Number of Poems required for discussion?

PictureFrame

Hi, i'm just doing some revision of Seamus Heaney for my mocks and am planning to discuss the following poems if he appears on the paper:

• Mossbawn 1: Sunlight
• The Forge
• A Constable Calls
• The Tollund Man

I'm just wondering is that enough poems to discuss or would I need more to fill my answer? Heaney came up on my Pre-Mocks and I used these four poems and wrote 4 and 3/4 pages and achieved 42/50.

So, just leave a comment if you have a spare minute to help settle my mind! Thanks..

SureYWouldntYa

Our teacher recommends doing at least 5 or you wont get full marks, but the sample essay she gave us had 3 in it and got full marks? To quote someone, its about quality not quantity

spurious

It has also to do with the question asked. Some poems lend themselves more than others to particular topics or questions.

Stewie Griffin

Four poems is plenty if they are done right.

Ryan100

I got an A1 last year in honours English, I always discussed three poems extensively, like a page on each and then about half a page on a fourth poem, just writing about the key points. As someone posted above, it depends on the question and what poems suit!

lainey108

my teacher told us to do 6.. detail 4 and reference 2

chomps_x

We were told 5 poems and at least 4 pages. You are writing for an hour afterall...

SirDelboy18

There is no guideline for this. The likes of 6 seems like way too many if any type of analysis is going to be done. I'd say look towards the three/four mark. There is no way you have to include 5 or more poems, that's rubbish.

Go into depth on 3/4.

Seren_

4 poems is more than enough. The examiner wants to see that you know the poems in detail, not just their names. Usually having a poem to support each major point you make is a good idea.

Incompetent

Could anyone recommend what poems would best cover the range of questions? We went through about 10/11 of them in class, and I assumed until now we needed to know all of them. Is the OPs choice a good one?

PictureFrame

Incompetent wrote: »

Could anyone recommend what poems would best cover the range of questions? We went through about 10/11 of them in class, and I assumed until now we needed to know all of them. Is the OPs choice a good one?

I'm not too sure if the choices I made are perfect but I think they fit into a wide range of questions they could ask about Heaney's work. Ussually his questions are reated to the emphasis he places on family, home, tradition etc.

I chose these 4 for the following reasons:

1. Mossbawn: Emphasis on family life, childhood, traditional values (bread-making), good use of imagery, metaphors, similies (sunlight). Interesting use of colours ('reddening stove, and 'honeyed water'.

2. The Forge: Emphasis on childhood, Old Irish Traditions (horse-shoe making). Use of his personal memories. Sense of change in modern Ireland ('sees the traffic flashing in rows')

3. A Constable Calls: Deals with bad childhood memories, home-life, introduces the idea of his secularistic hometown, links with Violence in Northern Ireland (repetition of the work 'tick' at end of the poem brings back memories of Bombings etc.

4. The Tollund Man: Comparisons between Old-Age Violence and the brutality of modern violence, recalls in chilling detail the deaths of 4 brother in Belfast. Brings cultural traditions into his poetry (religious belief, paganism etc.) Also deals with ideas of nature (the tollund man seems a part of nature 'peat brown head' etc.

Not saying these comments are anyway perfect or anything, I just find these poems the most interesting and easy to write about!

snoreborewhore

Okay, I'm beginning to worry a little. From what I'm reading on this, and a lot of Leaving Cert English revision blogs, six poems are usually what people recommend when discussing a poet. Trouble is, my teacher only teaches us five poems for each poet. I've looked at the marking schemes for English Paper 2 and it states:
“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.”
I'm starting to freak out a little, because I'm looking to get an A in English...
Please tell me I'm not alone?

**Timbuk2**

I merged your post into this thread, snoreborewhore.

snoreborewhore

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

I merged your post into this thread, snoreborewhore.

Ah great thanks!

Incompetent

PictureFrame wrote: »

I'm not too sure if the choices I made are perfect but I think they fit into a wide range of questions they could ask about Heaney's work. Ussually his questions are reated to the emphasis he places on family, home, tradition etc.

I chose these 4 for the following reasons:

1. Mossbawn: Emphasis on family life, childhood, traditional values (bread-making), good use of imagery, metaphors, similies (sunlight). Interesting use of colours ('reddening stove, and 'honeyed water'.

2. The Forge: Emphasis on childhood, Old Irish Traditions (horse-shoe making). Use of his personal memories. Sense of change in modern Ireland ('sees the traffic flashing in rows')

3. A Constable Calls: Deals with bad childhood memories, home-life, introduces the idea of his secularistic hometown, links with Violence in Northern Ireland (repetition of the work 'tick' at end of the poem brings back memories of Bombings etc.

4. The Tollund Man: Comparisons between Old-Age Violence and the brutality of modern violence, recalls in chilling detail the deaths of 4 brother in Belfast. Brings cultural traditions into his poetry (religious belief, paganism etc.) Also deals with ideas of nature (the tollund man seems a part of nature 'peat brown head' etc.

Not saying these comments are anyway perfect or anything, I just find these poems the most interesting and easy to write about!

Really appreciate you writing that out! Now to dig out some notes.

LC_sucks

snoreborewhore wrote: »

Okay, I'm beginning to worry a little. From what I'm reading on this, and a lot of Leaving Cert English revision blogs, six poems are usually what people recommend when discussing a poet. Trouble is, my teacher only teaches us five poems for each poet. I've looked at the marking schemes for English Paper 2 and it states:
“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.”
I'm starting to freak out a little, because I'm looking to get an A in English...
Please tell me I'm not alone?

Our techer corrects exams, and she always tells us we study six, and write on at least three but preferably four

finality

It really isn't necessary to write on six poems. I would say that 4 should be the minimum.

What you need to do is discuss by theme, not discuss the poems individually. Have you considered Harvest Bow? That's the most important poem in my opinion. It links everything. I would discuss the themes of conflict and violence, childhood and poetry - you should discuss 3 poems for each theme, with overlap of course. For instance, for conflict and violence you can discuss A Constable Calls, The Tollund Man, and Harvest Bow (internal conflict - the end of art is peace), and for childhood you could discuss The Forge, A Constable Calls and Harvest Bow. I would also briefly mention Bogland under poetry.

You will get more marks for discussing by theme if you can do it effectively, it really shows that you understand the poems and can deal with Heaney's poetry as a whole as opposed to individual poems.

But as the majority here have said, four poems are plenty. An hour is SUCH a short amount of time. I had my pre today as it happens and if you are to go into detail on the poems you will be pretty much running out of time at 4 poems - use 6 and there is no way you will have time to discuss them adequately - you will end up losing marks for clarity of purpose. You know how the marking scheme works right?

good luck