Can you decipher the strange words?!
London by Sophie Herxheimer
Leading questions:
What language is it written in?
How is humour used in this poem?
What voice is the poet using? (Does this poem come from experience?)
You will have to excuse the terrible accent...but I had to give it a try. It migh even help you unlock the strange words... Or else you get into Herxheimer's own way of thinking by watching her read similar poems.
Process
Everything we do in English analysis is looking to find ways to ask questions and then answer them.
We have :
followed methodologies
used frameworks
used a lens... in this case 'Migrancy'. (How might a Feminist reading of this poem reveal?...)
How else might you generate questions? (As the video puts it... Reading Actively)
Supporting Documents
Now... This is mainly a computer based piece of extra work but it is of interest in ways to make sure that your work is the very best it can be. I learnt stuff from this so... I guess you might also learn...stuff.
All research begins with a question.
It does not matter whether you are exploring a poem, preparing for a debate, or trying to understand why something feels unfamiliar or powerful. It always starts with curiosity. Something catches your attention. You pause. You wonder.
That question might be small. Why did the writer choose this word? Or it might be bigger. What is this poem really saying about belonging, or identity, or home?
Asking questions is not just a way into a poem. It is the work. It is how we begin to notice the choices a writer makes, the feelings they stir, and the ideas they hint at. It is how we move beyond just reading and begin thinking, interpreting, understanding.
So do not worry about having the right answer straight away. Focus on asking the right kind of questions, the ones that open something up. That is how all research begins. That is how all good analysis starts.
Which of these questions most helped unpack the poem?
Writing - Practise Essay
Practice Essay
These essays are essential as by DP you should be comfortable writing an essay for an hour. (Paper one will give you just over an hour to read, analyse, plan an essay and write an essay on a text you have not seen before!
The essay to the left is similar to one you might have to write.