What are the Big Ideas in Poetry?
When you're writing about poetry, you need to be able to articulate the poet's purpose: why they have written the poem and what they are hoping to achieve through it. This will help you to elevate your response. A poet's purpose is closely linked to what they want to communicate about the poem's subject, speaker and the wider ideas they explore.
As with novels, a theme tells you what the poem explores, and a Big Idea combines this with the poet's intentions: it explains what the poet is trying to say about that theme and why they have chosen to present it in this way. A strong Big Idea usually combines the poet's name, an analytical verb and a thematic statement about the poem.
For poetry, you must consider the poet's context and the choices they have made to communicate their ideas. Poets make deliberate choices about language, imagery, form and structure, and these choices shape how a reader responds to the ideas explored in the poem.
How do you write about the Big Ideas?
You need to think about what the poet is saying about a theme and how they have chosen to present this idea in the poem.
Poets make deliberate choices about language, imagery, form and structure to communicate their ideas. Rather than simply describing a subject or experience, they use these choices to explore wider themes and convey their perspectives.
As with novels, you can develop Big Ideas by thinking about the theme and what the poet is trying to say about it. Everything from the previous blog post is applicable. However, when writing about poetry, you also need to consider how the poet communicates their ideas through their poetic choices.
An easy way to think about it is like this:
Theme + What the poet says about it + Poetic presentation = Big Idea
Theme: Isolation
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What the poet says about it: Isolation can make people feel disconnected from the world around them.
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How the poet presents it: Through imagery that emphasises distance, emptiness and separation.
The key ingredients of a Big Idea statement
Once you've identified the theme, the poet's message and how they communicate it, you can use these ideas to construct a Big Idea statement.
There isn't one set structure you need to follow when writing a Big Idea statement. The order of these elements can vary depending on what you want to emphasise and how you want to construct your sentence. However, a strong Big Idea will generally communicate:
HOW: How the poet presents the idea.
ANALYTICAL VERB: What the poet is trying to do.
WHAT: What the poet is saying about the theme.
A useful way to remember the ingredients of a Big Idea statement is:
HOW + ANALYTICAL VERB + WHAT
Poetic presentation + poet's purpose + message about the theme
Example Big Idea Statement:
Through imagery that emphasises distance, emptiness and separation, the poet explores how isolation can leave individuals feeling disconnected from the world around them.
Examples of Big Ideas
It can be really helpful to brain dump ideas for a whole poem before trying to write a Big Idea statement. You can use the following prompts to help you develop your ideas:
Analytical verb: What is the poet trying to do?
Theme: What issue or experience is the poem exploring?
Poetic presentation: How does the poet communicate this through their choices of language, imagery, form and structure?
You can then refine these ideas into more sophisticated statements, using precise analytical language to articulate what the poet is trying to say.
Big Ideas – Lament
Gillian Clarke may have written this poem to:
Big Idea 1: Human responsibility for environmental destruction
Analytical verb: Criticises / condemns
Theme: Human destruction of the natural world
Poetic presentation: Uses a series of images depicting the suffering of wildlife and the devastation caused by human conflict.
Big Idea statement:
Through vivid imagery of suffering wildlife and environmental devastation, Clarke condemns humanity's destructive impact on the natural world, highlighting the devastating consequences of human conflict.
Big Idea 2: The vulnerability of nature
Analytical verb: Highlights / emphasises
Theme: The vulnerability of the natural world
Poetic presentation: Presents different elements of nature as vulnerable victims of human actions, using personification and imagery to convey their suffering.
Big Idea statement: By presenting the natural world as a vulnerable victim of human actions, Clarke highlights the fragility of the environment and the suffering inflicted upon it by human activity.
Big Ideas – Follower
Heaney may have written this poem to:
Big Idea 1: Admiration for a parent
Analytical verb: Celebrates / conveys
Theme: Admiration and childhood hero-worship
Poetic presentation: Uses detailed descriptions of his father's skill and physical strength as a farmer, alongside the speaker's attempts to imitate him.
Big Idea statement: Through detailed descriptions of his father's strength and skill as a farmer, Heaney celebrates the admiration a child can feel for a parent, presenting his father as a figure of great strength, skill and authority.
Big Idea 2: The changing relationship between parent and child
Analytical verb: Explores / reflects on
Theme: The changing roles within a parent-child relationship
Poetic presentation: Contrasts the speaker's childhood dependence on his father with the reversal of roles in the final stanza, where his father now follows him.
Big Idea statement: Through the reversal of roles in the final stanza, Heaney reflects on the passage of time and the changing dynamics of a parent-child relationship, as the father, who was once admired for his strength and independence, now appears to depend on his son.
Big Ideas – Report to Wordsworth
Boey Kim Cheng may have written this poem to:
Big Idea 1: Humanity's destruction of the natural world
Analytical verb: Condemns / criticises
Theme: Environmental destruction and human responsibility
Poetic presentation: Uses allusions to Wordsworth and other Romantic poets, contrasting their celebration of nature with the environmental devastation of the modern world.
Big Idea statement: By contrasting the Romantic celebration of nature with images of environmental destruction, Cheng condemns humanity's disregard for the natural world and the damage caused by its pursuit of progress.
Big Idea 2: Humanity's loss of connection with nature
Analytical verb: Laments / highlights
Theme: The loss of humanity's relationship with the natural world
Poetic presentation: Addresses Wordsworth directly and draws on his Romantic vision of nature, presenting the modern world as having lost the reverence for nature that his poetry celebrated.
Big Idea statement: Through his direct address to Wordsworth and allusions to Romantic poetry, Cheng laments humanity's loss of connection with the natural world, suggesting that modern society has abandoned the reverence for nature that earlier poets sought to inspire.
Key Takeaways
Your Big Idea should communicate what the poet is trying to say about a theme and how they have chosen to communicate this idea through their poetic choices. Think of it as WHAT the poet is saying, HOW they communicate it and what they are trying to achiev
