How many poems in a poetry answer

snowflakes

Hi all,

Just wondering how many poems should I refer to in detail in a poetry answer, would it be three or four?

Thanks!:P

english4490

we would usually do 5 poems in an answer on a poet!

Nihilist21

I generally refer to 2/3 poems in detail and integrate another 2 into the answer, depends on the question really - but that's what I do.

PurpleFistMixer

For my LC I did five for three of my poets, and four for the other two, because I could deal with their poems in greater detail.

Jammyc

We've been told to deal with at least 4 poems in each answer.

English Marking Scheme wrote:

“Students at Higher Level will be required to study a representative selection
from the work of eight poets: a representative selection would seek to reflect
the range of a poet’s themes and interests and exhibit his/her characteristic
style and viewpoint. Normally the study of at least six poems by each poet
would be expected.” (DES English Syllabus, 6.3)
Note that, in the case of each poet, the candidates have the freedom of
choice in relation to the poems studied.
Note that there is not a finite list of any ‘poet’s themes and interests’.
Note that, in responding to the question set on any given poet, the candidates
must refer to poem/s they have studied but they are not required to refer to
any specific poem/s, nor are they expected to discuss or refer to all the
poems they have chosen to study.
In each of the questions in Prescribed Poetry the underlying nature of the
task is the invitation to the candidates to engage with the poems
themselves.

1huge1

Did my leaving cert last year, but I remember that I did 4 in detail and referred to 1 or 2 others.
3 in my opinion is not enough and 5 is pushing it a bit.

Piste

I normally do four. If I'm discussing the poetry by theme I might throw in "another example of this can be seen in X" just to re-enforce my points, but it'd usually just be 4 in detail.

PurpleFistMixer

Piste wrote: »

I normally do four. If I'm discussing the poetry by theme I might throw in "another example of this can be seen in X" just to re-enforce my points, but it'd usually just be 4 in detail.

I did that before in an essay actually, and my teacher told me to avoid mentioning a poem unless you're going to go into sufficient detail. You'd probably get away with it if you put in a relevant quote from X etc., and explained it sufficiently though.

phasers

I do five, but mostly because I do most of my answers poem by poem to help me with my structure and I like to blend two in one paragraph in the middle to show I can...

Craigsy

6 poems, make three points and refer to 2 poems on each point in your answer

Risteard

My teacher says six. Four or five in detail and then just make reference to the others.

Teferi

I mentioned 3 in a good amount of detail and then mentioned 2 others fairly casually.

Stev_o

I do 3 poems in my essays, considering your more then likely going to be looking in depth into those poems doing 5 would be crazy as you ll either loose coherency or time which you can't afford to loose. It would also depend on the poet, for example a guy like Keats you'd be hard pushed to slot 5 poems together in the time given for a essay and if you managed that chances are you'd be skinning them.

SarcasticFairy

I do six if I think they're relevant, but usually do 5. I used to do 4 but my teacher gave me some quote about going into detail too much, murders the art, or something like that. Basically she said it's better to do more poems, in less detail, while still answering the question. So, I don't know really.

-ME-

I'd say 5 ideally but the pres showed me that 50 minutes does not really allow that. I'd say I'll end up discussing 4, which is fine I think.

drusk

I wrote about three poems in detail and mentioned a fourth in my Leaving Cert. I got an A1.

I think it's better to go into detail to show a deep understanding and to keep a coherent argument as opposed to talking about as many poems as you can. Your answer should be focused. Discussing more than four poems will take away from your focus.