Kids Corner: Analysing and comparing Poems for GCSE - contents

Welcome to part three of how to analyse and compare poetry for GCSE and A Level English! If you missed them parts 1 and 2 are about comparing structure and identifying themes. You can find these at https://www.wrightenglish.com/blog/category/Kids+Corner.

What do I mean by “contents” of a poem? Well, what I really mean is what is the poem all about? You need to compare exactly is included in the poem and in what order. When you are asked to compare poems, you will almost always be given two different poems to compare with different perspectives on the same subject.

Here are some things you can look out for in the contents of poems:
• Do they talk about the same or similar issues? (i.e. love, or war, or happiness)
• Do they agree or disagree on that issue? Where do they agree and disagree?
• Does the narrator of the poem change their opinion about that topic in the poem? In both?
• Do the adjectives and adverbs used to describe this topic create a semantic field that is positive or negative? What differences are there between the two descriptions?
• Compare the beginnings and ends of the poems: Does the issue develop or change?

ALWAYS say what impression those differences give you as a reader. You must tie your analysis back to the question each time. Always say how the author does this too.

You may be thinking that is a short list of things to consider but I am doing a separate post in part 4 about literary techniques!