Question 1
Unseen poetry analysis
20 marksAO2About 35 min
What it asks
Explore how the poet presents the subject the question names: how the poet describes things, the words the poet chooses, and the poem's form and structure. Back up your points with examples from the poem.
What earns marks
- A clear sense of what the whole poem is saying and how it develops from start to finish.
- Language, form and structure analysed together, each linked to its effect on the reader.
- Short examples from across the poem, each followed by what it shows.
- Your own response: what you think the poem suggests, not only what it says.
- Subject terms used accurately where they help, such as free verse, caesura (a pause within a line) or personification.
What each level looks like
Top level first.
| Level | Marks | What an answer at this level does |
|---|---|---|
| Level 5 | 17-20 | Treats the poem as a whole, judging how its language, form and structure work together to make meaning, with exactly the right examples. |
| Level 4 | 13-16 | Stays on the question and keeps analysing the poet's methods and their effects in depth all the way through, with well-chosen examples. |
| Level 3 | 9-12 | Explains how several of the poet's choices work and what they do for the reader, with relevant examples. |
| Level 2 | 5-8 | Mostly explains what the poem is about, with some comments on how it is written and some examples. |
| Level 1 | 1-4 | A simple answer that notices very little about how the poem is written, with few examples. |
What to avoid
- Retelling what the poem says instead of analysing how it is written.
- Listing devices without saying what they do.
- Covering only the opening lines: work through the whole poem.
- Spending time on background facts: this section rewards analysis of the poem itself.
Tip: Read the poem twice and sum up its meaning in one sentence before you plan; then build each paragraph on a method, an example and its effect on the reader.
Mark an answer to this question