Poetry for VCE Lit Exam 2012

[ggxoxo]

Basically I have heard both sides of the spectrum in response to doing poetry in the exam- most people say to steer from (particularly experienced teachers that I have encountered) however, some are so adamant about doing it.

I would like to know what former VCE lit students about doing poetry for the exam.

Are you at any disadvantage in terms of assesors having higher expectations on you to be able to use literary terms as metre, caesura etc Do they mark harsher for poetry?

Thanks!

[charmanderp]

Personally I never used any poetic devices or poetic metalanguage in my poetry analysis and still got 39/40 in my close analysis SAC (Gwen Harwood) and my teacher's entire rhetoric to that point had been about the use of meter and such. So from what I know, a high level of analysis and the use of 'standard' literary/language features (what you'd find in prose) should be enough for poetry too.

There's nothing much about it in last year's examiner's report save for a mention in the first sentence. It's all about the 'language of the poem'

Generally, students resisted the temptation to focus on plot and looked instead at poetic techniques and their response to the language of the poem. The poems of Blake, Harwood and Keats were the most popular choices, with many students responding to these poems very well. Some excellent writing was produced in response to Harwood, although Estuary proved challenging for some students. The reference to the smoked glass made little sense to some students. Many were confused about the reference to Caesar in the second poem, some suggesting that the two women had been born by caesarean section. Students should be encouraged to clarify points on which they are unsure with their teachers. Very few students made any acknowledgment of the fact that the first and last stanzas of the third poem were omitted from the paper. Responses to Keats often included references to the other odes, and students were able to make Keats’s views, as expressed in these passages, implicit. This year students were comfortable with the selection of Blake poems offered, and there was some polished writing. A few students did not understand that Tom, in passage 1, had been dreaming. The three passages were often combined very effectively to give a sense of Blake’s views and values. There were some thoughtful answers on the Beveridge poems, but given the richness of Beveridge’s language, more detailed responses could have been given in some cases. There were very few responses on the Porter poems, although these seemed accessible to the students. Likewise, there were very few answers on Beowulf and in general these tended to look at the passages in isolation, rather than using them to convey an impression of the text’s overall concerns and language.

The major advantage though is that you can analyse all of the 15 or so poems prior to the exam. So if it is marked any harsher it's only because you have an opportunity to completely master every single word and usage of punctuation in the selected poems that they could possibly throw at you. But you won't be marked any differently for having chosen poetry; the examiners are on your side.