Unseen poetry question

1. The Unseen Poetry
Question
The BVC Way

2. No need to panic…
Many people think that the unseen poetry
question is difficult, a trial and a total
nightmare.
They are wrong.
It is really rather straightforward.

3. 1) Know what the question is asking
“What are the poet’s feelings towards war and
how does he express them?”
What – general words to describe
How - the poetic techniques used

4. 2) Put WHAT and HOW on either side
A Dead Boche
To you who’d read my songs of War
And only hear of blood and fame,
I’ll say (you’ve heard it said before)
”War’s Hell!” and if you doubt the same,
Today I found in Mametz Wood
A certain cure for lust of blood:
Where, propped against a shattered trunk,
In a great mess of things unclean,
Sat a dead Boche; he scowled and stunk
With clothes and face a sodden green,
Big-bellied, spectacled, crop-haired,
Dribbling black blood from nose and beard.
What How

5. 3) Start annotating
A Dead Boche
To you who’d read my songs of War
And only hear of blood and fame,
I’ll say (you’ve heard it said before)
”War’s Hell!” and if you doubt the same,
Today I found in Mametz Wood
A certain cure for lust of blood:
Where, propped against a shattered trunk,
In a great mess of things unclean,
Sat a dead Boche; he scowled and stunk
With clothes and face a sodden green,
Big-bellied, spectacled, crop-haired,
Dribbling black blood from nose and beard.
What How
Angry at
those
people who
think war is
glorious.
The use of the
second person
“you” seems
confrontational
and aggressive.
He thinks
that war is
torturous,
painful and
evil.
The metaphor of
“hell” suggest that
he thinks war has
evil connotations
and is a place of
death, perhaps for
the soul as well as
the body.

6. 4) Come up with at least 5 WHATS
Angry
Sees war as painful
Sees war as destructive
Sees war as shocking and grotesque
Sees war as undignified

7. 5) Put them into PEE E paragraphs
The poet seems to think that war is a painful, torturous thing. He uses
the metaphor of “War’s Hell!” to suggest that, perhaps, as well as
losing life in war, you can also lose your soul. The fact that the
metaphor is in direct speech marks emphasises the fact that he is
saying it: it is a strong comment from the heart. Essentially, it could be
argued that he sees war as the epitome of evil: there is nothing
worse.

8. 6) Go home in the knowledge that you
have done well!
• POETIC TECHNIQUES
• POINT EVIDENCE EXPLANATION EXTEND
• SUGGESTS
• HIGHLIGHTS