Shooting Stars Brief Plan.

Choose a poem which reflects on an aspect of human behaviour in such a way as to deepen your understanding of human nature. Describe the aspect of human behaviour which you have identified and show how the poet’s use of ideas and techniques brought you to a deeper understanding of human nature.

• Introduction • Reword the question. Include author’s name and title of poem. State what you are aiming to achieve in the introduction. • Eg. Carol Ann Duffy’s moving poem `Shooting stars` is one in which as aspect of human behaviours was reflected upon in such a way that it deepened my understanding of this facet of human nature.

Para two – short summary of the poem, around 50 words. Eg In `Shooting Stars, the poet adopts the persona of a Jewish woman during the Holocaust. She conveys the terrible atrocities committed during WW2 and man’s inhumanity to man.

The main body of your essay should be made up of STATEMENTS/QUOTES/ANALYSIS. Eg. We are immediately alerted to the brutality of the Nazi soldiers when we learn that they show no respect towards the dead. `After I no longer speak, they break our fingers to salvage my wedding ring.` Use of the word `salvage` is a direct contrast to the meaning of a gold wedding band. The soldiers simply see it something which bring then financial reward, while to the women it is a symbol of eternal love. They must have refused to give the soldiers their rings and this resulted in their deaths. Also we learn that the soldiers…… Other statements or topic sentences: Duffy chooses her words carefully to make us imagine the scene more vividly. Duffy builds up tension in her poem to make the soldiers appear heartless and callous. For example

Other statements or topic sentences: • Duffy chooses her words carefully to make us imagine the scene more vividly. • Duffy builds up tension in her poem to make the • soldiers appear heartless and callous. • The reader’s sympathies are appealed to when the poet tells us that….. • Duffy also shows that humans are still cruel, decades later. Suffering and torture still happen, even today.

Conclusion Sum up all the main points made in your essay and give a brief personal opinion.