Ep 36: How To Handle GAMSAT Poetry Without Stressing Out

Dr Tom Forfa (00:18)
Welcome back everyone to the Nurses Doing GAMSAT podcast. Today we’re talking about poetry — GAMSAT poetry. My name is Dr Tom Forfa, Founder and CEO of ThankFlip GAMSAT, and I’m joined by our Lead Section 1 lecturer and tutor, Ryan.

Ryan has a Master’s in English Literature and Writing, as well as a PhD in Creative Writing and Philosophy. He leads our Section I team and has helped a lot of people with the GAMSAT. He has a very extensive background in these topics — understanding them and writing them. He’s an author himself, a teacher, and a professional in this area, and he’s been teaching our students for a number of years now.

So today we’re talking about everyone’s favourite topic: poetry. And by favourite, I mean the one most people panic about. They freak out, they don’t know how to understand it, and it feels like it’s written in a different language.

We’re going to break it down. We’ll talk about how to face poetry, techniques for how to prepare for it, and we’ll try to help you as much as we can. If you have any questions after what we cover today, you can book a session with Ryan via our website, or you can ask us directly. We’ll also have show notes and some resources for you to use, so head over there. And if you like this, hit like, subscribe, all that good stuff.

But welcome, Ryan. Welcome back.

Ryan (01:48)
Bye, bye.
Tom — good to be back.

Dr Tom Forfa (01:51)
Great to have you here again. So let’s jump in. Poetry. What are your thoughts on GAMSAT poetry? Let’s start broad.

Ryan (02:01)
So, as you mentioned, when I ask students — particularly in the acceleration classes — whether there’s a particular topic they feel more troubled by, the one that generally comes up is poetry.

I think it’s because poetry is somewhat intimidating. I mentioned on the previous podcast that I teach high school English literature, and poetry always comes up. I usually begin the class by asking, “Who reads poetry?”

And there’s a deadly silence. Even if I ask a group of adults the same question, the silence is even deadlier.

Dr Tom Forfa (03:19)
Well, I have a confession to make there, Ryan, because since the GAMSAT started, I hadn’t read poetry and had no interest in it. But — and I’m not making this up — I attended one of your poetry classes, and it helped me understand the hidden gems and diamonds within poetry.

I actually went out and bought a couple of poetry books from a second-hand bookshop and left them on the table. Marie was like, “What are you doing?” And I said, “This is amazing. You don’t understand — this is great. You’ve got to listen to one of Ryan’s classes.”

So yeah, I really enjoyed it.

Ryan (03:48)
That’s great to hear. And I think, again, we read less and less these days. Having a book of poetry by your bedside — when you’re stressed about the GAMSAT, stressed about taxes, stressed about everything — you pick it up, read a couple of poems, and it’s a flash into another person’s mind, their consciousness, or if you want to get poetic, their soul.

I think one of the reasons people feel intimidated by poetry is the way it’s taught in schools. There’s the teacher, there’s the poem, and there’s a textbook with “the” interpretation of that poem. Students might have their own interpretation, but poetry isn’t an exact science.

The problem is that poetry is often taught as if it were one. A student puts up their hand and says, “I think this poem means this,” and the teacher replies, “That’s incorrect. This poem means this.” Over time, people get turned off.

There may also be older language that isn’t contemporary, so students don’t fully understand the words on the page. They switch off, put it away, and never want to look at it again.

What helps is reminding people that it’s okay not to understand everything straight away. Poetry is subjective. One good exercise is to try writing a poem yourself — even just putting thoughts down. You realise quickly that poetry isn’t about one correct answer.

That said, poetry does have structure. There are things you can observe — tone, mood, metaphor, imagery, symbolism — without needing a degree in literature. These are elements everyone can learn with some training.

Dr Tom Forfa (08:28)
Yeah, I think that’s part of the key — understanding similes, metaphors, and those devices poets use. I often suggest students try writing a simple poem using one technique, just to express how they felt that morning, for example. It really opens things up.

Ryan (09:19)
Exactly. I often use Japanese haiku in the classroom because it’s a great entry point. It’s short, structured, and not intimidating.

Dr Tom Forfa (09:38)
So what is a haiku?

Ryan (09:48)
A traditional haiku has 17 syllables. Japanese is monosyllabic, so it translates well. Usually it’s structured as five syllables, then seven, then five. Haiku often include a seasonal word — a kigo — which immediately evokes a season like winter, spring, or autumn.

There’s usually a concrete object and a moment of insight. The reader intuitively understands the feeling.

Dr Tom Forfa (11:24)
So three lines, structured syllables?

Ryan (11:28)
Yes. Although modern haiku, like those by Jack Kerouac, don’t always follow the strict structure, but you still recognise them as haiku.

Dr Tom Forfa (12:06)
And you use these in class because they give people something concrete to practise with.

Ryan (12:14)
Exactly. It’s also great for students whose first language isn’t English. Rhyme and syllables work differently across languages, so it helps them tune into sound and structure.

Dr Tom Forfa (12:56)
For those who don’t know, Ryan lives in Italy and teaches in Italian as well as English.

Ryan (13:56)
Yes, and when I ask students to define poetry, they often say it’s difficult, boring, or hard to understand. Some say poetry is “poetic”, which is interesting because then we have to unpack what that means.

That leads us to metaphors, similes, imagery — the tools poets use. These are no different from persuasive techniques in cartoons or literary devices in fiction. They’re just labels that help us interpret meaning.

I think the key is not overwhelming students. I focus on just a few core ideas — especially tone and mood.

Dr Tom Forfa (15:35)
Yep.

Ryan (15:52)
Tone is what the poet creates through word choice. Mood is how that tone makes the reader feel. I always use the analogy of a Halloween party. You decorate your house with spider webs, pumpkins, spooky music — that’s tone. When I walk in and feel spooked, that’s mood.

It’s the same with poetry. The words and images the poet chooses create a response in the reader.

Dr Tom Forfa (18:20)
So mood and tone are connected.

Ryan (18:37)
They are. You can’t really have one without the other. If someone uses a sarcastic tone, it creates a reaction in you. It’s a relationship.

Dr Tom Forfa (21:16)
How do students actually apply that when reading a poem?

Ryan (21:35)
I teach a three-read system. The first read is intuitive. How does this poem make you feel? Happy? Sad? Uneasy?

The second read looks for why you felt that way. Which words, images, or metaphors created that feeling?

The third read brings it together: “I felt this because of these elements.”

With practice, this becomes automatic.

Dr Tom Forfa (26:41)
That’s a great technique.

Ryan (27:22)
If you do this regularly — even one poem a day — you build intuition. On exam day, it’s no longer foreign.

Dr Tom Forfa (27:35)
Emily Dickinson comes up a lot in the GAMSAT.

Ryan (27:40)
Yes, and if you read a lot of her poems, you see recurring themes, images, and style. She lived a reclusive life, suffered illness, and wrote short, intense poems. You get to know her voice, like an old friend.

That familiarity helps enormously in the exam.

Dr Tom Forfa (29:54)
Should students focus on a few poets or read widely?

Ryan (30:18)
I recommend authors who write across genres. T.S. Eliot is excellent — he wrote poetry, essays, and plays. You can prepare for multiple sections at once.

James Joyce is another example. Emily Dickinson, Shakespeare, Milton — all valuable for different reasons.

Dr Tom Forfa (32:41)
When you say “epic”, you mean the technical term — long narrative poems.

Ryan (32:45)
Exactly. Paradise Lost is epic in the literal sense. Chaucer is challenging too, but useful for pushing your limits.

Dr Tom Forfa (34:41)
Coming back to basics, what questions should students ask themselves?

Ryan (35:08)
Think like a detective. Treat the poem like a crime scene. Look for clues. Word choice, imagery, repetition, metaphor.

War poetry is a good example. Poets who hadn’t seen war wrote patriotic verses. Wilfred Owen, who experienced it, wrote brutal, disturbing poems full of gas masks and trenches. The language alone tells you everything.

You don’t need a literature degree to recognise words like “gasping” or “clawing” as distressing.

Dr Tom Forfa (39:04)
That’s reassuring.

Ryan (40:15)
Let the questions guide you in the exam. Don’t over-interpret. Nothing exists outside the text. Don’t bring your personal opinions into it — focus only on what’s there.

Dr Tom Forfa (47:38)
That’s a great tip for all of Section 1.

Ryan (47:44)
Exactly. It takes practice, but it becomes easier.

Dr Tom Forfa (48:04)
Ryan, thank you. Like I said, I genuinely enjoyed your poetry class. If you’re listening and want to learn more, check the show notes for our boot camp or tutoring sessions. Thanks again, Ryan, and thanks everyone for listening. If you liked this episode, subscribe, and we’ll see you next time.

Ryan (48:27)
Thanks Tom. Thanks everyone.

Dr Tom Forfa (48:31)
See you next time.