Advice on essay structure/paragraphs for writing up your presentations on ballads/other poems

Go over your exam board's assessment objectives to help you organise your paragraphs.

Introduce each paragraph with a clear topic sentence (a sentence that introduces and sums up your paragraph.)

Here is a suggested paragraph plan (although you can vary the order when writing).


1.  Give the title of your poem/ballad and sum up what it is about.


2.  Write about the point of view, symbolism, themes and ideas.


3.  Analyse the poem's language for imagery, use of adjectives, verbs, etc. where appropriate.


4.  Write about the poem's form and structure.


5.  Give various interpretations of the ballad/poem and explain how and why different versions of ballads changed over time.


6.  Give your interpretation of the ballad/poem and what you think of it.


7.  Write about the ballad/poem's literary, cultural and historical contexts. (This may lead you into linking them with the ballad/poem's themes.)


The advice above mostly relates to ballads.