How to Approach the Poetry Anthology Question (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature)
Revision Note
Written by: Nick Redgrove
Reviewed by: Kate Lee
How to Approach the Poetry Anthology Questions
In Section B of your Eduqas GCSE English Literature exam, you need to write one 15-mark and one 25-mark essay exploring the meaning and effects created in two poems from the WJEC Eduqas Poetry Anthology.
You can approach the question in Section B with confidence by learning more about the exam question:
Section B: Poetry anthology question overview
Understanding the exam question
Understanding the assessment objectives
Top tips for a Grade 9
Section B: Poetry anthology question overview
In Section B you will answer two questions based on two poems from the WJEC Eduqas Poetry Anthology. In the first question you will be asked to write about a specified poem. In the second question, you will be asked to choose another poem from the anthology and compare it to the first.
Here is an overview:
Exam question | Poetry anthology question | |
Time that you should spend on the question | 60 minutes | First question: 20 minutes |
Second question: 40 minutes | ||
Number of marks | 40 marks | First question: 15 marks |
Second question: 25 marks | ||
How much you should write | Approx. 5–6 paragraphs | First question: 2 paragraphs |
Second question: 3–4 paragraphs | ||
You will not be allowed a copy of the anthology in the examination. However, the specified poem in the first question will always be printed on the exam paper.
You will study all 16 poems from the Poetry Anthology:
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage | ‘Sonnet 43’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning | ‘London’ by William Blake | ‘The Soldier’ by Rupert Brooke |
‘She Walks in Beauty’ by Lord Byron | ‘Living Space’ by Imtiaz Dharker | ‘As Imperceptibly as Grief’ by Emily Dickinson | ‘Cozy Apologia’ by Rita Dove |
‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy | ‘A Wife in London’ by Thomas Hardy | ‘Death of a Naturalist’ by Seamus Heaney | ‘Hawk Roosting’ by Ted Hughes |
‘To Autumn’ by John Keats | ‘Afternoons’ by Philip Larkin | ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen | ‘Ozymandias’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley |
‘Mametz Wood’ by Owen Sheers | ‘Excerpt from The Prelude’ by William Wordsworth | ||
Understanding the exam question
Below are some recent examples of exam questions from Eduqas GCSE English Literature past papers. Look at the wording of the questions and the question structure and themes. Are there any exam questions that you might struggle to answer?
GCSE Eduqas English Literature Poetry Anthology questions | |||
June 2022 | May 2019 | May 2018 | May 2017 |
‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ is a poem about death. How does Wilfred Owen write about death in the poem? | ‘A Wife in London’ is a poem about loss. How does Thomas Hardy present loss in the poem? | ‘Mametz Wood’ is a poem about war. How does Owen Sheers present war in the poem? | ‘Sonnet 43’ is a poem about love. How does Elizabeth Barrett Browning present love in the poem? |
AND | AND | AND | AND |
Choose one other poem from the anthology in which the poet also writes about death. Compare the way the poet presents death in your chosen poem with the way Wilfred Owen presents death in ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ | Choose one other poem from the anthology in which the poet also writes about loss. Compare the way the poet presents loss in your chosen poem with the way Thomas Hardy presents loss in ‘A Wife in London’ | Choose one other poem from the anthology in which the poet also writes about war. Compare the way the poet presents war in your chosen poem with the way Owen Sheers presents war in ‘Mametz Wood’ | Choose one other poem from the anthology in which the poet also writes about love. Compare the way the poet presents love in your chosen poem with the way Elizabeth Barrett Browning presents love in ‘Sonnet 43’ |
You can significantly improve your exam performance by paying close attention to the question and understanding it thoroughly. [See PPT]
Understanding the Assessment Objectives
In Section B there are three assessment objectives which are both equally weighted. They are:
AO1 | Demonstrate a close knowledge and understanding of texts, maintaining a critical style and presenting an informed personal response |
|---|---|
AO2 | Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate |
AO3 | Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written |
Try to take a whole-text approach to each of the poems. This could involve commenting on language. For example, have the poets used repetition across different stanzas, or used related figurative language throughout their poems? You might also want to comment on structural changes throughout the poem, with phrases like “at the start”, “this changes when” or “in contrast”. You could comment on a poet’s choice of form, by thinking about what deliberate choices the poets have made with their verse form. For example, a sonnet is usually a love poem, so try to explore specifically what the object of the speaker’s love is.
Top tips for a Grade 9
Show you are focusing on the question by using the command words and any other keywords from the question
Ensure you have studied all of the poems in the anthology in order to make an informed and sensible choice
For the comparison question, the given poem should serve as a springboard to your chosen second poem:
When you are thinking about what other poem to compare to the given poem, you should be led by the themes and ideas in the poem and not by the quotations you have memorised
Do not select a second poem because you know it best, or because you have memorised lots of quotations from it if it doesn’t explore the idea or theme in the question
You you do not need to include both similarities and differences between your two poems:
Focus only on what is relevant to the question set
References don’t need to be direct quotations:
They can be references to things that happen in the poem
For AO3, context is interpreted relatively broadly, and includes:
Exploring the time period the poems were written in
Comments about the time period they are set in
Social and cultural attitudes
Literary contexts
Explore the connections between the poems and the context in which they were written:
Integrate contextual comments throughout your response rather than having bolt-on paragraphs
The integration of context within paragraphs (rather than a couple of “context sentences” at the end of a paragraph) will move your response to a higher level
A focus will be provided to help you choose your second poem (for example, “love” or “war”), and will almost certainly relate to themes, so thinking about grouping the poems into themes when you come to revise is a great idea
Your conclusion should be relevant and should summarise your personal response to the poems and the task:
The strongest answers provide evidence of an informed and sensitive personal response to the poems, which focuses directly on the key words of question
Find out more about how you can write a Grade 9 answer.
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