For you poem by poemers

adamcp

For those who take your poetry questions poem by poem, How many poems do you deal with in a question? I used to do 3 but now I do 4.........

sternn

I used to always do 3, and still do 3. Although i may, sometimes, reference a theme to another poem...making a paragraph usually on a 4th or 5th poem

Haven't a Clue

Depends on what's asked. Like, if there was something like "Yeats' poetry can be seen as an account for the most dramatic period in Irish history", you'd be limited to "Easter 1916", "September 1913" and "Stare's Nest...". You wouldn't go off writing about Innisfree like.

Usually, if there isn't a specific them asked on, I'd go for 4 poems.

btothei

i usually go for 5....but 4 poems wud usually hav slitely more material than the extra one...jst put it in for the lauf really

JC 2K3

6......

I've started basing my answers more around themes now though.

SamHamilton

I've only ever used three. I feel if you're using any more you're saying little about everything instead of saying a lot about a few things. Don't know what the examiners want but I get 46's with using just 3 poems. Wouldn't have time to do any more either. The problem with writing more than 3 for some questions is that you might go off topic. Using a 4th poem might weaken your argument instead of strengthening it - not always - but it has the potential to happen.

pilchard

We were always told to do 4 and if possible refer to the other 2, but only the name no/one quote if it is relevent. Usually it is too hard to get all of the studied poems to relate to the question asked. if your argument is strong enough with 3 then just refer to the others, but i always do 4 for peace of mind.

JC 2K3

If it doesn't relate to the question you say something like "This is not so apparent in X, however, and therefore I believe that the poetry of Y is not always like this.

me2gud4u

it's generallly advised at higher level not to take the poem by poem approach, srory didn't read all the posts but i think that is the jist of what is being discussed and mention six if you can-four perhaps well and the two others fleetingly

dan719

Since when is it not advised, I mean you cannot get more then fifty out of fifty can you?!:D

JC 2K3

I had two teachers for LC, one said poem by poem was fine ad gave high marks for this approach and the other said they'd slate you for it in the exam and insisted on an emphasis on themes.

The latter teacher is on the board of corrector auditors. I took his advice.

colm-ccfc84

You must analyse 3 in detail and refer to another 3.

adamcp

Thanks for the answers,
I'm doing Montague, Frost, Kavanagh, Yeats, and Donne btw

mrac

wtf is a poemer ?

SamHamilton

I'm hoping for Plath and Kavanagh. We've covered Frost, Bishop, Yeats and Montague as well. I HATE Montague.

adamcp

mrac wrote:

wtf is a poemer ?

It seems when it comes to answering poetry questions some take them theme by theme others take them poem by poem and guess which ones are poem by poemers

SamHamilton

I don't really understand how one can go about answering in a "theme by theme" style. If a question is something like: "What do you like about Kavanagh's poetry?" and you want to answer with something like: theme Y appealed to me how do you go about doing that in a "theme by theme" style? I usually say the theme is present in the poems A, B, C and go through each poem, one at a time, to show the way Kavanagh puts across the theme. If I was to skip from poem to poem I think it'd be incoherent but I don't know - please explain the "theme by theme" method t me.

Naikon

I despise Poetry so much:mad:, but I never use more than 3 if even and still do OK considering poetry is my weak link.

PeterMC

JC 2K3 wrote:

I had two teachers for LC, one said poem by poem was fine ad gave high marks for this approach and the other said they'd slate you for it in the exam and insisted on an emphasis on themes.

The latter teacher is on the board of corrector auditors. I took his advice.

me2gud4u wrote:

it's generallly advised at higher level not to take the poem by poem approach, srory didn't read all the posts but i think that is the jist of what is being discussed and mention six if you can-four perhaps well and the two others fleetingly

colm-ccfc84 wrote:

You must analyse 3 in detail and refer to another 3.

Did LC Higher English last june - My poetry essays used to always follow the same pattern - Intro, Poem 1, Poem 2, Poem 3, Poem 4, Conclusion. With a common link(usually theme or imagery) found between each poem to link from 1 to 2 and so on. This worked fine for me! We were always told no more than 4 poems, or else you can't be talking about those you do mention in enough detail to merit sufficient marks, oh and always quote!

I also think that it's a good idea to mention which of the poems you liked most and why (get it in there somewhere!) it makes you sound enthusiastic about the subjects - correctors LOVE this! :-)

Enemy Of Fate

PeterMC wrote:

Did LC Higher English last june - My poetry essays used to always follow the same pattern - Intro, Poem 1, Poem 2, Poem 3, Poem 4, Conclusion. With a common link(usually theme or imagery) found between each poem to link from 1 to 2 and so on. This worked fine for me!

And how did you get on in it?I'd much prefer that approach to writing about the themes, but we were always told that going through the poems one after another was not what they're looking for.

JC 2K3

SamHamilton wrote:

If I was to skip from poem to poem I think it'd be incoherent but I don't know - please explain the "theme by theme" method t me.

Well for example, say you're discussing 4 poems and there's a common theme in A and B, C and D, A, B and C, and A and D. Rather than a paragraph per poem you'd do a paragraph per theme and talk about the poems that apply to that theme.

I think that as long as you link them well, as PeterMC has said, you'll be perfectly fine answering poem by poem. However I reckon it's harder to pick up marks with this approach and it's far easier to fall into the trap of summarisation.

Rozabeez

We were always told we had to write on a minimum of 4 poems, 5 preferably.

PeterMC

Enemy Of Fate wrote:

And how did you get on in it?I'd much prefer that approach to writing about the themes, but we were always told that going through the poems one after another was not what they're looking for.

Got full marks out of it, so it worked grand.

But I think the most important thing at this stage is to stick with what you know! Now, is not the time for deciding how to do it, it should be about refining technique, like really you should have a rough plan for each poet in your head before u go into the exam and simply tailor it to the question on the day!