Predictions for the 2015 MAY 15th WJEC English Literature AS LEVEL

Hey I was wondering if anyone has any predictions for the poetry of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, also Broken Glass would be helpful. There are two questions on both sections, much appreciated. Harry Mahmood

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Reply 1

Najika

I'm doing Larkin and Abse for Poetry and Kindertransport for drama :O

Reply 2

Sloanepeterson

Original post by Najika

I'm doing Larkin and Abse for Poetry and Kindertransport for drama :O

im doing both of those too! my teacher has barely taught us any of the poems so im having to cram a load in now!! the coursework took way longer than expected so we've hardly done anything and only about 3 Abse poems! god im so nervous. I also don't have a clue on what themes they'll ask because WJEC don't mind repeating themselves over the years so it could literally be anything :frown:

Reply 3

GrapesEnglish

Hi I'm doing Arcadia by Tom Stoppard and Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes for poetry. If anyone has any revision tips or predictions please post!

Reply 4

GeorgiaEvanda

I'm also doing Larkin and Abse- Death, love or family would be ideal!!

Reply 5

C_Raptor

I'm doing Larkin/Abse for poetry and Dancing at Lughnasa for drama. For Larkin I hope journeys, settings and death come up. For Lughnasa song and dance would be beautiful.

Reply 6

owenyue

Original post by GeorgiaEvanda

I'm also doing Larkin and Abse- Death, love or family would be ideal!!

What type of points would you make for these themes? I can literally only think of points for illusion and reality, i.e. illusion as escapism, illusion obstructs reality, etc.

Reply 7

owenyue

Could people list the type of points they'd make for each theme?

Also, how are people structuring there essays? We've been told 4 points for the main poem, 3 points for secondary poem, and to link in Abse a few times in the existing points. This seems an awful lot though!

Reply 8

emmaG123

The questions on Plath and Hughes last year were about death and relationships, I haven't seen the theme of insecurities, loss, colour, or landscape come up in a while (form looking at past papers) so they could be possibilities but focus on other themes as well like nature or something because the whole AS course is changing next year apparently so they could either repeat or make the paper harder than usual

Reply 9

mampfen

I'm doing Larkin/Abse for poetry and Murmuring Judges by David Hare for the play. I think I'm fine with the poems, but Murmuring Judges is quite challenging to write about, especially in such a short amount of time! If anyone else is studying Murmuring Judges, could you jut state what kinda questions about Murmuring Judges and Larkin/Abse you think might come up?

This is what I gained from the WJEC past papers. My teacher suggested we pick the strongest 4 poems from Larkin and 2 from Abse that could virtually answer any question (you have to of course relate the poem to the question). Bear in mind that I only studied 11 Larkin poems, which are Here, Mr Bleaney, Love Songs In Age, Broadcast, The Whitsun Weddings, Talking In Bed, Ambulances, Sunny Prestatyn, Dockery & Son, Essential Beauty and Afternoons. I also studied 5 Abse poems, which are Down the M4, Welsh Valley Cinemas, 1930s , Sons, At Ogmore-by-Sea this August Evening and Postcard to his Wife (love that one so much :'))

Larkin/Abse questions that already came up (in the new spec):
- theme of unhappiness (Larkin = Love Songs In Age, Afternoons, Mr Bleaney. Abse = Postcard to his wife are good examples to answer this question)
- setting (Larkin = Here, The Whitsun Weddings, Essential Beauty (not sure about this one?), Sunny Prestatyn. Abse = Down the M4, Sons, At Ogmore-by-Sea this August Evening (lots to choose from :smile:

)
- presentation of the world (this one is a bit trickier but Larkin = Here, Sunny Prestatyn, Essential Beauty, Afternoons. Abse = Sons)
- relationships between men and women (Larkin = Broadcast, Afternoons, Sunny Prestatyn (a bit harder to write about), The Whitsun Weddings, Talking In Bed etc. Abse = Postcard to his Wife, maybe Down the M4, I'm not sure)
- sense of place (really similar to the setting question - additional poems include Larkin = Mr Bleaney, Afternoons. Abse = Welsh Valley Cinema, 1930s, Sons.)
- sadness (Larkin = Mr Bleaney, Talking in Bed, Love Songs in Age {strongest poem in my opinion} Broadcast. Abse = Postcard to his Wife, At Ogmore-by-Sea this August Evening).
- family (Larkin = Afternoons, Mr Bleaney, The Whitsun Weddings, Dockery and Son, Love Songs In Age. Abse = Sons, Down the M4, Postcard to his Wife)
- natural world (similar to setting and sense of place)
- use of first person speakers (Larkin = Mr Bleaney, Broadcast, the Whitsun Weddings, Here, Dockery and Son. Abse = Postcard to his Wife, Sons, Down the M4, At Ogmore-by-Sea this August Evening etc)
- loss (Larkin = Love Songs In Age, Talking In Bed, Mr Bleaney, Afternoons, Mr Bleaney, Ambulances. Abse = Postcard to his Wife)
- everyday experiences (Larkin = Afternoons, Here, Essential Beauty, The Whitsun Weddings, Mr Bleaney, Talking In Bed, Ambulances, Broadcast. Abse = Down the M4, Welsh Valley Cinemas, 1930s , Sons)
- death (dammit, this theme is a great theme ugh. Larkin = Love Songs In Age, Mr Bleaney, Ambulances, Dockery and Son. Abse = Postcard to his Wife).

I'm thinking for Larkin/Abse, the themes/questions will probably about/similar to love, (loss/sense of) youth etc. As for Murmuring Judges, I have no idea. My English teacher (ironically he's Welsh lol) said the question could be a character question and I'm not sure if I'd like that...But yes, please post your predictions about Murmuring Judges and Larkin/Abse and please also inform me if the themes I mentioned have already come up in the past. Thanks. Good luck to all!

Reply 10

username1933511

Plath/Hughes I'm thinking maybe nature.., would it be worth looking at previous questions for the other poets? And perhaps some of those might come up for Plath/Hughes

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Reply 11

stilinski

Anyone doing Heaney and sheers for poetry and dancing at lughnasa for drama? I'm okay with the poetry sections I'm just really struggling with dancing at lughnasa - my teacher hasn't even taught my class anything like I have no idea what to write about....I mean I've read the book and identified the different themes and meanings but I'm just really confused please help

Reply 12

Student.96

Are there any predictions for the poetry of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath?

Also for Broken Glass?

Thanks

Reply 13

jasminekmm

I'm doing Heaney and Sheers for poetry, I feel like the only one!

Reply 14

abcdixie

Changing things up because I'm doing Duffy and Pugh for poetry and Dancing at Lughnasa for the drama. Anyone else doing the same/ similar?

Reply 15

GeorgiaEvanda

Original post by C_Raptor

I'm doing Larkin/Abse for poetry and Dancing at Lughnasa for drama. For Larkin I hope journeys, settings and death come up. For Lughnasa song and dance would be beautiful.

Song and dance came up last year so I highly doubt they will repeat it the year after but you never know

Reply 16

GeorgiaEvanda

Original post by abcdixie

Changing things up because I'm doing Duffy and Pugh for poetry and Dancing at Lughnasa for the drama. Anyone else doing the same/ similar?

I'm doing dancing at lughnasa

Reply 17

tammyd658

I'm doing Larkin/Abse and Murmuring Judges, really hoping it's something about relationships or death for Poetry and I'm just begging it's not a character one for Drama :/ how often do they do character ones? I've never seen one?

Reply 18

B_Holz

Right, I'm doing Heaney/Sheers and Murmuring Judges. If you want to join me on my idiotic trying-to-be-psychic revision plan, then I'd gamble that for Murmuring Judges the Police Force WON'T come up, women may not :frown:

(there's been a lot of them recently), class/judiciary looks reasonably likely, prison system's another possibility.

Heaney/Sheers: love/death/parents possibly. Landscapes/settings unlikely but nature could come up as it often does in different forms.

Don't gamble though. I'm an idiot.

Reply 19

KayElle1

Death and relationship came up for Plath and Hughes and Women's identity came up for Broken glass last year so I wouldn't bother too much on these themes