Approaching Unseen Poetry

Question 1

Title

Answer 1

Expectations 
Place 
Genre 
Tradition
Relationship between title and poem

Question 2

Genre

Answer 2

Fit a recognisable one?
Conventions does it obey/ where and how?
Break with any?

Question 3

Beginning and end

Answer 3

First word
Last word 
Effects 
Feelings left with 
Relationship between them 
First line and last (journey between them)- mood, imagery, feeling, argument

Question 4

Structure

Answer 4

Journey 
Major staging posts
Changes 
Presenting an argument?
Stanzaic 
Turning points

Question 5

Form

Answer 5

Recognisable one 
(Sonnet, villanelle, Ballard) 
Why chosen 
Appropriate?
I'm free verse? 
Patterns?

Question 6

Pace

Answer 6

How to be read 
Slow fast 
Changes in pace 
Argument /feeling expressed 
Poet can control

Question 7

Pace controls

Answer 7

Line length
Enjambement
Vowel sounds 
Plosives 
Rhythm 
Caesura
Sentence length

Question 8

Imagery

Answer 8

Similar groups
Common associations
Fields of experience they’re drawn from

Question 9

Allusions

Answer 9

Any?
High culture or low 
Direct or indirect 
Why chosen 
Contrast w tone?

Question 10

Diction and register

Answer 10

Dominant?-formal, informal, colloquial, literary, scientific
Changes?

Question 11

Sound

Answer 11

Language used
Physical spoken sounds 
Imagery sounds 
Appealing? 
Alliteration 
Assonance

Question 12

Rhyme

Answer 12

Scheme? 
Well known?
Emphasis on words?
Connections? 
Noticeable? 
Meanings

Question 13

Meaning

Answer 13

Always say it!!!

Question 14

Tension

Answer 14

Patterns
Similar elements
Contrasts
Harmony

Question 15

Hot spots

Answer 15

Title 
First word
Last word 
First word of each line 
Rhyme words 
First word of stanza 
Last of stanza 
Before caesura
In sentences 
Stressed syllables