How do I approach Unseen Poetry on the English leaving cert paper?
THE UNSEEN POEM is the most underrated section on the English paper. Students tend to leave the Question until last which means that it is often rushed, or worse again, forgotten about. Yes, it holds the lowest mark (5%) but when we think of all the work that we must do for Studied Poetry (5 Poets, 4-6 poems by each poet) for 12.5%, there is a lot less work involved in the Unseen Poem to get that 5%.
For the following poem, I have attached a sample response to the 20mQ – I use a technique that my students love – the SMILE technique.
PARAGRAPH 1: SM – DISCUSS THE SM/THEME OF THE POEM,
PARAGRAPH 2: I – DISCUSS THE IMPACT OF THE IMAGERY
PARAGRAPH 3: L – DISCUSSTHE TECHNIQUES THAT YOU FIND EFFECTIVE,
PARAGRAPH 4: E- DISCUSS THE EFFECT THE POEM HAS ON YOU,
In this poem, Anne Carson recalls her father and, in particular, his final illness during which he goes back to being like a child again.
FATHER’S OLD BLUE CARDIGAN
Now it hangs on the back of the kitchen chair
where I always sit, as it did
on the back of the kitchen chair where he always sat.
I put it on whenever I come in,
as he did, stamping
the snow from his boots.
I put it on and sit in the dark.
He would not have done this.
Coldness comes paring down from the moonbone in the sky.
His laws were a secret.
But I remember the moment at which I knew
he was going mad inside his laws.
He was standing at the turn of the driveway when I arrived.
He had on the blue cardigan with the buttons done up all the way to the top.
Not only because it was a hot July afternoon
but the look on his face –
as a small child who has been dressed by some aunt early in the morning
for a long trip
on cold trains and windy platforms
will sit very straight at the edge of his seat
while the shadows like long fingers
over the haystacks that sweep past
keep shocking him
because he is riding backwards.
1. Write a response to the above poem, highlighting the impact it makes on you. (20)
The theme of the above poem is the poignant one of loss as the poet grieves for the father that she is losing to mental decline. This is apparent when Carson recalls the moment that she ‘knew he was going mad’ as he waited for her outside his house – ‘He had on the blue cardigan with the buttons done up to the top’ despite it being a ‘hot July afternoon’. It is impossible not to impressed by the poet’s decision to explore this delicate theme as it is one that unfortunately resounds with many people.
Carson’s use of effective imagery contributed greatly to the poem’s impact. One of the most heart-breaking images has to be when she describes her father ‘as a small child who has been dressed by some aunt early in the morning/for a long trip‘ Not only does the childlike simile tug at my heartstrings but the ‘long trip’ that she mentions makes me think of the long road of dementia that is ahead for both her and her father as she loses him to this cruel disease. Furthermore, the inhospitable imagery that she uses to describe this journey, ‘cold trains’ and ‘windy platforms’ heightens the moroseness of the poem and I find it profoundly sad that the poet is losing her father in this heart-wrenching manner.
Undoubtedly, Anne Carson’s use of language throughout made the poem thoroughly engaging. Her use of enjambment throughout is powerful and nowhere is its effect more evident than in the closing lines of the poem, ‘while the shadows like long fingers /over the haystacks that sweep past/keep shocking him/because he is riding backwards. Here, the enjambment successfully reinforces the progressive and inevitable nature of the illness that she is losing her father to. Also, the present tense that she employs ‘shocking’ and ‘riding’ remind us that this is taking place as the poet writes. Finally, her use of simile (‘shadows like long fingers’) emphasise the unshakeable grip that this disease has on the person once it sets in. Evidently, the richness of Carson’s stylistic devices succeeds in conveying the sad reality of her father’s mental decline.
This poem has a profound impact on me. As someone that has recently lost a loved one (grandparent) to Alzheimer’s, I empathise with Anne Carson. The line ‘Now it hangs on the back of the kitchen chair/where I always sit’ has a special significance for me because I know the great desire that exists to feel close to someone after they have slipped away. It is a poem brimming with sadness, with pain but most of all with love and lingers in the mind long after reading it.