Responding with Insight to Poetry

How can we help students develop the way they respond to poetry?

GCSE students in particular often find studying poetry quite challenging, probably just because they are not so familiar with the genre.  But as an English tutor, I love helping them get over their hesitations and learn how to respond in detail and with insight to poetry.

Here's a deceptively simple poem by William Wordsworth, about how he responds to a rainbow:

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The child is father of the man;
And I wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

A good way into poetry is to think - "How would this have been written differently if it were prose" (see the first post in this series about prose and poetry!).

That's a great way to start.

Then students can start to think about why the writer used a different word, or phrase, or technique.  For example:

• Does his heart literally "leap", or is this a metaphor?!
• What might the paradox "The child is father of the man" mean?

I specialise at stretching able students to achieve the top grades in English Language and English Literature, GCSE, A Level, and Years 6-9. I offer a free 30 minute online introductory session if you would like to know more.  Contact me via the Contact Form here.