gcse english literature tips

so i’m currently working at a low 7 in english literature, but i want to achieve an 8/9 in the real thing, which is in under 3 months.
my texts are:
romeo and juliet (ive not got a clue on what is going in the book and we’ve already finished it…)
an inspector calls
love and relationships anthology
a christmas carol

i am struggling the most with poetry, particularly how to memorise all 15 of the poems as you wont know which could come up in the gcse😭😭

i am also struggling on how to read and pick key quotes from romeo and juliet, due to the text format , so any tips could be really helpful!!

Reply 1

MM272022M

Highly recommend mr bruff on YouTube. Has advice for everything you've mentioned and got me through a level lit 😆

Reply 2

Super Sprinkles

Learn like 10 key quotes that cover the main themes and characters for each text which you can link to context, symbolism of events/structure/characters and alternative interpretations. Memorise like 3-4 set phrases that can be your 3 points in any introductory thesis statement e.g. "must burst their blissful bubble of ignorance and apathy", "constant spiral of harrowing suffering and destruction" etc, and link everything you say to the author's purpose(s). As a general rule, I found it useful to link the texts to how pious society was back then (did everything but L&R poetry the same as you)

For poetry, pick 5 of the poems that you like the best and are comprehensive - these can be the ones that you specialise in and so choose to compare the set poem to. Learn a couple quotes' symbolism and tones - again, link to the poet's purpose