Individual Poets and Collections

What this unit covers

This unit sits in the Poetry strand of Literature. It is organised around individual poets and their collections, so you can go straight to the writer you are studying. Many resources are mind maps, and there are also flashcard decks, slide sets and notes.

Poets with plenty of material include Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop, Seamus Heaney, Christina Rossetti, Carol Ann Duffy, Philip Larkin, W.B. Yeats, Robert Frost and Norman MacCaig. Resources mention A-level English Literature, GCSE English Literature, National 5 English, SQA Higher English and Leaving Certificate English.

Where to start

1. Open a poet-level mind map, such as the Emily Dickinson map, which lists poems like "Hope" is the thing with feathers and I heard a fly buzz - when I died.
2. Read the notes for context. The Sylvia Plath contextual information map covers her family background.
3. Move to single-poem resources, such as the notes on The Tollund Man or the Mrs Midas flashcards.

Using maps, flashcards and quizzes together

Maps give you the overview: themes, imagery, form and structure. The map for Feminine Gospels, for instance, picks out consumerism, place and identity, and the past. Flashcard decks then help with quotations, and there are decks of critical quotes for Rossetti and quotes for Duffy.

Quizzes come last as a check. Try the Mrs Midas quiz, the Goblin Market quiz or the Norman Maccaig Poem Quiz. If an answer surprises you, go back to the matching map or deck and read it again.

Comparing poems

If your course asks you to compare, the flashcard deck Which Poems to Compare is a useful prompt. Sets such as Duffy A05 and Larkin A05 focus on critical views.

Your next step

Choose the poet on your syllabus, open one map and see what you can recall before you check the notes. Teachers can pick out a set to share with a class.