English HL Poetry Q

-ME-

Just wondering, how many poems is it necessary to discuss in order to gain an A/ High B grade in the poetry question?

Well from what I've always been told, you should study 3-4 poems in depth in your answer, and make a not so detailed reference to perhaps two others. So in essence you would want to know at an absolute minimum 5, but preferably 6 poems, by each poet.

PurpleFistMixer

I learned 5 poems from each of 5 poets. For all but 2 (Rich and Plath) I prepared to answer on all 5. On those 2 I could have written on just the 4 poems (Could write a whole essay on a single Plath poem tbh). It's more about a decent treatment of the poems than getting a load of them in, really.

KnifeWRENCH

Quality over quantity - discussing 4 poems in depth is much better than discussing 8 or 9 poems and only giving a sketchy assessment of each.

We did 6 poems each by 6 poets - 36 poems, which isn't too bad. In my exam, as far as I remember, I answered on 5 poems by Sylvia Plath (this was 2007, btw). It helps if you know a bit about the poet and his/her life. If you can convey to the examiner that you studied the poet and not just their poems, and remember to always pick out poems and quotes that are relevant to the question being asked, you should do very well.

ryanj

you have to show evidence that you have studied six poems from the poet you are writing on

cautioner

My teacher always told us to do 4 at most and that 3 would usually suffice :mad:

cautioner

cautioner wrote: »

My teacher always told us to do 4 at most and that 3 would usually suffice :mad:

Really?! Thats kind of bad of her, I've heard from numerous sources that at least 5 are required, and that if you're going to do any less you're gonna have to do one hell of a good job!

cautioner

He's been teaching English for years though... In fact he's retiring next year. I'll ask the 5th years how many their teacher recommends.
Just to clarify, if I were to write about, say, 3 poems, for me that usually translates into around 4 pages of A4. Comparisons with those writing about 5 poems?

Well don't take my word for it, I'm only a student myself and I'm just going by what various teachers and revision courses have told me.

I personally would usually write about 4 poems in pretty good detail, then make a not so detailed reference or link to perhaps 2 others; and that'd take maybe 3.5 - 4 pages (depends on the size of your writing I guess!).

cautioner

Interesting. We were always told just to pick 3 or 4 poems; he never raised the possibilty of mentioning or linking with other poems without going into detail. Gonna have to use that. Cheers!

cautioner

cautioner wrote: »

Interesting. We were always told just to pick 3 or 4 poems; he never raised the possibilty of mentioning or linking with other poems without going into detail. Gonna have to use that. Cheers!

Well I'm sure there'll be a few more posts on this that'll clarify things. If you're only meant to do 3/4 poems then I've been wasting a lot of time during essays on pointless extra poems over these last two years!

insinkerator

The minimum amount of poems for each poet to be discussed in a personal response is four. But the minimum recommended by any teacher worth talking about is 5 and the standard safe number is six.

This is of relevance:

http://http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055235683

bhoy4life

Im going to take a gamble and just learn Keats and Walcott in depth

Mallox

ya we would always do 5 poems ... i jus did a question on montague and got my first 50 out of 50 for a poetry question .. i was delira with my stira ... were doin derek walcott now and i hate him ... its so difficult to understand !!!:(

damienricefan

you should worry about answering the question asked more than the quotes you know because most quotes can be manipulated for whatever you are being asked! so just learn a nice variety of quotes from some poems and it should be fine

cautioner

Mallox wrote: »

ya we would always do 5 poems ... i jus did a question on montague and got my first 50 out of 50 for a poetry question .. i was delira with my stira ... were doin derek walcott now and i hate him ... its so difficult to understand !!!:(

Do you mind me asking how much on average you'd write on those 5 poems?
I always knew Mr. ____ was a bit of a prat but I'll never forgive him for this :mad:

Piste

We were told to answer on a minimum fo 4 poems, and to answer on 5 to make a good impression.

insinkerator

bhoy4life wrote: »

Im going to take a gamble and just learn Keats and Walcott in depth

Thats risky..... theres 8 poets on the course, 4 come up, and you are only gonna know 2.... That sounds like a recipe for disaster. I would suggest learning all the poets that you do in class. Its easy if you keep on top of it, trust me. And then when it comes closer to the time, and certain guesses an be made, then concentrate in on maybe two that look likely. But always have aenought to cover yourself. Which would you prefer... the extra half hour of the simpsons twice a week, or the sinking feeling i june when you realise that you simply cannot answer the poetry question?

gaybitch

Six poems:

-4 in detail, with points referenced by quotation

-2 mentioned in passing, by linking them with the above four under areas like theme, tone, imagery, etc.

Gavin "shels"

gaybitch wrote: »

Six poems:

-4 in detail, with points referenced by quotation

-2 mentioned in passing, by linking them with the above four under areas like theme, tone, imagery, etc.

+1.

BTW "seen" poetry is only worth 12.5% of the whole Higher Level English course.

damienricefan

Yeah learning only two is a no no because you could get a horrific question with the poet you like but then you could get a nice straight forward question like a personal response about another poet you may not necessarily like that much but should take the opportunity if you know the poet enough! Some of those poetry questions can be a tad conceptual and off putting

implausible

cautioner wrote: »

Do you mind me asking how much on average you'd write on those 5 poems?
I always knew Mr. ____ was a bit of a prat but I'll never forgive him for this :mad:

It's about quality, not quantity, I have given full marks to essays where the student discussed 3 poems in depth, answered the question asked and showed a great understanding of the poet's work. Other students discussed 6 and just didn't answer the question. The syllabus says 6 poems, the SEC doesn't specify. Examiners are not working off a marking scheme where a % is deducted if there aren't enough poems.

damienricefan

deemark wrote: »

It's about quality, not quantity, I have given full marks to essays where the student discussed 3 poems in depth, answered the question asked and showed a great understanding of the poet's work. Other students discussed 6 and just didn't answer the question. The syllabus says 6 poems, the SEC doesn't specify. Examiners are not working off a marking scheme where a % is deducted if there aren't enough poems.

and would you personally penalise people for writing too much . For example if they had good quotes, understanding and referred back to the question but went to a depth they didn't need to go despite ticking all other boxes?

gaybitch

In Paper 2, there are way more bits that are worth more marks, and need more written about them. So I wouldn't be stressing about writing too much for poetry tbh.

implausible

damienricefan wrote: »

and would you personally penalise people for writing too much . For example if they had good quotes, understanding and referred back to the question but went to a depth they didn't need to go despite ticking all other boxes?

You won't get penalised for writing too much, but you'd be penalising yourself in terms of time in the exam and time spent preparing. An encyclopaedic knowledge of one poem won't get you 400/400.

cautioner

deemark wrote: »

It's about quality, not quantity, I have given full marks to essays where the student discussed 3 poems in depth, answered the question asked and showed a great understanding of the poet's work. Other students discussed 6 and just didn't answer the question. The syllabus says 6 poems, the SEC doesn't specify. Examiners are not working off a marking scheme where a % is deducted if there aren't enough poems.

Thank you. This is exactly what I needed to know. You've taken a weight off my mind.

damienricefan

deemark wrote: »

You won't get penalised for writing too much, but you'd be penalising yourself in terms of time in the exam and time spent preparing. An encyclopaedic knowledge of one poem won't get you 400/400.

yes but my problem is i discuss the 5 - 6 poems and end up with 6 or 7 pages when i should have 4 and a half or 5.

People tell me I won't have the time but i did in the Junior Cert so i will see how the mocks go and then see