What to study for Unseen poetry and prose?

John_2187

I'm studying Irish right now for the junior cert and I'm finding it hard to understand the poetry pieces given in the unseen section. It's both the questions and the piece given which are just crazily hard to understand.

My teacher gave us a list of maybe 120 questions to learn and I've been picking away at them but the poetry questions are harder.

The prose is just the questions, if I get them I can understand the piece.

So how can I study for this? Should I just study those questions and sit the exam? Or is there more to unseen poetry and prose?

NOTE: I'm talking about UNSEEN IRISH, not Seen or English.

sryanbruen

John_2187 wrote: »

I'm studying Irish right now for the junior cert and I'm finding it hard to understand the poetry pieces given in the unseen section. It's both the questions and the piece given which are just crazily hard to understand.

My teacher gave us a list of maybe 120 questions to learn and I've been picking away at them but the poetry questions are harder.

The prose is just the questions, if I get them I can understand the piece.

So how can I study for this? Should I just study those questions and sit the exam? Or is there more to unseen poetry and prose?

NOTE: I'm talking about UNSEEN IRISH, not Seen or English.

Practice past papers! There is no other way really to prepare for unseen poetry and prose. If you know basic question words, you will understand the questions. Like see some of 2015's poetry questions I translated by myself here

Cá bhfuair Daideo an t-eolas go raibh ‘an domhan imithe ar strae’? Luaigh dhá phointe as Ceacht Baile.
Where did Daddy get the information that the world was left astray? Mention two points out of Home Lesson.

An raibh áthas ar na daoine an tíogar a fheiceáil? Luaigh dhá phointe as Nuacht a Sé ar RTÉ.
Was the people happy to see the tiger? Mention two points out of news at six on RTÉ.

See how once you know a bit of grammar (áthas - mothúcháin + ar) and a bit of vocabulary, the questions are fairly straightforward.

I'd always advise you to answer an A question for your choice question because the B questions are quite tricky compared to the A ones.

The last question of B in recent years has been frequently asking which poem did you enjoy the most? This is a very easy question to answer once you know a bit of poetry technique vocabulary. You simply say:

Is fearr liom an dán '____________' (the name of the poem you preferred) and an example of a technique that can be seen in the poem then give an example.

This is the B question I'd recommend to answer.