kazuki00 Posted November 10, 2017 Report Share Posted November 10, 2017 Hey guys! My class recently did a few in-class Paper 1 samples, and I did absolutely horribly in them! I seem to always get the wrong main idea and impression of the poem that we get, and the teacher told me they were not convinced by the examples I used to back-up my main idea. So I was wondering! Does anyone have any tips for analyzing poems you have never seen before? I already am aware of the "Read the poem at least 3 times before analyzing" rule! What can I do to be as close as possible to the real main idea? Are there any works that you guys can recommend me to read to gain a better insight of poem analysis in English A Literature and Language? (I'm HL, btw!) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
yara560 Posted November 23, 2017 Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 Er, SL English here, but I guess I would say is instead of doing a full paper 1 practice, focus on getting your analysis right? Maybe ask your teacher if she has any examples of paper 1 texts or just texts to analyse in general and try and make a plan for that text, making sure to try and understand the main ideas. For now, I would say read the text carefully, perhaps try and figure out if there's anything special about the time period of the publication and see if that would shine some light on the analysis. But I have to say, poems aren't the only types of texts that come up so.....don't be too worried? Hope this helped haha Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaaaana Posted January 12, 2019 Report Share Posted January 12, 2019 Few points from a Sylvia Plath fighter...( 1. Circle out all the images and write down their original means and symbolic extend meaning. (e.g. tulips are normally related to red color, passion, and beauty, but in Plath's poem it indicates bustle and pain together with other semantic groups) 2.Structurally analysis your poem. Any extremely long sentences? Any single stanzas？These might suggests the poet's shift of emotion or focus. 3. Pay attention to the narrative voice, this helps you to verify the implied author's intention of writing this poem. (e.g. Some poets, especially ancient Chinese poets will deliberately avoid the use of the first-person narrative in order to secretly blend their own feelings with the scene） 4. Delicate dictions are worth analyzing. Since you must have a higher level of proficiency in English than me, there's no advice I can give in this area（...sorry Extra perspectives: Is the narrative time in this poem linear or annular/flashback? Why? （e.g Annular narrative voice reveals inevitability and sense of fate, while flashback narrative voice is commonly employed in the theme of reminince） Is the narrative space in this poem sealed or opened? Why? (I personally believe it's a good entry point for the analysis of emotion. Just imagine a closed elevator and a meadow under sunshine） These are tips I summarized from my experience of Chinese/English poem learning. Hope they can help you and good luck！ 🦊 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaaaana Posted January 12, 2019 Report Share Posted January 12, 2019 Just now, Yaaaana said: Few points from a Sylvia Plath fighter...( 1. Circle out all the images and write down their original means and symbolic extend meaning. (e.g. tulips are normally related to red color, passion, and beauty, but in Plath's poem it indicates bustle and pain together with other semantic groups) 2.Structurally analysis your poem. Any extremely long sentences? Any single stanzas？These might suggests the poet's shift of emotion or focus. 3. Pay attention to the narrative voice, this helps you to verify the implied author's intention of writing this poem. (e.g. Some poets, especially ancient Chinese poets will deliberately avoid the use of the first-person narrative in order to secretly blend their own feelings with the scene） 4. Delicate dictions are worth analyzing. Since you must have a higher level of proficiency in English than me, there's no advice I can give in this area（...sorry Extra perspectives: Is the narrative time in this poem linear or annular/flashback? Why? （e.g Annular narrative voice reveals inevitability and sense of fate, while flashback narrative voice is commonly employed in the theme of reminince） Is the narrative space in this poem sealed or opened? Why? (I personally believe it's a good entry point for the analysis of emotion. Just imagine a closed elevator and a meadow under sunshine） These are tips I summarized from my experience of Chinese/English poem learning. Hope they can help you and good luck！ 🦊 ...sorry for just noticing the test time was 2018.....（tears Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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