1. Paper 2 literature - Modern Texts and Poetry
60% GCSE - 2 ¼ hours

2. Paper 2 Section A - An Inspector Calls - one question
Section B - Poetry - one question on anthology Love and Relationships poetry
Section C - Unseen Poetry

3. Section A
‘An Inspector Calls’ is assessed in English Literature paper 2.
You will have a choice of two questions. Choose only one.
It is out of marks for SPAG.
You will have 45 minutes to plan and write a response to this question.

4. What are you assessed on?
12 marks = AO1 - maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response • use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.
12 marks = AO2 - Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.
6 marks = AO3 - Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.
4 marks = A04 Spelling, punctuation and grammar

5. What are Priestley’s ideas?
1. Socialism: This means he wanted the very rich to be forced to share some of their money with the working class/poor.
2. Responsibility: He thought that we are all part of a community ‘one body’ and that everyone has a responsibility for others in society.
3. Class: He thought that there shouldn’t be such a big difference between the upper class and working class. We should all be equal.
4. Gender: Women should have more rights and should be equal to men.

6. What will the questions be like
They will be about one of three things:
A specific character or the relationship between two characters.
A theme or idea – generation gap, responsibility

7. How and why does Sheila change in an ‘An Inspector Calls?’
Write about:
how Sheila responds to her family and to the Inspector how Priestley presents Sheila by the ways he writes.
[30 marks]
AO4 [4 marks]
4-5 quotes for Sheila

8. P3 – Explore how she reflects some of Priestley’s ideas.
How does Priestley present the change in Sheila during the course of the play An Inspector Calls? How do you think this change reflects some of Priestley‟s ideas?
Intro – Give a summary of your response to the question. You don’t need to quote in this paragraph.
P1 – Explore how Sheila is presented at the beginning of the play and in opening stage direction.
P2 – Explore how she responds to Eva’s death and changes under the inspector’s questioning.
P3 – Explore how she reflects some of Priestley’s ideas.
Conclusion – sum up what you have said.

9. Introduction example
Sheila changes dramatically over the course of the play ‘An Inspector Calls.’ She begins as childish and spoilt, as the son of Mr. Birling she seems to only care about her upcoming marriage to Gerald. However, after the inspector’s questioning she ends up reflecting Priestley and the inspector’s socialist views about shared responsibility. Arguably Sheila changes the most of any character in the play and totally rejects the upper class values that she has at the beginning of the play.

10. How does Priestley present the change in Sheila during the course of the play ‘An Inspector Calls’? How do you think this change reflects some of Priestley’s ideas? (34 marks including SPaG)
Success Criteria
Point linked to question
Evidence which precisely selected
Analysis of the words of the quotation
Development of interpretations
Evaluation of Priestley’s purpose and his intended effects on his audience

11. For the Love and relationships question you will be asked to compare two poems.
You will be given one clean copy of the named poem which will appear in the question paper (in this case, you know already it will be ‘When we Two Parted’.
You will need to choose another poem from the anthology, which is most relevant for responding to the task (in this case, you know it will be ‘Love’s Philosophy’). You will not have a copy of the anthology in the exam, so the second poem you choose will not be in front of you.

12. Example Exam question
Compare how poets present romantic love in ‘When We Two Parted’ by Lord Byron and one other poem from ‘Love and Relationships’.

13. AO1 Students should be able to:
maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response comparing the poems.
use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations. And for this question, you must compare.
the student’s response to the text – the extent to which they understand the text and its meaning(s) to them as a reader
the student’s response to the task – the extent to which they produce a coherent response, supported with references to the text.
AO1

14. Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings in the text, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate, eg metaphor, imagery
This AO focuses on writer’s craft: how the writer has communicated meanings to the reader.
Ideally students will use subject terminology as a ‘shorthand’ to scaffold their analysis of craft.
AO2

15. AO3 is the understanding of the relationship between the ideas in the text and the contexts of the text, such as:
the context in which the text was written
the context within which the text is set (location/social structures and features/ cultural contexts/periods in time)
literary contexts such as genres
the contexts in which texts are engaged with by different audiences.
Show understandings of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.
AO3

16. So, in summary, what you are aiming to do…:
Explore similarities and differences between the poems
Analyse language, structure and form
Explore the effects of these methods
Use precise references – GOOD QUOTES
Explore context

17. How could you structure your response?
Start with an introduction and end with a conclusion.
Compare the poems throughout your essay.
3) Use PEADEL (or something similar) to structure each paragraph. Be clear on the focus for each paragraph.
4) Make sure you cover all AOs.

18. Overall structure
Your introduction should begin by giving a clear answer to the question in a sentence or two. Use the rest of the introduction to briefly develop this idea.
The main body of the essay should be paragraphs that compare the two poems. You do not have to balance the response between the two poems; you can write more about one than the other.
Conclusion - this should summarise your answer to the question. Try to make your final sentence memorable to impress the examiner.

19. Example intro:
Both ‘When We Two Parted’ by Lord Byron and ‘Love’s Philosophy’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley explore ideas of love and loss. Whereas Byron’s poem looks back regretfully at the end of a relationship, Shelley’s speaker looks optimistically forward to the potential of a new love relationship. Both poets delve into intense feelings, typical of the Romantic era. Romantic love is presented as a painful, damaging experience by Byron, and it is possible that he is referring to his own hurtful breakup with Lady Frances Webster. In contrast, Shelley’s speaker celebrates love and confidently pushes the case that it is the most natural and inevitable phenomenon.

20. Example PEADEL:
The speaker in ‘When We Two Parted’ is ashamed of his affair with his ex-lover. Illicit affairs outside marriage would have caused a lot of scandal when Byron was writing in the early 19th century. Indeed, Byron was affected by scandal himself and this poem is thought to be autobiographical. Love relationships in this context are somewhat restricted, even though the Romantics were in favour of experiencing intense feelings. Byron uses sibilance to emphasise the secrecy and shame surrounding the affair: “I hear thy name spoken /and share in its shame”. The repeated onomatopoeic “sh” sound almost echoes the gossiping voices that upset Byron’s speaker as he hears his love being spoken of, as well as linking to the idea of silence - about the affair at the time, and the ‘silence and tears’ that he will bitterly greet his ex-lover with if he meets her again. The ‘s’ sound could also link to a sense of sly behaviour and betrayal on the part of the lover and the harsh feelings that the speaker now feels. In contrast, sibilance is used in the last lines of Shelley’s ‘Love’s Philosophy’ to create a soft sound, reflecting his tender love. It makes the reader/listener connect the words ‘sea’, ‘sweet’ and ‘kiss’, linking together Nature and Love, and reinforcing the idea explored throughout the poem that love should be embraced and that everything in Nature is connected, just as he wants his lover to be with him.
Does this paragraph cover all the AOs?
Does it compare?
Is it clearly structured?
Does it answer the question?

21. Section C - Unseen Poetry
Two questions on two poems you have not read before.
45 minutes on this section
Question marks - analyse one poem - roughly 30 minutes
Question marks - compare both poems - roughly 15 minutes, including reading the second poem again

22. Example questions
In ‘Ninetieth Birthday’, how does the poet present old age and people’s attitudes towards it? (24 marks)
(AO Marks; AO Marks)
‘Ninetieth Birthday’ and ‘My Grandmother’ both explore relationships between young people and the elderly. Compare the ways these relationships are presented in the two poems. (8 marks)
(AO2 - 8 marks - comparison included in this AO - Comparison of methods)

23. Example questions
In ‘Ninetieth Birthday’, how does the poet present old age and people’s attitudes towards it? (24 marks)
(AO Marks; AO Marks)

24. AO1 - Firstly, establish your general response to text and task.
In other words – what is the poem about and what is the answer to the question?
Qu - How does the writer present attitudes about living in the modern world?
Task: Go through the poem and underline two/three quotes that do the above.

25. AO2
Most of the marks for this question will come from your analysis of the methods the writer uses. You must do two things:
1. Use specifics subject terminology – techniques, word classes (verb, adjective), structural features – rhyme, line lengths, sentence structures etc..
2. Focus on the effect on the reader.
Task – go through the poem and underline and annotate as many features of language/structure as you can.

26. ‘Ninetieth Birthday’ and ‘My Grandmother’ both explore relationships between young people and the elderly. Compare the ways these relationships are presented in the two poems. (8 marks)
(AO2 - 8 marks - comparison included in this AO - Comparison of methods)
P1 – Language features Similarities/differences
P2 – Structural features Similarities/Differences

27. Unseen Question 2
This is an 8 mark question that you should spend between 10 – 15 minutes on.
You will get a second poem that you will need to compare with the first.
You are only being marked on you AO2 skills of analysis. I.e. for full marks you need to produce an:
Exploratory comparison of writers’ use of language, structure and form with subject terminology used judiciously
Convincing comparison of effects of writers’ methods on reader