1 Character and voice Getting to know the poems Getting started My learning Getting to know the poems The fi rst thing to do is to start to familiarise yourself with the In this section you will learn how to: ‘Character and voice’ poems. You can do the following activities by become familiar with the poems yourself, or in a group. as a whole start to make links between Activity 1 the poems. The poems Read all the ‘Character and voice’ poems in your AQA Anthology, The River God The Clown Punk Brendon Gallacher quickly. Just notice what they seem to be about – don’t worry about Simon Armitage Jackie Kay Stevie Smith trying to make sense of every line. Checking Out Give The Hunchback in the Park Me History Simon Armitage Dylan Thomas Activity 2 John Agard Les Grands Seigneurs The Ruined Maid Horse Whisperer Dorothy Molloy Thomas Hardy Now fi nd as many links as you can between some of the poems. You will Assessment Objectives: Andrew Forster Ozymandias Casehistory: Alison (head need a large piece of paper with some headings on. Below is a list of Medusa Percy Bysshe Shelley injury) AO1 respond to texts critically and ways you could look at the poems. You could use some of these to form Carol Ann Duffy My Last Duchess U.A. Fanthorpe imaginatively; select and your headings, though you could think of some of your own as well. Singh Song Robert Browning On a Portrait of a Deaf Man evaluate relevant textual detail Daljit Nagra John Betjeman to illustrate and support Ways to look at the poems Tips on what to watch out for interpretations. Introduction What the poems are about Look for general ideas here, such as death, birth, memory, relationship AO2 explain how language, between parent and child. Make a note of poems that seem to have some structure and form contribute The poems in this chapter are centred around character and voice. meanings in common. to writers’ presentation of ideas, Learning how a poet uses character and voice is a key part of enjoying themes and settings. and analysing poetry. All the poems are in your AQA Anthology. Beginnings/endings Any similarities? How about lines that look similar, but where there’s a di erence too? For example, both ‘Medusa’ and ‘Casehistory: Alison’ end AO3 make comparisons and explain In this chapter you will be: with single lines, separated from the rest of the poem, but they have very links between texts, evaluating di erent e ects on the reader. Think of as many di erences as you can. writers’ di erent ways of looking at the individual poems Length You might notice some distinct similarities or di erences. Include the expressing meaning and comparing the poems achieving e ects. number and length of stanzas, if there are any. learning how to approach exam questions. Rhyme You need to look a little more carefully now. Is there a regular rhyme As a result of this preparation you will be developing your scheme? Does it change? Be careful – some poems that don’t seem to writing skills in order to hit the Assessment Objectives. rhyme often use a lot of half-rhyme or echoes, or might suddenly rhyme. See page v for more information about what the Look at ‘The Clown Punk’, for example. There are a lot of half-rhymes, Assessment Objectives mean. In the exam you will have but only one full rhyme, in the last two lines. If you were working on this poem, you’d need to think about why the writer does this. to compare two poems from this chapter. Rhythm ‘Checking Out Me History’ is one poem that has a strong rhythm. Can you  nd others? Language Some poems in this chapter are older than others, and some might use non-standard forms of English. Look for ones that are similar, and ones that are very di erent. For example, ‘The Ruined Maid’ uses some nineteenth-century rural English, whereas ‘Checking Out Me History’ uses Caribbean English. Imagery Some poems are rich in imagery such as metaphors and similes, whereas others might seem quite plain. Make a note of some obvious similarities and di erences.

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