How do I approach the unseen poetry in the IB, Paper 1 English Literature.

The unseen poetry is often seen as the more daunting paper out of both exams, however in reality, it is one of the very few exams that depend on your ability/skill instead of your knowledge. In this case, practicing your close reading of unseen poetry is what will help you prepapre for the exam. Practice makes perfect! Firstly, take a deep breath, and read the poem at least a couple of times before you start to worry about any technical terminology/devices that the poet employs. Ask yourself: what is the poem trying to tell me? What emotions are are the poem evoking? How is the poem evoking them? Read the poem again, but this time, try to find possible themes. These themes will help you contruct the pathway toward your argument/thesis, and it is running along through this trail of thought that your ideas will begin to crystalize.  Once you have a strong idea of the direction in which you think your argumet will take place, you must do a close reading of the poem. Read every line thouroughly and concisely. Pay close attention to the following: The form - Look at the form of the poem, what kind of a poem is it? is it a lyric? a dramatic monologue? A sonnet? How many stanzas are there, are the stanzas regular or irregular? Do they have the same number of lines in each one? Does the poem lack in form? Rhyme - Don't just point out the fact there is a rhyming couplet, tell me why you think the poet has employed a rhyme scheme? Is the rhyme creating a sense of affinity, is it being ironic, are the rhymes antagonistic? Punctuation - Punctuation is often underlooked and yet it also plays a part in the delivery, rhythm and tone of the poem. Is there a lack of punctuation, is the poet using enjambement, has he placed a caesura? Does the punctuation break up the rhythm of the poem, or is the poet overusing the comma to increase the rhythm. Meter - Meter is not essential to reach the top grade at IB HL, and it can sometimes bogg you down when you are unsure. If you are confident with how to read the metre, then look at where the author is placing the stresses, is the metre regular or irregular, and if so why? Content - Look at the words, images and symbols the poet is using. Is there a motif? More importantly, look at how the form, punctuation and rhyming pattern are helping the poem express its own content. They become the skeleton of the body of the poem; they all intermittently work together. Lastly, give yourself at least half an hour to thoroughly read through, think and plan your essay. The exam is 2 hours long, so you have more than enough time to complete it. Allow yourself some thinking time to ensure your essay has direction and you are expressing yourself with clarity and concision.