Section A: How To Get Full Marks (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE English Literature)

Section A: How To Get Full Marks

The starting point for the analysis of any text is active reading. This means annotating with your own comments and questions about the text as you read. Poems will often contain many layers of meaning, so it is important that you explore beyond any surface meanings to uncover the deeper ideas and themes. Some appreciation of the context in which a poem was written can also help your understanding, but this should never be the main focus of your exploration.

It is tempting to jump straight in and start writing immediately. However, following this guide will ensure you answer the question in the way the examiners are looking for.

Below you will find sections on:

• What skills are required

• Steps for success

• Top tips

What skills are required

Each question on this exam paper assesses all four Assessment Objectives equally. This means it is important that you know what skills these Assessment Objectives require you to demonstrate in order to get the most marks.

• AO1 is about demonstrating knowledge of the poem’s content through reference to specific sections of the text:

  • As you read through the poem, annotate any questions you have

  • This objective is about working out what is going on in terms of content, structure and word choice

• AO2 is about going beyond the surface meaning and story to look for underlying ideas and attitudes – the poet’s and our own:

  • This requires you to ask “why” the author has made the choices they have

  • Some elements of the writer’s context can be used to inform your personal response, but only if relevant to the focus of the question

• AO3 requires critical engagement and evaluation of how the text works:

  • “Meanings and effects” suggests that there is more than one meaning for a text, and the language, structure and form of the poem contribute to those meanings

  • It does not mean just listing the literary techniques the writer has used

• AO4 refers to the way you shape your writing in order to communicate your engagement with the text:

  • A personal response means that you may wish to make comparisons with similar experiences of your own, whether in real life or in your reading

  • Any comments, comparisons or contextual information should help reinforce your own interpretation, but not replace it

  • Your own response is valid as long as it is supported by evidence

The following sections explore the skills you will need to demonstrate in more detail:

• Analysing a poem

• Developing a personal response

Analysing a poem

Poetry gives us an image that is not realistic, but which needs to be interpreted. It is important to remember that the choices a writer has made in terms of how the poem is set out and the language they have used are all deliberate – a poem is a crafted piece of work. It is therefore useful to consider not only the language choices a writer has made, but also what decisions they have taken in terms of structure and form.

What to do when analysing a poet’s methods

• Take a whole-text approach to the poem:

  • This could involve commenting on structure: “at the start”/“this changes when”/“in contrast…”

  • This could involve commenting on a poet’s choice of form:

    • How have they conformed to, or subverted, the form of sonnet/dramatic monologue etc.?

    • What deliberate choices has the poet made with their verse form? Are there reasons there is a regular or irregular rhyme structure?

  • Think about how tone is presented and develops: why has the poet chosen to present this tone? Why have they included a tonal shift?

  • Are characters in the poem presented differently from each other? Why? What does each represent?

  • Do characters’ relationships with each other change? Why might a poet have chosen to do this?

• Remember that personas, and characters in a poem, are constructs, not real people:

  • Think about what each character’s function is in the poem

  • What does the poet use their persona, or characters, to say about the theme?

  • Why has the poet chosen to write their poem in first, or third, person?

  • Is the first-person narrator reliable or unreliable? 

• Always frame your essay with the poet in mind:

  • As the examiners say: “writers use methods, including language and structure, to form and express their ideas – the choices the writer makes are conscious and deliberate”

  • Therefore, write that a poet “highlights X”, “suggests Y”, “challenges Z”

  • And always use the poet’s (last) name in your essay

  • Use the words “so” and “because” to push you to explain your own ideas further

• Zoom out to big ideas in your analysis:

  • Go from analysing language, or other writer’s choices, to a poet’s overall intention or message

  • This should also link to your thesis, and argument, throughout

  • You can begin these “zoom out” sentences with “The poet could be suggesting that because X, then Y” or “The poet could be using the character of X to challenge contemporary ideas about Y”

  • Use modal language to present sophisticated ideas:

    • Using words like “could”, “may” or “perhaps” shows that you are thinking conceptually

Form

The form of the poem can be thought of as “genre”. Poetry itself is a form of text, as are prose and drama. WIthin the form of poetry, there are many subforms. Some of the main forms of poetry are detailed below:

When writing about form in poetry, it is important to consider why the poet has chosen that particular form, and especially if they have altered the rules of that particular form and why. It is also useful to consider how the form reflects the themes of the poem.

Let’s take a look at an example. The following poem is called “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley:

How to apply this in an exam response:

Structure

The structure of a poem refers to how the poem has been put together in its particular form. The choices a poet can make in terms of how to structure their poem includes stanza length, the use of repetition and refrains, a circular structure, and the use of particular types of punctuation, such as caesura, or a lack of punctuation at the end of a line, called enjambment. Structure also includes rhyme scheme and changes in line length. The poet’s choices regarding structure can affect a poem’s meaning or message.

Let’s look at an example of structural choices made by a writer and how these shape meaning. The following stanzas are taken from John Agard’s poem “Checking Out Me History”:

How to apply this in an exam response:

Language

When analysing language in a poem, you need to consider the specific choices of words and phrases the writer has used, as well as the imagery they have created and the language techniques they have used, all of which contribute to the themes and meanings in the poem.

In order to do this, you should consider both the denotation and the connotations of particular words:

• Denotation = the literal meaning of a word or phrase

• Connotation = the associations or implied meanings of the word or phrase

When commenting on words and phrases from the text, you should always try to consider why you think the writer has chosen that particular word to use. Below are some questions that you might ask yourself when analysing the words and phrases in a poem:

The following table provides you with a list of some terms and definitions to use when analysing individual words and phrases:

Once you are able to identify particular words and phrases within a text, you need to develop this skill further by considering why the writer has chosen to include these within their writing. 

Rеmеmbеr thе goal of analysing words and phrasеs is to uncovеr layеrs of mеaning,  understand thе writer’s intent and explore how languagе contributes to the ovеrall impact of thе poem. 

Language features 

It is important that you are familiar with key literary terms to support your analysis of the poem. While the examiner will expect you to use relevant subject terminology to support your views, this does not mean that you will secure more marks for demonstrating a wide understanding of literary terms. It is much more important that you clearly articulate the intended effects of any terms that you use.

The table below provides some definitions of key literary terms. This list is not exhaustive, but it is simply a guide to some of the techniques that might be most useful when analysing a poem:

Knowing the names of sophisticated language techniques will not gain you any more marks in the exam, especially if these techniques are only “spotted” and the writer’s intentions are not explained. Once you are able to identify and understand different literary techniques, you need to develop this skill further by considering why the writer has chosen to include these techniques in their writing. 

How to apply this in an exam response:

Developing a personal response

A sensitive and personal response to a poem comes from reading the poem closely and knowing the poem thoroughly. You should think critically about meanings and interpretations, and use quotations and references to support your response.

When you consider your response to a poem, it is essential that you provide evidence to support your interpretation. This will make your response well-informed. Here is where you consider the language and structural devices that the poet has used.

You should therefore begin your analysis of the given poem with an exploration of the poet’s meaning and ideas, rather than the methods they have used. This will automatically mean that you are developing a personal response to the poem, rather than just “spotting” the techniques a poet has used. It is also a good idea to consider how the poem’s title helps you understand its content. Then, depending on the focus of the question, find the evidence that supports your understanding and interpretation of the poem.

Ideas and themes, not methods

• Examiners warn against structuring your analysis based on the poet’s methods:

  • They do not reward well when students identify a poet’s method first, and then analyse what it means

  • For example, spotting that a poem includes sibilance, or caesura, and then attempting to say something relevant about that method

  • Often, this won’t work because students will fail to identify a convincing link between the method and the theme of the question

• Instead, examiners suggest students focus their responses on meaning and ideas, and use the poet’s methods as a means of illustrating meaning:

  • So your argument should start with the poet’s overarching ideas in terms of the question, and then find evidence from the poem that illustrates these ideas

  • For example, if the question is about how the poet conveys ideas about marriage, you would not start a point like this:

    • “The poet uses caesura in line 13. This caesura could show how…”❌

  • But instead, like this:

    • “The poet presents marriage as something challenging, which requires mutual respect. The poet shows this when…”✅

Tone

Another way to understand the meaning and ideas of a poem is to consider its tone.

• In poetry, tone is the “mood” of a poem:

  • This could be the mood that:

    • A speaker expresses in a poem

    • A poet has towards their speaker

    • The poet creates in terms of the setting of the poem

    • The poet creates in terms of the poem’s subject matter

• The tone of a poem reflects its ideas and meaning:

  • It is therefore something you should consider when thinking about how a poet expresses their ideas and meaning

• Because a poem’s mood is created by the poet’s language, pace and rhythm, symbolism and grammar, it works perfectly as evidence in your essay:

  • So think: what is the tone the poet is trying to convey in their poem?

  • And how – via their choices – do they create this effect?

• Another sophisticated way to explore ideas and meanings presented by a poet is to consider whether the tone of a poem changes:

  • Think: why has the poet created this tonal shift?

  • And how – via their poetic choices – do they create this shift?

  • This also enables you to say something relevant about structure

• So think first about why a poet has created a certain tone, and what its effect is, before thinking about what methods they have used to create it:

  • For example, you would not start a point like this:

    • “The poet uses imagery in line 1. This creates a tone of …”❌

  • But instead:

    • “Macrae explores ideas about being contented within your own self through her use of metaphor, “while inside his heart was fat with sun”, which suggests Harry’s life is one that is filled to the brim with joy and pleasure, which…”✅

Perspective and tense

Considering perspective is another sophisticated way to explore a poet’s intention and messages.

• Perspective in poetry is the point of view from which the poem is being told:

  • It could be narrated in the first person (using the pronoun “I”)

  • It could be narrated in the third person (“he”; “she”; “they”, etc.)

• Poems often also contain a persona:

  • A persona, or speaker, is the invented character through which the poem is narrated

• Remember, the persona of a poem is not the same as the poet themselves, and this separation allows poets to explore ideas with more nuance and subtlety

• Poets often create a fictional narrator (a persona) when writing in the first person

  • Sometimes, writing in the first person can give a poem more immediacy

• Perspective is therefore a very deliberate choice made by the poet in order to better get across their ideas and message:

  • As such, it counts as a writer’s method

  • Just like tone above, it is directly linked to a writer’s intention, and so serves as excellent evidence for a poet’s meaning and ideas

• Considering the tense of the poem also contributes to the speaker’s perspective

• Different tenses will create a different tone and perspective, and the poet will have made a deliberate choice over which tense and why:

  • For example, is the speaker looking back (past tense), speaking about now (present tense) or looking forward (future tense)?

How to quote from the poem in your essay

• The ability to support your interpretation means selecting relevant quotations from the poem

• However, it is the skill of precisely unpicking and selecting textual references, rather than using quotations, that’s important

• Therefore, references don’t need to be direct quotations:

  • They can be references to things that happen in the poem 

  • They can be references to the choices and methods the poet uses (“this idea is expressed when the poet uses first-person narration/a tonal shift/symbolism relating to X in order to…”)

• Examiners repeatedly stress that textual references are just as valuable as direct quotations:

  • The most important thing is that these references are directly related to the ideas and themes you are exploring in your essay, and provide evidence to prove your thesis

• When using direct quotations, you should aim to select 6–7 relevant quotations that contain a range of language and/or structure devices that you can comment upon and analyse:

  • A high-level response will incorporate these quotations into the explanations of meaning

  • Your quotations should also be embedded into your sentences, rather than separate. For example:

    • “The poet explores how power does not last by stating that “Nothing beside remains”, which tells us that there is nothing left of this once-powerful ruler except a broken statue standing in the middle of a vast desert” ✅

  • Rather than:

    • “The poet explores how power does not last. This is shown in the quote “Nothing beside remains”. This shows…” ❌

Steps for success

Following these steps will give you a strategy for answering this poetry question effectively:

1. Grab your highlighter and read the question first:

   • Read carefully and highlight the focus of the question

2. Read the poem with the focus of the question in mind:

   • Highlight and annotate as you read

   • Note down any comments about structure, form and language that will help you to answer the question

   • Ask yourself: how does what I am noting down show the focus of the question?

     • Do not just write a list of techniques that the poet has used

3. Do a brief plan of 3–4 points, linking to the quotations you are going to use

4. Start your answer using the wording of the question:

   • For example: “Atwood makes the reader feel as though human activities are pointless in The City Planners by contrasting the mechanical nature of urban planning with the chaos of the natural world”

   • This demonstrates to the examiner that you have understood both the question and the poem

5. Go into detail:

   • Now you need to make as many points as possible, ranging throughout the poem

   • It is a good idea to make your points in chronological order, if possible

   • Use the annotations you have made in the margins to form the basis of each point:

     • Make your point, then support it with quotations and/or direct references to the poem

     • Explain how the quote highlights the idea in the question

     • Analyse what the key words and phrases in the quote make the reader feel about the idea in the question

   • Comment on and analyse language, form and structure

   • Link your ideas to the theme and the focus of the question:

     • You should refer back to the keyword in the question throughout your answer

     • Use “because” or “as” to support your ideas with detailed reasons

   • Explore the poet’s intention and message

6. Sum up:

   • Finish your answer with a “So overall…” statement

   • Zoom back out to the big idea in the poem

   • Your finishing statement should sum up what you have discovered, relevant to the focus of the question:

     • However, it should not just repeat the points you have already made

Top tips

• Avoid being too general or vague in your introduction:

  • Your introduction should address the Assessment Objectives in some way

• Avoid simply “re-telling” the story of the poem

• Make sure every paragraph answers the question:

  • Do not just write everything you know about the poem

• Respond to the whole of the poem

• Avoid unnecessary words

• Re-read each of the paragraphs you have written before you write the next:

  • Check that each paragraph is clear and that it answers the question

• Ensure your selection of quotations are directly relevant to the focus of the question

• Do not neglect to comment on the final stanza or end of the poem