Comprehension: Poetry Set 7
Comprehension: Poetry Set 7 offers a further unseen poem for GL Assessment and CSSE-style comprehension practice, set in an orchard during harvest time, testing understanding of meaning, structure, rhyme and figurative language.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Read the poem once for its overall sense and setting, then reread it slowly to notice individual details and word choices.
- Think about the time of year or stage of growth being described, since harvest and seasonal poems often use this to suggest wider ideas such as change or endings.
- Check the poem's structure, including stanza length and any rhyme scheme, and think about whether it feels steady or more varied.
- Identify similes, metaphors and personification, and work out precisely what comparison each one makes.
- For 'explain the effect' questions, always name the technique, quote it exactly, and explain the feeling or idea it produces for the reader.
- Consider whether the poem's mood is mainly one of loss, celebration, or something more mixed, and look for evidence to support your reading.
Worked example
Extract from a poem: 'The apple tree empties its pockets of red and gold, / tired now, having given everything it had.' Question: Explain the effect of describing the apple tree as 'emptying its pockets'. (3 marks)
- Identify the technique: this is a metaphor and personification, giving the tree 'pockets' and describing it as though it were a person emptying them out.
- Consider what emptying pockets suggests: giving away everything you are carrying, holding nothing back.
- Link this to the second line: the tree is 'tired now, having given everything it had', which reinforces the idea of the tree having used up all its energy producing fruit.
- Explain the effect on the reader: the tree feels almost human, generous but exhausted, which gives the harvest a gentle, bittersweet quality rather than simply describing fruit falling.
- Final answer: The metaphor of the tree 'emptying its pockets' of apples presents it as a generous, human-like figure that has given everything it had, creating a gentle, bittersweet feeling of exhaustion after a season of hard work.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1'The apple tree empties its pockets of red and gold.' Which two colours are mentioned, and what do they likely describe?Show answer
Answer: Red and gold, describing the colours of the ripe apples.
Q2How many lines are quoted in 'The apple tree empties its pockets of red and gold, / tired now, having given everything it had'?Show answer
Answer: Two lines.
Q3True or False: a poem set in autumn or at harvest time often uses ideas of change or endings as well as describing the season itself.Show answer
Answer: True.
Q4'The wasps hovered like tiny golden thieves.' Name the simile in this line.Show answer
Answer: 'like tiny golden thieves'.
Q5'The orchard sighs as the last apple falls.' Explain what is being compared to what in this personification.Show answer
Answer: The orchard is compared to a person sighing; the falling of the last apple is compared to the moment that causes that sigh, suggesting a small, quiet sense of loss or completion.
Q6A poem describing a busy harvest uses short, quick lines, then switches to longer, slower lines once the orchard is described as empty. Give one reason a poet might do this.Show answer
Answer: Short, quick lines can suggest the busy activity of harvesting, while longer, slower lines afterwards can suggest the calm stillness of the orchard once the work is finished.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a 11+ exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Line: 'The ladder leans, patient, against the oldest tree.' Identify the technique used and explain its effect. (2 marks)
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 2 available
One stanza describes the orchard in summer using words of growth and colour ('swells', 'ripens', 'blushes'), while a later stanza describes the same orchard after harvest using words of emptiness ('bare', 'hollow', 'still'). Explain how this contrast in language affects the reader's understanding of the poem. (4 marks)
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 4 available
A poem describes the orchard at the start of autumn as 'heavy, bowed low with fruit, almost too full to bear' and by the poem's end as 'light now, branches lifted, waiting quietly for spring'. Explain how the poet presents the orchard's change across the whole poem, referring to language and structure. (5 marks)
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 5 available
Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the comprehension: poetry set 7 worksheet pack - 10 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. One email opens every download in this browser for 14 days - no account, no card. Print it for personal and classroom use.
This topic is chapter 8 of 11+ English Workbook 2, the whole course as one free printable PDF.
Next topics
Not quite what you needed?
Tell us what is missing on comprehension: poetry set 7, or which topic to write up next. Every request is read, and we reply to every one.
Build a full practice pack.
This topic is one of hundreds in the library - pick the ones a student needs and generate a printable PDF in minutes.