Poetry Questions

Caged Bird
Maya Angelou
Key Questions to Consider When Studying the Text.
These questions were issued by the exam board and will form the basis of the questions you will be asked about this poem.
It is therefore vital to think carefully about these questions and develop intelligent responses to them.
• Think about the structure of the verse. Divide the poem in half and consider the symmetry of the two halves. Which lines or part lines are repeated? What is the effect of this patterning?
• Think about the way rhyme is used in the poem. Which words nearly rhyme / are half-rhymes? Are there any rhymes which should work but do not? What do you think the poet is trying to achieve by avoiding these rhymes?
• Write down phrases from the poem that evoke the beauty of the natural world?
• Contrast the sound and structure of the stanzas relating to the free bird and the caged bird. What do you notice?
• Look at the lines “The bars of rage” and “graves of dreams” What poetic devices are these examples of? What is the impact of these lines?
• Angelou seems to understand that the caged bird sings. Do you agree with this assessment?
• Why do you think the poem ends on a stanza discussing the caged bird and not the free bird?


Rising Five
Norman Nicholson

Year 11 Poetry –Mr Edmunds

Before we start to study this (pretty difficult) poem in pairs, I want you to think about the following themes or ideas –

• The change from childhood to being an adult
• The idea of mortality (the idea that we will all at one point die)
• The portrayal of children in poems

The poet, Norman Nicholson (1914-1987) was raised near the Lake District in England and was taken ill when he was 16. Think about how pastoral themes and the precious nature of life are played out in his poem!

We have read the poem and hopefully dealt with any questions you might have about words you did not understand.

We will discuss the following points in pairs and then feedback to the class.

Discussion Points:

• What do you think is the main theme of the poem? Write down what you think this is. What images or metaphors does the poet use to explore these ideas? Do you think the small boy himself is a metaphor?

• Do you know any young children who look forward to being older than they are? Is this true of older children and teenagers? Are you looking forward to being older? What do think the poet thinks about this?

• Do you think the tone or mood of the poem changes in the first stanza? If you read the poem to someone would you change the way you delivered it? Try reading it to your partner! What do you notice?

• Read lines 10-17 to your partners. Think about the sounds of the words? Find examples of how the poet uses assonance and alliteration? The poem requires a lot of energy to read it out loud. Why is this?

• How does the concluding line link up with the theme of the first stanza?

• Study the last stanza carefully. Link each of the images in it to where they were mentioned earlier in the poem. Try to show how the references in the last stanza develop the poet’s ideas and change the tone (mood) and perspective (point of view) of the poem as a whole.

Mr Edmund dancing!