English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
Unseen Poetry:
How to approach a poem
Bell task: What question would you ask the boy
in this picture?
Write your
question on the
pink post-it note
provided.
English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson you will be
able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an
unseen poem.
• Read and respond to key ideas
presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three
interpretations of the poem.
English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
Carousel Graffiti
Around the room are words/
phrases from the poem that we
will study during today’s lesson.
Whilst the music is playing visit
each word/ phrase and graffiti
your response to the
connotations attached to it.
SONG
Connotation: Noun
An idea or feeling that a word invokes for a
person in addition to its literal or primary
meaning.
English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
Learning check point: initial response
In the first section of your progression placemat
answer the following question:
Using the words around the room, what is your initial
response to the poem?
English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
‘Slow Reader’ By Vicki Feaver
Slow Reader
He can make sculptures
and fabulous machines,
invent games, tell jokes,
give solemn, adult advice –
but he is slow to read.
When I take him on my knee
with his Ladybird book
he gazes into the air,
sighing and shaking his head
like an old man
who knows the mountains
are impassable.
English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
He toys with words,
letting them go cold
as gristly meat,
until I relent
and let him wriggle free:
a fish returning
to its element,
or a white-eyed colt – shying
from the bit *– who sees
that if he takes it
in his mouth
he’ll never run
quite free again.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
Learning check point: after first reading
In the second section of your progression placemat
answer the following question:
What do you think the poem is about?
English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
Group task: analysis
In the exam you only have 30 minutes to write about an unseen poem,
therefore you must be clear about what to analyse!
Important aspects of an unseen poem:
1. Important images - what do they suggest?
2. First line - what mood is created?
3. Last line - what mood is created?
4. Voice - who is speaking and how do you know? In groups of four you
5. Title - how does it relate to the poem?
will be given one of
these key areas to
study, be prepared to
feedback your ideas.
English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
Learning check point: initial response
In the third section of your progression placemat
answer the following question:
How has the group discussion aided your
understanding of the poem?
English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
Model Response
• The mother’s despair is revealed at the end of the first
stanza. Comparing the boy to an ‘old man’ suggests her
love, as though she can see all his life to come, but with the
love the despair is shown by the idea, perhaps unconscious,
that he will never succeed in this task. ‘The mountains / are
impassable’ seems very final, the finality again emphasised
by the line break after ‘mountains’, making them seem to
hang in the air before the child, and the stanza break after
‘impassable’, creating a void which seems impossible
(‘impassable’ is close to this, of course) to cross. The
‘mountains’ not only suggest the height and size of the task
and the old man’s failing power to cross them, but also the
mother’s desire: she desperately wants the child to pass
over to the greener pastures of reading beyond them, but
fears he will not.
English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
Now it’s your turn!
 Now write one high quality paragraph as demonstrated on the previous
slide about your favourite line within the poem.
 Use some of these phrases to help you express your ideas in a more
sophisticated and literary way:
 The writer presents____________ as
 The writer has used_________ to intensify the feeling of_______
 The use of ___________ accentuates the idea that_________
 The writer’s use of ____________ emphasises
 Evocative imagery of ____________ encourages the reader to ____
 Other useful words: illustrates, highlights, creates a sense of, creates the
impression that…
English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
Learning check point: initial response
In the third section of your progression placemat
answer the following question:
Can you interpret a quotation from the poem in three
different ways?
English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
Peer Assessment
Swap your work with your shoulder partner and check their
paragraph alongside the lesson objectives.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen
poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.
Reflection Plenary: How does the image relate
to the poem?
Write your
question on the
post-it note
provided.
English Literature Exam:
Poetry/ Unseen
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Identify key words and themes in an unseen poem.
• Read and responded to key ideas presented in an unseen poem.
• Write a paragraph with three interpretations of the poem.