Getting a good mark in English

LambsEye

nommm wrote: »

I have a question. Whenever I do my personal response and say I loved the poets use of language, imagery etc. my teacher always writes something along the lines of 'Do you really mean this?'. She says that we should write anecdotes relating to what is in the poem. All the notes and revision books I've read have said otherwise. Does anyone have any advice?

To be honest this sounds like a personal preference of your teacher. You will find in school and college, when you're studying arts and humanities to tailor your essays to suit the teacher but this doesn't really apply when you're doing state standardised exams.

I haven't heard of anyone requesting anecdotal evidence to substantiate a point but you COULD cleverly craft an answers that will benefit you for the leaving cert and please your teacher.

E.g.

Prepare your sample answers for the state exams, e.g. a paragraph on imagery etc. But when you're submitting it to your specific teacher include a few lines like: "I feel like the imagery in this particular verse encapsulates feelings of frustration, which I find applicable as I often find myself frustrated and overwhelmed as I approach this juncture in my life."

Or something. The trick about English is learning and preparing the required information but knowing how to mould that information into a shape that fits what the question asks/what the teacher wants.

nommm

Meller wrote: »

i suppose stating that you 'love' a certain aspect of the poem is pretty meaningless and irrelevant unless it goes further or is used in the making of a point. i wouldn't say 'include an anecdote', exactly, but make sure you explain why you love it and why mentioning that you do benefits your answer.

I did discuss in detail why I loved the imagery and language and how I thought it contributed to the overall message of the poem and poet.

ASVM wrote: »

Your teacher is right in saying that you love the poem is a cliche.You've got to be more creative. Perhaps you could say how the poem makes you feel,give your personal response.I know this from correcting exams.We can spot a fake a mile off so rememer keep it real.

I didn't write anything like that in my essay though. An example of the sentences she was underlining was in my conclusion paragraph Re: Emily Dickinson
'I loved how we could share in her experiences and emotions, both joyful and despairing, and how she manipulated language to convey her emotions.'

LambsEye wrote: »

To be honest this sounds like a personal preference of your teacher. You will find in school and college, when you're studying arts and humanities to tailor your essays to suit the teacher but this doesn't really apply when you're doing state standardised exams.

I haven't heard of anyone requesting anecdotal evidence to substantiate a point but you COULD cleverly craft an answers that will benefit you for the leaving cert and please your teacher.

That's what I thought it could be. She didn't deduct many marks for it, I still got a B1 but I was just wondering if it would actually have a huge effect on my grade at the end of the day. Personally, I think it would look a bit silly to start referencing why the poem reminded me of my granny or a childhood memory which is pretty much what she was telling us to do.

UnLuckyAgain

Perhaps your teacher is getting at the fact that there are certain phrases which are clichéd for these kind of answers e.g. " I love how " or "I enjoyed how".

You could try branching out into phrases like ".....made me think about" or "... really spoke to me as I can see its universal relevance".

In saying that, as others have mentioned, using anecdotes seems very unorthodox and irrelevant. It may be your teacher's preference, but isn't required by the SEC in any marking scheme that I've seen!