Year 11 Trip to Poetry Live!
The first poet to speak was Carol Ann Duffy, the current Poet Laureate, who recited a selection of her poems and explained some of the language techniques she had used on poems such as ‘Salome´, in which she describes the ignorant and selfish behaviour of some in society, a poem which she states was inspired by her own experiences.
John Agard was the most awaited poet as he read his poem ‘Half Caste´ with the greatest charisma and expression, and soon after even sang whilst performing one of his most recent poems, which was very entertaining to watch! Agard left students with the message of not only studying poetry for their English exams but to understand and appreciate poetry for themselves. Later on in the day, the Chief Examiner for AQA gave a talk in which he advised students on how to gain higher marks in their English exams and what techniques to use whilst answering questions which he demonstrated with model answers written by other students. Simon Armitage was another poet who described the ideas behind a range of his poems, one of them being ‘Kid´ in which he portrays the theme of growing up and apart from your friends and also how relationships between different people change over time. However, my favourite poet of the day was Gillian Clarke, mainly because her poetry expresses the thoughts of a diverse range of people and the issues which affect them. Her poem ‘The Field Mouse´ is a poem about the 1993-95 war in Former Yugoslavia. It mainly focuses on Bosnia- Herzegovina, and in my opinion the title is an accurate representation for the position of Bosnia in the heart of a dying nation: Summer in Europe, the fields hurt, and the children kneel in the long grass, staring at what we have crushed.
Gillian Clark |
