2016 How does Eliot use fragmentation to portray alienation in his poetry? In your response, make detailed reference to The Hollow Men and at least ONE other poem set for study.
2015 Eliot’s poetry has been described as ‘a disturbing portrait of uncertainty amidst the turmoil of modern life’. To what extent does this perspective align with your understanding of Eliot’s poetry? In your response, make detailed reference to at least TWO of the poems set for study.
2014 NOTE: Eliot was not on the HSC list. Students were given an extract from a poem and the question focused on "enduring value"
Kenneth Slessor, Selected Poems It was not blindness picked his flesh away, Nor want of sight made penny-blank the eyes Of Captain Home, but that he lived like this In one place, and gazed elsewhere. His body moved In Scotland, but his eyes were dazzle-full Of skies and water farther round the world – Air soaked with blue, so thick it dripped like snow On spice-tree boughs, and water diamond-green, Beaches wind-glittering with crumbs of gilt, And birds more scarlet than a duchy’s seal That had come whistling long ago, and far Away. From Five Visions of Captain Cook
In your view, how does Slessor’s portrayal of the complex nature of personal experience contribute to the enduring value of his poetry?
In your response, make detailed reference to Five Visions of Captain Cook and at least ONE other poem set for study.
2013 Note: Eliot was not on the list this year. This question has been adapted from the question with a focus more suited to Eliot.
Explore how time and place are used in Eliot’s poetry to shape the reader’s understanding of the individual in the modern world*. In your response, make detailed reference to at least TWO of the poems set for study.
2012 Note: Eliot was not on the list this year. This question has been adapted from the question with just the poet's name changed.
An inherent tension between stability and change is revealed through recurring images in Eliot’s poetry. To what extent does your interpretation of Eliot’s The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock and at least one other poem align with this view? In your response, make detailed reference to Out of Time and at least ONE other poem set for study.
2011 Note: Eliot was not on the list this year. This question has been adapted from the question by changing the poem only.
I am moved by fancies that are curled Around these images, and cling: The notion of some infinitely gentle Infinitely suffering thing.
Wipe your hand across your mouth, and laugh; The worlds revolve like ancient women Gathering fuel in vacant lots.
In the context of your critical study, to what extent does your response to the closing stanzas of Preludes inform your judgement of this poem and Eliot’s poetry as a whole?
In your response, make detailed reference to Preludes and at least ONE other poem set for study.