The Secret to Writing Good Poetry Answers (2)

 How can you make sense of a poem you haven’t read before?

Students studying GCSE have to write about an “unseen poem” – a poem they have never read before in their lives – and many find this a real challenge.

My first post in this series explained how students should approach reading poetry as if it’s like an unfamiliar song.  You need to give it time and repeated listenings to start to appreciate it.

Over my thirty years of teaching I have developed The Three-Reading Strategy  to help students at GCSE and A Level write excellent poetry answers.

Getting to know a poem is like getting to know a new friend.

• When we read a poem for the first time, our first impressions may not be totally right – just like we only see the surface of someone’s character the first time we meet them

•  As we read a poem for the second time, we can start to react to it more deeply, just like we might start to feel affection for a new friend as we know them more deeply

And then by the time we come to a third reading, we are ready to start responding analytically to a poem.  This is why I call it The Three-Reading Strategy.

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