POETRY ANSWERING TECHNIQUES
In general:
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Read the poem and decide the following two things:
o What is the poet writing about?
o What is the poet's intention?
Read all the questions carefully and decide the following two things:
o Do the questions themselves give you any clues about the poem?
o Do the questions direct your response and give you any clues about
what your answer should be?
Read each question carefully, taking note of the key words and mark
allocation.
You are encouraged to use your own thoughts and ideas when answering
questions, but your responses must be justified by the text and must provide
everything that is required by the question.
WHAT FOLLOW ARE SOME GUIDELINES AND EXAMPLE QUESTIONS AND
RESPONSES.
PLEASE NOTE: the answers provided are merely suggested responses.
When asked a question about figures of speech, do the following:
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Identify the figure of speech being used (simile, metaphor, personification,
apostrophe, oxymoron, hyperbole etc).
If applicable, clarify what is being compared to what.
Explain why the comparison is effective, by making reference to specific
words/images etc.
Question:
For example:
The Fog
F.R. McCreary
Slowly the fog,
Hunched-shouldered with a grey face,
Arms wide, advances
Finger-tips touching the way
Past dark houses
And dark gardens of roses.
Up the short street from the harbor,
Slowly the fog,
Seeking, seeking;
Arms wide, shoulders hunched,
Searching, searching
Out through the streets to the fields,
Slowly the fogA blind man hunting the moon.
Identify the figure of speech used in this poem and
comment on its effectiveness. (3)
Answer:
The poet uses extended personification in this
poem. He compares the fog to an old man who is
searching for something. The description of the
fog moving with ‘wide arms’ is effective as it
suggests how expansive the fog is. The ‘finger-tips
touching the way’ suggest the tangibility of the fog.
The fact that the fog is described as ‘seeking’
suggests that there is purpose to the fog’s
movement and that nothing can stop it.
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When asked a question about sound, do the following:
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Identify the sound device (alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, rhyme etc)
Identify the particular sound (‘p’, ‘l’, ‘s’ etc)
Describe the quality of the sound (eg. p & b – plosive; l – soft, lilting; k – hard,
sharp; s – sibilant, continuous, soft; f – light, soft; o – long, hollow)
Explain how the quality of the sound enhances the meaning of the lines/the
poet’s intention etc.
Sound often contributes to the pace of the poem.
For example:
Question:
Silver
Identify the sound device used in
the first four lines of the poem and
comment on its effectiveness. (3)
Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Answer:
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
The poet uses alliteration of the s
which has a sibilant effect. S is a
soft, quiet sound and its repeated
use contributes to the quiet,
peaceful and slightly mysterious
atmosphere that is created in the
first four lines as the moon seems
to be the only thing ‘awake’ in an
otherwise still world.
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws and a silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.
Walter de la Mare
When asked a question about structure, do the following:
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Describe the structure of the poem/stanza/particular lines (notes below)
Explain how the structure contributes to the meaning/intention etc.
Identifying structure
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Does the poem have regular stanzas? Irregular stanzas? Is it free verse?
Are the lines the same length or do they differ?
Is there a rhyme scheme? Regular or irregular?
o An irregularity in an otherwise regular poem often indicates that
something has been disturbed – an action, a thought process etc.
o Irregular stanzas and line lengths often suggest creativity or a lack of
order.
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Does the poet make use of enjambment (run-on lines)?
o Enjambment may suggest continuous movement, the breaching of time
and/or space, an indication of loss of control etc.
Have certain words been placed on their own line?
o If so, it is usually for emphasis.
Has the poet used punctuation?
o A lack of punctuation often goes hand in hand with enjambment and
often speeds up the pace of the poem; lots of punctuation often slows
the pace down as it forces us to pause.
In terms of sonnets, is it Shakespearean, Petrarchan or a mixture? How does
the structure assist the poet in expressing his/her argument?
In some poems, the structure of the poem/stanzas may create a shape that
visually depicts the thing the poet is writing about.
For example:
Poem for my mother
Jennifer Davids
That isn’t everything, you said
on the afternoon I brought a poem
to you hunched on the washtub
with your hands
the shriveled
burnt granadilla
Skin of your hands
covered by foam.
And my words
slid like a ball
of hard blue soap
into the tub
to be grabbed and used by you
to rub the clothes.
A poem isn’t all
there is to life, you said
with your blue ringed gaze
scanning the page
once looking over my shoulder
and back at the immediate
dirty water
and my words
being clenched
smaller and
smaller.
Question 1:
Comment on the effective use of enjambment in
the second stanza. (2)
Answer:
The lines of the stanza are read with no breaks
and this continuity is suggestive of the speed
and ease with which the poet’s words
metaphorically fall into the tub.
Question 2:
How does the structure of the final stanza
enhance the poet’s expression of her feelings?
(3)
Answer:
The lines decrease in length and finally the word
‘smaller’ is placed in isolation at the end. The
poet is expressing how hurt and insignificant her
mother’s treatment of her poetry has made her
feel and the structure provides a visual
representation of this. It is as if the poet herself
has become as diminished as the last line.
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When answering a question about rhythm, do the following:
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Describe the rhythm (notes below).
State what contributes to creating this rhythm.
Explain how the rhythm contributes to the meaning/intention/content/imagery
etc.
Identifying and describing rhythm
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Think of rhythm as the ‘beat’ of the poem.
Look for recurring patterns (word length, stress, syllables, punctuation etc).
If a particular pattern recurs, rhythm is regular; if not, it is irregular.
Rhythm is very often iambic (alternating stressed and unstressed syllables).
Iambic pentameter is said to echo our natural speech patterns. There is a
smooth flow to the words.
If the poem is a sonnet, iambic pentameter (5 stressed and 5 unstressed
syllables) is used.
Rhythm is often used to echo the movement/sound of something (the ticking
of a clock; soldiers marching; a ball bouncing etc.)
Punctuation is often used effectively to create rhythm.
Regular rhyme contributes to regular rhythm.
Rhythm is linked to pace, but it is not the same thing.
Often the number of syllables in the words and the particular sounds in the
words (long, short etc.) contribute to rhythm and pace.
o As a basic starting point, state whether the pace is fast or slow and
whether the rhythm is regular or irregular.
For example:
Extract taken from O Captain! My Captain!
By Walt Whitman
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O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
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Question:
Explain how the poet effectively uses a change of rhythm and pace to emphasise
meaning in lines 4 and 5. (4)
Answer:
Line 4 has a regular iambic meter and the line is read at a natural speaking pace.
The colon at the end of the line forces us to pause in anticipation of the next line,
which is where the change occurs. The repetition of the monosyllabic word, ‘heart’,
in combination with the exclamation marks after each word immediately slows down
the pace. The rhythm of line 5 is still regular, but each word is stressed. Together,
this change in rhythm and pace emphasises the sudden shock and sadness of the
speaker as he realises that his Captain is dead. It suggests that time has slowed
down for him and perhaps the slow, steady rhythm even echoes the pronounced
beating of the speaker’s heart as he regards his fallen Captain.
When answering questions about tone, do the following:
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Decide whether the tone is positive or negative.
Describe the tone, using adjectives that are as specific as possible (cynical,
angry, sad, joyous, awe-struck, admiring, critical, amused, sarcastic, bitter,
celebratory, matter-of-fact, impassioned, respectful, appreciative, derogatory,
indifferent, confident, sceptical, disillusioned, reassuring etc).
o More than one tone may be evident. Be thorough.
Explain why this is the tone of the poem, making close reference to the poem
(or particular stanzas/lines of the poem).
o Diction and punctuation are very important indicators of tone.
Remember that tone refers to the attitude of the speaker to his/her subject
matter. How does the speaker feel about what it is he/she is writing about?
Remember that tone very often changes in a poem.
For example:
Extract taken from i thank You God for most this amazing
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
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by e e cummings
Question:
How is the multi-faceted nature of the speaker’s tone effectively conveyed in the first
stanza of Cummings’ poem? (4)
Answer:
The speaker seems overwhelmed by a multitude of extremely positive feelings he
experiences as he contemplates the beauty of God’s creation. He is over-joyed,
awe-struck, appreciative and celebratory. The only letters that are capitalised are
those beginning the words ‘You’ and ‘God’, which shows a huge respect for God and
emphasises how in awe of God he is. This is reinforced by the speaker’s placement
of the word ‘amazing’ at the end of the first line, to draw attention to his fierce
admiration of God’s creative genius. He ‘thank[s] God’, which shows his
appreciation. He uses the words ‘infinite’ and ‘yes’ and the phrases ‘leaping greenly
spirits’ and ‘true dream’ to describe aspects of nature. These words convey the
poet’s joy as he revels in the possibilities and the zest for life that this beautiful day
has brought him.
When answering questions about diction (word choice), do the following:
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Identify specific examples of diction from the poem, stanza etc. Quote these
individual words.
Unpack these words one at a time, considering the denotation and
connotations.
Discuss how the diction contributes to creating tone, atmosphere, imagery
etc.
For example:
Extract taken from ‘Night Shift: Fruit Cocktail’ by Susan Kinsolving
I grabbed, gouged, grabbed again. Hot
wafts of syrup made skin sticky, gluing
hair nets to hair, but unable to seal
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earplugs from the din of six hundred
thousand jerking cans of tin. Truckloads
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of green grapes tumbled through shoots
as cherries churned in vats of gruesome
dye.
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Question:
How does the diction in lines 7 – 12 (‘unable to … gruesome dye’) contribute
to the mood of this setting? (3)
Answer:
The mood is full of activity and rather frenetic. The words ‘jerking’ and
‘tumbled’ suggest constant, rapid movement that is bordering on being out
of control. ‘Truckloads’ combined with the word ‘din’, suggests that the
situation is almost overwhelming for the factory workers as they have to deal
with huge quantities of fruit as well as put up with the loud noise. ETC.
Please remember that these are simply guidelines. Each poem is different and
poets sometimes use words, sounds, punctuation etc. in creative ways that
may differ from the suggestions provided above. Each poem must be read as
an individual entity and the poetic techniques used by the poet must be
assessed based on that particular poem.
Work out what the poet is writing about and decide what his/her intention is.
Then examine how the particular techniques are used effectively to convey
this.
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