How many poems do you have to discuss in an answer?

CoffeeFreak

I have read in some places that it's three and others six...Does it depend on the question? Would it be okay to discuss four in great detail?

thanks!

the smiley one

methinks it is about 3/4

snappieT

Four is the norm I think, but decent ones. Don't be going on about Swift's Epitaph (Yeats) since it's only 5 lines, and Kavanagh's Canal poems are such píss that they really only count as one

CoffeeFreak

That's great, thanks. I've been doing six up till now and I didn't do so well in that question in the mocks because I didn't 'develop' them all enough...Four is much more managable!

sephirosis

to the best of my knowledge the official recommendation is that you go into detail on 3 major poems for the poet and be able to briefly refer to another 2.

*Angel*

Some questions will ask for a certain amount. Like the ones that say that a poet is coming to your school choose 3 poems that you would ask him/her to read.

Scarinae

I think the "three in detail, refer to two" rule is probably the best advice. If you're trying to cut down on work, make sure you know enough poems to cover every possible theme relating to that particular poet