The English Department
Literature Poetry Revision Pack
This booklet aims to provide you with guidance to the poetry and information which will help you to prepare
for the Literature examination whether you are sitting the higher or foundation paper.
Contents:
1. Guidance to analysing poems;
2. Guidance to themes and methods for each poem you will need in the examination
3. Poery Revision Grid;
4. Sample essay with grade criteria and examiner’s report;
5. Space for top tips and mind-maps.
The following summaries are ideas about meaning; they are not necessarily the only interpretations. If you think the poems mean something else,
and can back up your ideas with evidence from the poems, that is a good thing. The examiners are looking for individual interpretations; use these
ideas to get you started.
Poem Title:
Theme:
Form/Key methods
Summary:
used:
Havisham by
love/hate/
Dramatic
The poem is in the voice of Miss Havisham, a character from Dickens’ ‘Great
Carol Ann Duffy revenge
monologue.
Expectations’ who is jilted on her wedding day and as a result has a hatred of all men.
Metaphor, oxymoron,
The poem highlights the emotions of this character and the anger she feels, which
onomatopoeia.
comes across strongly in the use of metaphors and oxymoron. There is a strong sense
of the need for revenge alongside the mental instability of the character.
Elvis’ Twin
family
Dramatic
The poem is in the voice of Elvis’ imagined sister, the quotation from Madonna suggests
Sister by Carol
relationships
monologue. Rhyme,
a sense of arrogance, but this is not reflected in the body of the poem. There are
Ann Duffy
comparison,
consistent comparisons between the simple life as a nun and the life of fame and excess
references to Elvis’
lived by Elvis. This highlights the things lacking from Elvis’ life and the use of the
songs, authentic
imaginary ‘sister’ suggests that he led a lonely life, lacking in family companionship.
speech.
This life of loneliness is also emphasised by the song titles in the final stanza.
Anne Hathaway love
Dramatic
This poem details the love felt for Shakespeare by his wife. The use of the extract from
by Carol Ann
Monologue. Sonnet.
Shakespeare’s will suggests that he didn’t care for his wife, but Duffy reads this to be a
Duffy
Metaphors, rhyme.
reference to their own bed, the bed in which they loved each other. There is a semantic
field of language running through this poem, with references to different word classes
etc. These all link to Shakespeare’s craft as a writer and suggest that he not only
created plays and poems, but the love between him and his wife. There are sexual
references which emphasise the physical nature of their love. The poem ends with a
reference to the grief felt by Anne Hathaway, highlighting the depth of their emotional
bond.
Salome by
death/power/
Dramatic
Salome was a figure in the bible. She danced for Herod and in return he granted her
Carol Ann Duffy revenge
Monologue.
whatever she wished for – she asked for John the Baptist’s head on a platter and this
Metaphor, assonance,
was granted to her. The poem takes the voice of Salome, but gives the story a modern
colloquial language,
twist through the use of colloquial language and modern vices such as sex and drugs.
questions.
The poem seems to suggest that Salome is taking her revenge on men who treat
women badly, reversing the stereotypical view of behaviour. She takes this to the
extreme by murdering her ‘victim’ but shows no remorse for her actions.
Before You
Were Mine by
Carol Ann Duffy
mother/
daughter
relationship
Autobiographical
elements. Questions,
adjectives.
The context of the poem is the speaker (poet) looking at a photograph of her mother
when she was young – before she gave birth to her daughter. The speaker sees a
contrasting person to the one she knows as her mother and wishes she had known the
fun-loving person she sees in the photo. There is a great sense of admiration as the
poet uses iconic images of Marilyn Monroe to compare her mother to. There is a sense
of regret that she changed her mother’s life and took the fun away. It suggests that
the mother has now died and the daughter is missing the mother she knew and the
woman she was not able to know.
We Remember
Your Childhood
Well by Carol
Ann Duffy
death/
suffering
Dramatic
monologue.
Repetition, direct
address to the reader
through use of 2nd
person, regular
structure.
Stealing by
Carol Ann Duffy
failed
relationships/
disaffection
Questions, regular
structure, metaphors,
repetition.
Mother any
distance... by
Simon
Armitage
mother/son
relationship –
growing up
Metaphor, internal
rhyme.
My father
though it...by
Simon
Armitage
father/son
relationship –
rebellion/
generation
gap
Metaphor, internal
rhyme.
At first reading, this poem appears to be about a child who has been unfairly treated by
an adult and this is the adult dismissing the child’s accusations. On closer reading,
there are many references which link events to the Moors murders (Hindley and Brady *
research point). This puts a more sinister slant on the poem as the speaker could be
the voice of Hindley speaking to one of the victims. This reading suggests a high level
of madness in the speaker and emphasises the brutality of these murders and the
refusal of either Hindley or Brady to reveal the whereabouts of one of their victims
(Keith Bennett). The regular structure of the poem suggests a cold, detached approach
to a desperately emotive and brutal subject and the repetition of Nobody suggests a
lack of responsibility for the actions taken.
This poem seems to take the form of an interview, possibly with a probation
officer/social worker as it deals with the crimes of a young person. The main focus of
the poem is one teenager’s response to a bad childhood. The stealing of the snowman
has a key purpose of upsetting others, perhaps as revenge for the way the speaker has
been treated. There is an element of crying out for attention through the metaphor of
the ‘mucky ghost’ which suggests the speaker feels neglected and just wants attention
of any kind. The poem ends with an element of despair that they have poured out their
heart and still can’
Taken from the collection ‘A Book of Matches’ which represents a game in which you
light a match and tell the story of your life before the match burns down. The * used
instead of the titles in these poems represents the flame of the match. The poem
focuses on the son leaving home and having help from his mother with measuring up.
The metaphors suggest a need for freedom and breaking out on your own, with the
mother unable to let go. The most powerful metaphor is the tape measure being used
to represent the umbilical cord – the bond between mother and child.
(Again from ‘A Book of Matches’). The poem details the reaction a father has to his son
getting his ear pierced. The overriding tone is one of disdain where the father is
suggesting his son is lacking in masculinity. There is a sense of rebellion but this is
dismissed by the father. Essentially the poem suggests that as you get older, you start
to appreciate the reactions of your parents and may end up repeating their mistakes.
There is also a suggestion that ‘wounds’ like these should be healed rather than left to
fester – don’t leave it too late to sort out problems/misunderstandings.
Homecoming
by Simon
Armitage
family
relationships
Metaphor.
There is a confusing element to this poem. It seems to be about a relationship that has
ended between a parent (father) and child. The metaphor of the cotton jacket seems to
be the parent, wrapping their arms around the child, and this is lost when they leave;
the relationship becomes tarnished. There are some confusing aspects such as the
reference to the phone-box, but this is possibly a reassurance that even though the
person was not there when needed, they were always in the background, wanting to be
supportive. The overall message seems to be that parent/child bonds are never
broken, no matter how much time passes, the relationship can be rebuilt.
November by
Simon
Armitage
family
relationships,
death
Comparisons, harsh
descriptions.
Kid by Simon
Armitage
family
relationships/
growing up
Dramatic
Monologue.
Metaphor, comic book
language, rhyme
structure within iambic
pentameter.
Hitcher by
Simon
Armitage
death/
violence/
revenge
Declarative sentences,
references to Bob
Dylan song,
comparisons.
On My First
Sonne by Ben
Jonson
death/love/
family
relationships
Elegy – poem
dedicated to dead
person, mourning
their loss. Rhyming
couplets, religious
references.
The title of the poem symbolises that this is towards the end of life. The poem is
essentially about someone taking their aging grandmother to hospital because they
cannot care for her any longer as she is dying. The poem uses a lot of harsh references
to highlight the cruelty of old age and the fear of getting old for the relatives. Despite
its depressing mood there is also a message to get the most out of life before it is too
late.
Armitage has used the familiar comic strip figures of Batman and Robin to represent a
sibling relationship (or indeed any relationship where there has been an imbalance of
power and roles have been reversed). There is clever use of language to add to the
authenticity of the comic book link, this shows how one person has always been in the
shadow, but now have had enough and want to take their own path and show that they
are just as good, if not better than the other person in the relationship. The poem
works well because the balance of power in the Batman/Robin relationship is familiar to
most readers and they can identify with the issues being raised.
The speaker in this poem is very disturbed and threatening. The central theme is
murder and this is conveyed in a harsh and unemotional tone to suggest a complete
lack of care. The speaker gives the reasons for his stress at work as a possible reason
for taking his feelings out on an innocent hitch-hiker. There is also a sense that the
hitch-hiker is very similar in age to the speaker, causing jealousy as he is free to do
what he wants and is not tied to any commitments. There is a strong sense of irony
running through the poem after the hitch-hiker has been killed, emphasising the lack of
emotion and care of the speaker.
The poet is conveying his grief at the death of his son. The poem has a lot of religious
references which emphasise the context of the poem; written in a time when people had
strong religious beliefs. There is also a suggestion that the son was of the same status
as Jesus in the eyes of the poet. Essentially he is stating that he feels he is being
punished for loving his son too much and wanting too much for him, this results in the
son being taken away by God after only seven years. There is a suggestion that the
poet is warning others not to fall into the same trap and to not care too much for
others.
Song of the Old
Mother by
William Butler
Yeats
suffering/
family
relationships
Rhyming couplets,
metaphor, alliteration.
This is quite a simple poem in terms of structure and rhyme scheme but it shows the
hardship faced by an old woman who is living a life of drudgery looking after her
children. The children do nothing and expect to be waited on. The central metaphor in
the poem is the fire which is used to represent the mother herself as it ‘gets feeble and
cold’ at the end of the poem which symbolises the fact that she is getting worn down
and dying. There is a tone of resentment in the poem as she seems to have no choice
in what she is doing.
The Man He
Killed by
Thomas Hardy
death/
injustice of
war
Rhyme, regular
structure, punctuation
to indicate hesitation,
direct speech.
Sonnet 130 by
William
Shakespeare
love
Sonnet form.
Concrete nouns,
comparisons, turning
point.
My Last
Duchess by
Robert
Browning
implied death
The Laboratory
by Robert
Browning
revenge,
planned
murder
Dramatic
monologue. Rhyme
within iambic
pentameter although
this is not evident
when reading the
sentences as they are
structured.
Dramatic
monologue. Rhyme,
alliteration, metaphor,
rhyme.
The key issue at the heart of this poem is the injustice of war, this is emphasised
through the speaker trying to justify his actions in killing someone who is only his
enemy because both countries happen to be at war. He states very clearly that they
could have been friends if circumstances had been different and this causes him a lot of
guilt.
Sonnets are traditionally poems which express feelings of love. Sonnet writers before
and during Shakespeare’s time focus on the unattainable nature of ‘courtly love’ this
was when a woman was desired from afar but a relationship would rarely develop. The
women were given the status of goddesses. In this poem, Shakespeare is subverting
this tradition (going against it) by making the woman sound unappealing. He does this
by comparing her unfavourably to a range of things. It is only at the end of the poem in
the rhyming couplet where he shows that even though she has faults, he loves her
deeply – perhaps more so because she is real and will return his love.
The Last Duchess in this poem is now dead, this is clear from the opening lines of the
poem, she is being shown in a painting. The speaker in the poem is the Duke,
discussing her failings as a wife and suggesting that she was promiscuous. There is a
clear tone of arrogance in the poem as the Duke suggests that she should have been
grateful for his status. He implies that she was killed at his order, although this is never
clearly expressed which is part of the skill of this poem; things are suggested but never
confirmed, it is up to the reader to draw conclusions about events.
The voice in the poem is based on a historical figure who murdered members of her
family. Browning has taken this idea and created a poem around a woman taking
revenge on her husband by plotting the murder of his lover. She is directing the
apothecary (chemist) to make the poison which will kill the woman she hates, but she
wants her to have a long lingering death and suffer, as this will also punish her husband
by leaving him with the memory of a horrific death. There is a strong sense of madness
and paranoia running through the poem, emphasised by the repetition and rhyme.
There is a hint through the use of metaphor that the speaker in the poem could be
punished severely for her actions, although she doesn’t care.
Poem
Havisham
Elvis’ Twin Sister
Anne Hathaway
Salome
Before You Were Mine
We Remember Your Childhood
Well
Stealing
Mother any distance...
My father thought it...
Homecoming
November
Kid
Hitcher
On My First Sonne
The Song of the Old Mother
The Man He Killed
Sonnet 130
My Last Duchess
The Laboratory
Theme
Tone
Structure
Rhyme/Rhythm
Methods
Foundation Questions for Literature Poetry (Armitage and Duffy)
1. Compare how death is shown in four poems in the selection.
Choose two poems from List A and two poems from List B.
List A
List B
Salome (Duffy)
The Man He Killed (Hardy)
Hitcher (Armitage)
On My First Sonne (Jonson)
November (Armitage)
The Laboratory (Browning)
Remember to compare:

how the poets show the deaths by the way they write about them

how you respond to the different deaths in the poems
2. Answer both parts (a) and (b)
(a) Compare how attitudes to getting older are shown in Kid by Simon Armitage and Havisham by Carol Ann Duffy
and then
(b) Compare how the attitudes of parents to children are shown in On My First Sonne by Ben Jonson and The Song of the Old Mother by William
Butler Yeats.
In both (a) and (b) remember to compare:

the attitudes in the poems

how the poets show these attitudes by the ways they write about them.
3. Compare the ways the poets present violence in four of the poems you have studied.
Choose two poems from List A and two poems from List B.
List A
List B
Salome (Duffy)
The Laboratory (Browning)
Hitcher (Armitage)
The Man He Killed (Hardy)
Havisham (Duffy)
The Eagle (Tennyson)
Remember to compare:

the violence in the poems

the ways violence is presented in the poems.
4. Answer both parts (a) and (b)
(a) Compare how strong feelings are presented in ‘Kid’ by Simon Armitage and ‘The Song of the Old Mother’ by William Butler Yeats.
and then
(b) Compare the ways strong feelings are presented in one poem by Carol Ann Duffy and one other poem from the pre-1914 Poetry Bank.
In both parts (a) and (b) remember to compare:

the feelings in the poems

the ways feelings are presented in the poems
5. Answer both parts (a) and (b)
(a) Compare the endings of Salome by Carol Ann Duffy and The Laboratory by Robert Browning.
and then
(b) Compare the endings of Kid by Simon Armitage and On My First Sonne by Ben Jonson.
In both parts (a) and (b) remember to compare:

how the endings fit in with the rest of the poem

how the language reveals the ideas of the speakers

what you think are the poets’ reasons for ending the poems in these ways.
Higher Questions for Literature Poetry (Duffy and Armitage)
1. Readers respond differently to different poems.
Compare your responses to ‘Kid’ by Simon Armitage with your responses to one poem by Carol Ann Duffy and two poems from the pre-1914 Poetry
Bank.
Compare:

your responses to each poem

how features of form, structure and language influence your responses.
2. Compare how language is used to present the attitudes of the speakers in four of the poems you have studied from the AQA English Literature
Anthology.
To do this, choose two poems from List A and two poems from List B.
List A
List B
Havisham (Duffy)
The Laboratory (Browning)
Anne Hathaway (Duffy)
Sonnet 130 (Shakespeare)
November (Armitage)
My Last Duchess (Browning)
Mother any distance (Armitage)
The Man He Killed (Hardy)
Compare:

what the attitudes of the speakers are

how the poets use language to present these attitudes.
3. Compare how women are presented in four of the poems you have studied.
To do this, compare ‘Mother any distance…’ by Simon Armitage and three other poems, one by Carol Ann Duffy and two from the Pre-1914 Poetry
Bank.
Compare:

the women in the poems

how they are presented.
4. Answer both parts (a) and (b)
(a) Compare the ways Duffy and Armitage present anti-social behaviour in Salome and Hitcher:
and then
(b) Compare the ways in which the attitudes of the speakers are presented in two poems from the Pre-1914 Poetry Bank.
5. Compare the ways the poets use the first person to create a voice in Elvis’ Twin Sister by Duffy and one poem by Simon Armitage. Go on to
compare the ways the first person is used in two of the poems from the pre-1914 Poetry Bank.
6. Answer both parts (a) and (b)
(a) Compare how female speakers are presented in ‘Havisham’ by Carol Ann Duffy and one poem from the Pre-1914 Poetry Bank.
and then
(b) Compare how male speakers are presented in ‘Sonnet 130’ by William Shakespeare and one poem by Simon Armitage.
7. Compare the ways feelings are presented in two poems from List A and two poems from List B:
List A
List B
‘Hitcher’ (Armitage)
‘The Laboratory’ (Browning)
‘Kid’ (Armitage)
‘My Last Duchess’ (Browning)
‘Anne Hathaway’ (Duffy)
‘On my first Sonne’ (Jonson)
‘Salome’ (Duffy)
‘The Affliction of Margaret’ (Wordsworth)
8. Compare how relationships are presented in ‘Mother any distance...’ by Simon Armitage with one poem by Carol Ann Duffy and two poems from
the Pre-1914 Poetry Bank.
You should compare:


what the relationships are;
how the poets use form, structure and language to present the relationships.
Sample Essay which received 27/36 – a mid B grade.
25. Compare how relationships are presented in ‘Mother any distance...’ by Simon Armitage with one poem by Carol Ann Duffy and two
poems from the Pre-1914 Poetry Bank.
You should compare:


what the relationships are;
how the poets use form, structure and language to present the relationships.
Plan:
Mother AD (SA) – clinging on/free
Anne H (CAD) – smitten/amazed/proud
My L D (pre) – disagreement/angry
Sonnet 130 – to the point/real love/sweet
Mother Any Distance, Anne Hathaway, My Last Duchess and Sonnet 130 are all poems in which relationships are portrayed in different ways. There are
love relationships between lovers and also parent and child. There are also difficult relationships which consist of love, envy and eventually hate.
Mother Any Distance is a poem about a relationship between a mother and a son; a son trying to fly free but a mother finding it difficult to let go.
Metaphorical symbolism is used to help portray this relationship; a tape measure is used to represent a timeline of their life together, ‘you at the zero
end...unreeling out the years between us’. The mother is holding the tape at zero because she is where their relationship began and her son is
unreeling the tape because as he grows older they also grow further apart. The mother is also described as base, showing that she is the steady part
of the relationship and will always be there for her son.
Another use of symbolism is used in the poem the two contrasting words, ‘Anchor. Kite.’ are used to represent mother and son in their relationship –
the mother an anchor because she is steady and always there but the son as a kite because he is trying to fly free and experience new opportunities.
Symbolism is also used in the poem ‘Anne Hathaway’ to help portray a relationship between her and her husband (last).
The relationship in Anne Hathaway is exciting and bursting with life and energy. She uses language such as ‘spinning world’, ‘clifftops, seas’ to support
this. The symbolism used in the poem presents her as on a blank page waiting to be written as she felt he was an amazing writer and if he wrote her
she would be somewhat more interesting and exciting as a person; ‘some nights, I dreamt ... writer’s hands.’ This also shows how proud Anne
Hathaway was of her husband – complimenting him at every opportunity displaying how proud she was to be Shakespeare’s wife and in such an
exciting relationship with him. Her sensitivity to his wonderful writing is also reflected in the poem through the use of language which are words used
to describe language ‘assonance’, ‘verb’, ‘noun’. ‘A verb dancing in the centre of a noun’ can also be seen as a sexual reference as a bed is mentioned
several times in the poem we are led to believe their relationship was very sexual.
Towards the end of the poem we discover that her husband is no longer alive ‘I hold him in the casket...widow’s head’ but she still remembers and
thinks about him. This is an extreme similarity to the poem ‘My Last Duchess’ as it is also a poem describing the relationship between the person and a
dead lover. However, there is also a contrast on the relationship part as ‘MLD’ does not have an extremely exciting and lustful love life and we are also
led to believe that the man in ‘MLD’ is responsible for the death of his ‘last duchess’, ‘much the same...as if alive’. Throughout the poem we are led to
believe that the duchess was a very pleasant and pretty woman, in my opinion I feel that this led to a difficult relationship between her and her
husband with jealousy and anger of her talking pleasantly to other men, ‘too easily impressed; she liked what’er’ This jealousy overcame her husband
resulting in her murder, therefore ending their uncomfortable relationship. Language such as ‘passion’ and ‘wonder’ portray her in a good light in the
beginning of the poem, but this then changes, this contrasts with the poem sonnet as all the language is insulting language which you wouldn’t usually
use to describe a person you love.
Sonnet 130 is a poem about true love and showing the reality of a relationship William Shakespeare endures with his wife. Statements such as ‘eyes
are nothing like the sun’ and ‘breath that from...reeks’ portray his mistress in an ordinary – nothing special – way, however, the last two lines of the
poem sum up his true view on his mistress displaying the reality of their relationship ‘and yet by heaven...false compare’. These lines show how strong
their relationship is and how full of real love it is.
The essay was awarded 21-24 for all aspects of the marking criteria with some falling into the 25-28 bracket doing all but comparison in
this section – this is how the 27/36 mark is arrived at giving the candidate a solid B grade.
Examiner’s Report – advice for candidates:



Make sure you have had the opportunity to see a full
examination paper before the exam to allow them to navigate
their way through;
Opening paragraphs/introductions which are the most
effective are ones which ‘get down to business’ addressing at
least one assessment objective and task – it is essential that
you avoid lengthy introductions which refer at length to
background and context with little focus on the task in hand;
The best planning influences cohesive structure – overly
detailed planning inhibits response and is time consuming.
Top Tips for the Literature Paper – Section B - Poetry
Mind Maps
Mind Maps