Approaching Poetry (Scottish Highers English): Revision Notes
Approaching Poetry
Understanding cohesion and coherence in critical essays
When writing about poetry, your essay must demonstrate two important qualities: cohesion and coherence.
Cohesion refers to how well your essay is linked together. This means using appropriately connected paragraphs that flow logically from one point to the next. Each paragraph should link to what came before and prepare for what follows.
Coherence means your essay must make sense as a complete piece of writing. This requires a clear introduction that sets up your argument and a conclusion that brings your analysis together. The essay should stand alone without needing additional explanation.
These two qualities work together to create a strong, persuasive critical essay that effectively communicates your analysis to readers.
Introduction to poetic techniques
Poetry analysis appears in both the Scottish text section and the critical essay section of the exam. While the questions differ between these sections, the techniques poets use remain consistent across both.
Common poetic features
Poets employ specific techniques to create meaning and effect. These include:
- Rhyme and rhythm - patterns of sound and beat that structure the poem
- Form - specific types such as ballads or villanelles, or free verse
- Enjambement - when a sentence or phrase runs over from one line to the next
- Sound - how words sound when spoken aloud
- Line structure - the most fundamental element, as poems are written in lines rather than continuous prose
Rather than studying each technique in isolation, you should examine how these techniques work together within complete poems. The power of poetry comes from the interaction between different techniques, not from individual elements used alone.
Themes, effects and analysis
The three essential questions
When analyzing any poem, apply this three-step approach:
Question 1: What is the poem about?
This question addresses the poem's theme. After reading the poem, identify its central concern in one or two words. For example, the theme might be jealousy, regret, nostalgia, past experiences, beauty, or isolation.
The theme represents the poem's core subject or emotional focus.
Question 2: What effect does the poem have on me?
This question explores your personal reaction to the poem. Consider the emotional response it creates: laughter, sadness, regret, or recognition of familiar feelings.
Often, poems resonate because they express feelings you have already experienced or introduce you to new perspectives. Your personal response matters because it shows the poem's impact on readers.
Question 3: How have these effects been achieved?
This question requires textual analysis - examining the specific techniques the poet uses and evaluating how they contribute to the theme.
Consider these elements:
- Structure - how the poem is organized
- Setting - where and when the poem takes place
- Symbolism - objects or images representing deeper meanings
- Rhyme and rhythm - sound patterns
- Word choice - specific vocabulary selected by the poet
- Imagery - descriptive language creating mental pictures
- Contrast - opposing ideas or images placed together
- Characterisation - if the poem involves characters
Identify which techniques are most important in the poem, then explain how each technique helps convey the theme you identified in Question 1.
Worked Example: Applying the Three Questions
Let's apply this approach to analyzing a poem about childhood memories:
Question 1: The theme is nostalgia - longing for the past
Question 2: The poem creates a bittersweet feeling - we feel warmth from the memories but sadness that they're gone
Question 3: The poet achieves these effects through:
- Sensory imagery - detailed descriptions of sights, sounds, and smells make the memories vivid
- Past tense verbs - emphasize that these experiences are over
- Warm color imagery - creates positive associations with childhood
- Contrast - between the bright past and the duller present heightens the sense of loss
The importance of textual analysis
Of these three questions, the third one is most important. Textual analysis involves examining how effects are achieved and how they contribute to the overall theme. This evaluative process should form the foundation of your study of any literary or media text.
When you analyse how a poet uses specific techniques, you demonstrate understanding of the relationship between form and meaning. You show not just what the poem says, but how it says it.
Avoid this common mistake: Don't simply identify techniques without explaining their effect. Saying "the poet uses alliteration" is insufficient. You must explain how the alliteration contributes to the theme or effect.
For example: "The harsh alliteration of 'broken, battered, bruised' emphasizes the violence of the experience and creates a harsh, discordant sound that mirrors the speaker's pain."
Understanding context
When studying poems for the Critical Reading paper, contextual knowledge enhances your understanding. Research the following areas:
Historical and cultural context - the era when the poet was writing, including social, political, and cultural circumstances of the time.
Biographical context - key facts about the poet's life that might illuminate the poem's themes.
Literary context - the kinds of issues each poet typically explored, the poetic forms and structures they preferred (traditional form, blank verse, free verse), and their characteristic use of rhythm.
This background knowledge enables deeper understanding of why poets made particular choices and what they hoped to achieve. Context doesn't replace textual analysis, but it enriches your interpretation of the poem.
Applying the approach across sections
The three-question method applies to any text you study: drama, prose fiction, prose non-fiction, poetry, film, television series, or advertisements.
Scottish text section and critical essay section
You have flexibility in how you use poetry across the exam sections:
If you choose prose or drama for the Scottish text section (such as Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon or Men Should Weep by Ena Lamont Stewart), you may select poetry for the critical essay section. This means you can use poems from the Scottish poetry list for your critical essay response.
Therefore, you will either:
- Study Scottish specified poems for the Scottish text section, using close textual analysis
- Study a range of poems for the critical essay, which could include poems from the Scottish text list
This flexibility allows you to focus your poetry study according to your chosen exam strategy. Consider which approach best suits your strengths and interests when planning your exam preparation.
Remember!
Key Points to Remember:
- Apply the three essential questions to every poem: What is it about? What effect does it have? How are these effects achieved?
- Cohesion means well-linked paragraphs; coherence means a complete, self-contained essay with introduction and conclusion
- Textual analysis - examining how techniques contribute to theme - is the most important skill
- Context (historical, biographical, literary) enhances your understanding of poems
- The same analytical approach works for all literary and media texts
- You can use Scottish poetry texts for either Section 1 or the critical essay section
- Always explain how techniques contribute to meaning, don't just identify them