Main Lesson Carol Ann Duffy is a living, popular, poet whose most recent collection came out in 1999. In the exam you will have 30 minutes to answer one question about Carol Ann Duffy's poems. Before you begin this revision lesson, you need to re-read the five poems by Carol Ann Duffy that you are studying. Read them aloud, if possible, thinking carefully about how you phrase each line and where to pause. In the exam you will be expected to give your opinions about Duffy's poems.
Teachers often say that there are no completely right answers when writing about poetry.
However, this doesn't mean you can just sit in the exam writing everything you think about Duffy's poems. Your ideas won't get the marks they deserve unless you support them with evidence. Your ideas must be backed up. This is where skills with quotations are necessary. As well as selecting evidence to support your ideas about the poems, the examiners want you to make cross-references.