How do I begin to analyse an unseen text?

The answer is simple and this structure can be applied to any type of text, irresective of the genre or length: Reading, reflecting and responding. Reading: At the beginning of the examination, the priority is careful, open-minded reading of the unseen poem or chapter of a novel. The main skills involved here are: understanding your personal reading well in advance of any examination, focusing, as it is vital to be mentally uncluttered and single-minded, keep your attention focused upon the text and don’t worry about how you will eventually be writing. Interpretation is the most important step. This is where you engage with the main shaping characteristics of the poem such as form, surface meaning, tone, sound, language, rhyme, imagery, structure, ideas, and understand them in the light of your whole experience of the reading. Don’t rush the process here. There will be a temptation to just choose the rst poem or the shortest poem or the one you feel is easiest. It is better to spend time making the decision at the start of the examination rather than changing your mind during your written response.