The exam-style question
This is a comparing poems question, in the style of the Literature in English papers. Read it as you would in the exam, then compare your plan with the model.
Read our two original poems below, both about the sea. Write a comparison of how each poet presents the sea and the feelings it stirs, in theme and technique. These are our own teaching poems.
Two Poems: The Sea
POEM A: 'Low Tide' The sea has gone out further than it should, leaving the boats to lean like tired men, the harbour floor a map of everything it swallowed and forgot to keep: a shoe, a wheel, the pale ribs of a smaller boat. We walk where we have never walked before, and do not like the walking. Something waits for the returning water. So do we.
POEM B: 'The Swimmer' She wades in laughing, dares the cold to bite, and when it does, she laughs the louder, throws her whole self at the grey unfriendly swell as if the sea were something to be won. It lifts her, holds her, lets her think it might, then sets her gently back upon the sand, unbeaten, patient, older than her joy, and ready, when she leaves, to be alone.
Model response: Comparing poems
A comparison keeps the two poems side by side throughout. It links them on theme and technique instead of writing about each in turn.
Reading a model answer helps. In a paid one-hour trial, a teacher helps your child write one like it on Comparing poems.
Common errors we see
- Writing about each poem in turn instead of comparing throughout
- Only a token link ('both are about the sea') with no real comparison
- Comparing subject matter but not technique
- Summarising each poem rather than analysing effects
- No comparative conclusion drawing the poems together
How this maps to the mark scheme
Examiners mark against assessment objectives. These are the skills the paper rewards.
For comparing poems, the objectives in play are listed below. The wording is summarised for Cambridge IGCSE Literature in English (0475) on our qualification page.
- Show detailed knowledge of the content of literary texts across the three forms (drama, poetry and prose), supporting points with reference to the text.
- Understand the meaning of literary texts and their contexts, reading beyond surface meaning to show awareness of writers' ideas and attitudes.
- Analyse the ways writers use language, structure and form to shape meaning and create effects.
- Communicate an informed, sensitive personal response to literary texts.
Marks go to knowledge of both poems, a comparison that is argued rather than listed, and analysis of each poet's methods.
Other boards word their objectives differently, but the same skills earn the marks. Your board's official syllabus gives the exact weighting.
Where to go next
Learn the method in our guide to comparing poems, then try the comparing poems practice tasks. You can browse every annotated model response or see how we teach this in our Literature in English tuition.
When you have written your own answer, take it to a paid one-hour trial lesson and the teacher who would continue will mark it with you.