Module B: A Critical Study of Text

 William Butler Yeats

An overview of Critical Study of Text: poetry and/or Yeats questions since 2001

Sample exam questions

1. What are the distinctive qualities of the poetry of W B Yeats that make him accessible to different audiences.?

In your answer make reference to "The Second coming" and at least one other poems from those you have studied this year.

2. Imagine you are preparing a chapter for a book on early twentieth century poets. You must justify to your editor your choice of W B Yeats.

You need to include reference to three poems that you consider significant to a study of Yeats.

3. "Yeats was a poet of widely varied concerns, but they were the concerns of yesteryear. "

Do you agree? Support your response by making reference to at least two poems from those you have studied this year.

4. Imagine you are having a conversation with a friend who has an opposing view to you on the poetry of W B Yeats and his value for a modern audience.

Write a transcript of the dialogue between the two fiends, making reference to at least two poems to support the arguments presented.

5. Yeats' values, expressed in the poems set for study, are the values of a specific audience, written with a set purpose in mind.

In your response, make reference to at least two poems from those you have studied this year.

6. Imagine you are W B Yeats and you are being interviewed for a Sunday Afternoon Arts program on the ABC in the 21st century. The subject of the interview is the place your work holds a century after it was written.

You might like to consider whether or not you would change any of your work in the light of what you now know about the world.

Write the interview and make reference to "Easter 1916 and at least one other poem in the course of the interview.