Poetry Revision - Context and Quotes sheet

Click on this link for Power and Conflict booklet on ALL POEMS:
Power and Conflict booklet

Context and Quotes sheet:
SHEET


Miss Fowler :)

Comparisons you can make - links between poems

Comparisons & Contrasts you can make: Nature

1.      PRELUDE

·         CF Exposure- both explore the harsher sides of nature, although Exposure is about the cruel, relentless aspect of nature (indifferent to man’s suffering) whereas Prelude is more about nature’s potential for evil and superiority due to its power. Both also focus on first person narratives but Exposure is immediate, in the midst of war and exposure to terrible weather, whereas Prelude is calm and more connected to the psychological impact nature can have on man through memory. Both poems personify nature as a dominant force over man, one to be feared as well as marvelled at. In Exposure, it seems that Owen questions a higher power and authority (God? Nature? Officers?) and sees soldiers as insignificant (‘nothing happens’ even though many evidently die and are buried) whereas Prelude, the narrator sees himself as insignificant (and by implication, all of mankind) and nothing really happens to disturb his calm experience other than the manifestations of his own guilt and fear.

·         CF Ozymandias – both explore the powerlessness of man and time in relation to nature. In Ozymandias, man’s power (even tyrannical, arrogant and connected to monarchy) pass with time whereas nature endures and seems indifferent to man’s suffering or superiority. This is a common belief held by Romantic poets. Both use imagery to under-line the beauty of nature (the boundless sands, the exotic ‘antique’ land suggesting history and time enduring in Ozymandias; the ‘elfin’ magic of the boat in Prelude and the calm stillness of the water where he dips his ‘lusty oars’. The effect of time is explored through memory and the effect of the boat stealing incident in Prelude, whereas in Ozymandias time is the enemy of the King and reduces his might and kingdom to insignificance. All of us are equal in the eyes of mother nature / God? It is nature we should worship, not self-indulgence. Man’s reputation is transient and ultimately we are all isolated and alone. Ozymandias can also be compared to Exposure because the two are about the passage of time and the linking of nature to a more enduring force that ultimately seems indifferent to the suffering / pride of mankind.

·         CF Storm on the Island – Both feature nature’s unpredictability and penchant for cruelty. Storm on the Island uses juxtaposition between emptiness and lack (‘nothing’ and ‘n’ and ‘nor’ and the words ‘empty’ and ‘space’) with words suggesting action and invoking military imagery: ‘salvo’ and ‘explode’ and ‘strafe’ and ‘bombard’. This suggests that the islanders waiting for a potential storm to hit is an allegory for a real war (the ‘troubles’ in Ireland). The irony of the situation is the ‘huge nothing’ that they fear – fear itself which is controlling their lives just as war does. The waiting element of Storm on the Island could be compared with Exposure and the idea of numbness (nothing) and emotional hardening of men who spend a long time in fear. The use of the collective pronoun ‘we’ is used both in Exposure and Storm…to suggest the collective identity / sense of community / emphasise that it is man versus nature. One long stanza emphasises the storm – preparation and then waiting for it to attack – just as Prelude keeps one long stanza to act as a narrative and reflect the narrator’s lack of control.

·         CF Kamikaze – The different narrative strands / layers of Kamikaze shroud this narrative in mystery – we are never quite sure who is talking or how reliable they are. The use of memory is prevalent (as in Prelude) and how this has psychologically affected the speaker and her mother (the tales of the glory of war are lived through one individual but he is now remembered through the prism of stories rather than knowledge of his own feelings- there is speculation ‘he must have felt…’) Use of natural imagery to capture the wonder of the world that perhaps helped him to turn back – also the idea of child versus adult world ‘we too learned to be silent’ and now she regrets treating her father in this way. The isolation of man from nature (Prelude) and from community and belonging (Kamikaze). How one experience can shape your life and perceptions, and the perceptions others have of you. Reputation is also explored along with honour and glory in Ozymandias.

Poetry PPE Help - Year 10

Hello Lovely Year 10

In preparation for your PPEs, here are some examples of how to compare effectively:
Below is a colour coded example to show you how to integrate context, comparison and language/structural explanation into your question answers:

Compare the ways writers present the power of nature in the “Prelude” and one other poem from the collection.

The power of nature is portrayed as a dominant force that ranks above all men and beings. Nature possesses dominance and it influences man as we are unable to totally control it or comprehend it. In “The Prelude”, William Wordsworth suggests that man attempts to control nature but consequently is taunted by nature itself. In comparison to this in “Ozymandias”, Percy Shelley suggests an exploitation of man’s arrogance that is destroyed by nature- proving both Romantic poets convey nature is a significant force above man.

In “The Prelude”, Wordsworth portrays the power of nature as wanting dominance over man. This is similar to “Ozymandias” by Shelley who mocks the arrogance of man in the face of nature’s power. Interestingly, the natural power to destroy in “Ozymandias” contrasts to the psychological power of nature to haunt humans. Wordsworth powerfully suggests that nature has the power to change and affect man’s mental stability: “no colours or green fields”. The contradiction of “no colours” and “green” suggests nature has the ability to cause confusion and inflict fear into man. Wordsworth has been deliberate in claiming that nature cannot be comprehended by man as his narration conveys difficulty in understanding even the simplicity of nature- even its green colour. The fact that Wordsworth states “no” colours suggests a conclusive rejection of man by nature. This is also conveyed by the anaphora of “no” in the final line that ultimately concludes that nature has abandoned man once and for all. This abandonment of man by nature is a typical trait of a Romantic poet.

Furthermore, man is clearly haunted by nature when the narrator states “Like living men, moved slowly through the mind”. The personification of nature could be purposeful as Wordsworth is suggesting that at nature will always prevail as dominant. Also the comma that isolates “living man” in the line visually conveys the brutality of nature’s abandon. Also, the deliberate use of the adverb “slowly” suggests nature is acting in a sinister manner that lurks and takes over the mind of man- asserting its dominance. In comparison, Shelley presents the power of nature as always overpowering man and destroying human attempts to assert their control. Shelley is deliberate in structuring his poem like a sonnet - a form traditional to a love poem- to suggest the irony of man’s own self-love. In the opening line of the poem: “I met a traveller from an antique land”, the narrator speaks of the man in the past tense shown by the very “met”. In a similar way to “The Prelude”, this could suggest the abandonment of man. Interestingly, the first 6 lines are written in the past tense and remaining 6 in the present tense, highlighting that nature is powerful throughout time. The quotation “nothing besides remains” is the most crucial point in the poem as it suggests that nature’s force is permanent. This is because nature brutally causes “a colossal wreck” and this oxymoronic phrase suggests man will always be destroyed by nature. This magical power given to nature by Shelly is also a typical trait of a Romantic poet. Both Wordsworth and Shelly have conveyed that nature can cause destruction to man psychologically as well as physically.

Key

Umbrella Point / Introduction: introduce your two poems and two poets. Answer the question. This over-arching point will inform the rest of your essay.

Contextual information.

Topic Sentence- bolts your ideas down and returns to the question and the over-arching points you have made in your introduction.

Intentions of the poets / Effect on reader / World view – sort of like mini conclusive statements where you give your opinion on the wider message of the poem (why it was written)

Comparative language

Advice for revising Poetry

Have a look at the blog and the index will take you to my year 11 poetry revision:

PRELUDE
Annotated poems
How to compare poems one idea
(please note this refers to Character and Voice from old spec. It's now CONFLICT AND POWER)

There is some stuff about poetry there and I will add some more tonight that is relevant. Try revising them all using STIFF on revision cards:

SUBJECT- What is the poem literally ABOUT? What is the underlying / inferred / hidden meaning? What is the poet's intention with writing this poem? Try and sum this up in one line with the themes eg Shelley wrote Ozymandias in order to draw our attention to the majesty of nature and its longevity in comparison to the reputation of man.

TONE- Is the tone predominantly nostalgic and wistful? Celebratory and triumphant? Melancholy and regretful? Positive or negative? Juxtaposition of both? What is the tone at the start and the end? Eg Checking out Me History changes from angry and confrontational at the start to reclaiming identity in a triumphant and personal way at the end.

IMAGERY- Look for three really decent language quotes - main ones. Look for figurative language, emotive language etc. Then add any small words as secondary quotes eg if you have identified personification of weather in Exposure, there is a lot more of this later on. So add 'secondary' short quotes.

FORM- Two structural points that you can use to reinforce your ideas about the poem from the 'S' subject part - is there enjambment / caesura / regularity or irregularity? Any lines on their own isolated? Any interesting or unusual stanzas? Why? + Effect.

FEELING- What is the overwhelming feeling at the end of the poem? What is the message that the poet wants us to go away with? What emotions are dealt with in the poem? How do these emotions add to our overall feelings? (Personal opinion- what you think!)

Go on to Slide Share- www.slideshare.com and start an account - it's free! And having an account means you can download any useful power points. Then search for the poem that you want to revise and all sorts of useful stuff comes up from teachers and other students.

Also check GCSE Pod (I think your login is your school email and password 'greenford' unless you have been given another) as that has videos and interesting debates etc for each poem. Also if you go into Youtube and type [POEM NAME] BBC Teach into the search bar, there are a lot of short videos made with the poets that sheds light on their motivations and intentions. 

Final Help - Last Exam- Language Paper 2

A reminder: 

Here is the strategy for Paper 2:

1) Read all the exam paper starting from the information on the outside. This will give you hints about the tone of the two extracts (look at the titles), the times that they were written in, the subject matter and the authors.

2) If you have time, try and jot down timings on the front of your paper and your acronyms.

3) Read the questions. Use your highlighter to pick out the KEY parts. This will inform your reading of the extracts and make you better at annotating as you read. Any lines that are given to you for certain questions, isolate those lines and write the question next to them eg the part for question 1 and question 3.

4) Read the extracts. Make sure you DO NOT SKIM them but read every single word. Remember that you might get misled if you don't read it or understand it properly so look for key words like 'instead' and 'otherwise' to hint that the writing is going in a different direction.

Use your COMMON SENSE (if you have any!) - if a piece of writing describes a street as silent and peaceful and then says 'unlike the conventional noisy cities where the traffic crashes constantly' then the key word is UNLIKE. Don't fall into the trap of skimming and focusing in on the words 'crashes' and 'noisy' and ASSUME this is a negative depiction of a city. This is saying that the place is UNLIKE a busy city...therefore it is calm...

5) When zooming in on language, remember to identify figurative, emotive, sensory language, repetition for effect. Remember, if you cannot remember language devices then look for semantic fields (words that create same impression), powerful verbs and adjectives. It is not enough to say 'powerful' - you have to say WHY they are powerful and the effect they create.

Do the questions in the following order ONLY ONCE YOU HAVE FINISHED READING AND ANNOTATING THE EXTRACT:
5- This has 40 marks. It is important that you have read the extracts so you can borrow some of the ideas from the two extracts for your own arguments.
26 marks are for content and organisation so use you memory of PAT DA FAT HORSIE for content (this gives you all the techniques you can use)
And use your memory of SMURF to help you paragraph and structure your argument.

Timings
Reading and annotating the extracts 15 mins
Question 5 - plan and write (do NOT forget to plan!) 45 mins SMURF
Question 1 - 4 mins Fact retrieval - shade the box - watch for red herrings
Question 4- 20 mins - PEMA CPEMA x 2 (C stands for Comparison) Good TS please!
Question 3- 12 mins- PELE ELE ELE
Question 2- 8 mins PEI CPEI x 2 (or just one if you don't have time)

Remember to learn:
DISCOURSE MARKERS - good sentence starters. Look on blog if you can't find the ones I gave you in class or google them!

ADVANCED VOCABULARY - Look on blog - there is a whole list of impressive words and good metaphors to choose and learn. Why not steal the odd word or sentence starter from the work we have done on other language papers or from Literature? Eg pompous (from our description of Mr Birling)

COMPARATIVE LANGUAGE-
Conversely,
On the other hand,
A different approach is taken...
Likewise,
Similarly,
In the same way.

REMEMBER to be evaluative in Qu 4 and that Qu 4 is asking you to mention methods (Structure / Tone / Language word and phrases / Lang devices) but also for Writer's perspectives (views on the topic) so don't say:
The snow is described as calm...
Say: The writer's view on extreme weather is that is can create a beautiful, calm atmosphere.

Remember you easy wins for structure: all of you can talk about the opening, the closing, where the focus moves to and the perspective (1st or 3rd person). For each structural point, mention the effect on the reader and BOOM! Full marks :)

Good luck over the wkend, sleep eat and rest!

Miss Fowler