Why so much poetry on GCSE courses?
Students often struggle with the amount of poetry on most GCSE courses. Tell me how you feel about poetry … and more specifically about studying the stuff.
Answers
Well, I am a geologist but I love poetry to date. Students find poetry difficult or rather not interesting since there are just too many poems in each cluster! There are two clusters; Love and relationshipsPower and conflictStudents should study all 15 poems in their chosen cluster and be prepared to write about any of them in the examination.My take is, it is easy to study and excel in poetry since there is an easy approach: " Understanding the Persona, context, and language" language include so many things but there are 10 important ones that are always examined no matter if you have never read the poem. ....let me stop, I think I would continue forever.
14 September 2018
Thanks, Florence. It is always great to see a scientist who loves poetry - because the two are after all not incompatible at all.Poetry is so many things... having an approach certainly helps for exam purposes.
14 September 2018
I enjoyed studying War poetry more so than Love because it was easier to understand and link to a solid context. But for all of the poems I put together posters, read them lots to try and memorise what each one was about so I was prepared for any in the exam. I think studying poetry in bulk was made more enjoyable and easier by separating them into groups with similarities. E.g. these 5 share the theme of unrequited love, the next 3 are about loss etc.
15 September 2018
Thank-you, Michelle - yes being able to picture the events of the poem in a specific context certainly helps.
16 September 2018
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