English poetry syllabus

katnip

Hi, my brothers' teacher is frankly awful and has only covered 2 poets with a couple of months to go til the exam. They use a book called 'Poetry Now' I think and it has the following poets in it - Heaney, Boland, Dickinson, Wordsworth, Elliot, Kavanagh, Longley and one other I can't think of. I was looking at last year's paper and the likes of Hopkins, Slyvia Plath and others not mentioned above were covered. My question is, have they changed the syllabus since last year, or are my brothers being taught the wrong poets from the wrong book?
Thanks for any advice

lestats_bride

Hey!

Yeah the english poetry syllabus changes every year so you're brother only has to learn:

Boland
Wordsworth
Dickinson
Heaney
Longley
Eliot
Kavanagh
Yeats

And the questions that come up will only regard 4 of those above!

I think the 'This is Poetry 2005' is very good.I have loads of notes if he ever needs help that i could scan.Just drop me a pm.

Yeah and tell your brother there is a good chance that Kavanagh will come up as its 100th anniversary since his birth this year. Don't blame me if it doesn't though.

Lantis

It was Kavanagh's centenary last year, and he came up.

Scarinae

I also heard that Yeats has a good chance of coming up, as does Dickinson. I really hope Dickinson comes up...

randomfella

I'm learning Dickinson & Boland (2female poets, one always comes up or so they say) and maybe Kavanagh.

Kitsune

My teacher tipped Wordsworth, Yeats, TS Eliot and Dickinson to come up this year.
Yeah, just learning the two female poets would be a good bet if you were stuck for time. I don't think I'll risk it though.

*Angel*

You really shouldn't rely on what you think will come up, cos most years it's just random. So learn five just to be safe!

lestats_bride

I've learnt Dickinson,Yeats,Kavanagh,Longley and Worsworth.I've learnt 3 poems from each.Do you'll think that's safe enough?

Camogie Playa

I hope to god Dickinson comes up, i have an essay on her really well learnt!!But i did hear that Yeats and Kavanagh have a chance of coming up. They aren't the worst poets to write on compared to others like Boland.........i hate her poetry with a passion. They're just so boring

*Angel*

Camogie Playa wrote:

Boland.........i hate her poetry with a passion. They're just so boring

Me too!

Waltons

Learning Boland or Dickinson would probably be a good idea because they usually have a female poet on the paper.
We studied all of the poets...I'd be happiest if Wordsworth, Heaney or Kavanagh came up though

Cool_CM

Does anybody actually like boland?! not that i do, dickinson is great

leggo

Boland is easily my favourite poet on the course. I find Dickenson a bit tiring to study. Great to read, but when it comes to analysing her poems it's a job and a half as she's all kinds of abstract.

Your best bet is to study any five poets and know them really well. Then you're guaranteed that at least one will come up. Just studying the female poets is a bad idea since the examiners know that students know and can easily pull the plug on the guaranteed female poet idea at any time.

I've learnt 3 poems from each.Do you'll think that's safe enough?

You'd wanna know these INSIDE OUT. You'll need a really long analysis on each poem if you want to pull of an A-grade essay, so your best bet is probably to learn them off.

Scarinae

To get back to the original question, I'd really recommend This Is Poetry by Brian Forristal & Billy Ramsell for poetry notes. It doesn't have the actual poems printed in it but since your brother already has Poetry Now he'll be fine. It goes through each poem in great detail and covers the background, themes, poetic devices etc. My English teacher gives us harly any notes so I found it was a great help to me.
It's published by Forum Publications and I got it in Greenes Bookshop in town. Its not cheap at about €15 but it's really good

Scarinae

lestats_bride wrote:

I've learnt 3 poems from each.Do you'll think that's safe enough?

I think you're safe if you know three poems from each in incredible detail, but be able to refer to some of the other poems briefly to back up your answer. also, make sure the three poems you've covered for each poet can be used to discuss any possible question they come up with - it'd be a bummer if say a question on Yeat's attitude to nature came up and you hadn't covered any of the relevant poems. You've got a plenty of time to do it, and it's better safe than sorry.

My English teacher hates Boland so we haven't covered her! I hear she sucks, though I read some of her poetry and didn't think it was too bad. Maybe it just sucks if you have to study it? I personally find Kavanagh really dull, I hope he doesn't come up again.

hada

As regards the question as to how much of one's poetry one should learn..

I used to write on 3 Dickinson poems, or Hopkins, or whoever, and have seven to eight A4 pages on it. Not waffling, but clear analysis of nearly every line.

By doing this I showed the examiner that I had total understanding of the chosen poets technique, style, imagery, motifs, themes, whatever.

Of course that may not suit everyone, but it certainly worked for me.

*Also cross referencing and comparing a poets different poems helps to show a more complete understanding of the poet's own mind*

i.e. comparing Hopkins "Spring" to his terrible sonnets. Or Heaneys basic enough ship at sea metaphor, to the sophisticated imagery and themes dealing with northern ireland etc..

Lantis

I can see Dickinson coming up since she's never been up before, but it's the luck of the draw. It was a (lucky) surprise that Plath came up last year instead of her.
For the same reason Kavanagh could show up even though he's a carryover from last year, but that's all up in the air.
But like what others said, don't trust predictions. Take the one or two poets you absolutely detest and drop them. Then study the rest in-depth. That way, even if the ones you loathe come up, the whole section won't be out the window, and you'll still have a good question choice. You could study 5 poets, but then if only one of them came up and the question was dire, you'd be buggered.

Jazzy

Just some advice -
with english it is importent to devolp a writing style. dont go into the exam and write 12-13 pages per paper. you may quickly find that you have written 10 pages of meaningless drivel and wasted precious time.
Objectify and make an opinion. dont bulls**t at all and dont try and learn big words to make yourselves sound more intellegent. George Orwell always said to use a simpler word(s) when you think you have to use a long one. Make your opinion, not the schools. individual thought is always what the examiner picks up on. I got an A1 in honours 2 years ago by doing this and on average I think I wrote 7 pages per paper. its not about length its about quality. as far as poetry is concerned, if the consensus is that dickenson will come up then thats cool as dickenson is very good to write about and actually an interesting poet (unlike boland, uggghhh!).

rainbow kirby

Lol, I went into my LC knowing Boland. And ONLY Boland. Luckily enough, she came up. (2002) Don't do that.:)

doctor evil

What is Bolands poetry like?, I`m planning on her being one of my four along with Dickenson,Heaney and Yeats. We have yet to do her.

Jazzy

she mainly waffles about northern Ireland and women. tbh I think she is by far the poorest poet on the course but she always comes up. its easy to learn though but in reality not easy to write about unless you want to bore the examiner to death. personnally even if I knew 100% that she was coming up, I wouldnt do her question as its hard to win marks. dickenson would be my choice as there is alot of room for opinion and is nice to write about

doctor evil

Is she anymore irratationg than Wordsworth?

(being a bit thick here) Is it possible to write an answer in which you write that you don`t like the poet but properly (no crazy ranting!) explain reasons why and discuss some aspects that you like?

sarahg_angel69

ah boland isnt that bad!! i did her in the mocks...the one with the letter to boland...n got 2 marks all full marks for not punctuating the letter!! she an easy poet to write on!!! not the war horse tho its a bit weird!!

sarahg_angel69

sorry meant to write 2 marks off full marks

*Angel*

rainbow kirby wrote:

Lol, I went into my LC knowing Boland. And ONLY Boland. Luckily enough, she came up. (2002) Don't do that.:)

Lucky! I went into my mocks just knowing Kavanagh this year, and of course he didn't come up, so I didn't answer it at all (I couldn't). I've learnt me lesson, well I only kinda know two at the mo, hopefully I'll have 5 done by the leaving.

Scarinae

It really is quality rather than quantity when you're writing about the poetry (well actually, it goes for the paper in general) I was in a mad panic after the mock because I'd only written 2/3 pages on Dickinson and everyone else was coming out saying they'd written about 8 pages on the poetry and had filled up two exam booklets... And then I got the highest mark in the class. This also goes to show that it's a bad idea to talk to people about an exam straight afterwards, as you'll get all paranoid and think you did ****

Jazzy

Fishie wrote:

I was in a mad panic after the mock because I'd only written 2/3 pages on Dickinson and everyone else was coming out saying they'd written about 8 pages on the poetry and had filled up two exam booklets... And then I got the highest mark in the class.

exactly, i did 2 1/2 pages on longly on my leaving and got 49/50 for it. mates of mine did like 8/9 pages and got about 30/50. you have to cut out all the unnessacary cr*p and keep to quality writing