the poem a slow narrator’s feelings.
• ‘The Send-Off’ presents a very
rhythm, which mimics the • The argument is supported
negative image of war — for
soldiers’ slow march. However, by some relevant examples
example, the soldiers leaving
the use of short lines breaks the from the poem.
for the front are compared to
rhythm, emphasising the eventual • The examples are not
“wrongs hushed-up”. The narrator
fate of the soldiers — just as the explained or analysed in very
of ‘An Irish Airman Foresees His
lines are cut short, so too are the much detail.
Death’, on the other hand, seems
soldiers’ lives. • It does not use enough
indifferent to war — he does not
Q8 The repetition of the word “few” “love” those he is fighting for, nor technical terms.
emphasises that only a small “hate” the enemy. Q2 a) 8-9
number of soldiers will return
• Yeats’s poem is written in the form b) Two from, e.g.:
home, because so many of them
of a dramatic monologue. The • It makes an interesting
will be killed during the war.
narrator is presented as being in suggestion about the poet’s
The contrast between the “few”
control of his “fate”, choosing to use of personification.
who will return and the “wild
fight and accepting “this death”. • It correctly identifies
train-loads” imagined in line 17
The soldiers in ‘The Send-Off’, the form of the poem and
underlines the tragic extent of the
however, are an anonymous group, explains its significance.
losses.
described in the third person • It uses a wide range of
Q9 I think the poet chose this title throughout. Because they have no technical terms.
because of its double meaning. voice in the poem, it seems that Q3 a) 6-7
On the one hand, the phrase a they have no choice about being
‘send-off’ is sometimes associated b) Two from, e.g.:
sent to war and no control over
with funerals, so it creates an • It explores the poet’s use of
what happens to them.
image of the soldiers’ departure language well.
• Both poems describe the • It uses several relevant
as a funeral wake, which
inevitability of death in conflict. examples from the poem.
reinforces the poet’s message
Yeats uses calm, simple language, • It uses technical terms
about the inevitability of their
with very little imagery, to show accurately.
deaths. On the other hand, a
the narrator’s calm acceptance • Some of the quotes are too
‘send-off’ can be a positive start
of death. In contrast, Owen uses long, and not well integrated
to something, but the men in the
powerful imagery, such as the into the argument.
poem go “secretly, like wrongs
simile comparing the flowers the • The point about the
hushed-up”, which creates a
soldiers wear to funeral “wreath personification of the city
sense of irony. This conveys the
and spray”, to create a sense of could be developed further.
poet’s bitter, disillusioned attitude
anger and bitterness about the
towards war, and suggests that
inevitability of death in war. Page 35 — Winter Night:
the true nature of war is hidden
by those in charge. It is an • In different ways, both poets use Edinburgh
effective title because it evokes form to present attitudes towards
so many of the poem’s themes in war. The regular structure and calm Q1 a) 8-9

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Answers
b) Two from, e.g.: used. on one point in detail, rather
• It convincingly compares • It uses a wide range of than covering lots of different
the way the two poets use technical terms correctly. points very briefly.
form to create contrasting Q3 a) 6-7 • It needs to use more
atmospheres. technical terms.
b) Two from, e.g.:
• The argument is supported
• It gives a thoughtful analysis
well with examples from both
of the imagery used in the
Page 41 — The Way Through
poems. the Woods
poem.
• It uses a range of technical
• It shows a good Q1 a) 4-5
terms.
understanding of some of the
Q2 a) 6-7 b) Two from, e.g.:
themes in the poem.
• This addresses the question.
b) Two from, e.g.: • It uses technical terms
• It uses plenty of quotes to
• This gives a thoughtful correctly.
back up points, but these
comparison of the poets’ use • The point about the dogs
aren’t analysed in very much
of language. is interesting, but could be
detail.
• It explains the effect of some developed further.
• It only uses one technical
examples from both poems.
Page 39 — Volumes term.
• It uses technical terms
• It would have been good
accurately.
Q1 a) 8-9 to mention the alliteration
• Some of the examples are
b) Two from, e.g.: and sibilance of “swish” and
not explained at all.
• This gives a detailed “skirt”.
Q3 a) 4-5
comparison of the form of the Q2 a) 6-7
b) Two from, e.g.: two poems. b) Two from, e.g.:
• It compares the poets’ use of • It compares the effect that • It uses several well-chosen
language. the poets’ techniques have on examples to support the
• It uses quotes from the the reader. argument.
poems and gives some • It uses several different • It explores some of the
explanation of their effect on technical terms accurately. techniques the poet has used
the reader.
Q2 a) 6-7 and the effects they create.
• The comparison between
b) Two from, e.g.: • It needs to analyse the effect
the two poems could be
• It makes some good of specific language features
developed further.
comparisons between the in more detail.
• It only uses one technical
language used in the two • It uses some technical terms.
term.
poems, using relevant Q3 a) 8-9
Page 37 — Eating Poetry examples. b) Two from, e.g.:
• It highlights similarities • It analyses several language
Q1 a) 4-5 in the way the poets use features in detail.
b) Two from, e.g.: language. • It explores the way the poet’s
• It makes a valid point in • It does not use many techniques affect the reader.
response to the question. technical terms. • It explains the significance
• It uses plenty of quotes to • It needs some more in-depth of the ghostly figures on the
support the argument analysis of specific language road.
• The quotes aren’t explored features. • It uses a variety of technical
or analysed in detail. Q3 a) 4-5 terms.
• It doesn’t use many
b) Two from, e.g.:
technical terms. Page 43 — Echo
• It makes several valid
Q2 a) 8-9 comparisons between the two Q1 a) 6-7
b) Two from, e.g.: poems.
b) Two from, e.g.:
• It presents a convincing, • The first two points are
• It shows a good
well-developed argument supported by relevant
understanding of the form of
about the role of the librarian examples from both poems,
the two poems.
in the poem. but the final point needs an
• It explains the effect of the
• It uses a range of examples example from ‘Eating Poetry’
poets’ techniques on the
from the poem to support the to back it up.
reader.
argument. • None of the points are very
• It uses appropriate technical
• It gives an insightful analysis well explained or developed.
terms.
of the techniques the poet has It would be better to focus

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Answers
• There is some comparison she’s in a nightmare. • The structure of the poem, broken
of the two poems, but the • The main feeling of the first stanza into three stanzas, mimics the
similarities and differences is boredom — she has “nothing structure of the woman’s life whilst
need to be explored more to do now he’s gone”. She needs her partner is away — it’s divided
fully. to keep busy, so she cleans the into day, night, day. There’s no
Q2 a) 8-9 house. But the cleaning is futile; rhyme, which reflects her own
the broom “leaves a trail of grit”. slightly panicky state of mind. The
b) Two from, e.g.:
This could show that the act of final stanza is heavily enjambed,
• It makes thoughtful
cleaning can’t cleanse her mind of which creates a feeling of time
comments on the imagery
her fear and anxiety. moving faster, of disorder and
used in both poems.
confusion. The final stanza is also
• It shows a good • The first stanza contains lots of
a line shorter, possibly reflecting
understanding of the ‘s’ sounds — “dusts”, “sweeps”,
her partner’s early death.
techniques the poets have “sand”, “step”, “sprinkling” and
used, and their effect on the “hangs”. This makes the stanza
reader. feel longer, reflecting the woman’s
Page 45 — The Sands of Dee
• It uses a range of examples feelings about how time slows Q2
from both poems to support down whilst she’s alone. The • Both poems present the sea
the argument. sibilance also sounds like the sea, as something dangerous and
• It uses several technical so it’s a constant reminder of the powerful. The subject of ‘At Sea’
terms. woman’s enemy. fears that her partner will die at
Q3 a) 4-5 • The second stanza describes the sea, while ‘The Sands of Dee’
b) Two from, e.g.: woman going to bed. She “sleeps describes the death of a girl who is
• It compares the poets’ use of downstairs”, perhaps because drowned by ‘The western tide’.
sound. she can’t bear to be alone in their • Both poets use language to convey
• It uses relevant examples shared bed. This shows how even the sounds of the sea. In ‘The
from both poems and gives small things can be a painful Sands of Dee’, the use of repetition
some explanation of them. reminder of the person you’re (e.g. “o’er and o’er”, “round and
• The examples could be missing. She also uses a “coat for round”) mirrors the sound of the
explored in more detail. a pillow” — the coat could well waves and creates a sense of the
• It only uses one technical be her partner’s, and by sleeping relentless, unstoppable power of
term. with it she may feel closer to him. the sea. Similarly, in ‘At Sea’, the
• In the third stanza, the sibilance in the first stanza (e.g.
Section Four — Sample onomatopoeic “screaming gulls” “she dusts the house, / sweeps”)
creates a vivid image. It’s also a echoes the sound of the sea and
Exams stark contrast to the silence of the suggests its inescapable presence.
rest of the poem, where the only • The poets both create tense,
Page 44 — At Sea sounds are the sweeping of the frightening atmospheres through
Q1 broom and the sibilance of the sea the imagery they use. For
creeping closer. The screaming example, the onomatopoeic
• The poem is about a woman who
gulls might also be reminiscent of image of “screaming gulls” in ‘At
is left behind when her partner
the screams of drowning sailors, Sea’ creates tension and anxiety
goes to sea.
highlighting the woman’s fear that by suddenly breaking the silence
• The poem has a nightmarish her partner will die at sea. of the poem with a sound that
quality — the woman is alone,
• His shirts are hanging on the suggests fear and suffering. In ‘The
waiting nervously for her
washing line, which is a reminder Sands of Dee’, the imagery of the
husband’s safe return. The
that he’s coming back, and feels “rolling mist” and the alliterative
atmosphere is tense, as if
homely and hopeful for a moment. description of the “wild” “western
something bad may be about
But the final two lines, “and the wind” creates a sense of danger
to happen. The second stanza
high tide’s breakers’ / chill in her and of the power of nature.
deals with the woman’s actual
arms”, immediately recall the • The two poets personify the sea in
nightmare, and the alliterative
sea and the woman’s constant similar ways. Kingsley describes it
words “coming”, “climbing” and
fear that her partner will never as “cruel, crawling” and “hungry”,
“creeping” make the sea feel very
return. The “chill” of the waves while Copley depicts it “coming”,
menacing and hostile. It’s like
in the woman’s arms seems like “climbing” and “creeping”. In
someone creeping in and stealing
a forewarning of death — as if both cases, the imagery the poets
her lover. She wakes up, but with
she’s holding her partner’s cold, use and the harsh alliterative
the “screaming gulls” and the sea
drowned body in her arms. ‘c’ sounds make the sea sound
“chill in her arms” it still feels as if

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Answers
menacing and unstoppable. / Subtly”. The emphasis on the know-who”, using monosyllabic
• The form of each poem is very words “Cool” and “Subtly” creates words to create a sense of anger
different, and is used to create irony; the narrator is desperate for and aggression. This colloquial
different effects. ‘At Sea’ is written her former partner to know how phrase conveys the narrator’s
in free verse, with variable line well she is doing, but equally anger towards her ex-partner,
lengths and no rhyme, which desperate for him not to know that suggesting that she is so upset
makes it seem unstructured and she wants to impress him. This is that she cannot even bring herself
chaotic. This reflects the way the highlighted by the refrain “Don’t to say his name. In ‘Flowers’,
sea affects the woman, mirroring say I said to say it”, which sounds on the other hand, the narrator
the lack of structure in her life forced and unnatural, much like presents a positive view of her
when her partner is away at sea. the image she wants to present. former partner. The short, simple
In contrast, the form of ‘The Sands • The form of the poem mimics sentence “You did.” stresses his
of Dee’ reflects the movement of the content: on the surface it thoughtfulness, while repetition
the sea. Unlike ‘At Sea’, Kingsley’s seems light and playful, but the of the word “smile” in the final
poem has a regular rhyme scheme, careful rhymes (e.g. “inside me” / stanza shows that, even though
AAABAB, which creates a strong “guide me”) reveal how much the the relationship has come to an
rhythm, mirroring the relentless narrator cares. Even though she end, the narrator still views it in a
movement of the waves. wants to appear “replete” without positive light.
her former partner, the poem • The narrator of ‘Don’t Say I Said’
Page 46 — Don’t Say I Said suggests that he is all she can think refers to her ex-partner in the third
about. person (“him”), which creates a
Q1
• The poem has a slightly awkward sense of distance between the
• In the poem, the narrator former couple. This suggests that,
rhythm, created by the forced
obsessively instructs a friend in despite the narrator’s belief that
rhymes and enjambment of lines
exactly what information to pass “He might ask” about her, the
such as “And add that every day
on to an ex-partner. connection they once had has
it / Seems I am harder to resist”.
• The poem is written as a This highlights the fact that the now been lost. In contrast, there
monologue; the end-stopped narrator’s desperation to come is a sense of connection between
double rhymes (e.g. “convey across well makes her clumsy the narrator of ‘Flowers’ and her
it” / “say it”) on the odd lines and awkward, and shows how the former partner, created by the use
increase the pace of the poem, breakdown of a relationship can of the second person (“you”) to
giving the impression that there bring out the worst in people. refer to him, and phrases such as
is no opportunity for the listener “minds like ours”, which suggest
to speak. This, together with Page 47 — Flowers that the pair still have things in
the repetition of “I” illustrates common.
the egotism that can follow the Q2
• The two poems are very different
breakdown of a relationship. • The narrators of the two poems in rhythm and tone, reflecting
• Double rhymes like “play it” / feel differently about the end of the narrators’ contrasting
“say it” force the reader to spit out their relationships. While the feelings about the end of their
the word “it”, giving the poem an narrator of ‘Don’t Say I Said’ relationships. The end-stopped
angry, frustrated tone. This reflects seems angry and hurt, the narrator double rhymes in ‘Don’t Say I
the fact that, despite her insistence of ‘Flowers’ seems much calmer, Said’ give the poem an angry,
that she’s “toned and tanned and conveying a positive view of her frustrated tone, which shows how
fine”, the narrator still feels angry former partner, and a sense of angry and upset the narrator feels
and upset about the end of the wistful regret about the end of about the end of the relationship.
relationship. their relationship. In contrast, ‘Flowers’ uses gentle
• The narrator pays no attention to • The poems both have a rhymes like “ours” / “flowers”,
whether her friend is comfortable conversational style, using short and this, combined with the
lying for her (e.g. the ironic order sentences, simple language and poem’s short sentences and
“Say I’m not bossy any more”) enjambment. This gives them both simple language, gives the poem
or “repeat[ing] his words”. This a direct, personal tone, reflecting a calm, gentle tone. This reflects
shows how the breakdown of a the very personal feelings that they the narrator’s positive view of her
relationship can create conflict, present. ex-partner, but it also makes the
with one or both parties trying to • The two poems use language narrator seem sad and wistful,
make mutual friends take sides. to present contrasting attitudes conveying her feelings of regret
towards the former partner. In that the relationship has come to
• The poet uses enjambment to
‘Don’t Say I Said’, the narrator an end.
emphasise the narrator’s desire
to “play it / Cool” and “convey it refers to her ex-partner as “you-

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Glossary
+ Click to Edit
alliteration Where words that are close together start with the same sound, e.g. ‘‘fragile frame’’.

ambiguity Where a word or phrase has two or more possible meanings.

When words share the same vowel sound but the consonants are different,
assonance
e.g. “stamp her feet and weep’’.
ballad A form of poetry that tells a story and can often be set to music.

blank verse Poetry written in iambic pentameter that doesn’t rhyme.

caesura A pause in a line, e.g. after the word “dropped” in “He dropped, — more sullenly than wearily”.

colloquial Sounding like everyday spoken language, e.g. “it won’t be grassing”.

consonance Repetition of a consonant sound in nearby words, e.g. “silent, to village wells”.
When two things are described in a way which emphasises how different they are.
contrast
E.g. a poet might contrast two different people or two different voices.
direct speech The actual words that are said by someone.
dramatic A form of poetry that uses the assumed voice of a single speaker who is not the poet to address an
monologue implied audience, e.g. ‘An Irish Airman Foresees His Death’.
emotive Something that makes you feel a particular emotion.

empathy When someone understands what someone else is experiencing and how they feel about it.

end-stopping Finishing a line of poetry with the end of a phrase or sentence.

enjambment When a sentence or phrase runs over from one line or stanza to the next.
An indirect term for something upsetting or offensive, e.g. “On your clay” is used to avoid referring
euphemism
directly to death or a grave in ‘Spring in War-Time’.
first person When someone writes about themselves or their group, using words like “I”, “my”, “we” and “our”.

form The type of poem, e.g. a sonnet or a ballad, and its features, like number of lines, rhyme and rhythm.

free verse Poetry that doesn’t rhyme and has no regular rhythm.

half-rhymes Words that have a similar, but not identical, end sound. E.g. “shade” and “said”.

hyperbole An exaggerated statement that is not meant to be taken literally.

Poetry with a metre of ten syllables — five of them stressed, and five unstressed. The stress falls on
iambic pentameter
every second syllable, e.g. “When you are old and grey and full of sleep”.
Like iambic pentameter but with a metre of eight syllables — four stressed and four unstressed.
iambic tetrameter
E.g. “I know that I shall meet my fate”.
imagery Language that creates a picture in your mind. It includes metaphors, similes and personification.

internal rhyme When two words in the same line rhyme, e.g. “It is underneath the coppice and heath”.
When words are used in a sarcastic or comic way to imply the opposite of what they normally mean.
irony
It can also mean when there is a difference between what people expect and what actually happens.
When a poet puts two ideas, events, characters or descriptions close to each other to encourage the
juxtaposition
reader to contrast them. E.g. the excited narrator and the terrified librarian in ‘Eating Poetry’.
language The choice of words used. Different kinds of language have different effects.
The way a piece of poetry is visually presented to the reader, e.g. line length, whether the poem is
layout
broken up into different stanzas, whether lines create some kind of visual pattern.
metaphor A way of describing something by saying that it is something else, e.g. “the fire of thine eyes”.

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Glossary
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metre The arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables to create rhythm in a line of poetry.

mood The feel or atmosphere of a poem, e.g. humorous, threatening, eerie.

narrative Writing that tells a story.

narrator The voice speaking the words. E.g. the narrator of ‘The Dead-Beat’ is a soldier in the trenches.

onomatopoeia A word that sounds like the thing it’s describing, e.g. “click” and “whistling” in ‘Jumper’.

oxymoron A phrase which appears to contradict itself, e.g. ‘‘A sight so touching in its majesty”.
Describing a nonliving thing as if it has human thoughts and feelings, or behaves in a human way,
personification
e.g. “The cruel, hungry foam”.
A form of sonnet in which the first eight lines have a regular ABBA rhyme scheme and introduce a
Petrarchan sonnet
problem, while the final six lines have a different rhyme scheme and solve the problem.
plosive A short burst of sound made when you say a word containing the letters b, d, g, k, p or t.

quatrain A four-line stanza.

refrain A line or stanza in a poem that is repeated. E.g. “Don’t say I said to say it” in ‘Don’t Say I Said’.

rhetorical question A question that doesn’t need an answer, but is asked to make or emphasise a point.
A pattern of rhyming words in a poem. E.g. ‘When You Are Old’ has an ABBA rhyme scheme —
rhyme scheme
this means that the first and fourth lines in each stanza rhyme, and so do the second and third lines.
rhyming couplet A pair of rhyming lines that are next to each other, e.g. the last two lines of ‘Eating Poetry’.

rhyming triplet Three rhyming lines that are next to each other.

rhythm A pattern of sounds created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables.

second person When the narrator talks directly to another person using words like “you”.

sibilance Repetition of ‘s’ and ‘sh’ sounds, e.g. “she dusts the house, / sweeps”.
A way of describing something by comparing it to something else, usually by using the words “like”
simile
or “as”, e.g. “like wrongs hushed-up”.
A form of poem with fourteen lines, that usually follows a clear rhyme scheme.
sonnet
Sonnets are often used for love poetry.
stanza A group of lines in a poem. Stanzas can also be called verses.

structure The order and arrangement of ideas and events in a poem, e.g. how it begins, develops and ends.

syllable A single unit of sound within a word. E.g. “all” has one syllable, “always” has two.
When an object stands for something else. E.g. the “Tyger” in Blake’s poem symbolises the whole of
symbolism
creation.
syntax The arrangement of words in a sentence or phrase so that they make sense.

theme An idea or topic that’s important in a piece of writing. E.g. a poem could be based on the theme of love.

third person When a poet writes about a character who isn’t the speaker, using words like “he” or “she”.

tone The mood or feelings suggested by the way the narrator writes, e.g. confident, thoughtful.
The personality narrating the poem. Poems are usually written either using the poet’s voice,
voice
as if they’re speaking to you directly, or the voice of a character.
volta A turning point in a poem, when the argument or tone changes dramatically.

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62

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the following copyright holders:

Cover quote from ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’ by William Wordsworth

Cloud graphic on cover from Vecteezy.com/members/freevector

‘Ninetieth Birthday’ by RS Thomas © RS Thomas, 1993

‘My Grandmother’ by Elizabeth Jennings, from The Puffin Book of Classic Verse (Puffin Books, 1997).

‘Handbag’ from Fifteen to Infinity by Ruth Fainlight (Hutchinson, 1983), © Ruth Fainlight, 1983.

‘Jumper’ published with permission from Tony Harrison © Tony Harrison

‘The Dead-Beat’ and ‘The Send-Off’ by Wilfred Owen, from Wilfred Owen: The War Poems edited by Jon Stallworthy (Chatto &
Windus, 1994).

‘The Bereavement of the Lion-Keeper’ by Sheenagh Pugh from The Movement of Bodies (Seren, 2005)

‘Winter Night: Edinburgh’ by Andrew Forster, from Fear of Thunder (Flambard Press, 2007)

‘Eating Poetry’ from SELECTED POEMS by Mark Strand, copyright © 1979, 1980 by Mark Strand. Used by permission of
Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
“Any third party use of material, outside of this publication, is prohibited. Interested parties must apply directly for permission.”

‘Volumes’ taken from Her Book, Poems 1988-98 © Jo Shapcott and reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd

‘Echo’ by Walter de la Mare, by kind permission of The Literary Trustees of Walter de la Mare and The Society of Authors as their
representative.

Jennifer Copley: ‘At Sea’. By kind permission of Jennifer Copley.

‘Don’t Say I Said’ from Pessimism for Beginners by Sophie Hannah (Carcanet Press Limited, 2007)

‘Flowers’ taken from Serious Concerns © Wendy Cope and reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd

Every effort has been made to locate copyright holders and obtain permission to reproduce sources.
For those sources where it has been difficult to trace the copyright holder of the work, we would be grateful
for information. If any copyright holder would like us to make an amendment to the acknowledgements,
please notify us and we will gladly update the book at the next reprint. Thank you.
EUAR42

Acknowledgements
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