The document provides information about unseen poetry and prose, including some of their key differences and features. It also discusses examiner advice related to answering questions on unseen texts, such as focusing on making observations and arguments linked together rather than using lists of technical terms or acronyms. Finally, it provides sample plans for answering questions about poems, including using topic, viewpoint and tone as an introduction framework.

1. UNSEEN
POETRY & PROSE

2. Poetry Prose
Poems of any structure and form
Any length but likely to be
shorter
Fiction – either short story or
novel
Focus on a character, an event
or a setting

3. Simile Enjambment Caesura Stanza
Personification Assonance Rhyme scheme Pathetic Fallacy
Sibilance Alliteration Extended
Metaphor
Juxtaposition
Oxymoron Foreshadowing Emotive language Adjectives
Repetition Dissonance Semantic Field Sentence/Clause
length

4. AOs
•AO1 show knowledge of the content
•AO2 understand the meanings of texts and their
context
•AO3 recognise how writers use language,
structure, and form to create and shape
meanings and effects
•AO4 personal response

6. Examiner Report June 2015:
The bullet points are advisory not mandatory. Very strong answers
often showed good integration of bullet point material within an
individual overall argument. Others used the bullets as a paragraph
plan: they do help candidates to observe the effects of some features
of the writing, understanding the structure of the passage and begin to
evaluate both the ways in which the text ends and the possible
implications of that ending for understanding of the whole.

7. It is a good idea to organise a response around a set of linked
observations and arguments. This kind of checklist is much more useful
than a checklist of technical terms. The best-planned responses tended
to follow the structure and development of the passage, as do the
bullet points, rather than having (for example) separate paragraphs for
language, form and structure. Essay plans based on acronyms often led
to mechanical responses.

8. Thus attention to detail was sometimes at the expense of the meaning
of the whole text. This was especially evident among candidates who
used checklists or acronyms to structure their answers, instead of
reading through the whole text first, and considering the question
carefully.

9. Q:
How does the poet
make his thoughts
and feelings so vivid
for you?

10. • Son’s experiences at Rockpool
• Explanation of experience of
writing
• How he connects two experiences

11. TVT: Topic, Viewpoint, Tone Introduction (2-3 sentences)
The poem is a touching
moment between a father and
a son. It is told from the
viewpoint of the father and has
a gentle calm tone.

12. TVT
The poem is a touching
moment between a father and
a son. It is told from the
viewpoint of the father and has
a gentle calm tone.

13. Examiner Report: June2015
Some candidates might have achieved higher marks with more
attention to quotation technique. Quotations need not be lengthy:
indeed single-word quotations can be highly effective if they are clearly
related to context. It is most effective when quotation is followed by
comments on the effect of the choice of words or images.