Famous poem extracts: Life in the UK test revision

The handbook quotes five poems, and the test can show a line and ask for the poet. Home Thoughts from Abroad is Robert Browning's. Its opening expresses a longing for England in April, with spring leaves and a singing chaffinch. Browning's dates, 1812 to 1889, match Dickens's birth year.

Why it matters: Extract-to-poet matching is a known question type, and the England-in-April image is the Browning clue.

Memory hook: Browning abroad, thinking of home: April in England, Robert Browning.

Official handbook: Chapter 4, section 4.2, page 49

Byron's She Walks in Beauty compares a woman to a cloudless, starry night, mixing dark and bright in her looks. Byron lived from 1788 to 1824 and is one of the 19th-century poets listed earlier. If an exam question quotes the night-and-stars image, Byron is the poet to choose.

Why it matters: The 19th-century poets are offered as each other's wrong answers, so the starry-night image must be tied to Byron.

Memory hook: Byron by night: she walks in beauty under starry skies.

Official handbook: Chapter 4, section 4.2, page 49

Wordsworth is the nature poet of the handbook, and The Daffodils shows why. The speaker drifts like a cloud over hills and valleys, then sees a host of golden daffodils. Wordsworth lived from 1770 to 1850. Questions may quote the cloud line and ask for the poet or the poem's title.

Why it matters: Wordsworth's 'inspired by nature' description and this extract are both tested; the daffodils are the clue.

Memory hook: Words worth a cloud and a crowd of daffodils: Wordsworth, nature's poet.

Official handbook: Chapter 4, section 4.2, page 49

Blake's The Tyger addresses a tiger glowing in the night forest and wonders what immortal maker could have shaped it. Blake lived from 1757 to 1827, the earliest of the quoted 19th-century poets. Two Williams, Blake and Wordsworth, are quoted side by side, so link the tiger to Blake.

Why it matters: Blake and Wordsworth share a first name and a page, a deliberate confusion the test can exploit.

Memory hook: Blake's Tyger blazes black and bright: B for Blake, B for burning.

Official handbook: Chapter 4, section 4.2, page 49

Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth is the handbook's example of First World War poetry. It pictures soldiers dying like cattle, with only guns and rifles to mark their passing. Owen's dates, 1893 to 1918, end in the war's final year. Sassoon, the other war poet, is the obvious wrong answer.

Why it matters: Owen and Sassoon are the paired war poets; the quoted anthem belongs to Owen alone.

Memory hook: Owen, doomed youth, 1918: the poet who did not outlive the war he wrote about.

Official handbook: Chapter 4, section 4.2, page 49