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English Literature GCSE

Have just finished this exam recently, and remembered how I was constantly asking my teacher to explain to me the structure of the essay, as it was soo confusing!!!!. Anyways thanks to SOME of her support and that from the internet and examples I have worked it out, so though I`d share it with you. Bear in mind this is for the AQA course, where you must compare two poems

Introduction-Summarise the poems and briefly introduce some of their key points that you will expand on later

Each paragraph-Make sure you do similarities and differences for the poems! These are the main steps: (I will use examples from To His Coy Mistress)
Make a point-e.g. In To His Coy Mistress, the speaker presents his desperation and desire for his mistress to indulge in a sexual act with him, which time has the ability to limit
Add in a phrase from the poem(It is better to embed quotes into sentences, rather than just say, `It has the phrase`, which means...`. Be more professional! e.g. The speaker expresses his desire, and implies that time is `hurrying near` and is soon bound to take its toll on his desire, her `beauty` as well as this oppurtunity.
Then include interpretations and expand on them-A star includes Multiple interpretations, I would recommend you get books and make use of the internet as well as your class notes, as they each carry different interpretations!
Summarise and then link to the second poem, and do the same steps for that one
(P.S. Dont forget to input the effect on the reader! By this I mean remember to add info such as `this makes the reader feel` sympathy, anger,whatever,for the speaker, etc)

Conclusion: Summarise and round off the essay-For A Star, you must also input your thoughts on the poem in general. But DONT say `I think`. Instead, say something like `the poem is appealing to the reader as it explores`, etc.

Hope I helped!