Method makes sense once you watch it work. This page takes a short poem you have most likely never studied, exactly the kind of thing that could appear as an unseen, and shows how to read it, annotate it and turn it into a plan. It is public domain, so it is printed in full below.
The poem
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
'The Eagle' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
How to annotate it
First, the meaning and feeling: this is a poem about an eagle, presented as powerful, majestic and utterly in command of its world, until it suddenly strikes. Hold onto that sense of power and control, because it is what your answer will argue.
Now the methods. The eagle is personified with 'crooked hands' and called 'he', which gives it human power and will. The harsh consonants in 'clasps the crag with crooked hands' make its grip feel strong and fierce. In the first stanza everything is still and elevated: it stands 'close to the sun', 'ring'd with the azure world', high above everything, master of all it surveys. The sea below is diminished, made small and slow by 'wrinkled' and 'crawls', so nature itself seems beneath the eagle. Then comes the shift: the whole second stanza has been watchful and static until the final line explodes into movement with the simile 'like a thunderbolt he falls'. That sudden violence, after all the stillness, is where the poem's power peaks.
A plan for the answer
Turn those notes into a simple plan for the 24 mark question, 'how does the poet present the eagle?':
- Thesis: Tennyson presents the eagle as a powerful, godlike ruler of its world, whose stillness makes its final strike all the more dramatic.
- Point 1: personification and harsh sounds ('clasps the crag with crooked hands') give the eagle fierce, human strength.
- Point 2: elevation and dominance ('close to the sun', the 'wrinkled sea' that 'crawls' below) place the eagle above all of nature.
- Point 3: the shift in the final line, 'like a thunderbolt he falls', turns stillness into sudden, violent power.
Now see a full written answer on the model answers page, revisit the method and structure guide, and then practise on a fresh poem using the practice questions.