AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - Summer 2014 *OFFICIAL THREAD*
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Original post by Lottie_
I'm doing all the same as you haha :-)
That's awesome
Which bit do you like best and worst? 
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Original post by Lottie_
just comparing 2 poems and I always find it difficult to analyse well as well - if you've got any notes or anything it would be a massive help!
I am not taking the Unit 2 Poetry Across Time Exam, so I don't have many notes on the different poems, although I wouldn't mind reading any poems that you are struggling with, if you would find that helpful. However, when I did my Literature controlled assessment, I studied poems from the relationship cluster, so I do have some notes on those poems, if they'd be of any use.
However, with analysing poetry, where I think people go wrong is that they don't understand the poem and go straight into analysis, which is not a very methodological approach to analysing poetry. So the first thing that you should try to do before analysing a poem is to make sure you understand it. Once you've accomplished that, you can move onto the analysis.
When analysing a poem, there are three things that you should consider: language, structure and form. When you are writing about the language in a poem, you should try to write about the connotations specific words have and how they create mood and atmosphere. However, it's not just specific words that you can analyse; instead, you can analyse techniques such as alliteration, which is very common in poetry. Don't make an obvious comment about the effect of alliteration, such as the effect being that it is memorable. What you really want to write about is the letter that is being repeated and what sound it makes - a harsh, soft, violent or plosive sound. Plosives are highly common in poetry that is negative and plosives are simply harsh sounds - the 'b','d','p' and 't' sounds are the plosive sounds. If you have ever read Robert Browning's 'The Laboratory', you will remember these lines:
"Grind away, moisten and mash up thy paste,
Pound at thy powder, -- I am not in haste!"
This is a perfect example of where you can talk about alliteration. Here is what I would say:
Browning uses the alliteration of the 'm' sound to create the image of the speaker chewing these words with excitement as the prospect of her rival's death increases, causing the reader to interpret the speaker as malevolent, while the alliteration of the plosive 'p' sound that follows it creates a harsh sound on "pound" and "powder" which highlight how her excitement is driven by evil thoughts. The use of the word "powder" is something that we associate with purity, so the positive-connoting word choice that has a plosive nature highlights how the speaker will turn anything good into something bad for her own selfish desires.
When you want to analyse the structure of a poem, write about the rhyme scheme, line breaks, enjambement, punctuation, stanza shape and there are many other things that you can write about. With the rhyme scheme, you can comment on what the rhyme scheme is: is it a symmetrical rhyme scheme (i.e. ABAB), 'on-off' rhyme scheme, is there a rhyme scheme at all? Then comment on the effect of the rhyme scheme in the context of the poem. With line breaks, you might want to consider why the poet has chosen to have a new stanza after that particular sentence, and punctuation can be a great thing to talk about. For example, the poem 'Quickdraw', in the relationships cluster, has a full stop after 'Last Chance saloon', so with the 'Last Chance saloon' suggesting the end, the full stop also highlights this abrupt ending that the speaker has because he thinks he has lost the battle. Here's a paragraph that I wrote on the structure of Quickdraw:
Duffy embeds an irregular structure in the poem with the gun-shaped stanzas and lack of rhyme. The words "gun", "pellet", "trigger" and "bullets" are examples of words that Duffy uses from the semantic field of battle to highlight how the argument between the couple is like a cowboy fight, as if Duffy is trying to give the poem a universal meaning that relationships only result in pain, like the pain a battle will bring. The gun-shaped stanzas used emphasises the western imagery, but the fact that the stanza shape returns to normal in the final stanza causes the reader to interpret how Duffy might not be trying to criticise relationships, but, instead, highlight how if you stick together the power of love will make everything better. Additionally, the lack of a rhyme scheme highlights how this argument has taken the happiness out of the couple's relationship, but the internal half rhymes of "tone" and "phone", for example, highlight how as a result of the "phone", the relationship has been damaged, which could cause the reader to interpret how Duffy might be trying to show how modern technology is causing a fractured-nature in relationships.
Don't forget to write about if the poem is written in close focus third person, third person omniscient, second person, as a dramatic monologue or any other narrative form that I might not have listed. Obviously, don't write an entire paragraph on this, but link it with your analysis, or it might be something that you can use in your introduction: if it's a dramatic monologue, you can write about how this allows you to zoom in on the feelings of the speaker, whereas if it's third person omniscient you could write about how it zooms out on the feelings of everybody but doesn't allow the reader to see the feelings of the individual characters, and you can comment on the reason why the poet might have done this too. If you want to, you can even link this to the tense that the poem is written in.
When comparing two poems, try to compare their structure, language and form. Why might one of poets use a rhyme scheme in one poem but another not, even though it might have the same overall effect? The best way to compare is to use comparing words such as 'while', 'however', 'even though', 'likewise', 'alternatively' and so on.
Anyways, I hope that was useful. If you need anymore help, just ask.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by kingaaran
I am not taking the Unit 2 Poetry Across Time Exam, so I don't many notes on the different poems, although I wouldn't mind reading any poems that you are struggling with, if you would find that helpful. However, when I did my Literature controlled assessment, we studied poems from the relationship cluster, so I do have some notes on those poems, if they'd be of any use.
However, with analysing poetry, where I think people go wrong is that they don't understand the poem and go straight into analysis, which is not a very methodological approach to analysing poetry. So the first thing that you should try to do before analysing a poem is to make sure you understand it. Once you've accomplished that, you can move onto the analysis.
When analysing a poem, there are three things that you should consider: language, structure and form. When you are writing about the language in a poem, you should try to write about the connotations specific words have and how they create mood and atmosphere. However, it's not just specific words that you can analyse; instead, you can analyse techniques such as alliteration, which is very common in poetry. Don't make an obvious comment about the effect of alliteration, such as the effect being that it is memorable. What you really want to write about is the letter that is being repeated and what sound it makes - a harsh, soft, violent or plosive sound. Plosives are highly common in poetry that is negative and plosives are simply harsh sounds - the 'b','d','p' and 't' sounds are the plosive sounds. If you have ever read Robert Browning's 'The Laboratory', you will remember these lines:
"Grind away, moisten and mash up thy paste,
Pound at thy powder, -- I am not in haste!"
This is a perfect example of where you can talk about alliteration. Here is what I would say:
Browning uses the alliteration of the 'm' sound to create the image of the speaker chewing these words with excitement as the prospect of her rival's death increases, causing the reader to interpret the speaker as malevolent, while the alliteration of the plosive 'p' sound that follows it creates a harsh sound on "pound" and "powder" which highlight how her excitement is driven by evil thoughts. The use of the word "powder" is something that we associate with purity, so the positive-connoting word choice that has a plosive nature highlights how the speaker will turn anything good into something bad for her own selfish desires.
When you want to analyse the structure of a poem, write about the rhyme scheme, line breaks, enjambement, punctuation, stanza shape and there are many other things that you can write about. With the rhyme scheme, you can comment on what the rhyme scheme is: is it a symmetrical rhyme scheme (i.e. ABAB), 'on-off' rhyme scheme, is there a rhyme scheme at all? Then comment on the effect of the rhyme scheme in the context of the poem. With line breaks, you might want to consider why the poet has chosen to have a new stanza after that particular sentence, and punctuation can be a great thing to talk about. For example, the poem 'Quickdraw', in the relationships cluster, has a full stop after 'Last Chance saloon', so with the 'Last Chance saloon' suggesting the end, the full stop also highlights this abrupt ending that the speaker has because he thinks he has lost the battle. Here's a paragraph that I wrote on the structure of Quickdraw:
Duffy embeds an irregular structure in the poem with the gun-shaped stanzas and lack of rhyme. The words "gun", "pellet", "trigger" and "bullets" are examples of words that Duffy uses from the semantic field of battle to highlight how the argument between the couple is like a cowboy fight, as if Duffy is trying to give the poem a universal meaning that relationships only result in pain, like the pain a battle will bring. The gun-shaped stanzas used emphasises the western imagery, but the fact that the stanza shape returns to normal in the final stanza causes the reader to interpret how Duffy might not be trying to criticise relationships, but, instead, highlight how if you stick together the power of love will make everything better. Additionally, the lack of a rhyme scheme highlights how this argument has taken the happiness out of the couple's relationship, but the internal half rhymes of "tone" and "phone", for example, highlight how as a result of the "phone", the relationship has been damaged, which could cause the reader to interpret how Duffy might be trying to show how modern technology is causing a fractured-nature in relationships.
Don't forget to write about if the poem is written in close focus third person, third person omniscient, second person, as a dramatic monologue or any other narrative form that I might not have listed. Obviously, don't write an entire paragraph on this, but link it with your analysis, or it might be something that you can use in your introduction: if it's a dramatic monologue, you can write about how this allows you to zoom in on the feelings of the speaker, whereas if it's third person omniscient you could write about how it zooms out on the feelings of everybody but doesn't allow the reader to see the feelings of the individual characters, and you can comment on the reason why the poet might have done this too. If you want to, you can even link this to the tense that the poem is written in.
When comparing two poems, try to compare their structure, language and form. Why might one of poets use a rhyme scheme in one poem but another not, even though it might have the same overall effect? The best way to compare is to use comparing words such as 'while', 'however', 'even though', 'likewise', 'alternatively' and so on.
Anyways, I hope that was useful. If you need anymore help, just ask.
However, with analysing poetry, where I think people go wrong is that they don't understand the poem and go straight into analysis, which is not a very methodological approach to analysing poetry. So the first thing that you should try to do before analysing a poem is to make sure you understand it. Once you've accomplished that, you can move onto the analysis.
When analysing a poem, there are three things that you should consider: language, structure and form. When you are writing about the language in a poem, you should try to write about the connotations specific words have and how they create mood and atmosphere. However, it's not just specific words that you can analyse; instead, you can analyse techniques such as alliteration, which is very common in poetry. Don't make an obvious comment about the effect of alliteration, such as the effect being that it is memorable. What you really want to write about is the letter that is being repeated and what sound it makes - a harsh, soft, violent or plosive sound. Plosives are highly common in poetry that is negative and plosives are simply harsh sounds - the 'b','d','p' and 't' sounds are the plosive sounds. If you have ever read Robert Browning's 'The Laboratory', you will remember these lines:
"Grind away, moisten and mash up thy paste,
Pound at thy powder, -- I am not in haste!"
This is a perfect example of where you can talk about alliteration. Here is what I would say:
Browning uses the alliteration of the 'm' sound to create the image of the speaker chewing these words with excitement as the prospect of her rival's death increases, causing the reader to interpret the speaker as malevolent, while the alliteration of the plosive 'p' sound that follows it creates a harsh sound on "pound" and "powder" which highlight how her excitement is driven by evil thoughts. The use of the word "powder" is something that we associate with purity, so the positive-connoting word choice that has a plosive nature highlights how the speaker will turn anything good into something bad for her own selfish desires.
When you want to analyse the structure of a poem, write about the rhyme scheme, line breaks, enjambement, punctuation, stanza shape and there are many other things that you can write about. With the rhyme scheme, you can comment on what the rhyme scheme is: is it a symmetrical rhyme scheme (i.e. ABAB), 'on-off' rhyme scheme, is there a rhyme scheme at all? Then comment on the effect of the rhyme scheme in the context of the poem. With line breaks, you might want to consider why the poet has chosen to have a new stanza after that particular sentence, and punctuation can be a great thing to talk about. For example, the poem 'Quickdraw', in the relationships cluster, has a full stop after 'Last Chance saloon', so with the 'Last Chance saloon' suggesting the end, the full stop also highlights this abrupt ending that the speaker has because he thinks he has lost the battle. Here's a paragraph that I wrote on the structure of Quickdraw:
Duffy embeds an irregular structure in the poem with the gun-shaped stanzas and lack of rhyme. The words "gun", "pellet", "trigger" and "bullets" are examples of words that Duffy uses from the semantic field of battle to highlight how the argument between the couple is like a cowboy fight, as if Duffy is trying to give the poem a universal meaning that relationships only result in pain, like the pain a battle will bring. The gun-shaped stanzas used emphasises the western imagery, but the fact that the stanza shape returns to normal in the final stanza causes the reader to interpret how Duffy might not be trying to criticise relationships, but, instead, highlight how if you stick together the power of love will make everything better. Additionally, the lack of a rhyme scheme highlights how this argument has taken the happiness out of the couple's relationship, but the internal half rhymes of "tone" and "phone", for example, highlight how as a result of the "phone", the relationship has been damaged, which could cause the reader to interpret how Duffy might be trying to show how modern technology is causing a fractured-nature in relationships.
Don't forget to write about if the poem is written in close focus third person, third person omniscient, second person, as a dramatic monologue or any other narrative form that I might not have listed. Obviously, don't write an entire paragraph on this, but link it with your analysis, or it might be something that you can use in your introduction: if it's a dramatic monologue, you can write about how this allows you to zoom in on the feelings of the speaker, whereas if it's third person omniscient you could write about how it zooms out on the feelings of everybody but doesn't allow the reader to see the feelings of the individual characters, and you can comment on the reason why the poet might have done this too. If you want to, you can even link this to the tense that the poem is written in.
When comparing two poems, try to compare their structure, language and form. Why might one of poets use a rhyme scheme in one poem but another not, even though it might have the same overall effect? The best way to compare is to use comparing words such as 'while', 'however', 'even though', 'likewise', 'alternatively' and so on.
Anyways, I hope that was useful. If you need anymore help, just ask.
thank you so much!
Original post by Vionar
I like 'An Inspector Calls' best - I think it's a very clever play/novel and I really enjoyed doing it in class and the worst for me is poetry
you?Original post by Lottie_
I like 'An Inspector Calls' best - I think it's a very clever play/novel and I really enjoyed doing it in class and the worst for me is poetry you?
you?Same here probably
It's a play! Not a novel! For me the worst is OMAM, as I quite enjoyed the conflict theme 
Just putting my two cents in:
I reckon that for your two novels/plays (in my case I have tkamb and aic) there are only five or six possible essays that they could ask you (eg how is socialism presented in aic or how does Priestley create tension etc). I would write all the essays between now and the exam and remember the skeleton of each ie what you are going to talk about in each paragraph.
For the unseen poem, it does not test understanding as such but more your imagination. I literally write what instantly comes to my head and go off on a tangent for each quote and that seems to get me top marks.
Finally for the comparison, although I have not covered this yet, I would memorize links for 7 of them (I think that there are 14) with 7 other contrasting poems eg falling leaves and flags (I think it was flags I just scanned through the anthology) both use nature to illustrate war in a negative manner.
Last thing, what is this about people saying that you can predict the unseen?
I reckon that for your two novels/plays (in my case I have tkamb and aic) there are only five or six possible essays that they could ask you (eg how is socialism presented in aic or how does Priestley create tension etc). I would write all the essays between now and the exam and remember the skeleton of each ie what you are going to talk about in each paragraph.
For the unseen poem, it does not test understanding as such but more your imagination. I literally write what instantly comes to my head and go off on a tangent for each quote and that seems to get me top marks.
Finally for the comparison, although I have not covered this yet, I would memorize links for 7 of them (I think that there are 14) with 7 other contrasting poems eg falling leaves and flags (I think it was flags I just scanned through the anthology) both use nature to illustrate war in a negative manner.
Last thing, what is this about people saying that you can predict the unseen?
Original post by kingaaran
I am not taking the Unit 2 Poetry Across Time Exam, so I don't have many notes on the different poems, although I wouldn't mind reading any poems that you are struggling with, if you would find that helpful. However, when I did my Literature controlled assessment, I studied poems from the relationship cluster, so I do have some notes on those poems, if they'd be of any use.
However, with analysing poetry, where I think people go wrong is that they don't understand the poem and go straight into analysis, which is not a very methodological approach to analysing poetry. So the first thing that you should try to do before analysing a poem is to make sure you understand it. Once you've accomplished that, you can move onto the analysis.
When analysing a poem, there are three things that you should consider: language, structure and form. When you are writing about the language in a poem, you should try to write about the connotations specific words have and how they create mood and atmosphere. However, it's not just specific words that you can analyse; instead, you can analyse techniques such as alliteration, which is very common in poetry. Don't make an obvious comment about the effect of alliteration, such as the effect being that it is memorable. What you really want to write about is the letter that is being repeated and what sound it makes - a harsh, soft, violent or plosive sound. Plosives are highly common in poetry that is negative and plosives are simply harsh sounds - the 'b','d','p' and 't' sounds are the plosive sounds. If you have ever read Robert Browning's 'The Laboratory', you will remember these lines:
"Grind away, moisten and mash up thy paste,
Pound at thy powder, -- I am not in haste!"
This is a perfect example of where you can talk about alliteration. Here is what I would say:
Browning uses the alliteration of the 'm' sound to create the image of the speaker chewing these words with excitement as the prospect of her rival's death increases, causing the reader to interpret the speaker as malevolent, while the alliteration of the plosive 'p' sound that follows it creates a harsh sound on "pound" and "powder" which highlight how her excitement is driven by evil thoughts. The use of the word "powder" is something that we associate with purity, so the positive-connoting word choice that has a plosive nature highlights how the speaker will turn anything good into something bad for her own selfish desires.
When you want to analyse the structure of a poem, write about the rhyme scheme, line breaks, enjambement, punctuation, stanza shape and there are many other things that you can write about. With the rhyme scheme, you can comment on what the rhyme scheme is: is it a symmetrical rhyme scheme (i.e. ABAB), 'on-off' rhyme scheme, is there a rhyme scheme at all? Then comment on the effect of the rhyme scheme in the context of the poem. With line breaks, you might want to consider why the poet has chosen to have a new stanza after that particular sentence, and punctuation can be a great thing to talk about. For example, the poem 'Quickdraw', in the relationships cluster, has a full stop after 'Last Chance saloon', so with the 'Last Chance saloon' suggesting the end, the full stop also highlights this abrupt ending that the speaker has because he thinks he has lost the battle. Here's a paragraph that I wrote on the structure of Quickdraw:
Duffy embeds an irregular structure in the poem with the gun-shaped stanzas and lack of rhyme. The words "gun", "pellet", "trigger" and "bullets" are examples of words that Duffy uses from the semantic field of battle to highlight how the argument between the couple is like a cowboy fight, as if Duffy is trying to give the poem a universal meaning that relationships only result in pain, like the pain a battle will bring. The gun-shaped stanzas used emphasises the western imagery, but the fact that the stanza shape returns to normal in the final stanza causes the reader to interpret how Duffy might not be trying to criticise relationships, but, instead, highlight how if you stick together the power of love will make everything better. Additionally, the lack of a rhyme scheme highlights how this argument has taken the happiness out of the couple's relationship, but the internal half rhymes of "tone" and "phone", for example, highlight how as a result of the "phone", the relationship has been damaged, which could cause the reader to interpret how Duffy might be trying to show how modern technology is causing a fractured-nature in relationships.
Don't forget to write about if the poem is written in close focus third person, third person omniscient, second person, as a dramatic monologue or any other narrative form that I might not have listed. Obviously, don't write an entire paragraph on this, but link it with your analysis, or it might be something that you can use in your introduction: if it's a dramatic monologue, you can write about how this allows you to zoom in on the feelings of the speaker, whereas if it's third person omniscient you could write about how it zooms out on the feelings of everybody but doesn't allow the reader to see the feelings of the individual characters, and you can comment on the reason why the poet might have done this too. If you want to, you can even link this to the tense that the poem is written in.
When comparing two poems, try to compare their structure, language and form. Why might one of poets use a rhyme scheme in one poem but another not, even though it might have the same overall effect? The best way to compare is to use comparing words such as 'while', 'however', 'even though', 'likewise', 'alternatively' and so on.
Anyways, I hope that was useful. If you need anymore help, just ask.
However, with analysing poetry, where I think people go wrong is that they don't understand the poem and go straight into analysis, which is not a very methodological approach to analysing poetry. So the first thing that you should try to do before analysing a poem is to make sure you understand it. Once you've accomplished that, you can move onto the analysis.
When analysing a poem, there are three things that you should consider: language, structure and form. When you are writing about the language in a poem, you should try to write about the connotations specific words have and how they create mood and atmosphere. However, it's not just specific words that you can analyse; instead, you can analyse techniques such as alliteration, which is very common in poetry. Don't make an obvious comment about the effect of alliteration, such as the effect being that it is memorable. What you really want to write about is the letter that is being repeated and what sound it makes - a harsh, soft, violent or plosive sound. Plosives are highly common in poetry that is negative and plosives are simply harsh sounds - the 'b','d','p' and 't' sounds are the plosive sounds. If you have ever read Robert Browning's 'The Laboratory', you will remember these lines:
"Grind away, moisten and mash up thy paste,
Pound at thy powder, -- I am not in haste!"
This is a perfect example of where you can talk about alliteration. Here is what I would say:
Browning uses the alliteration of the 'm' sound to create the image of the speaker chewing these words with excitement as the prospect of her rival's death increases, causing the reader to interpret the speaker as malevolent, while the alliteration of the plosive 'p' sound that follows it creates a harsh sound on "pound" and "powder" which highlight how her excitement is driven by evil thoughts. The use of the word "powder" is something that we associate with purity, so the positive-connoting word choice that has a plosive nature highlights how the speaker will turn anything good into something bad for her own selfish desires.
When you want to analyse the structure of a poem, write about the rhyme scheme, line breaks, enjambement, punctuation, stanza shape and there are many other things that you can write about. With the rhyme scheme, you can comment on what the rhyme scheme is: is it a symmetrical rhyme scheme (i.e. ABAB), 'on-off' rhyme scheme, is there a rhyme scheme at all? Then comment on the effect of the rhyme scheme in the context of the poem. With line breaks, you might want to consider why the poet has chosen to have a new stanza after that particular sentence, and punctuation can be a great thing to talk about. For example, the poem 'Quickdraw', in the relationships cluster, has a full stop after 'Last Chance saloon', so with the 'Last Chance saloon' suggesting the end, the full stop also highlights this abrupt ending that the speaker has because he thinks he has lost the battle. Here's a paragraph that I wrote on the structure of Quickdraw:
Duffy embeds an irregular structure in the poem with the gun-shaped stanzas and lack of rhyme. The words "gun", "pellet", "trigger" and "bullets" are examples of words that Duffy uses from the semantic field of battle to highlight how the argument between the couple is like a cowboy fight, as if Duffy is trying to give the poem a universal meaning that relationships only result in pain, like the pain a battle will bring. The gun-shaped stanzas used emphasises the western imagery, but the fact that the stanza shape returns to normal in the final stanza causes the reader to interpret how Duffy might not be trying to criticise relationships, but, instead, highlight how if you stick together the power of love will make everything better. Additionally, the lack of a rhyme scheme highlights how this argument has taken the happiness out of the couple's relationship, but the internal half rhymes of "tone" and "phone", for example, highlight how as a result of the "phone", the relationship has been damaged, which could cause the reader to interpret how Duffy might be trying to show how modern technology is causing a fractured-nature in relationships.
Don't forget to write about if the poem is written in close focus third person, third person omniscient, second person, as a dramatic monologue or any other narrative form that I might not have listed. Obviously, don't write an entire paragraph on this, but link it with your analysis, or it might be something that you can use in your introduction: if it's a dramatic monologue, you can write about how this allows you to zoom in on the feelings of the speaker, whereas if it's third person omniscient you could write about how it zooms out on the feelings of everybody but doesn't allow the reader to see the feelings of the individual characters, and you can comment on the reason why the poet might have done this too. If you want to, you can even link this to the tense that the poem is written in.
When comparing two poems, try to compare their structure, language and form. Why might one of poets use a rhyme scheme in one poem but another not, even though it might have the same overall effect? The best way to compare is to use comparing words such as 'while', 'however', 'even though', 'likewise', 'alternatively' and so on.
Anyways, I hope that was useful. If you need anymore help, just ask.
I'm doing the relationships cluster, if you could possibly send me your notes I'd be ever so grateful c:
Also, I've done Macbeth and Animal Farm! Though it was as coursework. You could have my notes if you want?
anyone know which poems may come up on the relationships cluster and also any hlep on how to geta* on the poems relationships cluster and also omm and aic
Doing OMAM, AIC and conflict! No idea how to revise!
Original post by zintanax
Doing OMAM, AIC and conflict! No idea how to revise!
I'm the same I'll let you know if I ever get round to revising Original post by Vionar I'm the same I'll let you know if I ever get round to revising
I'm the same I'll let you know if I ever get round to revising Pah, who revises for Eng Lit lol! Bit early anyway! Will start around Easter for everything!
Original post by zintanax
Pah, who revises for Eng Lit lol! Bit early anyway! Will start around Easter for everything!
Not me for sure
That's what I thought about doing, but Emily said that might be a bit late Posted from TSR Mobile
Hi guys, I sat this exam last year ((OMAM, Sunlight on the Grass and Conflict cluster) 197/200 UMS, full marks poetry exam, 1 mark lost on stories). I spent a lot of time revising for this and made some very detailed notes. Whilst I have since departed with said notes, I'm hoping I could still remember some good points that I had. Further, I focused heavily on exam technique, which I found crucial - so if anyone needs any help just ask! 
Original post by Vionar
Not me for sure That's what I thought about doing, but Emily said that might be a bit late
Posted from TSR Mobile
That's what I thought about doing, but Emily said that might be a bit late Posted from TSR Mobile
Meh, we'll be fineeeee!
Original post by aasvogel
Hi guys, I sat this exam last year ((OMAM, Sunlight on the Grass and Conflict cluster) 197/200 UMS, full marks poetry exam, 1 mark lost on stories). I spent a lot of time revising for this and made some very detailed notes. Whilst I have since departed with said notes, I'm hoping I could still remember some good points that I had. Further, I focused heavily on exam technique, which I found crucial - so if anyone needs any help just ask!
Wow, those are awesome results, well done
I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind? I'll just ask anyway Well, how do you actually revise for it? And what sort of exam technique did you use?Original post by zintanax
Meh, we'll be fineeeee!
Hopefully I'll be able to scrape through
Original post by Vionar
Wow, those are awesome results, well done I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind? I'll just ask anyway Well, how do you actually revise for it? And what sort of exam technique did you use?
I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind? I'll just ask anyway Well, how do you actually revise for it? And what sort of exam technique did you use?Thank-you! (I realised that it does look quite showoffy, but I wanted people to know they can trust me
)No that's cool! Okay well I started with the stories, for these I took an A4 pages for each story, and on each I had 5 different headings: setting, characters, sybolism/ imagery, themes and structure/ form. I then went through each story and added notes to each heading, mainly new thing that I found myself or that I had discovered through resources online. I figured the examiners would be tired of reading the same interpretations of the stories so I wanted to add my own interpretations of the story, which, as long as you can back it up, is guaranteed to get you marks! I then went through a few past papers, initially using my notes until I had cemented the really good stuff that I could recall easily.
For Of Mice and Men, we actually studied it in 4th year for English Language (CCEA) so I had actually already covered it all then. Nevertheless, to practice, I took important passages from the novel and analysed them and basically wrote the structure for an essay - I did this for the introduction to Slim and that came up in the exam - it meant I didn't have to spend time reading the passage and I had already got the good stuff in my head!
Finally, for poetry, I realise that you simply cannot be wrong. So for each poem, I analysed it and made sure I had my own, good, original (but always backed up with evidence) notes. I further made sure that I always mentioned the following in my essay:
Title (always overlooked, but worth a lot of marks if mentioned)
Structure/ form (crucial, you cannot ignore this!)*
Literary techniques
Tone
Comparison (this is what the question is asking!)
I also found that regardless of the poem, there were always generic answers that you could adapt regarding structure/ form - for example a sonnet is generally a love poem, so you could say (for a poem we studied, next to of course god america i "the poet uses the form of a sonnet, typically associated with love poetry, to represent the sarcastic attitude to patriotism that he expresses in the poem...' Or if the poem has rhyme: 'the steady use rhyme gives the poem a sense of control, and gives the impression the narrator is in control of his writing' or equally if it has no rhyme: 'the lack of rhyme gives the impression the poet is less in control blah blah blah'. One I always liked to use was 'the languid tone of the poem reflects the control of the narrator and draws the reader into the poem'. Tone is a very good weapon to use when commenting on poetry.
*points on structure/ form (these are different). Form is the form of the poem (sonnet, limerick etc) whereas structure is more to do with the innards of the poem (rhyme, x number of stanzas, enjambment etc)
I hope that's been of some use!
Hey guys!
I sat my AQA English Literature exam last June and achieved an A*.
If anybody wants help feel free to quote/PM me!
I studied: Of Mice and Men, An Inspector Calls & the relationship cluster
Also an idea: I remember last year on TSR for the anthology we found a group of people who were studying our cluster. We then let each person choose a poem each and they wrote notes on it. We then PMed everybody who participated in this our notes. This may be an excellent idea for you to consider! It really helped since you get ideas from a lot of people, thus allows you to write a stronger essay.
You could consider doing it for the books too, and maybe somebody can volunteer to make a super quick word document and send it? I did that with everybody's notes and it helped me!
Just a suggestion.
Posted from TSR Mobile
I sat my AQA English Literature exam last June and achieved an A*.
If anybody wants help feel free to quote/PM me!
I studied: Of Mice and Men, An Inspector Calls & the relationship cluster
Also an idea: I remember last year on TSR for the anthology we found a group of people who were studying our cluster. We then let each person choose a poem each and they wrote notes on it. We then PMed everybody who participated in this our notes. This may be an excellent idea for you to consider! It really helped since you get ideas from a lot of people, thus allows you to write a stronger essay.
You could consider doing it for the books too, and maybe somebody can volunteer to make a super quick word document and send it? I did that with everybody's notes and it helped me!
Just a suggestion.
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Olympiad
Hey guys!
I sat my AQA English Literature exam last June and achieved an A*.
If anybody wants help feel free to quote/PM me!
I studied: Of Mice and Men, An Inspector Calls & the relationship cluster
Also an idea: I remember last year on TSR for the anthology we found a group of people who were studying our cluster. We then let each person choose a poem each and they wrote notes on it. We then PMed everybody who participated in this our notes. This may be an excellent idea for you to consider! It really helped since you get ideas from a lot of people, thus allows you to write a stronger essay.
You could consider doing it for the books too, and maybe somebody can volunteer to make a super quick word document and send it? I did that with everybody's notes and it helped me!
Just a suggestion.
Posted from TSR Mobile
I sat my AQA English Literature exam last June and achieved an A*.
If anybody wants help feel free to quote/PM me!
I studied: Of Mice and Men, An Inspector Calls & the relationship cluster
Also an idea: I remember last year on TSR for the anthology we found a group of people who were studying our cluster. We then let each person choose a poem each and they wrote notes on it. We then PMed everybody who participated in this our notes. This may be an excellent idea for you to consider! It really helped since you get ideas from a lot of people, thus allows you to write a stronger essay.
You could consider doing it for the books too, and maybe somebody can volunteer to make a super quick word document and send it? I did that with everybody's notes and it helped me!
Just a suggestion.
Posted from TSR Mobile
I like it
anyone want to do the conflict cluster with me? I'm also doing tkamb and aic if you want to do the same with those.Quick Reply
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