2017 IGCSE Unseen Paper Prose and Poetry Tips

Unseen Paper Tips

1 hour and 15 mins

There are no set books for this paper but you can (and should) prepare for it. Although there
are no quotations to learn for this paper, the critical skills you use in the set papers are also
being tested in the Unseen paper. So in many ways preparation for this paper has in fact
been taking place throughout your IGCSE course.

You must answer one of the two questions on the paper: either the poetry unseen (on a
single poem or extract from a longer poem) or the prose unseen (on a passage from a novel
or short story).

You are advised to spend around 20 minutes reading the questions and planning your
answer. You should: select your question wisely; read the question carefully and highlight
the keywords (which you will keep glancing at throughout the exam); read your chosen
poem/passage and annotate it, highlighting the words and phrases you intend to comment
on in your essay.

A brief outline of what the poem or passage says (a few lines ONLY) might be appropriate as
a starting point. But you should not re-tell the story.

The question will direct you to an aspect of the writer's techniques, so the main focus of the
question will be on how the writer presents his or her material.

You must respond directly and personally to the question as there are no study guides to

fall back on. Remember there are no correct or definitive answers.

Do not include lists of devices. Such an approach does not lead to fruitful literary
appreciation. For example, don't simply identify imagery or sound devices; explore them by
considering carefully how and why they were useful to the writer in achieving a particular
effect.

There is no merit in having a single quotation consisting or three or more lines; this suggests
that you are avoiding the real business of actually commenting on the poet's words. The
very best essays on poetry smoothly embed (integrate) short quotations (a word or
phrase) and analytical comment on them.

You should devote around 50 minutes to the writing of your answer, which leaves 5 minutes
for checking what you have written.

You should not try to be exhaustive. You cannot write about everything in the time available
so be selective.

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UNSEEN POETRY

Here are five steps that you can use when you first see an unseen poem, to help you think
about how to write about it.

STEP ONE: Work out what the poem is about…

 What is the subject of the poem?

 Who is speaking?
 Who is the narrator speaking to?

STEP TWO: Identify the themes and message of the poem…

 Why has the poet written the poem?

 What are they trying to say?
 What ideas are they using?
 Is it an emotional response to something that’s happened?
 Is it trying to get an emotional response from the reader?
 Is it portraying a message or opinion on a subject or event?

STEP THREE: Identify the attitudes and feelings in the poem…

 What are the different emotions and feelings of the narrator or poet?
 What is the mood or atmosphere of the poem (e.g. sad, angry, etc.)?
  How has the poet used different poetic techniques to show these attitudes and
feelings?

STEP FOUR: Identify the poetic techniques used in the poem…

 What are the different poetic techniques that the poet has used to show the
attitudes and feelings in the poem?
 How has the poet shown these feelings through form and structure (e.g. rhyme,
rhythm, line length, stanza length, etc.)?
 How has the poet used poetic devices to show these feelings (e.g. metaphors,
similes, caesura, enjambment, alliteration, juxtaposition, personification, etc.)?

STEP FIVE: Explore your personal response to the poem…

 How do you feel about the poem?

 How well does the poet get the message across in the poem?
 What is the impact of the poem on the reader (refer to ‘the reader’, rather than ‘I’
when talking about the impact of the poem)?
 Are there any other ways the poem could be interpreted?

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Helping points:

Writing about Poems

It made me think about ………………… because ……………………………..

I could sympathise with ………………… because …………………………….
I could understand ……………………………..
It made me see ……………… by ……………………………………………..
It made me feel …………………………………………………………………
The author shows us what ………………………. Is like through her/his descriptions of ……….
For example, she/he shows us ………………………………………………….
It tells us that……………., because ……………………………………………
For example, when ………………
This word/phrase tells me that ………………., because ………………………..
Another way in which she/he shows ………………………..
The phrase/words which give that impression is/are ……………….., because ………………..
The viewpoint she/he gives us …………
The pronoun gives us the impression that ……………………………………..
The adjectives/verbs/details tell us that ………………..
The use of the past tense/present tense/past perfect creates the sense of ……………………
The effect of the sentence structure is to make us feel ……………………………………..
The use of dialect / slang / Igbo language gives the impression that …………………………
In this metaphor / simile she/he compares …….. with …. They are similar because ………..
This suggest that …………….
Another similarity is …………….. In contrast, ……………………….
This is different from …………. Because ……………………………
However, ………… But ……… Although ………… Another difference is ……………..
This contrasts with ……………………………………………….

POINT: What the poet is trying to say

The aim/intention of the poet is to…

In order to… the reader, the poet…
The poet
uses the form of … to…
employs images which…
makes use of… to…
describes… as…
creates an atmosphere of…
writes from the point of view of…
emphasises…

EVIDENCE: An example of how he is trying to say it

The use of metaphors such as… have the effect of…

The use of repetition of the word… enables the poet to…
This is shown in the third stanza where he refers to…
We see this in line 4 where…
This is evident in…
Words and images such as… serve to…
Rhythm/punctuation is used to…
For example, ‘…………………’
For instance, ‘…………………’

EXPLANATION: What effect this has on you the reader

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By making us read on, the poet succeeds in…

Through this the poet implies that…
The use of this technique/image/sound effect…
shows that…/demonstrates that…/illustrates that…
emphasises…/ suggests…/ indicates…
reinforces the impression that…
makes the reader empathise with…
creates an atmosphere/mood/tone/impression of…

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2017 IGCSE Unseen Paper Prose and Poetry Tips

Unseen Texts Prose Notes

Stage 1: Reading Stage

2: Reacting Stage

3: Responding

A first reading of a passage of this length is likely to take between 2 and 4 minutes.
However, the important thing to know is how long it takes YOU so that any adjustments can
be made to your examination strategy.

Hint: Part of the close focus in your reading will involve addressing obscure vocabulary
which might not be explained in a footnote. Attempt to use the context of the sentence
and the overall passage to make a common-sense deduction. If this is impossible, you
would be best advised to select only clearly understood material from the passage to
support your critical appreciation.

The last aspect of the rest reading of a passage involves making decisions about the broad
framework, context and scope of the extract. (You will be making detailed observations
and annotations at the next stage of the process.)

Your first observations of this passage would probably include the following:

• Narrator

• Setting

• Characters

• Tones

Stage 2: Reaction and Annotation

In Stage 1 you identified WHAT is in the passage. You now have to address HOW author has
achieved what your reading has revealed to you.

The work you do now will dictate the quality of what you write at Stage 3 where the

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emphasis will have to be upon ANALYSIS rather than description or commentary.

As you reflect upon the passage in this way, you will generate purposeful annotation which
will help you to spot patterns in the work and, at the next stage, allow youto organize your
response in a way that is not tied to a chronological treatment.By noting the relationships
between images, you will be able to offer much more authoritative observations about the
authors technique which do not rely upon list making. This is one of the markers of a
sophisticated approach which is expected for the higher mark bands.

Stage 3: Written Response

Having clarified your thinking and designed the shape of your response, for the remainder of
the examination you should be focused exclusively upon expressing your ideas analytically.
In order to do this successfully, you must be quite sure that you recognize the differences
between 3 kinds of writing:

. Descriptive

. Commentary on meaning

. Critical analysis and evaluation