English Literature

Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2

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AQAWritten against AQA GCSE English Literature (8702): Shared topics: skills, the two papers and unseen poetry. AQA has not reviewed these cards.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

Answer in your head…You meet a poem for the first time in the exam. What should your first reading be for?

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★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0106Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

What the poem is about and how the speaker feels

HintMeaning before method.

The whyRead it twice. Work out who is speaking, to whom and about what, and how the feeling changes, before you look for techniques.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

⌨ Type the answerAnswer in your head…How many marks is the first unseen poetry question in Paper 2 Section C worth? (number only)

★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0107Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

24

HintThree times as many as the comparison question that follows it.

The whyIt asks how the poet presents something in one poem. Half the marks are for your response and evidence, half for analysing methods.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

Answer in your head…Are you expected to know about the poet's life or period for the unseen poems in Section C?

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★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0108Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

No: context is not assessed in the unseen section

HintYou have never seen the poem, so you could not have prepared any.

The whyThe marks are for your reading and your analysis of methods only. Time spent guessing at background is wasted.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

Answer in your head…Which two places in an unseen poem most often give a quick clue to its meaning?

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★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0109Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

The title and the last lines

HintOne of them comes before the first line.

The whyGo back to the title after reading the poem: it often means more the second time. Endings are where poems tend to turn, sum up or surprise.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

Answer in your head…You notice that an unseen poem rhymes in pairs. What must you add before the observation is worth making?

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★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0110Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

What effect the rhyme has on the poem's meaning or feeling

HintA fact about form is only a start.

The whyThe same goes for stanza shape, line length and rhythm. Ask what the pattern does: does it sound settled, childlike, trapped, final?

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

⌨ Type the answerAnswer in your head…How many marks is the final question of Paper 2, comparing the two unseen poems, worth? (number only)

★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0111Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

8

HintThe smallest question on either paper.

The whyIt is a short answer, not an essay. Both poems are printed on the paper.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

Answer in your head…The comparison of the two unseen poems asks about similarities and differences in one thing. What?

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★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0112Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

The methods the poets use

HintNot their ideas alone.

The whyThe answer should set a method from one poem against a method from the other and say what each does: an image against an image, a form against a form.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

Answer in your head…The unseen comparison is worth 8 of Section C's 32 marks. Roughly what share of your Section C time should it get?

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★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0113Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

About a quarter

HintMatch the time to the marks.

The whyIf you allow about 45 minutes for Section C, that is around ten minutes. Many candidates overrun on the first unseen poem and leave this question out.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

Answer in your head…Does the 8-mark unseen comparison need an introduction and a conclusion?

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★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0114Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

No: go straight to a point of comparison

HintThere is no time for a frame.

The whyTwo or three direct comparisons of method, each with a short quotation from both poems and a comment on effect, make a complete answer.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

Answer in your head…In the unseen comparison, which is the stronger sentence? A: Both poems use imagery. B: Both poets use images of water, but in the first it comforts and in the second it threatens.

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★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0115Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

B

HintOne of them could be said of almost any two poems.

The whyA names a feature without saying anything about it. B names the method in each poem and compares its effect.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

⌨ Type the answerAnswer in your head…How long is AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 2, in minutes? (number only)

★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0116Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

135

HintIt is half an hour longer than Paper 1.

The whyIt is half an hour longer than Paper 1 and has three sections to fit in, so the time has to be shared out before you start.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

⌨ Type the answerAnswer in your head…How many marks is English Literature Paper 2 worth in total? (number only)

★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0117Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

96

HintIt is half as much again as Paper 1.

The whySection A is 30 marks plus 4 for accurate writing, Section B is 30, and Section C is 24 plus 8.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

Fill the gapsAnswer in your head…Paper 2 has three sections. Section A is the ____ text, Section B is the poetry ____ and Section C is ____ poetry.

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★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0118Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

modern; anthology; unseen

HintA play or novel from after 1914; the cluster of poems you studied; poems you have never met.

The whySections A and B are each worth about a third of the paper and so is Section C as a whole, which suggests about 45 minutes for each.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

Answer in your head…In Paper 2 Section A you write about your modern text. How many questions on your text do you choose between, and is an extract printed?

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★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0119Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

A choice of two questions, with no extract

HintUnlike Paper 1, nothing from the text is in front of you.

The whyEvery reference has to come from memory. Read both questions before choosing: pick the one for which you can recall the most precise moments.

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English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

Answer in your head…In Paper 2 Section B one anthology poem is printed on the paper. Where does the second poem for your comparison come from?

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★ GCSE-ENLI-POE-0120Front

English Literature · Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2Professor Quill

You choose it yourself from your cluster and write about it from memory

HintOnly the named one is in front of you.

The whyYou cannot know which poem will be printed, so each poem in the cluster needs a few details you can recall and one or two poems you would pair it with.

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Poetry, Year 11: unseen poetry and Paper 2

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