Essay Planning for AS English Literature Exam Essays ( Concept Map )

On the right you will find a generic plan for planning AS English Literature essays for comparing poems in the Edexcel Exam. Try it out by adding brief, phrase-like notes from each poem to see whether it helps you plan and write better essays. Aim to select poems that enable you to compare (what is similar) and contrast (what is different) in how each poet presents the theme of "home".

Of course, if this method of planning is not as effective as the one you use, ignore this post.

Click on the image to enlarge.

For a method that works even better, try the acronym S. T. R. I. D. E. and add Form and Structure to it. It might also be a good idea to add Voice, including First or Third person narrator

See this link for a fuller explanation of this effective method:
http://goforgold-dog.blogspot.com/2007/07/strive-or-stride-help-with-reading-and.html

AS poetry essay style -planning and writing introductions

Summary
Good essay style for AS poetry essays should include most of the following:

(1) Use the stimulus (the brief quotation before the question) to identify key words and phrases that will be important for the argument that will form your answer.

(2) The key words and phrase in the main body of the question will echo the ones in the stimulus. Underline the key words and phrases in this part of the question, too, as this will be equally important for forming the body of your argument. (AO3)

(3) Begin by identifying the poems that you have selected to answer the question. Briefly justify with several key words and phrases in quotation marks from the question and why they are appropriate poems for the question.

(4) Spend five to seven minutes planning your answer by thinking about key words and phrases and then impose a structure on your plan. By numbering its points either in bullet point or spider-gram form, you should be able to write a good, coherent essay.

(5) Work in literary terms such as narrator, form, etc. as appropriate. (That gets you going with AO1).

(6) Be careful not to overload your introduction - you just need to identify relevant poems and briefly justify your reasons using the question's key words, phrases, etc.

(7) Try to avoid making your introduction appear abrupt by not justifying your choices of poems.

Some thoughts on how to write an introduction to a poetry question for the Edexcel Anthology

Take this example exam question from 2006.

'Even when poems appear to be about despair, they often manage to salvage something which provides comfort.'

Explore this view of poetry and the ways in which the poets' use of language in the anthology often appears to overcome very despairing and pessimistic feelings.

You should write about at least two poems, including "I Am" or "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" or both. You choice of poems must cover at least two groups.

Your should identify the key words from the stimulus statement: "despair", "salvage" and "comfort" and the question statement: "explore this view of poetry", "the ways in which poets' use of language often appears to overcome despairing and pessismistic feelings".

Rememember that you must write about poems from different groups of the Anthology.

For example,

The poems, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and "I Am" both feature language of "pessimism" and "despair". However, these feelings are not "salvaged by something that provides comfort" in "Do Not Go Gentle . . ."; whereas in "I Am" the first person narrator seeks comfort in "God" and possibly death with, "The grass below - above the vaulted sky".

This, of course, is one of many possible introductions. (My students have work-shopped better ones which I will post next week!). It does, however, show the direction in which the argument will follow (important for AO4).You do not have to agree with the question - it is often fruitful to challenge the question fully or in part with the poems you select. Remember that there will always be an implied comparison between the poems' treatment of themes, language, presentation and ideas.