ENGLISH LITERATURE AS
& A2
Poetry: study tips
First reading
- You can prepare your first reading of the poems by doing some very basic background
research. If you’re studying a collection of poems by a single author, find out some
key facts about the author’s life.
- Find out the poems you are required to study, and read them. If the poems are quite
short, read each one two or three times. At this stage, your aim is just to get a general
sense of what the poems are about.
- As you read the poems, look for links between them, for example subjects and
attitudes.
Studying the text
- Your first reading will give you a general overview of the text. You’re now ready to
study it in more depth.
- Identify the aspects of the text you need to concentrate on by finding out the weighting
of the assessments objectives for this unit or module, for example the context or
different interpretations.
- As you study poems, keep an organised set of notes. You’ll need detailed notes on
each poem you study. You also need to identify links between poems, showing which
themes are relevant to each poem. You should also think about form and style.
- If you are allowed to, annotate the book itself, underlining or highlighting key
passages, writing brief comments or explanations in the margins, and noting cross-
references to other poems.
- With many poetry texts, it can be useful to identify perhaps seven or eight key poems.
These will be poems that, taken together, cover all of the key themes in the text and
that are the poet’s best work or are especially representative.
Poetic form and structure
Form: types of poems (e.g. sonnets) and also the kinds of organizational techniques poets use
to present their ideas (e.g. couplets).
Structure: a broader term for the overall arrangement of a poem. Form is part of this, but
structure also includes the sequence of ideas (e.g. how a poem begins or ends).
Lyric poetry
Most poems can be described as lyric poetry. A lyric poem expresses an individual’s
thoughts and feelings. Lyrics are usually quite short, and the most common subject is love.
,Sonnet
A sonnet is a poem of 14 lines, usually based on the iambic parameter (an unstressed
syllable is followed by a stressed one) and often conforming to a specific rhyme scheme. The
two most common kinds of sonnets are the Petrarchan and Shakespearean.
Petrarchan sonnet: has a rhyme schema that divides the poem into two sections, an
octave (the first eight lines) and a sestet (the last six lines). The rhyme scheme is
usually abbaabba (octave), cdecde or cdcdcd (sestet).
Shakespearean sonnet: has three quatrains (units of four lines each) and ends with a
couplet (a pair of rhyming lines). The usual rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg.
Love is the most common topic for sonnets. Poets have however also used the form for a
great variety of other subjects: religious sonnets, and the Romantic poets in particular wrote
many sonnets about nature. In thinking about how the form of a particular sonnet contributes
to its overall effect, look closely at the relationship between the different sections of the
poem. The divisions often correspond to shifts in meaning or attitude.
Odes
An ode is an elaborate lyric poem, often extending over several stanzas (this is a separate
section of a poem consisting of sever lines of verse), addressed to a person, object or abstract
idea (the subject is normally indicated by the title). Usually they are serious poems that praise
the person or thing addressed, and mediate upon its qualities.
Elegies
An elegy is an poem that mourns someone’s death. The term is also sometimes applied more
generally to solemn (plechtig), contemplative (beschouwend) poems.
Narrative poetry
Apart from the lyric, the most common type of poetry is narrative poetry. This is poetry that
tells a story. Before novels became popular in the 18th century, stories were traditionally told
in verse. The two main of narrative poems are the epic and the ballad:
Epics are long poems, often about mythical heroes, and often with grand, impressive
settings and elements of the supernatural.
Ballads tell stories in simple, everyday language. The emphasis is on action and
dialogue, with description usually kept to a minimum. Many ballads use the traditional
ballad metre: rhyming quatrains (four-line stanzas) of alternate four-stress and three-
stress lines. Another common feature is the use of a refrain: the repetition of words or
lines, usually at the end of a stanza.
Stanzas
Within poems, the most commonly used organizational technique is the stanza. This is a
separate section of a poem consisting of several lines of verse. Many poems are divided into
stanzas of equal lengths. Four-line stanzas, known as quatrains, are especially common, and
are often combined with a regular metre and rhyming scheme. Stanzas are sometimes
known as verses, especially if they are short and of a regular length.
,I love thee to the depth and breadth and height Poetic language
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace
Connotations
The connotations of a word are its
associations – the emotions, sensations and attitudes that it evokes. Very broadly, words can
have positive or negative connotations, but you should also try to be more precise about the
particular connotations of specific words.
Note how many of the words have connotations of space and distance: depth, breadth, height,
reach, out of sight, ends.
Formality
Formal vocabulary tends to be associated with more serious subjects and also with older
texts. Informal language is sometimes
Come live with me and be my Love, used to suggest a speaking voice, to add a
And we will all the pleasures prove, sense of realism or to create humour. It is
That hills and valleys, dales and fields, more common in modern poetry.
Or woods or steepy mountain yields.
Simplicity and complexity
If vocabulary is noticeably simple or complex, consider why this kind of vocabulary has been
used, and think about the effects that it has.
As this quotation illustrates, simple words are often monosyllabic (they only have one
syllable), whereas complex vocabulary tends to be polysyllabic.
Ambiguity
Ambiguous language had more than one possible meaning. Poets use language in an
especially concentrated way, and words and phrases often have more than one level of
meaning.
Imagery
In its broadest sense, imagery refers to any aspect of a piece of writing that appeals to the
reader’s senses. There are technical terms for imagery that appeals to each of our senses:
- Visual imagery = sight
- Auditory imagery = hearing
- Tactile imagery = touch
- Olfactory imagery = smell
- Gustatory imagery = taste
The term imagery also refers to the use of comparisons, specially similes, metaphors and
personifications. A simile is a comparison that uses the words like or as. A metaphor goes on
stage further and describes something as if it actually were something else – what is said is
not literally true.
Tigers and lions Lie still as the sun = simile
A coiled snake Is a fossil = metaphor
, If a poet continues a metaphor, developing it over several lines (or sometimes over a complete
poem), this is known as an extended metaphor. Personification occurs when something that
is not human or alive is described as if it were.
Grammar and syntax
Grammar is a broad term for the rules that govern how we form and use words. Syntax is an
aspect of grammar that refers more specifically to the arrangement of words into sentences.
- Types of sentence: does the poem have any questions, commands or exclamations?
If so, what effect do they have?
- Word order: look for how words order might cause particular words to be
foregrounded (brought to the reader’s attention).
- Parallelism: this is the repetition of similar grammatical structures: phrases, lines or
sentences have similar pattern.
- First person: if a poem is written in first person (using words such as I and me), be
careful not to assume the poet is necessarily the narrator. Does the poem take the form
of a dramatic monologue – an extended piece of speech by an imaginary character or
persona?
In every cry of every Man, In this poem, parallelism strengthens the
In every Infant’s cry of fear, impression that the man is surrounded by
In every voice, in every ban, misery and oppression. In this example,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear. parallelism was created by the series of
phrases beginning with the word every.
Sound
Rhyme: rhymes are easy to spot, you won’t get much credit for simply saying they’re
there. Instead, you should think about any effects that the rhymes have. Rhyming
usually involves the ends of lines, and pairs of lines that rhyme in this way are called
couplets. The words that are rhymed may be significant – rhyming brings them
together, and you should consider whether linking them in this way has any effect.
Internal rhyme is when words rhyme within the line.
The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared This is an example of internal rhyme.
Half-rhymes (or pararhymes): occur when the rhyme is not quite complete; usually
the consonants in the rhyming words match, but the vowels do not, as in burn and
born.
Onomatopoeia: this occurs when words imitate the sounds they describe: when we
say the words out loud, we can actually hear the sound.
The woods crashing through darkness, the Here the onomatopoeic words are crashing
booming hills and booming.
Alliteration: this is when two or more words begin with the same sound. You should
only refer to alliteration if you can also explain the effect that you think it has.
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely
and lush
& A2
Poetry: study tips
First reading
- You can prepare your first reading of the poems by doing some very basic background
research. If you’re studying a collection of poems by a single author, find out some
key facts about the author’s life.
- Find out the poems you are required to study, and read them. If the poems are quite
short, read each one two or three times. At this stage, your aim is just to get a general
sense of what the poems are about.
- As you read the poems, look for links between them, for example subjects and
attitudes.
Studying the text
- Your first reading will give you a general overview of the text. You’re now ready to
study it in more depth.
- Identify the aspects of the text you need to concentrate on by finding out the weighting
of the assessments objectives for this unit or module, for example the context or
different interpretations.
- As you study poems, keep an organised set of notes. You’ll need detailed notes on
each poem you study. You also need to identify links between poems, showing which
themes are relevant to each poem. You should also think about form and style.
- If you are allowed to, annotate the book itself, underlining or highlighting key
passages, writing brief comments or explanations in the margins, and noting cross-
references to other poems.
- With many poetry texts, it can be useful to identify perhaps seven or eight key poems.
These will be poems that, taken together, cover all of the key themes in the text and
that are the poet’s best work or are especially representative.
Poetic form and structure
Form: types of poems (e.g. sonnets) and also the kinds of organizational techniques poets use
to present their ideas (e.g. couplets).
Structure: a broader term for the overall arrangement of a poem. Form is part of this, but
structure also includes the sequence of ideas (e.g. how a poem begins or ends).
Lyric poetry
Most poems can be described as lyric poetry. A lyric poem expresses an individual’s
thoughts and feelings. Lyrics are usually quite short, and the most common subject is love.
,Sonnet
A sonnet is a poem of 14 lines, usually based on the iambic parameter (an unstressed
syllable is followed by a stressed one) and often conforming to a specific rhyme scheme. The
two most common kinds of sonnets are the Petrarchan and Shakespearean.
Petrarchan sonnet: has a rhyme schema that divides the poem into two sections, an
octave (the first eight lines) and a sestet (the last six lines). The rhyme scheme is
usually abbaabba (octave), cdecde or cdcdcd (sestet).
Shakespearean sonnet: has three quatrains (units of four lines each) and ends with a
couplet (a pair of rhyming lines). The usual rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg.
Love is the most common topic for sonnets. Poets have however also used the form for a
great variety of other subjects: religious sonnets, and the Romantic poets in particular wrote
many sonnets about nature. In thinking about how the form of a particular sonnet contributes
to its overall effect, look closely at the relationship between the different sections of the
poem. The divisions often correspond to shifts in meaning or attitude.
Odes
An ode is an elaborate lyric poem, often extending over several stanzas (this is a separate
section of a poem consisting of sever lines of verse), addressed to a person, object or abstract
idea (the subject is normally indicated by the title). Usually they are serious poems that praise
the person or thing addressed, and mediate upon its qualities.
Elegies
An elegy is an poem that mourns someone’s death. The term is also sometimes applied more
generally to solemn (plechtig), contemplative (beschouwend) poems.
Narrative poetry
Apart from the lyric, the most common type of poetry is narrative poetry. This is poetry that
tells a story. Before novels became popular in the 18th century, stories were traditionally told
in verse. The two main of narrative poems are the epic and the ballad:
Epics are long poems, often about mythical heroes, and often with grand, impressive
settings and elements of the supernatural.
Ballads tell stories in simple, everyday language. The emphasis is on action and
dialogue, with description usually kept to a minimum. Many ballads use the traditional
ballad metre: rhyming quatrains (four-line stanzas) of alternate four-stress and three-
stress lines. Another common feature is the use of a refrain: the repetition of words or
lines, usually at the end of a stanza.
Stanzas
Within poems, the most commonly used organizational technique is the stanza. This is a
separate section of a poem consisting of several lines of verse. Many poems are divided into
stanzas of equal lengths. Four-line stanzas, known as quatrains, are especially common, and
are often combined with a regular metre and rhyming scheme. Stanzas are sometimes
known as verses, especially if they are short and of a regular length.
,I love thee to the depth and breadth and height Poetic language
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace
Connotations
The connotations of a word are its
associations – the emotions, sensations and attitudes that it evokes. Very broadly, words can
have positive or negative connotations, but you should also try to be more precise about the
particular connotations of specific words.
Note how many of the words have connotations of space and distance: depth, breadth, height,
reach, out of sight, ends.
Formality
Formal vocabulary tends to be associated with more serious subjects and also with older
texts. Informal language is sometimes
Come live with me and be my Love, used to suggest a speaking voice, to add a
And we will all the pleasures prove, sense of realism or to create humour. It is
That hills and valleys, dales and fields, more common in modern poetry.
Or woods or steepy mountain yields.
Simplicity and complexity
If vocabulary is noticeably simple or complex, consider why this kind of vocabulary has been
used, and think about the effects that it has.
As this quotation illustrates, simple words are often monosyllabic (they only have one
syllable), whereas complex vocabulary tends to be polysyllabic.
Ambiguity
Ambiguous language had more than one possible meaning. Poets use language in an
especially concentrated way, and words and phrases often have more than one level of
meaning.
Imagery
In its broadest sense, imagery refers to any aspect of a piece of writing that appeals to the
reader’s senses. There are technical terms for imagery that appeals to each of our senses:
- Visual imagery = sight
- Auditory imagery = hearing
- Tactile imagery = touch
- Olfactory imagery = smell
- Gustatory imagery = taste
The term imagery also refers to the use of comparisons, specially similes, metaphors and
personifications. A simile is a comparison that uses the words like or as. A metaphor goes on
stage further and describes something as if it actually were something else – what is said is
not literally true.
Tigers and lions Lie still as the sun = simile
A coiled snake Is a fossil = metaphor
, If a poet continues a metaphor, developing it over several lines (or sometimes over a complete
poem), this is known as an extended metaphor. Personification occurs when something that
is not human or alive is described as if it were.
Grammar and syntax
Grammar is a broad term for the rules that govern how we form and use words. Syntax is an
aspect of grammar that refers more specifically to the arrangement of words into sentences.
- Types of sentence: does the poem have any questions, commands or exclamations?
If so, what effect do they have?
- Word order: look for how words order might cause particular words to be
foregrounded (brought to the reader’s attention).
- Parallelism: this is the repetition of similar grammatical structures: phrases, lines or
sentences have similar pattern.
- First person: if a poem is written in first person (using words such as I and me), be
careful not to assume the poet is necessarily the narrator. Does the poem take the form
of a dramatic monologue – an extended piece of speech by an imaginary character or
persona?
In every cry of every Man, In this poem, parallelism strengthens the
In every Infant’s cry of fear, impression that the man is surrounded by
In every voice, in every ban, misery and oppression. In this example,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear. parallelism was created by the series of
phrases beginning with the word every.
Sound
Rhyme: rhymes are easy to spot, you won’t get much credit for simply saying they’re
there. Instead, you should think about any effects that the rhymes have. Rhyming
usually involves the ends of lines, and pairs of lines that rhyme in this way are called
couplets. The words that are rhymed may be significant – rhyming brings them
together, and you should consider whether linking them in this way has any effect.
Internal rhyme is when words rhyme within the line.
The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared This is an example of internal rhyme.
Half-rhymes (or pararhymes): occur when the rhyme is not quite complete; usually
the consonants in the rhyming words match, but the vowels do not, as in burn and
born.
Onomatopoeia: this occurs when words imitate the sounds they describe: when we
say the words out loud, we can actually hear the sound.
The woods crashing through darkness, the Here the onomatopoeic words are crashing
booming hills and booming.
Alliteration: this is when two or more words begin with the same sound. You should
only refer to alliteration if you can also explain the effect that you think it has.
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely
and lush
