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Aqa AS English Literature Love Through The Ages - May 20th 2016

I couldn't find a thread for the new spec for the AS exams this Friday only the A2. I'm doing The Winter's Tale, Rebecca and The Great Gatsby. Anyone else confused on linking the poems like do you link all the Romantics together for example? Do you need to write about critics too?

(edited 7 years ago)

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Reply 1

stresslevels

HI, I am doing love through the ages come Friday 20th May 2016.
Our texts are Othello (Shakespeare), The Great Gatsby &Persuasion.
This might be a really bad idea but I've been focusing mainly on the poetry and the play as that is the first exam and the prose Paper 2 exam is a whole week away.
So today our Lit teacher said it is vital to link to poems/poets in the anthology but definitely outside as it is wider reading!
What I did is group the metaphysical poets together; John Donne, Andrew Marvell, George Herbret etc.
Maybe Cavalier poets? Romantic; William Blake, Keats, Wordsworth, Rossetti
Basically I think we just have to make links to poets of the time or at least post/pre 1900s (depending on what you're doing) poets or common themes they all have.
Critical view is A05 so yeah I guess.
Good luck I'm in the same boat as you!

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 2

Rachyray

Ooh! I've been looking for this thread for so long!

Hello, I'm also doing the exam on Friday, the texts I'm studying are: The Great Gatsby, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Othello.

Also in terms of linking the poems, we were taught that it could be done through linking the type of love, or the imagery and form used, but I'm unsure how plausible that is.

Criticism is also fairly important, so maybe just memorising one critique or interpretation for each poem may be good!

Does anyone have any predictions for which poem might come up?

Reply 3

BubbleChi

Original post by Rachyray

Does anyone have any predictions for which poem might come up?

I have a funny feeling they're going to go with Sonnet 116 - it's only the first year so I think they'll try and play it safe with a short poem. Or I may be completely wrong !

Reply 4

Rachyray

Original post by BubbleChi

I have a funny feeling they're going to go with Sonnet 116 - it's only the first year so I think they'll try and play it safe with a short poem. Or I may be completely wrong !

Hopefully you're right! Out of the ones I've practiced that's been my highest grade :h:

I wouldn't mind "To His Coy Mistress" either!

Reply 5

notbeyonce*

Original post by Rachyray

Criticism is also fairly important, so maybe just memorising one critique or interpretation for each poem may be good!

My teachers aren't really good, I've had to teach myself practically. Where do you find critcism? Does it mean reviews from the poet's time?

Reply 6

notbeyonce*

Original post by stresslevels

So today our Lit teacher send it is vital to link to poems/poets in the anthology but definitely outside as it is wider reading!
What I did is group the metaphysical poets together; John Donne, Andrew Marvell, George Herbret etc.
Maybe Cavalier poets? Romantic; William Blake, Keats, Wordsworth, Rossetti

So we should reference poets from outside the anthology? Like Ernest Dowson's the only poet from the Decadent movement in the anthology so I didn't really know how to link him to other poets except like Burns and Wyatt with the theme of loss of love but it's really vague the connections.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 7

Rachyray

Original post by notbeyonce*

My teachers aren't really good, I've had to teach myself practically. Where do you find critcism? Does it mean reviews from the poet's time?

I have the same problem! My teachers aren't helpful whatsoever. This video gave me some good ideas about where to find criticism though, but it's a different spec. https://youtu.be/S3kLW9T4ivQ

I usually just search for critical analysis of the poem/text and pick out phrases which seem useful. So basically anything from literary critics is useful...

And yes in a way it is! Like i found some criticism for The Earl of Rochester from Andrew Marvell, but i guess it could also be more modern or feminist views on the poems. It also helps to have different interpretations suggested by critics, and it doesn't always have to be criticism you agree with, because you can always argue against it and say why!

Interpretations like "The flea is a symbol of the couple's holiness as it shows even the smallest creatures are made by God" or "It has been suggested that Wyatt wrote this sonnet for Anne Boleyn" might be useful as you can link it to context too.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 8

stresslevels

Original post by notbeyonce*

I see what you mean about the difficultly to link them, and in my personal opinion I would say as long as you link to at least one other poet and can back it up with evidence then that's the right way to go.

Forgive me if I'm wrong!

Reply 9

hadiqah

hi guys! can you guys please help me, i didnt do english literature at GCSE but was allowed to do it A level because of some of the work we did in yr 9. what im really stuck n is the type of love presented in each poem, ive tried finding it everywhere but please can you tell me what type of love is presented in:
who so list to hount
sonnet 116
the flea
to his coy mistress
the scrutiny
a song(absent from thee)
the garden of love
song (ae fond kiss)
she walks in beauty
remember
the ruined maid
at an inn
la belle dame sans...
non sum qualis eram..
im so sorry for the long list but help would be very much appreciated :smile:

Reply 10

notbeyonce*

Original post by hadiqah

what im really stuck n is the type of love presented in each poem

Whoso List : Forbidden, Unrequited, Obsessive, Futile, Romantic view of love
Sonnet 116 : Idealistic, Unrealistic, Naive, Romantic view of love
The Flea : Sexual, Selfish, Manipulative, Metaphysical view of love
To His Coy Mistress : Sexual, Selfish, Manipulative, Metaphysical view of love
The Scrutiny : Sexual, Selfish, Cavalier, Objectifying view of love
A Song : Sexual, Selfish, Cavalier view of love
The Garden of Love : Idealistic, Shameless, Sexual view of love
Song (Ae fond kiss) : Selfless, Platonic, Futile, Romantic view of love
She Walks in Beauty : Idealistic, Forbidden, Romantic, Objectifying view of love
Remember : Selfless, Futile, Romantic, Controlling, Naturalistic view of love
The Ruined Maid : Sexual, Naturalistic, Hypocritical (in terms of society's attitudes) view of love
At an Inn : Platonic, Romantic, Futile, Forbidden view of love
La Belle Dame sans Merci : Romantic, Sexual, Courtly view of love
Non Sum : Obssessive, Futile, Unrequited, Naturalistic view of love

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 11

hadiqah

Thank you soo sooo much!!!

Reply 12

iram_b

I'm doing A Room with a View and The Mill on the Floss, however, the question for the exam will be applied to all novels so you can use the same critics and links. For example in the novel's we're doing we tend to link to Biblical events [Adam and Eve] and other sorts.

Reply 13

notbeyonce*

Original post by Rachyray

I usually just search for critical analysis of the poem/text and pick out phrases which seem useful. So basically anything from literary critics is useful...

And yes in a way it is! Like i found some criticism for The Earl of Rochester from Andrew Marvell, but i guess it could also be more modern or feminist views on the poems. It also helps to have different interpretations suggested by critics, and it doesn't always have to be criticism you agree with, because you can always argue against it and say why!

Thanks for the link to the video! In the exemplar band 5 answer: http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-7711-P1-SB-B5-CEX.PDF all it talks about are readers of the poet's time and how a modern or a feminist reader would interpret the poem. There's no quotes to any critics, so I'm guessing it's fine to not quote actual criticism?

Reply 14

Rachyray

Original post by notbeyonce*

Not a problem! And yeah I'm guessing that should be fine, it'd be difficult to quote word for word anyway :biggrin:

so hopefully something along the lines of "some may suggest that..." will be okay.

Reply 15

evealevel

Does anyone have any predictions for this paper? Like what theme they'll ask us about for the shakespeare (I'm doing taming of the shrew), and what the poem will be? Feeling nervous!

Reply 16

notbeyonce*

Original post by evealevel

Does anyone have any predictions for this paper? Like what theme they'll ask us about for the shakespeare (I'm doing taming of the shrew), and what the poem will be? Feeling nervous!

I feel like they won't do any of the Metaphysical, Cavalier poems because they're all pretty similar to The Scrutiny which was the sample paper question.