Unseen poetry

• Section C of Lit Paper 2

• 2 Questions
• 1 Question about 1 unseen poem – how does the writer present X in the poem?
(24 marks)
• 1 question comparing this poem to another unseen one you get in the exam (8
marks)
 In ‘Hard Frost’, how does
Hard Frost – Andrew Young the writer portray Winter?

Frost called to the water “Halt!”

And crusted the moist snow with sparkling
salt;
Brooks, their own bridges, stop,
And icicles in long stalactites drop.
And tench in water-holes
Lurk under gluey glass like fish in bowls.

In the hard-rutted lane

At every footstep breaks a brittle pane,
And tinkling trees ice-bound,
Changed into weeping willows, sweep the
ground;
Dead boughs take root in ponds
And ferns on windows shoot their ghostly
fronds.

But vainly the fierce frost

Interns poor fish, ranks trees in an armed host,
Hangs daggers from house-eaves
 How Do I Approach the Unseen Poem?

1 2 3
Read the poem through
Read the question first
once and highlight Read the poem through
before you read the
relevant words and a second time and this
poem – it will give you a
phrases that stand out time LABEL techniques
clue for what to look for.
and that you think are and features.
interesting.

4 5 6
Read the poem through
Write down what you
a third time looking for
think the poem literally
more techniques and Plan your response…see
means and write a
annotate the effect of next slide
sentence which links it to
the techniques around
the question
the poem.
LOA: Reflective poem about winter. Juxtaposes cruelty of
Stanza 1 -personification of frost - seems threatening + powerful.
winter against its beauty. Ultimately, winter is only a
Discuss images of the frost and ice.
temporary state.
LANGUAGE
INTRODUCTION

Stanza 2 the beauty of winter is alluded to – discuss image and Whole poem – regular rhyme scheme and stanza length –
alliteration. A semantic field of death is created – why? Discuss what might this suggest about inevitability of nature + the
references to challenges of winter. seasons?
LANGUAGE STRUCTURE/FORM

Final stanza - semantic field of war introduced – battle

Despite the challenging conditions that winter presents, the
between summer and winter. Personification of the sun in
poem reminds us that it is only a temporary state – summer
the final line – look at alliteration.
will win in the end. CONCLUSION
LANGUAGE and STRUCTURE
 EVIDENCE Useful Phrases: Developing your answer
• This suggests..
For example • This may make the reader feel… As well as

In the case of • The poet conveys a sense of… Furthermore

• The word which is particularly effective is…
As revealed by • Perhaps the author has used this phrase to .... In addition to
• The use of this adjective/verb/imperative
For instance Literally
suggests....
• Metaphorically
This is well illustrated in…. Linking to the Q Figuratively/Symbolically
This helps portray….
Here, we can see the writers’
portrayal of…
The sense of….is shown....
 • Make a point about
At the start of the poem, the writer presents
the poem that links winter, and specifically, the frost as a powerful
Point to the question. threat. Even the title of the poem “Hard
Frost” suggests an enemy that will be difficult
to overcome. The adjective “hard” suggests
• Select some something unbreakable and tough whilst it
evidence from the could also suggest something cold and
Evidence poem to support
your point.
unfeeling. In the first line, the writer
personifies the frost to seem like an evil
threat. Through the use of the imperative line
• Explain the effect “Frost called to water ‘Halt!’” the frost is
of the language in made to seem challenging and strong. This
Explain the quotation focus
on MITSL. image of the frost being a powerful adversary
is developed on the second line through the
use of the dynamic verb “crushed” which
• Link your ideas suggests that the frost and the winter will
back to the
Link question and point have no mercy on nature. The sense of
you made earlier. winter’s power and threat is clearly
established in the opening stanza.
 In ‘Hard Frost’, how does the writer
Hard Frost – Andrew Young portray Winter?

Frost called to the water “Halt!”

And crusted the moist snow with sparkling
salt;
Brooks, their own bridges, stop,
And icicles in long stalactites drop.
And tench in water-holes
Lurk under gluey glass like fish in bowls.

In the hard-rutted lane

At every footstep breaks a brittle pane,
And tinkling trees ice-bound,
Changed into weeping willows, sweep the
ground;
Dead boughs take root in ponds
And ferns on windows shoot their ghostly
fronds.

But vainly the fierce frost

Interns poor fish, ranks trees in an armed host,
Hangs daggers from house-eaves
 A reflective poem about winter. Juxtaposes the cruel, challenging aspect of winter against the beauty
of it. Ultimately, winter is only a temporary state. LANGUAGE

‘Hard Frost’ is a deeply reflective poem about winter. Winter, in

literature, is often portrayed as the cruelest of the seasons. The poet
captures this traditional portrayal of winter, encapsulating its cruel
aspects and juxtaposing them against the true beauty that can be found
in winter. We are left with the overarching sense that we must urge
ourselves to see that this, like life is only ever a temporary state and
winter moves to summer.
 Focus on the personification of the frost and how it is made to seem threatening and powerful. Discuss
the images of the frost and ice in stanza one. LANGUAGE

Across the poem, the writer explores winter’s cruelty. Early on in the poem, we are presented with the line
‘Frost called to the water “Halt!” ’. Immediately, we see Winter personified, with the use of the past tense
verb ‘called’. Initially, this demonstrates that the writer is portraying a past event, but the use of ‘called’
perhaps portrays winter as so powerful that it deserves to be listened to. Furthermore, the use of the
imperative exclamatory ‘Halt!’ adds to an abrupt sense that Winter has arrived, perhaps suggesting that
Winter arrives so abruptly that you don’t see it until it is too late. The writer, here, could be implying that in
order to truly appreciate the world around us, we must first appreciate its beauty in Summer, before Winter so
abruptly announces its presence.

Furthermore, the writer’s use of imagery portrays winter as a powerful force, with an ability to ‘crust the moist
snow with sparkling salt’. Here, the verb ‘crusted’ is a particularly interesting choice. It portrays a detailed
action that it can protect something vulnerable in such a beautiful way as it is ‘sparkling’ which has
connotations of diamonds, perhaps suggesting that the writer doesn’t see Winter as such an entirely brutal
force as that portrayed in the abrupt opening line. Alternatively, ’crusted’ could also suggest that Winter’s
effects, as strong as they can be, can only impact on something slightly. A crust is just the outside, and perhaps
here the writer is metaphorically suggesting that while Winter changes the appearance of things, it does not
change their essence.
 In stanza 2 the beauty of winter is alluded to – discuss the
image and alliteration. A semantic field of death is also alluded
to – why? Discuss the references to the challenges of winter.
LANGUAGE

Your Go…
Sentence starters:
As the poem progresses, we see that winter is portrayed as….
The writer has used....
An example of this is.....
Here, the writer could be suggesting....
The use of the word.......
This suggests that winter is being portrayed as being.....
Figuratively, the writer may be implying that.....
 Structure of the poem – regular rhyme scheme and stanza length – what might this
suggest about the inevitability of nature and the seasons? STRUCTURE/FORM

As the poem progresses, we continue to see different ways in which Winter is

portrayed. We also see another portrayal of it through the structural choices the
writer makes. For example, the poem not only has a regular rhyme scheme, but it
also has a regular stanza and line lengths. The rhyming couplets are perhaps
demonstrating that the writer is showing Winter’s inevitability. It will always come
around, and we cannot avoid it coming. It could be said that the writer is portraying
the relationship between humans and nature as a difficult one, one that humans will
never win; we are at the mercy of the seasons.
 Final stanza sees a semantic field of war introduced – a battle
between summer and winter. Personification of the sun in the final
line – look at the alliteration. LANGUAGE and STRUCTURE

Your go…

Sentence starters:
As the poem progresses, we see that winter is portrayed as….
The writer has used....
An example of this is.....
Here, the writer could be suggesting....
The use of the word.......
This suggests that winter is being portrayed as being.....
Figuratively, the writer may be implying that.....
 Despite the challenging conditions that winter presents the poem reminds us
that it is only a temporary state – summer will win in the end. Make a
comment about the title. CONCLUSION

Across the poem, Winter is first portrayed as a cruel, abrupt force to be reckoned
with. Although the writer portrays ideas about the beauty that Winter can bring,
he also portrays it as cruel and inevitable. Humans can do nothing to fight it and
we are powerless. However, the tone of the poem changes further, with the
introduction of war imagery. This war imagery is used to provide humanity with
more hope against Winter – although we cannot fight its arrival, Summer
eventually will defeat it, like a soldier defeating an army. Given the poem’s title of
‘Hard Frost’, it is interesting that the ‘frost’ is the very thing that the sun, Summer,
can indeed destroy. With its simple presence, the sun brings warmth to humanity,
one which, I would argue, we are urged to appreciate in the poem.
Things you should NEVER write!
• At first I didn’t understand the poem but after reading it a couple of
times I think…
• The poem has no rhythm
• I think the poem needed to rhyme more because I like poems that
rhyme…
• I think the poet has done a very good job of writing this poem and
they obviously thought carefully about it…
• It flows
• It makes you want to read on
Comparison

•How do Young and Mazur present ideas

about winter?
 Ice – Gail Mazur
In the warming house, children lace their
skates,
bending, choked, over their thick jackets.
A Franklin stove keeps the place so cozy
it’s hard to imagine why anyone would leave,
clumping across the frozen beach to the river.
December’s always the same at Ware’s Cove,
the first sheer ice, black, then white
and deep until the city sends trucks of men
with wooden barriers to put up the boys’
hockey rink. An hour of skating after school,
of trying wobbly figure-8’s, an hour
of distances moved backwards without falling,
then—twilight, the warming house steamy
with girls pulling on boots, their chafed legs
aching. Outside, the hockey players keep
playing, slamming the round black puck
until it’s dark, until supper. At night,
a shy girl comes to the cove with her father.
Although there isn’t music, they glide
arm in arm onto the blurred surface together,
braced like dancers. She thinks she’ll never
be so happy, for who else will find her graceful,
find her perfect, skate with her
in circles outside the emptied rink forever?
Write 2-3 paragraphs…
1. Identify an overview of both poems – are their approaches to the theme
similar or very different. (1 or 2 sentences)
2. Link back to your opening - look at the poems as a whole – how are they
structured is this significant to how they present the theme or idea?
3. Link back to your opening - choose words / phrases from each poem that
present the theme or idea –look specifically at the techniques used to
convey these ideas.
4. Repeat step 3 if you have time.
5. Give your own positive opinion of preference for which poem is most
successful in your view and why. (1 or 2 sentences)