AQA Roman Epic -the Aeneid Discussion

i haven't had time to look at this section properly yet but when i do i will post what i think might come up, dido came up not so long ago did she not? would not be sure however

Reply 2

Dido is yet to come up, fate was last years big question. Usually most 40s have something on Aeneids character? Book 12 is the only book that is yet to be done in the section a.

Reply 3

Last year was about propaganda for Augustan Rome and fate/the gods I think. They do tend to do it so that section A is on books 1-6 and B is on 6-12 so anything could come up. I doubt fate will be a direct questiok since that was last year's, something on Dido or Aeneas as a hero could potentially come up

Reply 4

pretty sure dido was 2009

Reply 5

AnnieRoseK

unlikely that there would be a 40 mark q on Dido as she only appears in Books 1 and 4. More likely on influence of women perhaps, or Homeric similarities?

Reply 6

Original post by AnnieRoseK

unlikely that there would be a 40 mark q on Dido as she only appears in Books 1 and 4. More likely on influence of women perhaps, or Homeric similarities?

Women could come up for sure, I doubt Homeric influence would be an entire 40 marker though. I dont think theres enough to talk about tbh, beyond the key points (Aeneas/Achillies shield, structure, character mirroring etc) theres not enough to base a whole 40 marker around. Homeric context is more somethibf yku csn bring in as a paragraph

Reply 7

The 40 marker is the same every year isn't it, just re-worded, they essentially want you to discuss propaganda and the purpose of the Aenied don't they?

Reply 8

That's exactly what my teacher said, it's usually something along the lines of "how is the Aeneid propaganda for Augustan Rome" or "how does Aeneas embody key Augustan values". So either way I'm feeling pretty confident

Reply 9

I'm just starting to analyse the 40 markers and think you're right, it's practically the same question, I'm hoping this paper is nicer than today's one, really sick of aqa and just want summer to arrive

Reply 10

Anyone got any good revision tips? This exam is gonna be the death of me!! How do you all structure your essays?

Reply 11

hey guys, how are you all revising??

Reply 12

Original post by Oochiecoo

Anyone got any good revision tips? This exam is gonna be the death of me!! How do you all structure your essays?

tell me about it! so far i've just been reading through my 40 markers as they usually ask questions that are similar. I have no clue how to revise for the first half of the paper

Reply 13

Original post by Cressida_Tess

tell me about it! so far i've just been reading through my 40 markers as they usually ask questions that are similar. I have no clue how to revise for the first half of the paper

Easiest way to revise is to just re-read the books. And go over themes of course, its like tragedy so your 5 marks will he general knowledge (you either know it or you don't, and itll usually be on the same book as the passage). For the 10 marker you dont really need to revise, its not like tragedy where you need to know th scene, everytbinf you need to get 10 marks is in the passage. You just need to read the question and analyse Virgil's literary techniques (how does he make the passage effective, it will be something like that but with a scenario).

20 marker you need to know the book its talking about back to front so you can apply everything in it to the question. Take Dido for example, a 20 marker could be "Dido is the only woman in the Aeneid that Virgil presents positivley, TWEDYA". The way i like to look at it is that a 20 marker is just a 40 marker without the Augustan context, so you need to know the books you read back to front and know the characters and themes (so in the 20 marker example, you would need to know the various women in the story: Creusa(2) Dido (1,4) Anna (1,4) the collective women of book 5, Lavinia (7-12) Amata (7-12) Juturna(8-12) Camilla (11) and Juno and Venus throughout). And think on how theyre presented.

For the 40 you need to have an understanding of Augustan context and know how it applies to the Aeneid's narrative. So the best way ive found of revising for that is stuff like Shmoop or LitCharts since they summarise context quite well, otherwise read the Cambridge companions to Virgil, theyre very good, giving you background about Virgil's Eclouges and Georgics and his use of characterisation. You should also know the books and the various events that allude to Augustus: Neptune similie in book 1 (Neptune calming the sea "like a man with great authority and respect in the court"), the busy city life of carthage with all the workers like bees arguably is a metaphor for Rome, the catalogue of heroes in book 6 doesnt really need much explaining lol, Augustus appears to be one of the most respected. The Hurcules vs Cacus story narrated by Evander in book 8 alludes to Augustus defeating Antony at Actium in 31BC (Hercules=Aeneas/Augustus
Cacus(Cacus is actually a Greek generic term for evil or bad) =Turnus/Antony).
I think theres more but i cant remember them off the top of my head.

But yeah, just read the books and brush up on your Augustan context dor tuesday. Hope that helps! :smile:

Reply 14

Yeah, any ideas on what will come up for the shorter part of the paper?
How do you guys structure your 40 markers, like what paragraphs and themes do you do? I do artistry, characterisation, propaganda etc ... But I'm paranoid that my structures all over the place!!

Reply 15

yeah any ideas what the 20 will be on?

Reply 16

Original post by Oochiecoo

What is artistry :unsure:

Reply 17

Original post by Classics7979

What is artistry :unsure:

Like, how something contributes to the poems narrative, for instance dido allows Aeneas to tell the story of tory, and makes the poem more creatively pleasing because of that whole dido is a deer shabang, therefore her character contributes to the artistry of the poem :smile:

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 18

lappy482

Personally, I reckon Dido will come up. There could be small markers on the name of her suitor (Iarbas) and maybe the signs that convince Dido to kill herself (Wine turns to blood, water turns black, voices from Sychaeus' tomb). 20 marker in that case would probably be something about Dido's portrayal (sympathetic?/ only strong woman?)

Hoping for a 40 on the character of Aeneas, so I can get in some key words about Roman moral law :smile:

Reply 19