Literature exam queries

Oh Rupert--I'm sorry! Of course there are textual variants, though that may just be my bad memory. Stick with the Anthology version, it's what will be in the exam...

In answer to Paridhi... In the literature exam you will be given (probably) two named poems, though they do sometimes vary this, for instance by giving you two lists from which you can pick. They will never give you more than two named poems, but they can choose from either Duffy, Armitage or the pre-1914 poetry bank.

You can compare the poems however you like--you don't have to compare two and two--in fact, if you do you may limit what you can say. For instance, when looking at a comparison involving 'My Last Duchess', 'The Laboratory', 'Havisham' and 'Hitcher', you might well want to compare the two Browning poems, but then move on to consider how female speaking voices are created by Duffy and Browning.

Good practice for this paper is to make cards with all the poem names on them, and question cards, and pick up four poem cards, trying to make connections between them quickly with regard to a particular question--this will sharpen you up for the quick thinking you need in the exam! In the same way, writing introductions rather than full essays can be good practice for establishing that initial comparison. I've just been doing this with the revision groups, and although you do come up with some strange combinations (compare parent/child relationships in 'Inversnaid' and 'My Last Duchess' for instance) at the least it makes you realise how relatively easy the exam is in comparison! I'm assuming here that you have detailed notes on all the poems and know them well--that is the very first step for revision.

I'll post a list of question openers below, which you could use for that game if you like...



• Compare how attitudes towards other people are shown

• Compare the ways relationships between parents and children are presented

• Compare the ways family relationships are presented

• Compare features of language which have interested you

• Compare the ways suffering is presented

• Compare the ways the poets present violence

• Compare how strong feelings are presented

• Compare how memories are presented

• Compare how death or the threat of death is presented

• Compare how women are presented

• Compare the ways the poets present family relationships

• Compare how attitudes to loved ones are presented

• Compare how speakers are presented (male or female)

• Compare how young people are presented

• Did you enjoy reading the poems in the AQA English Literature Anthology?
Compare your responses to…

• People sometimes have strong reactions to the poems in the AQA English Literature Anthology. Compare your responses to…