Literature: Poetry (Prescribed Textbook)
Poetry questions test whether you can move from what the poem says to how it says it. Two-mark items usually ask for a device or a meaning; longer answers ask for theme, tone or central idea. The examiner looks for a named device plus its effect, not a paraphrase of the stanza.
Poetic devices to identify confidently
- Simile: comparison with like/as.
- Metaphor: comparison without like/as, stating one thing is another.
- Personification: giving human qualities to a non-human thing, e.g. the wind "crying".
- Alliteration: repetition of an initial consonant sound.
- Onomatopoeia: words that imitate sound.
- Imagery and symbolism: sensory detail, and objects carrying a larger idea.
Worked example
Line: "The road was a ribbon of moonlight." Question: Name the figure of speech and explain its effect. Reasoning: there is no "like" or "as", so it is not a simile; one thing is said to be another, so it is a metaphor. Effect: the road is made to look thin, pale and continuous, giving the scene a quiet, dreamlike quality. Answer: It is a metaphor. The road is compared to a narrow ribbon of moonlight, which makes it seem thin, pale and stretched out ahead, creating a hushed, dreamlike atmosphere.
Answering "central idea" in three steps
- Say what the poem is about in one sentence.
- Name the feeling or attitude the poet takes towards it.
- Point to one image or line that carries that feeling.
Traps that cost marks
- Naming a device and stopping there; the effect carries the marks.
- Calling every comparison a simile.
- Paraphrasing the stanza and never stating a theme.
- Guessing a rhyme scheme without checking line endings.
- Missing the shift in tone that often comes at the last stanza.