IGCSE World Literature Unseen Poetry Quiz

The Unseen Poetry assessment is...

• A 120 minute exam about two Stories of Ourselves poems

• A 75 minute exam featuring one random poem

• Two pieces of coursework on your choice of poem

• One piece of coursework on the teacher's choice of poem

How many questions and how many marks are there?

• 1 question with 30 marks

• 2 questions of 15 marks each

• 3 questions of 10 marks

• 6 questions of 5 marks

You only need to answer one of the two questions

• True

• False

How long do Cambridge recommend you spend reading and annotating the poem before you start to write?

• 5 minutes

• 10 minutes

• 20 minutes

• 30 minutes

Which of the following should you not include in your answer?

• Short relevant quotations from the poem

• Identification of poetic techniques used by the poet

• Commentary on the effects of the poet's use of language

• An explanation of the poet's life and how it links to the poem

When you start to read the poem, what is the first feature you should look at and add notes about?

• The imagery

• The line breaks

• The title

• The poetic form

What word should you use to refer to the the voice in the poem?

• The author

• The writer

• The speaker

• The dramatist

Which of these features should do you not comment on in the poem?

• The structure of the poem including patterns, stanzas repetition

• The sound of the poem in terms of sound techniques such as alliteration, rhyme, rhythm

• The tone towards its subject matter expressed through word choice

• Any difficult words that you don't really understand

The words ambiguous (adj) /ambiguity (n) are very useful in unseen poetry. What do they mean?

• The atmosphere that is created through the use of imagery or description

• The argument or point of view that the poet wishes to get across

• A word or phrase that is unclear and could be understood in many different ways

• The attribution of human feelings and responses to inanimate things such as weather or animals

There is one correct answer to understanding a poem, and you need to know it or you won't be able to write about the poem.

• True

• False