Unseen poetry
- Practice 4
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.
1. In ‘What lips my lips have kissed’, how does the poet present ideas about love?
‘What lips my lips have kissed’ by Edna St. Vincent Millay
What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.
2. In both ‘What lips my lips have kissed’ and ‘Animals’ the poets present ideas about looking back on better times.
What are the similarities and/or differences between the methods the poets use to present these ideas?
‘Animals’ by Frank O’Hara
Have you forgotten what we were like then
when we were still first rate
and the day came fat with an apple in its mouth
it's no use worrying about Time
but we did have a few tricks up our sleeves
and turned some sharp corners
the whole pasture looked like our meal
we didn't need speedometers
we could manage cocktails out of ice and water
I wouldn't want to be faster
or greener than now if you were with me
O you were the best of all my days