Helpful hints for poetry essays
NOTES FOR THE POETRY QUESTION IN THE ENGLISH LITERATURE EXAM
Some notes for the following essay title:
In ‘Anne Hathaway’, the poet, Carol Ann Duffy, shows a relationship between a man
and a woman. Compare the way that she has done this with three other poems, each
one showing a relationship between a man and a woman – one by Simon Armitage and
two from the pre-1914 Poetry Bank.
Use the following poems:
‘Mother, any distance’ by Simon Armitage
‘Sonnet 130’ by William Shakespeare
‘The Laboratory’ by Robert Browning
Some useful words and phrases for comparing:
another similarity
also
like
on the other hand
unlike
is similar to
while
however
although
by contrast
whereas
differs from
though
both
similarly
3/4 poems: use superlatives
have in common
share
but
2 poems: use comparatives
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Helpful hints for poetry essays
NOTES FOR THE POETRY QUESTION IN THE ENGLISH LITERATURE EXAM
Sample comparisons and contrasts
1.
Both Armitage’s and Duffy’s poems include aspects of the sonnet form. (Go on with evidence
e.g. Number of lines; Rhyme )
2.
Like ‘Anne Hathaway’, ‘Sonnet 130’ concerns a romantic coupling, Shakespeare being the man in
both these liaisons.
3.
Browning’s poem has the unhappiest mood of the four, ideas of jealousy and murderous
intentions featuring here.
4.
Armitage’s poem also intimates some strain or disruption in the relationship although there is
none of the violence of ‘The Laboratory’.
5.
Armitage addresses his mother throughout, using the second person pronoun ‘you’ as in ‘You
come to help me’ whereas Duffy speaks to the reader, referring to Shakespeare in the third
person such as ‘he held me’.
6.
On the other hand, when Browning uses ‘you’, it is an imaginary listener, the apothecary, to
whom the lady is speaking in this dramatic monologue.
7.
All four poets use the first person but this does not make the poems autobiographical.
8.
The poems share the suggestion of isolation, Anne’s clearly caused by her husband’s death and
Armitage’s by the changing nature of the relationship.
9.
‘The Laboratory’ has a less regular rhythmic pattern than that of Shakespeare’s poem, the range of
beats in a line varying in order to reflect the erratic and unstable character of the speaker.
10.
Unlike the other three, Browning creates the effect of spontaneity and immediacy in the poem’s
language by use of ellipsis and self-interruptions.
11.
‘The Laboratory’ is similar to ‘Anne Hathaway’ because it is from a woman’s perspective.
12.
Browning’s poem is striking in that it consists of a male writer exploring a woman’s feelings while
Duffy’s poem is interesting because she has assumed the persona of a real woman.
13.
Duffy is ingenious in her use of original and unusual metaphors. In ‘Sonnet 130’ Shakespeare
demonstrates a similar inventiveness in the way he mocks the stock or clichéd turns of phrase
used to describe lovers in his day.
14.
Armitage, however, focuses on one recurring image, that of the tape measure, though it takes
different forms in his poem.
15.
‘Sonnet 130’ is also a poem that focuses on a loving and romantic relationship.
16.
In keeping with the (Shakespearean) sonnet form, Shakespeare ends ‘Sonnet 130’ with a rhyming
couplet. Similarly, Duffy adopts this convention in ‘Anne Hathaway’.
17.
Shakespeare’s sonnet differs from the other three in that it is the only one with touches of
humour.
18.
‘Mother, any distance’ and ‘The Laboratory’ have in common unresolved endings, the reader
being unsure of what will happen next because of how the poets have chosen to finish their
poems.
19.
The present tense used at the end conveys a sort of certainty that she will always ‘hold him’ in her
head though the present tense of Armitage’s poem ‘a hatch opens … to fall or fly’ has the
opposite effect of uncertainty.
20.
Another difference is that the important woman is not his wife: she is his mother.
Note the correct use of a colon
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Helpful hints for poetry essays
NOTES FOR THE POETRY QUESTION IN THE ENGLISH LITERATURE EXAM
ONE - Use P.Q.C. constantly.
TWO - Use the writers’ names.
Make points, quote or give your
evidence and then make analytical
comments about why the writer has
done this and what it:
Not just ‘There is a simile that
captures…’ but ‘Browning
creates a simile in order to
capture…’ This is how to address
writers’ intentions and purposes.
reveals/shows/conveys/emphasises/
stresses/captures/reflects/echoes/
implies/suggests/indicates/intimates/
hints at/ manifests
FIVE
THINGS TO
THREE - Make good choices.
FOUR - Refer to the social and
historical context of the Bank
(older) poems.
This could be in the language
comment, or the power of
aristocrats or the social position of
women or poetic conventions of
the time or infant mortality rate – it
all depends on the poems!
• Read the THREE questions
FIVE - Write about Themes/Language/Form.
You must cover these things in your answer. For
each poem, aim at a minimum of:
3 P.Q.C.s on theme/content
3 P.Q.C.s on language
3 P.Q.C.s on form/structure
At the same time:
carefully before deciding which
ONE you can do best.
• Choose your poems sensibly
according to the question. Make
sure before you go any further that
you have FOUR poems that are
relevant to the question and that
you know well enough to write on
them with lots of P.Q.C.s.
COMPARE!
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