Poetry Essay

​​Support for analysing and writing about poems.​

​App

​Download Poetry Essay app to help writing your poetry essay.

​Downloads

​Take advantage of the useful resources available to download.

​Annotations

​Poems have been annotated to assist your poetry analysis.

Poetry Essay

Poetry Essay is committed to providing you with poetry news, videos and downloads to help you write about poetry.

Poetry Essay App

Poetry Essay app - for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad - helps you write essays about poems more confidently. The app provides a variety of helpful hints at your fingertips.

With Poetry Essay app, you will find all the help you need - from analysing your poem in detail to writing coherently about it.  The annotation prompts will help you consider all features of the poem.  

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How To Analyse A Poem

Analysing a poem can be tricky.

Click here for further information on how to analyse a 
poem.  Or please see the step-by-step video guide below:

World War 1 Poetry Readings

In order to support students studying conflict poetry, we are making a series of World War 1 poetry videos which aim to bring the war poems to life.  The first in this series is a reading of Wilfred Owen’s ‘Exposure’, to footage from Battlefield 1. 

Wilfred Owen’s ‘Exposure’ focuses on the impact of weather and the harsh conditions that soldiers encountered during World War 1. Many died from the extreme temperatures and several didn’t experience much combat. Owen pays a significant amount of attention to the unforgiving force of weather and the environment.  Watch Wilfred Owen's 'Exposure':

AQA Power And Conflict Poems Analysed - Video Guide

Download 65-Page PDF Of The Power And Conflict Cluster Of Poems

Click here for the AQA Power and Conflict poems which have been analysed in detail.

​There are 15 AQA Power and Conflict poems which students are required to analyse for the GCSE English Literature poetry exam. AQA states that students should study all 15 poems in their chosen cluster and be prepared to write about any of them in the examination.

If you need help analysing the collection of AQA Power and Conflict poems please browse the videos. Each of the Power and Conflict poems have been concisely annotated to support your analysis and interpretation. The annotation prompts are a supportive tool, intended to encourage further analysis and interpretation. ​ Alternatively, visit YouTube for the AQA Power and Conflict poems playlist.

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AQA Relationships Poems

Click here for the AQA Relationships poems which have been analysed in detail. The poems within this collection can still be studied, but the last AQA exam on this, was Summer 2015.

​Exemplar Poetry Essay - Comparing Two Poems - GCSE Standard

Here is an exemplar poetry essay, at GCSE standard, which compares two poems and almost attained almost full marks. The poetry essay was written by a student (aged 16) in exam conditions, taking approximately 40-45 minutes to complete. This response may help anyone who is struggling to structure a poetry essay, which compares two poems. However, there might be aspects you’d like to change or other ideas you’d like to include. The exam question was: Compare how poets use language to present feelings in ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage and ‘Quickdraw’ by Carol Ann Duffy.

​Exemplar Poetry Essay - Analysing An Unseen Poem - GCSE Standard

Here is an exemplar poetry essay, at GCSE standard, which analyses an unseen poem and attained full marks. The poetry essay was written by a student (aged 16) in exam conditions, taking approximately 30-35 minutes to complete. This response may help anyone who is struggling to structure an unseen poetry essay. However, there might be aspects you’d like to change or other ideas you’d like to include. The exam question was: How do you think the speaker feels about the child and his experience of learning to read and how does the poet present the speaker’s feelings? The question was based upon the unseen poem called 'Slow Reader' by Vicki Feaver.