How do I Analyse Unseen Poetry at GCSE Level?

The unseen poetry paper is all about interpreting the poem, and then analysing the techniques that the poet uses. There is little need to worry about your interpretation being ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’, as long as you have taken in the poem and can analyse aspect of it; you can’t be marked down if the examiner ‘disagrees’ with your valid interpretation. What is important is: using subject terminology, identifying methods and responding to the poem. For example, even if you didn’t understand the meaning you could comment on techniques like repetition, exclamative language, and sibilance, and how these create emotional responses. Inserting subject terminology, with relevant quotations as evidence, and connecting this to the ‘feeling’ of the poem smoothly brings in both AO1 and AO2 marks.It’s also always worth commenting on the structure of the poem, whether it follows a regular rhyme scheme, if it changes, and the overall effect this creates. For example, if you can identify a sonnet and the ‘twist’ in the final two lines, this will benefit your analysis. However, it is important to structure your analysis in a clear and concise manner, not just throwing in analysis with no structure. For this, when planning beforehand, it is best to highlight what you want to talk about, then planning your paragraphs. So, if there is a lot of nature imagery and use of colour, allocate this to one paragraph, and then perhaps talk about the structure and form of the poem in the next paragraph. After that, all that there is left to do is unsure you have a strong couple of sentences to introduce and conclude your essay.