Unseen poetry flashcards
10 cards on Unseen poetry: the key points, worked examples and the slips to watch. Swipe through them, or print them.
Card 1 of 10
Unseen poetry
Reading an unseen poem
What should you do before you write a word about an unseen poem?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Reading an unseen poem
Key points
- Read it twice: once for the story, once for the feeling.
- Ask who is speaking, to whom, and what has changed between the first line and the last.
- Answer "what is this poem really about?" in one sentence: that is your thesis.
- Underline the theme in the question, and link every point back to it.
A thesis to open with
The poet presents growing up as a loss: the speaker's delight in the first stanza fades into regret by the last.
Watch out
Explaining the poem line by line is not an argument: organise your answer around your reading of it.
Unseen poetry
The speaker, persona and tone
How do you write about who is speaking in an unseen poem, and in what tone?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
The speaker, persona and tone
Key points
- The speaker is the voice of the poem, not necessarily the poet.
- A persona is a character the poet creates to speak, so the views may not be the poet's own.
- Tone is the voice's attitude or mood, such as bitter or playful, created by word choices.
- Name a tone precisely: "wistful" says more than "sad".
Naming a tone
The tone is wistful: "once" and "used to" look back at a happiness that has gone.
Watch out
Never guess at the poet's life: you are marked on your reading of the poem, so write "the speaker".
Unseen poetry
Title, opening and ending
Why are the title, the opening and the ending your anchors in an unseen poem?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Title, opening and ending
Key points
- The title is the poet's one free hint: it often names the subject or where the meaning lies.
- The opening sets the situation; the ending often turns or lands the idea.
- If you feel lost in the middle, go back to these three.
Reading a title
A poem called "Inheritance" that describes a grandmother's hands is really about what passes between generations.
Watch out
Running out of time before the ending misses what the poem builds to: plan to reach the last lines.
Unseen poetry
The volta
What is a volta, and how do you use it in your answer?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
The volta
Key points
- A volta is a turn: a shift in the poem's argument, mood or focus, often near the end.
- In a sonnet it often comes after line 8, or before the final couplet.
- Compare the lines before it with the lines after: what has changed is often the poem's point.
Writing about the turn
At the volta the tone shifts from anger to acceptance, as "but" turns the speaker towards forgiveness.
Watch out
Spotting the turn is only the start: explain what has changed and why it matters.
Unseen poetry
Zooming in on word choice
Which words should you analyse closely in an unseen poem, and how?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Zooming in on word choice
Key points
- Pick the words doing the most work: a striking verb, a surprising adjective, an image that repeats.
- Say what the word suggests, and why the poet chose it over a plainer one.
- One word analysed closely is worth more than a sweep through the whole poem.
One word, closely read
The frost "bites" the garden: the verb makes winter a predator, not just cold weather.
Watch out
"The poet uses a verb" earns little: the marks are for what the word suggests.
Unseen poetry
Imagery and juxtaposition
How do you write about metaphors, extended metaphors and juxtaposition?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Imagery and juxtaposition
Key points
- A metaphor says one thing is another; an extended metaphor runs through several lines or the whole poem.
- Track an extended metaphor from start to finish: each new detail adds to the same picture.
- Juxtaposition places two contrasting things side by side to sharpen the difference.
Following an extended metaphor
Love is a journey throughout, so the final stanza's "last station" suggests the relationship is ending.
Watch out
Name the image, then explain the comparison: what does the poet want us to see or feel?
Unseen poetry
Sound: sibilance, plosives, alliteration
How can sound effects shape the meaning of an unseen poem?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Sound: sibilance, plosives, alliteration
Key points
- Sibilance, repeated s sounds, can sound hushed and gentle, or sinister like a hiss.
- Plosives, hard sounds such as b, p, t and d, burst from the mouth: they suit violence, anger or sudden action.
- Alliteration repeats the first sound of nearby words, binding and stressing them.
A sound effect explained
In "the hush of the settling snow", soft s and sh sounds make the scene quiet and still.
Watch out
Always say which effect a sound has, and why it suits this poem: sibilance is not always gentle.
Unseen poetry
Form, rhyme and metre
How do you comment on a poem's form, rhyme and metre?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Form, rhyme and metre
Key points
- A sonnet has 14 lines and has long been used for love poems: bending its rules can show disorder.
- Iambic pentameter has ten syllables a line, five da-DUM beats, close to natural speech.
- Free verse has no regular rhyme or metre, so line breaks and spacing shape the reading.
- A regular pattern that breaks often signals a change in feeling.
Watch out
"The poem has four stanzas" earns nothing: say why the fourth is shorter, or why a pattern breaks.
Unseen poetry
Line breaks: enjambment and caesura
What do enjambment and caesura do to the way a poem reads?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Line breaks: enjambment and caesura
Key points
- Enjambment: a sentence runs over a line break without a pause, hurrying the reader on.
- It can suggest something unstoppable or overflowing, such as panic or longing.
- Caesura: a pause mid-line, often a full stop or comma, marking shock, hesitation or a change of thought.
- An end-stopped line pauses at its end: notice when the poet switches between the two.
A caesura explained
"I waited. Nothing came." The full stop halts the line, just as the speaker's hope stops dead.
Unseen poetry
Point, evidence, effect
How do you build a well-supported paragraph about an unseen poem?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Point, evidence, effect
Key points
- Make a point that answers the question.
- Quote two or three words, built into your own sentence.
- Explain the effect: what the words make the reader feel, see or think.
- Five well-evidenced points beat ten unsupported ones.
A paragraph in three steps
Point: the speaker feels trapped by the city.
Evidence: the streets "close in" around her.
Effect: the verb turns the city into a cage, tightening as she walks.
Watch out
Copying out a whole stanza leaves nothing to analyse: keep quotations to a few words.
Print these cards
Four cards to an A4 sheet, each the size of a standard A6 revision card.
One-sided
Each card prints on one face: the question at the top, the notes under it.
Two-sided
Questions on the front, notes on the back. Print double-sided and flip on the long edge, then cut along the lines.