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Gcse English anthology poems... help

During my english gcse, when we are asked to compare two poems, how long does the essay have to be? 3-4 pages? How many paragraphs? and any tips on comparing two poems really well?

Reply 1

Jenyvvv

For my exam I did about 3 pages, maybe a little less. To get a good comparison you need to think about Structure, Context, Meaning, Technical Terminology and just show the contrasts between them. I feel my advice isn't the most reliable , but there is a lot of other aspects about the poems that you need to consider (which I can't remember, sorry) but usually the poems they give you can be quite easily compared with another one in the anthology. For example, in my exam we had war poems and nearly all of them were negative views towards war. there was one called 'the soldier' which was so easily comparable to all of the others and I learned the crap out of it.

Although I don't know how yours will turn out, I wasn't very helpful but this is just my experience x

Reply 2

absolutelysprout

quality's more important than quantity- your handwriting may be really small or whatnot. but most people aim to do 3/4 sides.
make sure you know your poems really well (LEARN YOUR QUOTES) and know at least two other poems to be able to compare it to. you also need to make sure you can write a good comparative essay, not an essay that analyses two poems separately. use comparative connectives, find similarities and differences between the two; a conclusion doesn't hurt either.
context can sometimes may be difficult to smoothly introduce into your essay- i found it easier to put some context in my intro and practice essays help me work out what context would work best with which poem. use your time wisely in the exam- maybe spend 3 or 4 minutes doing a quick mindmap or brainstorm so you have a faint plan of what the essay would look like.