Starter quiz
- A comparative poetry question asks you to...
- compare similarities only
- compare differences only
- compare similarities and differences ✓
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- Match the poems to the correct mood.
- 'The Soldier'⇔peaceful ✓
- 'The Gift of India'⇔despair ✓
- 'In Flanders Fields'⇔reassuring ✓
- The way the writer thinks or feels about the subject they are writing about is called the __________ of a poem.
- attitude ✓
- form
- speaker
- language
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- Match the poem with the speaker of the poem.
- 'The Soldier'⇔The soldier ✓
- 'The Gift of India'⇔India ✓
- 'In Flanders Fields'⇔The dead soldiers ✓
- Which of the following are important to think about when deciding which poems to compare?
- What similarities and differences in techniques there are ✓
- How long the poems are
- Do the poets agree or disagree on the central theme of the question? ✓
- Are the poets from two different time periods?
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- It's useful to think about comparative essays as if the poets are having ______ with each other.
- an argument
- a conversation ✓
- a disagreement
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Exit quiz
- What are conjunctions?
- A word that connects words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence ✓
- Sophisticated subordinate clauses
- Sophisticated main clauses
- A word that signals the speaker's attitude in conversation
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- A comparative essay begins with a ______ thesis statement.
- 'comparative' ✓
- What does it mean to romanticise something?
- To describe something in an affectionate way
- To describe something in an idealised or unrealistic fashion ✓
- To make something sound negative
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- Which things should a comparative thesis statement do?
- Utilise quotations
- Name the poets and their poems ✓
- Lay out what will be in each paragraph
- Gesture to the 'bigger picture' ✓
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- Which of the following is a comparative topic sentence?
- Brooke uses metaphorical language. Naidu uses similes.
- While Brooke and Naidu both utilise a regular rhyme scheme.
- Both Brooke and Naidu use personification but with different effects. ✓
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- What does 'ruminate' mean?
- To think briefly about something
- To agree about something
- To disagree about something
- To think deeply about something ✓
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Worksheet
Presentation
Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- A comparative thesis statement introduces the two poems and your overall ideas in relation to the question.
- A comparative topic sentence states the focus of the paragraph and links it back to the thesis statement.
- Comparative conjunctions should be used to compare language, form and structure of poems
Common misconception
A comparative essay should deal with each poem separately in the body of the essay.
While one method of comparison might be to deal with each poem separately, you might also consider comparing the poems throughout the essay and instead splitting up the essay thematically or by methods.
Keywords
Comparative - A comparative is judging the similarities and differences between one thing and another.
Ruminate - To ruminate is to think deeply about something.
Topic sentence - A topic sentence supports the thesis statement while explaining the specific focus of the paragraph.
Romanticise - To romanticise something is to describe in an idealised or unrealistic fashion to make it seem more appealing than it really is.
Conjunctions - A conjunction is a word such as ‘while’ or ‘although’ that connects words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence.