Worlds and Lives Poems AQA English Literature GCSE

AQA has introduced a new poetry cluster to its English Literature GCSE, alongside their already established Power and Conflict and Love and Relationships clusters. This new cluster, titled “Worlds and Lives”, will be examined for the first time in 2024, and encompasses a varied collection of poems with a particular focus on diverse and modern voices. The poems themselves explore people and their relationships to the physical or social worlds around them, either on an individual level or in response to much wider issues such as inequality, oppression, climate change and prejudice.

What are the poems in the Worlds and Lives cluster?

Just like the other two poetry anthologies, the Worlds and Lives anthology contains 15 poems. You will be given one of the 15 poems printed on the exam paper, and you will be asked to compare this to one other from the cluster.

The poems in the cluster are:

What are the main themes in the Worlds and Lives cluster?

The Worlds and Lives cluster explores, among other things, the following key themes:

• Identity and culture

• Nature and the environment

• Belonging and loneliness

• Migration and prejudice

• Power and authority

The poems consider how we define our own and collective identities, whether through family, heritage, culture, language or profession. They also consider how identity is linked to a sense of belonging, and how a loss of identity can lead to loneliness and isolation, such as in “pot” and “Homing”. Belonging and isolation are also explored in humanity’s relationship with the natural world and the environment, both in terms of the comfort nature can bring and the negative impact humans can have on the environment and natural world, for example, in “With Birds You’re Never Lonely” and “A Portable Paradise”. Identity and belonging is also closely linked to the themes of migration and prejudice, especially in terms of how migration can make people feel disconnected or alienated, such as in “Name Journeys”. Our sense of power and purpose over our own lives, and the balance of power, is connected to this, such as in “England in 1819”.

Is Worlds and Lives assessed in the same way as Power and Conflict and Love and Relationships?

In short, yes. The cluster is assessed in AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 2, Section B. You will be asked to compare the poem given to you on the exam paper with one other from the anthology, based on a specific theme. It is therefore essential that you read the question carefully and highlight its focus before you start re-reading and annotating the poem itself. 

How do I get a grade 9 in the Worlds and Lives cluster?

To achieve high marks in this section of the exam, you need to be able to thoroughly evidence your knowledge of the whole of the two poems in your answer. This, however, does not mean just reproducing a list of pre-learned quotes. The quality of those quotes, linked to the theme focused on in the exam question, is more important than quantity. 
It is also important to remember that, in this question, if you only write about the poem given to you on the exam paper, rather than incorporating comparison with a second poem, you will incur a penalty in your marks. You should therefore think of comparison as what connects the two poems. It is therefore a good idea to start your response with an opening statement that thematically connects the two poems.

Background information, or context, should only be included in your response if it is directly relevant to the focus of the question. Just tacking on biographical information about the poet (especially at the end of a paragraph) will not score high marks. Neither will simply listing the literary techniques the poem has used without analysing why the writer has chosen to use that technique. This is called “feature spotting” and this is something that examiners especially dislike.

Above all, to get the top marks, you need to know all 15 poems really well. If you know the poems well, you will be able to demonstrate this knowledge and understanding in the exam. Therefore, learn the poems, rather than just a list of quotes.

Here at Save My Exams, we have produced a full, detailed set of revision notes for each of the poems in this new anthology to support you in achieving your highest possible grade in the exam. You can access these revision notes on our dedicated Worlds and Lives poetry anthology pages.