Poetry

Here’s a sample/model answer with comments to a truly evil title poems question on Plath and Larkin. Hope it’s helpful... And here’s the feedback sheet on with some examples from actual students from when I set this question last year..

Poetry Coursework

My top tips for approaching this coursework essay are:

Do not forget to compare. Ideally almost every point you make should concern both poets,
Remember that the focus is on comparing your poets according to the theme or concept you have chosen. Your focus is not the poems; they are merely being used as examples of the poets’ techniques.
Remember to include technical terms. You should not be talking only about what the poems say or mean. Have you covered the “ways in which”?
It’s probably a good idea to bear in mind likely comparisons that you can make for most possible pairs/groups - see the individual poet pages for more ideas

There are notes on all the poets we’ve covered here. There are more on those that we used to teach on the old spec.