Poetry in motion with Heaney on the double in Leaving Cert English

For higher-level Leaving Certificate English students, Seamus Heaney appeared for a second day running — but it was an unseen poem of his that made yesterday’s long Paper 2.

Fri, 06 Jun, 2014 - 01:00

Niall Murray, Education Correspondent

The exam included questions on the prescribed poetry of WB Yeats, Emily Dickinson, Philip Larkin and Sylvia Plath.

Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) English spokesman Ollie Power said Heaney’s absence may have limited many students who expected him in the prescribed poetry section. While the nature of questions on the other poets was in line with previous ones about them, he thought the language in those questions was unnecessarily difficult in places.

He said that similar ideas to other years were examined in the cultural context question about characters struggling with their surroundings but, here too, some phrasing of the questions was complicated. On the single text section, he said character and power were both included in a Macbeth question, but it should not have tripped up most students, and a question on the society of the day in Pride and Prejudice may have been beyond most candidates.

Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) subject spokesman Fintan O’Mahony was also pleased with what he said were typical kinds of questions on a good choice of prescribed poets. He also considered the unseen Heaney poem — The Peninsula — very simple and straightforward and thought the questions on it were fine.

While many students may have expected a specific question on Lady Macbeth, he said, they would have been well able to introduce her in a question on relationships. He said many aspects of the paper were like Wednesday’s Paper 1, being not as predictable as in the past, but at the same time not too difficult either.

Mr O’Mahony believed most students should have managed the cultural context questions well in the comparative studies section, despite one being quite different to anything asked before.

Heaney also turned up on the ordinary level exam, but here his prescribed poetry was examined, with questions set on The Underground. Students also had the option on answering about poems by Plath, Enda Wyley or George Herbert.

Mr O’Mahony thought the poetry questions were very fair, and said the exam had a good comparative study section. He felt the type of questions on single texts were similar throughout the paper, and looked good in the way they were structured for students.

Mr Power felt the Heaney poem should be well known to most students and the Plath poem and question were fine. He considered it a paper with no surprises, featuring a nice, comparative study question about relationships.

nIn the morning, Leaving Certificate engineering students were set a higher level exam which ASTI subject spokesman Eamon Dennehy said was challenging but allowed stronger students demonstrate their higher-order thinking skills.

He felt the topics in some short questions might not have been covered directly in class, and students had to do a lot of thinking for themselves. He said the paper used everyday objects such as a road crash barrier and a kettle; it was not predictable, and was challenging in places as students were asked to show a wide range of knowledge.

In many places, Mr Dennehy said, students were asked to solve problems which required an understanding of why they were doing things and not just how to do them.

He said the ordinary level exam had a student-friendly structure, with good choices within the compulsory first question.

Students were given plenty of cues from images on what Mr Dennehy believed to be a reasonable exam paper.

Reactions on Twitter

From nervous predictions to — mostly — elation, it was another day of highs and lows for students tweeting their way through the hours between Junior and Leaving Certificate exams.

@artsy_aloof

If Yeats isnt on the paper, I will arise and go from the exam room, and go to Innisfree

@Marlena234

In the words of Lady Macbeth, “Help me hence, ho!”

@hieracticheart

My strategy for Paper 2 is flip frantically to the poets, dance the Macarena if Yeats is there and then start the Unseen poetry #leavingcert

@shauny202

Going around the house saying pray for Yeats and getting a lecture off the mother you cant be depending on one poet yeah mam you try do it

@Aoibhinn16

I’ve resorted to asking my cat as to who is coming up Meow once for Dickinson

@EmmaMaher00

Chuffed with that exam, ordinary irish is a jem