Poetry Skills: Analysing and Comparing Poems
The WJEC Eduqas Poetry Questions
Component 1, Section B has two poetry questions:
- Named poet question: A question about poems by a specific poet from the Eduqas anthology (e.g., Wilfred Owen, Carol Ann Duffy, Ted Hughes, Simon Armitage). You write about named poems.
- Unseen comparison: A previously unstudied poem compared with one from the anthology.
Both questions require AO1, AO2 and AO3 responses.
What to Analyse in Poetry
Form
- Sonnet: 14 lines, often about love or conflict; the Volta (turn) is significant
- Dramatic monologue: A single character speaks; we infer character from speech
- Free verse: No regular rhyme or metre — often modern; freedom in form can mirror freedom in content
- Ballad: Narrative poem with regular rhythm and rhyme; often folk-tradition
- Ode: Formal address to a subject — elevated tone
Structure
- Stanza length and regularity: Regular stanzas = order/control; irregular = chaos or complexity
- Enjambment: Running on to the next line without pause — creates flow; can mirror ideas of continuation, escape, breathlessness
- Caesura: A pause mid-line (usually marked by punctuation) — creates emphasis, a break in thought, a moment of reflection
- The Volta: In a sonnet, the "turn" where the argument shifts — usually at line 9 or 13
Language
- Imagery: Metaphor, simile, personification
- Sound devices: Alliteration, assonance, sibilance, onomatopoeia, rhyme
- Tone: The speaker's attitude — angry, elegiac, celebratory, bitter, resigned
- Voice: Who is speaking? What do we know about them? What are they NOT saying?
- Diction level: Formal (elevated, classical vocabulary) vs informal (colloquial, everyday language)
✦Worked example— Worked Example: Analysing a Stanza
Extract from Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est":
"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, / Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge"
- Similes: "like old beggars... like hags" — soldiers reduced from young men to elderly, broken figures; Owen destroys the glorified image of war
- Alliteration "Knock-kneed": harsh 'k' sound = physical difficulty; the sound mimics stumbling
- "Cursed through sludge": blunt, monosyllabic; sibilance "sludge"; the exhaustion is in the flatness of the language
- Form: begins with bent, abnormal posture — the very first word of the poem ("Bent") establishes abnormality
- AO3: Owen was a WWI soldier himself; he writes against Jessie Pope's pro-war propaganda ("Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori" = "It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country")
Comparing Poems
How to structure a poetry comparison:
- Opening statement: identify what you will compare (theme, technique, perspective)
- Analyse Poem 1: language, structure, form — always with AO2 terminology and AO1 evidence
- Comparative link: "Similarly...", "In contrast...", "Whereas Poem 1... Poem 2..."
- Analyse Poem 2: same approach
- Develop the comparison: What does the comparison reveal? Why are the similarities or differences significant?
AO3 in poetry comparison: Consider when each poem was written, who wrote it and for what audience, and how context shapes the poem's perspective.
Unseen Poetry — Approaching a New Poem
SMILE approach for unseen poetry:
- Subject: What is the poem about? What is the situation?
- Method: What techniques does the poet use? (Form, structure, language)
- Imagery: What images are used? What do they suggest?
- Language: Specific vocabulary choices — why these words?
- Emotion/Effect: What feelings does the poem create? What is the speaker's tone?
For a comparison question: First analyse the unseen poem (10 minutes); identify its theme; then find the anthology poem it should be compared with (if given a choice); write an integrated comparison.
⚠Common mistakes— Common Mistakes in Poetry Essays
- Paraphrasing — retelling what the poem says rather than analysing how it says it
- Feature-spotting — "The poet uses alliteration" without explaining the effect
- Ignoring form and structure — students often only analyse language; always discuss form too
- Forgetting AO3 — every poem has a context; always link to when/why it was written
- Not comparing throughout — in comparison questions, both poems must appear in every paragraph
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