How to Approach the Poetry Anthology Question (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature)

Revision Note

Nick Redgrove

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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Nick Redgrove

Author: Nick Redgrove

Expertise: English Senior Content Creator

Nick is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and King’s College London. He started his career in journalism and publishing, working as an editor on a political magazine and a number of books, before training as an English teacher. After nearly 10 years working in London schools, where he held leadership positions in English departments and within a Sixth Form, he moved on to become an examiner and education consultant. With more than a decade of experience as a tutor, Nick specialises in English, but has also taught Politics, Classical Civilisation and Religious Studies.

Kate Lee

Author: Kate Lee

Expertise: English and Languages Lead

Kate has over 12 years of teaching experience as a Head of English and as a private tutor. Having also worked at the exam board AQA and in educational publishing, she's been writing educational resources to support learners in their exams throughout her career. She's passionate about helping students achieve their potential by developing their literacy and exam skills.