KNOWLEDGE
Unseen poetry
practice questions 3
There are two questions in the Unseen Poetry section, as well as two poems. The first question is worth most of the marks (24), and the second is worth just 8 marks. Also, the second is assessed on AO2 only. The questions are included below, or you can download the whole lot as a PDF.
1. In ‘Anthem For Doomed Youth’, how does the poet present ideas about war?
‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ by Wilfred Owen
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, —
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds.
2. In both ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and ‘Here dead we lie’ the poets present ideas about the young people dying in war.
What are the similarities and/or differences between the methods the poets use to present these ideas?
‘Here dead we lie’ by AE Housman
Here dead we lie
Because we did not choose
To live and shame the land
From which we sprung.
Life, to be sure,
Is nothing much to lose,
But young men think it is,
And we were young.