The document provides guidance on analyzing poems for exams. It discusses considering the poem's themes, form, structure, language, techniques, and answering different exam question types. Key advice includes relating all analyzed aspects back to the poem's meaning and effect, and showing an understanding of how the poet conveys their message through creative and technical choices.

1. Poetry

4. Read the title and opening four lines of To Autumn
by John Keats. What themes , ideas or attitudes
are emerging?
To Autumn
by John Keats
Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun:
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves
run;

5. The title tells the reader that this poem is centered on
the season of Autumn. The opening stanza focuses on
and establishes aspects of nature during this season,
with references to mists, the sun, vines and the eaves
of a thatched cottage. This gives the impression that
the speaker very much admires this beautiful, rural,
autumnal scene.
Feedback
This response demonstrates the reader's understanding
of the poem being about nature and autumn and that
they form the central themes for the poem. It also
shows an understanding of the speaker’s attitude,
which is admiration of the season.

6. Meaning
Questions to ask yourself Considerations
Form
Some poems adopt specific forms eg
sonnets or narrative poems. Many
don’t have an identifiable form.
Can you spot a specific form? Why
might the poet have chosen this?
How does it link to the message of
the poem or its ideas?
If the poem does not have a specific
form you recognise, think about the
impact of the structure.
Structure
The way the poet has organised the
poem on the page eg number of
stanzas, lines per stanza, breaks in
between lines and stanzas.
How might the way the poem
appears on the page link to its
meaning and effect?
Think about big and small building
blocks of a poem - the overall shape,
number of stanzas, length of stanzas,
length of lines, movement between
lines and stanzas.
Rhyme, rhythm, metre
The poem may have a rhyme
scheme and/or a noticeable rhythm
in each line.
Can you spot a rhyme scheme? Is
this regular or varied? Are there a
regular number of beats or stresses
in each line? Does this vary? How
does this link to the mood of the
poem?
Don’t just count beats and rhyming
words, think how these link to the
mood of the poem.
Language
The power of individual words or
phrases and the overall effect of the
language in a poem.
When I read the poem and look
away, what words, phrases or lines
do I remember? Why are they
powerful? How does the language of
the poem support the overall effect
and meaning?
Language is like the engine of a
poem. What fires it up is thinking
about the power of the language.
This can be a strategy for getting to
the heart of a poem.
Poetic techniques or devices
Ways in which a poet uses language
in a particular way to create effect eg
simile, metaphor, alliteration,
personification.
Once I’ve felt the mood and message
of a poem, can I spot the ways the
poet has used language to support
the meaning? How do specific
techniques link to meaning?
Identifying techniques is only the first
step. A good analysis has to think
about how these link to meaning and
effect.

7. Exam question type
Key words and phrases to
look out for
How to approach the question Considerations
Comparison
Compare/compare and
contrast/identify similarities and
differences.
Write about ways in which two
or more poems are similar and
ways in which they are different.
Try to compare the poems
throughout your response,
rather than writing about them
separately.
Understanding how a poem
works
The ways in which the poem/the
ways in which the poet.
Write about how themes, ideas
and form, structure and
language link to the meaning
and effect of a poem.
You are not being asked just
what a poem says but also
about how it gets that message
across.
Approaching the essay
Consider/explore/discuss/write
about.
Analyze the poem showing you
can offer ideas about the way it
works.
Think about different possible
readings and don’t be afraid to
offer your personal response.

8. Essay section What to include Notes
Introduction: one paragraph
Brief outline of what you intend to
include. Overview of the poem(s) which
are specific to the question being asked.
Pay attention to key words and to any
bullet points in the question.
Introductions should be short and to-the-
point. Don’t repeat the question. Show
that you understand the meaning of the
question and indicate how you will
answer it. If comparing poems, make it
clear which ones you are writing about.
Body of essay: a series of paragraphs
Paragraphs covering:
themes/ideas/attitudes, form and
structure, rhythm, rhyme, language and
contexts (if it's a part of the question).
Relate each of these to the essay title.
Use the key words you’ve spotted. Back
up the points you make with details or
quotations from the poem.
You may have more to say about one
part of the question than another, but
make sure you cover all the parts asked
and refer to themes/ideas and content,
as well as form, structure and language.
Conclusion: one paragraph
Refer back to the essay title. Sum up
what you have said in your essay to
address that title. Again, mention key
words. Make sure your personal
response to the poem has come across.
This paragraph may be quite short, but it
is your chance to show that you have
answered the question fully and that you
have been able to offer your own
personal response.