Comparing poems for English literature – example with details filled in
Heaney – Blackberry
Picking
Subject Write a short
description (one
sentence) of what each
poem is about.
Theme What are the
main ideas in the poems?
Meaning Is each poem
straightforward or
ambiguous in meaning?
What do you think it
means?
Viewpoint What is the
viewpoint?
Tone and mood
Comment on each
poem’s tone and mood.
Does either poem make
any use of humour or
irony?
Interesting details
Comment on any details
which you find
interesting in the poems
Structure and form
Describe the structure
and form of the poems –
look at such things as
rhyme, metre/rhythm,
stanza form
Key images Look for the
key images in each
poem. In each case say

what the image
is

what it means

how it works
in the poem
Other technical
features Are there any
other features, such as
sound FX, contrast,
colloquialism or
wordplay?
Personal response Give
your own response to the
poems, with reasons
Clarke – The Field
Mouse
Whitman – Patrolling
Barnegat
Hopkins – Inversnaid
Cutting the hay – a
field mouse is killed
A stormy night on the
New Jersey coast
A beautiful place in
Scotland
The fragility of natural
and human life
The power and
danger of the natural
world
The beauty of nature
and why we need
wild places
Less obvious – subject
changes from haycutting, to wounded
mouse, to worries
about children
Very straightforward
– nature is shown as
powerful and
majestic
Moves from
description of
wonders of nature to
reflection on why we
need to preserve it
Parent concerned for
children
Observer filled with
awe
Observer filled with
wonder
Reflective and
philosophical
Highly serious and
concerned
Exhilarated – the
poem is full of raw
natural energy
Shares Whitman’s
awe but in a more
delighted way – a
much more joyful
experience of nature
Bluebeard – a
sinister reference,
since his hands
were sticky with the
blood of his wives
Reference to news –
war in Europe
(Yugoslavia) makes
poet fearful and
sympathetic
Images are all literal
– they may be
symbolic of other
things but are not
metaphors
The poet captures
and exploits the
local words for
natural features
Two halves
correspond to ideas
of hope and
disappointment
Three stanzas
correspond to
sequence of ideas
Loose iambic metre
No set metre but a
pattern of stresses –
which Hopkins also
does
Three stanzas of
description and one
pleading for saving
the wilderness.
Anapaestic metre
and alliteration
Different kinds of
blackberries and the
juice – leading to
“rat-grey fungus”.
“Bones brittle as
mouse ribs”
“Neighbour turned
stranger”
“Dim weird forms”
“Weeds
and…wilderness”
sum up all the other
images
None really
Every line ends with
a present participle
verb (“-ing” word)
Lots of sound FX
and wordplay
Gives an older
person’s viewpoint –
appeals to feminine
side
Quite easy to read but
it’s not much more
than a list of verbs
Could be an advert
for the Scottish
Tourist Board
Picking
blackberries
Hope and
disappointment –
things never live up
to our hopes
Fairly clear move
from optimism to
pessimism –
blackberry picking
as a metaphor for
other things
Adult recalls
childhood
experience
Lots of
monosyllables,
especially nouns
(clot, blob, knot,
boots) often at the
end of a line
This poem speaks
the truth about
things not living up
to hopes
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