Literature: Poetry (Flamingo)
Poetry questions ask about tone, poetic device, effect and theme. The examiner wants device, quotation and effect in one movement, not a paraphrase of the poem.
Devices that recur
- Repetition and anaphora: 'Keeping Quiet' repeats the counting motif to slow the reader down.
- Metaphor: in 'Aunt Jennifer's Tigers', the tigers embody the freedom Aunt Jennifer cannot exercise.
- Imagery: Spender's 'sour cream' walls and 'rat's eyes' make the slum classroom a diagnosis of neglect.
- Irony: 'A Roadside Stand' exposes city charity as a form of exploitation.
- Symbol: in 'My Mother at Sixty-six', young trees and merry children stand for vitality against decay.
How to build an answer
Name the device, quote exactly, then state the effect on meaning and tone. Two sentences are enough if both do work.
Worked example
'Keeping Quiet': 'What I want should not be confused / with total inactivity.' Reasoning: Neruda pre-empts the misreading that stillness equals death. The corrective tone and the dash show he wants a reflective pause, not passivity. An answer that only says 'the poet wants peace' misses the defensive construction.
Traps that cost marks
- Naming a device without explaining its effect.
- Misquoting or merging two poems.
- Ignoring the question's stem, for example 'how does the poet contrast...'.
- Treating the poet's speaker as the poet without qualification.
- Writing a summary of the poem instead of an analysis.