1. How to write about poetry so
that your essay stands out
from the crowd!

2. ‘Poetry is that which is lost in
translation’
Robert Frost

3. What is the difference between the
given poem(s) and a prose
paraphrase of the same material?

4. In other words…
what does the poem accomplish
beyond its prose meaning?

5. Do you recognise this
‘translation’?

6. I’d never experienced love before but when I
did feel it, I was blown away! I went pale,
my legs went numb and nothing in my life
previously made any sense any more. I was
flushed, my vision went and it was as if I was
in the dark – I was dumb struck and I could
feel my heart pounding. Is love always so
painful? She didn’t seem to acknowledge
me but I can’t help myself – I’ll never be the
same again.

7. What has been sacrificed in the prose
version? Here is your starting point to
analysing and appreciating the craft of
poetry.
If you can understand how it works and why
a writer might choose verse, you can write
intelligently about it.

8. I ne'er was struck before that hour
With love so sudden and so sweet,
Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower
And stole my heart away complete.
My face turned pale as deadly pale.
My legs refused to walk away,
And when she looked, what could I ail?
My life and all seemed turned to clay.
I’d never experienced love before but when I did feel
it, I was blown away! I went pale, my legs went
numb and nothing in my life previously made any
sense any more.

9. How do images, rhythms, patterns,
and aural devices modify or extend
the prose meaning of the poem?

10. Then…
•Examine the content
•Examine the form
And then ask yourself…
‘What is the relationship between
the content of this poem and its
form’?

11. A key discriminator between the middling
and top grade candidates is that the best
students write intelligently about this
relationship.
Remember champagne flutes, brandy
tumblers and shot glasses?!

12. Some ways to organize your observations:
Imagery
Patterns & shifts
Language choices
Aural poetic devices
Mood/tone
Narrative perspective
And of course form / structure
(there are others!)

13. Ask yourself "What is the total effect of all
the little things I've been noticing?"
What do the parts of the poem cooperate to
tell me about the poet’s treatment of the
topic?

14. Don't let your paper turn into a laundry list of
observations – find synthesis statements.
Make sure that no one could title your essay
"Some things I liked (or simply noticed) about
this poem."
This is a sure recipe for a ‘C’ grade at best!

15. Furthermore there are
no marks for ‘gushing’
or making unfounded
statements about a
poem’s greatness!!
Don’t be him!

16. It is likely that you will be given a topic or
theme and will be asked how the poet presents
this within their poem.
Find 3 or 4 ways in which the poet has done this
and then consider the combined effect of these
choices.
This will give you your THESIS statement.

17. A poetry essay, then, no matter what the task,
invites you to investigate these underlying
questions while addressing the named topic…

18. Given that the writer could just as easily have
written their thoughts on this topic in prose,
why have they elected to do so in verse?
What has this combination of form and content
achieved in addition to the prose alternative
and how has the poet used the toolbox of
poetic devices to reflect and comment on the
given subject?

19. Examine the way in which marriage is
presented in Smith’s ‘Wedlock Blues’

20. Smith conveys a bitter message about his
experience of marriage. The poet’s use of
bleak metaphor, anaphora, and the
disrupted rhyme scheme and syllable
structure in the poem allow him to reveal
his deepest and darkest thoughts about
the social institution of matrimony.

21. How does Jones present love in
‘The Ghost of a Wedding Cake’?

22. Jones here presents a poem which
examines his narrator’s conflicting
psychological thoughts about the
experience of romantic love. The poet’s
use of free verse, pastoral imagery, and
caesura combine to reflect his character’s
inner struggle to resolve the vulnerability
and confusion he feels alongside an
obvious passion and commitment to his
‘tender’ and ‘gentle love’.

23. Then be sure that every new paragraph
thereafter (you should have at least 3 or 4!)
presents a topic sentence which takes one of
these observed details and develops it with
close embedded quotation in order to further
your argument about the treatment of the
given topic…

24. The poem makes good use of a series of
brooding metaphors which reinforce the
narrator’s pessimistic view of marriage. In the
2nd stanza, the reference to a ‘golden barbed
wire band’ takes the wedding ring, a traditional
symbol of matrimony, and subverts it; the
plosive alliteration reinforcing the tension
already established…

25. Once you have presented this evidenced
argument which remains topic focused
throughout, you should conclude in a way that
does more than just repeat the ground you
have just covered as a list.
(a sure fire way of throwing away marks with
the finishing line in sight!)

26. Try instead to have something up your sleeve to
wow the examiner so that they are left in no
doubt that you are deserving of the top band.
You could broaden your argument…

27. There is no doubt then that for Smith, marriage
is a source of torment and disillusionment and
yet a glimmer of hope remains; he is not quite
willing to abandon his faith in the redemptive
promise of a shared life and this is perhaps why
in another poem from the same period ‘Heart
felt’, he concludes that ‘Love is what remains
when all is done’.

28. Or you could reinforce that you are offering a
personal response (AO4):
‘To conclude, while I cannot align myself with
Jones’ position on romantic love as a parasitic
and ultimately destructive force, I do find this
poem to be both striking and thought
provoking. Arguably, while he fails to woo his
lover, he does successfully seduce his reader
and in this sense the poem is successful!’