‘How to’: structure a comparative GCSE unseen poetry answer
Unseen poetry - difficult, hey? Not anymore! Below is a fool-proof ‘how to’ plan and structure your GCSE unseen poetry questions! Thank me later.
Planning
Firstly, identify the key words in the question → i.e. ‘compare’ ‘poets present’ and ‘time and life’
Must refer back to ‘time and life’ throughout our answers
Plan three comparative points, detailing either the similarities or differences between the poems
Make sure that you are using comparative lexis → 'similarly’, ‘differently’, ‘however’
List examples of both poems for each point, where they answer your key point
Your key point should be a clear answer to the question, short and sweet, comparing both poems.
I.e. The poets present time and life differently, where Poe displays a sense of fear, Dickinson does not.
In the next line, you may want to briefly go into how both poets show that (without quotes or devices yet - discussion)
Make sure that you have at least, for each point, 2 quotes per poem (4 quotes per point) → include at least 1 struc feature per poem as well
Note: ensure that you are analysing both language and structure evenly
How to write and analyse
Step one: Introduce your key point whilst comparing both poems
Step two: Might want to go into your comparison slightly more by contextualising its relevance
Step three: introduce your first poem, with your first quote embedded, and zoom out.
Zoom out: what is the quote saying, what device is there.
Step four:
zoom in: consider the effect of the device itself, why the poet used it, how they used it, to what effect they are attempting to create for the reader, what words perhaps have been used in the quote (what are the alternate meanings associated with it)
Step five: Then, once the analysis and link back to your key point is done, then you link back to the key words of the question and then, introduce the link or difference to the second poem
Step six: do the same analysis (step 3 and four) for the second poem, link back to the question / key words briefly
Step 7: doing this 4 times throughout.
Key notes
treat this essay as an ‘analytic conversation’ where you are constantly zooming in and out, considering the writers methods, how and why and what is the effect
Ensure you are using COMPARATIVE language! Make sure that this comparative language also fits with what the question is asking i.e. either the similarity or the difference.
Always use subject terminology - don’t neglect your A02!
