Comparing poems for English



Comparing poems for English literature – example with details filled in

| |Heaney – Blackberry Picking|Clarke – The Field Mouse |Whitman – Patrolling Barnegat|Hopkins – Inversnaid |

|Subject Write a short |Picking blackberries |Cutting the hay – a field |A stormy night on the New |A beautiful place in |

|description (one sentence) of | |mouse is killed |Jersey coast |Scotland |

|what each poem is about. | | | | |

|Theme What are the main ideas |Hope and disappointment – |The fragility of natural and |The power and danger of the |The beauty of nature and why|

|in the poems? |things never live up to our|human life |natural world |we need wild places |

| |hopes | | | |

|Meaning Is each poem |Fairly clear move from |Less obvious – subject changes|Very straightforward – nature|Moves from description of |

|straightforward or ambiguous |optimism to pessimism – |from hay-cutting, to wounded |is shown as powerful and |wonders of nature to |

|in meaning? What do you think |blackberry picking as a |mouse, to worries about |majestic |reflection on why we need to|

|it means? |metaphor for other things |children | |preserve it |

|Viewpoint What is the |Adult recalls childhood |Parent concerned for children |Observer filled with awe |Observer filled with wonder |

|viewpoint? |experience | | | |

|Tone and mood Comment on each |Reflective and |Highly serious and concerned |Exhilarated – the poem is |Shares Whitman’s awe but in |

|poem’s tone and mood. Does |philosophical | |full of raw natural energy |a more delighted way – a |

|either poem make any use of | | | |much more joyful experience |

|humour or irony? | | | |of nature |

|Interesting details Comment on|Bluebeard – a sinister |Reference to news – war in |Images are all literal – they|The poet captures and |

|any details which you find |reference, since his hands |Europe (Yugoslavia) makes poet|may be symbolic of other |exploits the local words for|

|interesting in the poems |were sticky with the blood |fearful and sympathetic |things but are not metaphors |natural features |

| |of his wives | | | |

|Structure and form Describe |Two halves correspond to |Three stanzas correspond to |No set metre but a pattern of|Three stanzas of description|

|the structure and form of the |ideas of hope and |sequence of ideas |stresses – which Hopkins also|and one pleading for saving |

|poems – look at such things as|disappointment |Loose iambic metre |does |the wilderness. Anapaestic |

|rhyme, metre/rhythm, stanza | | | |metre and alliteration |

|form | | | | |

|Key images Look for the key |Different kinds of |“Bones brittle as mouse ribs” |“Dim weird forms” |“Weeds and…wilderness” sum |

|images in each poem. In each |blackberries and the juice |“Neighbour turned stranger” | |up all the other images |

|case say |– leading to “rat-grey | | | |

|what the image is |fungus”. | | | |

|what it means | | | | |

|how it works in the poem | | | | |

|Other technical features Are |Lots of monosyllables, |None really |Every line ends with a |Lots of sound FX and |

|there any other features, such|especially nouns (clot, | |present participle verb |wordplay |

|as sound FX, contrast, |blob, knot, boots) often at| |(“-ing” word) | |

|colloquialism or wordplay? |the end of a line | | | |

|Personal response Give your |This poem speaks the truth |Gives an older person’s |Quite easy to read but it’s |Could be an advert for the |

|own response to the poems, |about things not living up |viewpoint – appeals to |not much more than a list of|Scottish Tourist Board |

|with reasons |to hopes |feminine side |verbs | |

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