Introduction:

This website is designed to help you prepare for success in the 'unseen poetry' component of the GCSE English Literature exam.

The materials are designed to make you think, and to help you build up confidence as you prepare to write about two poems that you're almost certain never to have seen before.

We hope these resources will help you to enjoy and to understand poetry better, and to enjoy writing about it.

This website is in development.  The site is continually reviewed and refreshed, so do check back in on the site regularly.

FAQs about studying poetry:

It's a good thing to question what you do on your GCSE courses!

In the section below, we've tried to address some of the most often-asked questions about poetry in relation to GCSE.

• why are poems studied at GCSE?

There are lots of good reasons, but in terms of practical skills for life, studying poetry helps you develop your ability to think, to analyse and to reflect, often on complex topics.

Additionally, the best poetry has really important and utterly fascinating things to say about important and interesting topics.  Studying poetry, from the present day, the recent past, and the distant past, can help you to think and to write more clearly.

The best poetry you study will also help you to understand better both yourself and the world around you.  Many people would say that this makes reading and understanding poetry a big deal!

What do you think?

• why do we have to write about poems we haven't studied in class?

To allow you the opportunity to show off your independent reading, thinking and writing skills.  It's one thing to go to a lesson or watch a YouTube video and to come away with some good notes; it's another thing to be able to show you can understand and think for yourself.  

Being confident about understanding poems which are new to you is a high-level activity, and one which you can practise and become good at.  

• what's the point of comparing two 'unseen' poems in the exam?

Being able to compare two pieces of complex and interesting writing is an important life-skill.  

Being able to do so without resort to AI is a valuable high-level exercise.

The comparison is in a way a creative exercise, in which you search for and explore connections and contrasts between two different pieces of creative writing.

It's a very satisfying process in its own right.  You will learn how to think deeply about really interesting things, and to explore how different writers respond in unique ways to similar topics.

All of this helps you to develop your overall ability to read texts closely, to understand them, and to evaluate the differences between them.  That's a really crucial skill, and one which will become increasingly important as you read information and opinions, whether online in short form, or in longer websites and documents.

• poetry can sometimes seem like a lot of random ideas, not very clearly expressed - why is poetry such a big deal?

Human beings have been writing and performing poetry for thousands of years.  We tend to use poetry as a creative space in which to express and explore interesting, important or difficult ideas.

Often poetry focuses on very powerful feelings.

Poetry can talk about things which happen to us, either as individuals or as a society.

Poetry always features interesting and unusual language.  Poets always strive to write in ways which use language in fresh and different ways.  

Poets have been traditionally admired for their ability to say interesting things in interesting ways, enabling us to think differently and to see the world afresh.  

Poets have also been admired for their ability to be the collective voices for groups of people.  For example, nations value poets who represent their language, values and culture.  Poets become the spokespeople for particular groups: for nations, for people who speak the same language, for the genders, for social groups, for professions and so on.

Poets are often able to create empathy and understanding in their work, so that when we read a poet's work, we comprehend and imagine better how people from another place, time, or social group think and feel.

As English is a world language, spoken and understood by millions of people around the world, there are a vast number of poems written in English.  The tradition of what is sometimes known as English Literature (literature from the British Isles) features a large number of famous, exceptional poets.  Reading poems by poets from the United Kingdom will help you explore and to understand the history and culture of the country.

That is just as true of the literature of the wider English-speaking world, what is sometimes known as Literature in English.  You will encounter many poets from beyond the United Kingdom in your reading for the exam.  

The modern United Kingdom is a multicultural place, with many British poets referencing family heritage and traditions from beyond the UK.  Reading widely in English poetry will enable you to explore and understand the rich and complex heritage of many poets writing today.

• how will this part of the exam help me in my future career?

The creative processes you engage in when you write about 'unseen' poems involve high-level thinking skills.  

These skills are important for life in general, and for professional life in particular.  Being able to make comparisons, and to do so clearly, logically and creatively is a skill which humans excel at.  Being able to do this on your own, without AI doing it for you, is satisfying.  It's also a great bit of brainwork to engage in, a kind of mental work-out!

What you do with this skill once you've passed your GCSE is of course up to you.  Whatever your future career path, high-level thinking and writing skills will give you an edge in a world where problem-solving and creative thinking are highly valued, transferable skills.