In the exam you may be given a poem you have not studied and asked to write about it (and sometimes to compare it with a second). You are assessed on your response, analysis of methods, and use of terminology, not on prior knowledge.
Original practice fragment
A step-by-step approach
Read the question and poem, then reread as useful. Establish a provisional subject, speaking voice and situation. Do not invent biography when no contextual information is supplied.
Annotate selectively: important words, repeated sounds, syntax and shifts. A device label is only useful when you explain how it contributes to this passage.
Title: what does it suggest, and does the poem change that meaning?
Form and structure: stanzas, rhyme scheme, enjambment, caesura, how the poem begins and ends.
Language: imagery, word choice, sound devices.
Observation before effect
Writing the response
Develop a supported answer to the question. A brief overview may help, but no separate introduction, conclusion, chronological order or fixed number of points is compulsory.
Use concise evidence and explain how language, form or structure shapes the interpretation. A personal response is grounded judgement, not unsupported preference.
Original practice fragment (slashes mark line endings): I wait beside / the gate. The road is still. / A bus turns slowly / beyond the hill. Syntax continues across two breaks, while still and hill rhyme. The waiting situation may support anticipation, but does not settle whether the speaker feels hopeful or anxious.
A supported reading stays open
Comparing two unseen poems
Follow the exact comparison task. Connect selected evidence from both poems and explain relevant similarities or differences. Balance means adequate analysis of both, not identical word counts. Context is not a licence to invent facts about an unseen writer.
幻灯片
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