Literature Examination

Hello.

Some of you may still be confused with what you are going to expect for tomorrow’s Lit exam. Well, to clear up the air, there will be 2 sections. First section is based on a poem you have read in class (any one of these: “Spaghetti”, “Parents’ Evening [1]” and “Parents’ Evening [2]”).

The second section is based on a poem you have not seen before (hence an “unseen poem”). Do not worry about this poem because I have given you practice on this already. There are two main handouts that you should look at: 1) the suggested answers to Elizabeth Bishop’s “Manners” and 2) the suggested answers to Billy Collin’s “Introduction to Poetry”. In these two suggested answers, you have models to show you how you could tackle the unseen poem. Let me emphasise this: The unseen poem in the exam is NOT the same as “Manners” or “Introduction to Poetry”. What you should be revising from the two suggested answers I have given you is the way to answer a question well.

Some tips on how to answer tomorrow’s questions:

1) read the poem carefully
2) make notes by the side of the poem – on the literary devices (e.g. what is the rhyme scheme, is it a metaphor, a simile, a personification, etc)
3) ask yourself: “what’s happening in the poem?”
4) who are the personas in the poem?
5) make notes on how you feel about the poem as you read

The total marks for the examination is 30 marks – 12 for section 1 and 18 for section 2.

There will be essay questions. Remember to use this structure:


Introduction – State your stand and the one (two, if you feel confident) factor you would consider to support your stand.

Paragraph 1 – Support your stand.
State
Evidence
Elaboration
LinK

Paragraph 2 – How might some people disagree with you?
State
Evidence
Elaboration
LinK

Conclusion – What basis do you think that your point is stronger than other people’s?
S
E
E
K

Tips on writing the essay:

1) State your stand clearly. Concentrate on a specific factor. For example if the question asks you: "Do you like the poem?" first you must say "yes" or "no". Then you need to identify the factor. Be specific. Do not say things like "We should consider appearence before we can decide". Just say "We should consider appearence."

2) Make sure that your factor can be substantiated. This means that there is CLEAR EVIDENCE from the text to support your answer. It will be a bonus for you if you can use direct quotes (meaning you use the exact word/phrase from the text).

3) Please, please, please follow the structure I have put above.

Good luck everyone. It's been great having you as my students for the past 8 weeks.