English Paper 2 Section A: Poetry from other cultures
This section will have two questions. We prepare students to answer question on cluster 2. This means you will answer question 2.
The question will name one poem from cluster 2 and you will need to choose another one to compare it to.
Stick to the time limit of just 45 minutes on this section which includes creating a comparative grid as well as time at the end to check your spelling, full stops, capitals and paragraphs.
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C grade =understand feelings/ comment about the effects of language
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B grade =appreciate feelings/ analyse the effects of language
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A grade =empathy with feelings/ analyse the effects of language
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A* grade= insight into feelings/ insight into the effects of language
Take between 10 and 15 minutes to draw up a grid like the one below. Include brief ideas about the two poems.
You should make sure you highlight similarities and differences so that when you write the essay you are comparing.
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Content |
Language |
Structure |
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Both poems describe people who appear angry |
Both poems use non standard English & are written phonetically which emphasizes their culture. |
H.C uses repetition to convey his annoyance while U.I lacks punctuation which makes you read it faster, perhaps as though angry. |
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Both poets describe how they feel unfairly judged. H.C is due to his skin colour but U.I is because of the way he speaks. |
H.C uses images of music, art, etc that mix to make things more beautiful whereas U.I does not use metaphor or imagery to covey his feelings. |
H.C uses mixture of line & stanza length, the long stanza used to stress his anger. unlike U.I which has one long stanza, like an autocue which possibly suggests humour as well as anger. |
As you write your essay you should be careful to use PEE paragraphs ( or PEACE if you have been taught this way of extending your writing)
What is the poem about? Comment on the ideas, themes and most importantly the feelings in the poems you are writing about.
You will need to know what each of the poems are about before the exam;
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Moving to a new country: Search for my tongue/ Presents from my Aunts/ Hurricane Hits England
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Protest/ Anger: Half Caste/ Unrelated Incidents/ Not my Business
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Identity: This Room/ Love After Love/ Presents from my Aunts/ Search for my Tongue/ Hurricane Hits England
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Conflict: Presents from my Aunts/ Search for my Tongue/ Not my Business
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Celebration: This Room/ Love After Love/ Hurricane Hits England/ Half Caste
How is the poem written? Comment on the language devices used and their effect as well as how they show the poet is feeling. Pick out quotation which show these language devices in action.
You will need to make sure you can identify the following language devices; Alliteration, Colloquialism, Metaphor, Onomatopoeia, Personification, Simile, Phonetics, Pathetic Fallacy, Sibilance
How is the poem laid out on the page? You will need to comment on the structural devices and their effect as well as how they link to how the poet is feeling. Pick the best quotations you can to show these in action.
You will need to make sure you understand and can identify these devices before the exam; Stanza length, Line length, Enjambment, Punctuation, Repetition.
Pick out a quotation from each of the poems that show how the poet is feeling. Then pick out a quotation from each poem that demonstrates a poetic device (see the list in the language section)
Go back through your annotations in your anthology and highlight all of the comments on content in one colour, all the ones about language in another and all the ones about structure in a third colour.
Now time yourself preparing CLS grids for any two poems at a time. Try to think how they are similar and how they are different. You need to be able to do this in 10-15 minutes.
Try some practice questions- you can get these from your English teacher.
Have a look on the BBC Bitesize revision website as they have some excellent pages designed to help you revise the poems. Or you could try the S-cool pages.
