Download GCSE English Literature Unit 2: Poetry across time

GCSE English Literature
Unit 2: Poetry across time
Section A: Poetry Cluster from the
Anthology
by
1 GCSE – POETRY – ENGLISH LITERATURE
Contents
Contents ................................................................................................................................................................ 2
GCSE English Literature: Unit 2: Poetry Across Time .............................................................................................. 5
What is the poetry section all about? ....................................................................................................................... 5
Questions asked in previous years… ......................................................................................................................... 5
How do I approach it? ............................................................................................................................................... 6
How do I structure my response? .............................................................................................................................. 6
What should to be in my answer?............................................................................................................................. 7
How do I use these notes? ........................................................................................................................................ 7
Terms to remember .................................................................................................................................................. 8
Character and Voice (Contemporary poems) ....................................................................................................... 10
‘The Clown Punk’ by Simon Armitage ..................................................................................................................... 10
‘Checking Out Me History’ by John Agard ............................................................................................................... 12
‘Horse Whisperer’ by Andrew Forster ..................................................................................................................... 16
‘Medusa’ by Carol Ann Duffy .................................................................................................................................. 20
‘Singh Song!’ by Daljit Nagra .................................................................................................................................. 24
‘Brendon Gallacher’ by Jackie Kay........................................................................................................................... 29
‘Give’ by Simon Armitage ........................................................................................................................................ 32
‘Les Grands Seigneurs’ by Dorothy Molloy .............................................................................................................. 34
Character and Voice (Poems from the Literary Heritage) ..................................................................................... 37
‘Ozymandias’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley .................................................................................................................... 37
‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning ................................................................................................................... 39
‘River God’ by Stevie Smith ..................................................................................................................................... 42
‘The Hunchback in the Park’ by Dylan Thomas ....................................................................................................... 46
‘The Ruined Maid’ by Thomas Hardy ...................................................................................................................... 49
‘Casehistory: Alison (head injury)’ by U.A. Fanthorpe ............................................................................................. 52
‘On a Portrait of a Deaf Man’ by John Betjeman .................................................................................................... 55
Place (Contemporary poems)............................................................................................................................... 58
‘The Blackbird of Glanmore’ by Seamus Heaney..................................................................................................... 58
‘A Vision’ by Simon Armitage .................................................................................................................................. 61
‘The Moment’ by Margaret Atwood ....................................................................................................................... 63
‘Cold Knap Lake’ by Gillian Clarke ........................................................................................................................... 65
‘Price We Pay for the Sun’ by Grace Nichols ........................................................................................................... 67
‘Neighbours’ by Gillian Clarke ................................................................................................................................. 69
‘Crossing the Loch’ by Kathleen Jamie .................................................................................................................... 71
‘Hard Water’ by Jean Sprackland ............................................................................................................................ 74
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Place (Poems from the Literary Heritage) ............................................................................................................ 77
‘London’ by William Blake ....................................................................................................................................... 77
‘The Prelude’ extract by William Wordsworth ........................................................................................................ 79
‘The Wild Swans at Coole’ by W.B. Yeats ................................................................................................................ 82
‘Spellbound’ by Emily Brontë................................................................................................................................... 84
‘Below the Green Corrie’ by Norman MacCaig ....................................................................................................... 86
‘Storm in the Black Forest’ by D.H. Lawrence ......................................................................................................... 88
‘Wind’ by Ted Hughes ............................................................................................................................................. 90
Conflict (Contemporary Poems) ........................................................................................................................... 92
‘Flag’ by John Agard ................................................................................................................................................ 92
‘Out of the Blue’ extract by Simon Armitage .......................................................................................................... 94
‘Mametz Wood’ by Owen Sheers ............................................................................................................................ 97
‘The Yellow Palm’ by Robert Minhinnick ............................................................................................................... 100
‘The Right Word’ by Imtiaz Dharker ...................................................................................................................... 103
‘At the Border, 1979’ by Choman Hardi ................................................................................................................ 106
‘Belfast Confetti’ by Ciaran Carson ....................................................................................................................... 108
‘Poppies’ by Jane Weir .......................................................................................................................................... 110
Conflict (Poems from the Literary Heritage) ....................................................................................................... 113
‘Futility’ by Wilfred Owen ..................................................................................................................................... 113
‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Tennyson .......................................................................................... 115
‘Bayonet Charge’ by Ted Hughes .......................................................................................................................... 119
‘The Falling Leaves’ by Margaret Postgate Cole ................................................................................................... 122
‘Come On, Come Back’ by Stevie Smith ................................................................................................................. 124
‘next to of course god america i’ by E.E. Cummings ............................................................................................. 128
‘Hawk Roosting’ by Ted Hughes ............................................................................................................................ 130
Relationships (Contemporary Poems) ................................................................................................................ 133
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage ....................................................................................................................... 133
‘Hour’ by Carol Ann Duffy ..................................................................................................................................... 136
‘In Paris With You’ by James Fenton ..................................................................................................................... 138
‘Quickdraw’ by Carol Ann Duffy ............................................................................................................................ 141
‘Ghazal’ by Mimi Khalvati ..................................................................................................................................... 143
‘Brothers’ by Andrew Forster ................................................................................................................................ 146
‘Praise Song for My Mother’ by Grace Nichols...................................................................................................... 148
‘Harmonium’ by Simon Armitage.......................................................................................................................... 151
Relationships (Poems from the Literary Heritage).............................................................................................. 154
Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare ..................................................................................................................... 154
Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning ............................................................................................................. 156
‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell .............................................................................................................. 158
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‘The Farmer’s Bride’ by Charlotte Mew ................................................................................................................ 162
‘Sister Maude’ by Christina Rossetti ...................................................................................................................... 165
‘Nettles’ by Vernon Scannell ................................................................................................................................. 167
‘Born Yesterday’ by Phillip Larkin .......................................................................................................................... 169
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GCSE English Literature: Unit 2: Poetry Across Time
What is the poetry section all about?
 You will be asked in this section to analyse the poems that have been given to you before the exam.
 This year, the poets that will be assessed will come from the following:
 Theme, tone, feeling, diction and style are general concepts that may be questioned in this section.
 Literary devices often seen in poetry will also be assessed, including: imagery, metaphor, simile,
personification, alliteration, structure and rhyme are just a few. (See “Terms to remember” for more
devices).
Questions asked in previous years…
Reminder: For each section (character and voice, place, conflict, and relationships) you will be presented with two questions.
You must only answer one question per section. You must answer one from each of the following: Character and voice, Place,
Conflict, and Relationships. We have grouped the questions below by category, as opposed to year, so you can see what kind
of questions will be asked of you.
Character and Voice:
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2013 (A): Compare the ways the poets explore ideas about control in ‘The River God’ and in one other
poem from Character and voice.
2013 (B): Compare the methods the poets use to explore a character’s sense of identity in ‘Casehistory:
Alison (head injury)’ and in one other poem from Character and voice.
2012 (A): Compare how poets use language to explore ideas and feelings in ‘Checking Out Me History’
and in one other poem from Character and voice.
2012 (B): Compare the ways poets present ideas about power in ‘Ozymandias’ and in one other poem
from Character and voice.
2011 (A): Compare the ways poets present powerful characters in ‘My Last Duchess’ and one other poem
from Character and voice.
2011 (B): Compare the ways poets present strong emotions in ‘Medusa’ and one other poem from
Character and voice.
Place:
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2013 (A): Compare the ways the poets use imagery to explore ideas about change in ‘The Wild Swans at
Coole’ and in one other poem from Place.
2013 (B): Compare the methods the poets use to create a strong sense of place in ‘Crossing the Loch’ and
in one other poem from Place.
2012 (A): Compare the ways poets show the relationship between people and places in ‘Neighbours’ and
in one other poem from Place.
2012 (B): Compare the ways poets show attitudes towards particular places in ‘Hard Water’ and in one
other poem from Place.
2012 (A): Compare how nature is presented as threatening in ‘Wind’ and one other poem from Place.
2012 (B): Compare the ways poets present feelings about a place in ‘London’ and one other poem from
Place.
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Conflict:
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2013 (A): Compare the ways the poets present ideas about power in ‘Hawk Roosting’ and in one other
poem from Conflict.
2013 (B): Compare the ways the poets present the destructive impact of conflict in ‘The Yellow Palm’ and
in one other poem from Conflict.
2012 (A): Compare how poets present the effects of war in ‘Mametz Wood’ and in one other poem from
Conflict.
2012 (B): Compare how poets present bravery in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and in one other poem
from Conflict.
2011 (A): Compare how poets present the effects of conflict in ‘Belfast Confetti’ and one other poem
from Conflict.
2011 (B): Compare how poets present the experience of soldiers in ‘Bayonet Charge’ and one other poem
from Conflict.
Relationships:
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2013 (A): Compare the methods the poets use to explore ideas about love in ‘Sonnet 116’ and in one
other poem from Relationships.
2013 (B): Compare the ways the poets present hopes and wishes in ‘Born Yesterday’ and in one other
poem from Relationships.
2012 (A): Compare the ways poets explore strong feelings about another person in ‘Quickdraw’ and in
one other poem from Relationships.
2012 (B): Compare the ways poets use language to present relationships in ‘Praise Song for My Mother’
and in one other poem from Relationships.
2011 (A): Compare how poets use language to present feelings in ‘The Manhunt’ and one other poem
from Relationships.
2011 (B): Compare the ways poets portray emotions in ‘Nettles’ and one other poem from Relationships.
How do I approach it?
 Use the information you know about the poems and authors, including tone, style, form, and devices, to
answer the question at hand.
 Make sure that you are always referring back to the question you were given. It can be easy to fall off
topic in these kinds of questions.
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How do I structure my response?
 Each response, no matter how long, should have three things: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.
 Introduction: Introduce the poet, the poems at hand, and the question. If there is some
background information on the poet or on the time period in which they were written that you
feel is worth mentioning, here is a good place to do so. (The poetry written by Sylvia Plath was a
clear reflection of some of her personal emotions. The suffered from severe depression for many
of her middle-age years and this has often come across in her poetry. This is evident in the
poems…)
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Body: Prove your point or achieve your purpose using examples from the poems. (Sylvia Plath’s
depression can be seen in the dark imagery in her poems… Some of the metaphors present in her
poems also allude to the dark feeling she was experiencing… Despite her persistent depression,
some of her poetry expressed happier tones, such as…)
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Conclusion: Here is where you can wrap things up. Make any final points that compliment what
you have already said, but do not introduce any new information. Here is not where you should
me making new arguments, but merely solidifying the points you have already made. (In
conclusion, the poetry of Sylvia Plath can be considered to be a mirror for her internal struggle
with her emotions until her untimely death in 1963).
Each of your responses should be clearly organised, well written, delivered well, and should have proper
grammar and mechanics. The marking scheme depicts that your answers must have: clarity of purpose,
coherence of delivery, efficiency of language use, and accuracy of mechanics
What should to be in my answer?
 A strong analysis of the poem should be present in your response. Remember to consider things like the
content of the poem (what is the poem actually about, underneath all of the poetic devices?); the title of
the poem (it’s there for a reason and is therefore important!); poetic devices (it wouldn’t be poetry
without them); tone (attitudes conveyed by the poem); themes (every poem has some); structure and
rhythm (these add value to the meaning and tone of the poem); and background information about the
poets (their poetry often can tell a lot about them as a person, and vice versa).
How do I use these notes?
 These notes will serve as a companion to your studies on these poets and their poems. In each poet’s
section you will find both background information on the poet and then analyses of their poems. The
poem will also be presented (with line numbers for ease of use). The aspects of the poems that will be
covered include:
 Cluster (Characters and voices / Place / Conflict / Relationships)
 Ideas, Themes and Issues
 Form and Structure
 Poetic Devices
 Background Information
 As you are using these notes, you may have differing opinions. Poetry is always open to interpretation. If
you have a point that you would like to make in your analysis, just make sure that you back it up with text
from the poem. An argument is always more believable if you can back it up.
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Terms to remember
Here are some key terms and devices to remember, as defined by Jeffrey Wainwright’s Poetry: the basics.1
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Allegory: A literary work in which characters, settings and actions are all devised to represent, or
symbolize, abstractions.
Alliteration: The repetition on consonants close enough together to be noticed by the ear.
Allusion: a reference to a person, place, or thing in history or another work
Assonance: The reiteration of the same vowel sounds close enough together to be noticed by the ear.
Conceit: A particularly striking metaphor; usually part of a larger pattern of images, sometimes continued
through the whole poem.
Connotation: A secondary or additional meaning of a word besides its primary meaning; usually an idea
or feeling associated with the word. (e.g.: positive connotation, negative connotation)
Consonance: The overall harmony or concord of sounds.
Diction: The choice or selection of words or phrases used.
Elegy: A poem occasioned by the death of someone.
End-rhyme: A rhyme that occurs at the end of a line.
Full rhyme: A rhyme in which the words involved have the last two or more sounds in accord and thus the
only difference is earlier in the word or line. (e.g.: knock/mock, insulate/regulate).
Half-rhyme: A kind of rhyme in which the consonants of the two words sound the same but the vowels
differ. (e.g.: buck/back, knock/knack)
Imagery: The creation of a strong mental image by the use of language. (e.g.: the green, rich fields were
covered in a hazy dew)
Internal rhyme: A correspondence of word-sounds within the line rather than at the end of lines.
Irony: A figure in which what is said is the opposite of what is actually meant.
Metaphor: A figure which expresses one thing in terms of another by suggesting a likeness between them.
(e.g.: love is a battlefield)
Metre: A specific recurring pattern of poetic rhythm.
Octave & Sestet: The two parts of a Petrarchan sonnet. The octave has 8 lines and the sestet has 6, with a
break between the two.
Onomatopoeia: The phenomenon of words sounding like what they mean. (e.g.: swoosh, bang, tick-tock)
Personification: The phenomenon of giving human qualities or characteristics to inanimate objects, ideas,
or concepts.
Reiteration: Saying something over again.
Rhyme: The positioning of words of similar sound for effect, normally at the end of lines.
Rhythm: The “flow” in the sounding of the line and the succession of lines.
Satire: A mode which mocks some prevailing aspect of society or fashion. Its aim is always claimed to be
didactic: that is to punish vice, corruption, and prove through ridicule in order to improve conduct and
society.
Simile: A basic form of metaphor in which the comparison is directly conjoined, usually using “like” or “as.”
(e.g.: black as night; fought like a warrior)
Sonnet: A poem consisting of 14 lines.
Wainwright, Jeffrey. Poetry: The basics. New York: Routledge, 2004.
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Stanza: A group of lines shaped in the same way, with the line usually, but not always, of the same length.
 Couplet: 2 lines
 Triplet, tercet: 3 lines (triplet has AAA rhyme scheme, tercet does not)
 Quatrain: 4 lines
 Quintet: 5 lines
 Sestet: 6 lines
 Septet: 7 lines
 Octet: 8 lines
Symbol: Something that stands for or represents something else. (e.g.: heart as a symbol for love)
Tone: A much-used imprecise term to indicate the “mood”, “colour”, “atmosphere”, of a piece of writing
as conveyed by its word choice, rhythms, etc.
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Character and Voice (Contemporary poems)
‘The Clown Punk’ by Simon Armitage
Driving home through the shonky2 side of town,
three times out of ten you'll see the town clown,
like a basket of washing that got up
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and walked, towing a dog on a rope. But
don't laugh: every pixel of that man's skin
is shot through with indelible3 ink;
as he steps out at the traffic lights,
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think what he'll look like in thirty years' time---
the deflated face and shrunken scalp
still daubed4 with the sad tattoos of high punk.
You kids in the back seat who wince and scream
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when he slathers his daft mush on the windscreen,
remember the clown punk with his dyed brain,
then picture windscreen wipers, and let it rain.
Character and Voice
 The poem focuses on the character of a “town clown” as observed by a narrator who is driving a car.
 This “clown” comes up to a car with children in it and presses his “mush” of a face against the window,
frightening the children.
 The clown is presented as a character that is to be pitied or perhaps sympathised with, as evident by the
speaker’s words in line 5: “don’t laugh”.
 Traditionally, a clown is a character that children and adults alike can find humour in. Punks, on the other
hand, are usually frightening characters, with their tattoos and dark clothing.
 Here, the reader is presented with an oxymoronic character, one that is to be found humorous and
frightening. The reader here has no choice but to sympathise with the character.
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dishonest, unreliable, or illegal, especially in a devious way
making marks that cannot be removed
carelessly coat or smear
10 GCSE – POETRY – ENGLISH LITERATURE