In Paper 2's unseen section the specification asks you to compare an unfamiliar poem with a named poem from your Anthology. Our team of experienced English teachers wrote these tasks around short poems of our own. Your child can practise reading cold and comparing under time.
Attempt each before revealing our notes, and supply the Anthology poem yourself. Check the current specification for the exact marks and timing.
1Read our original poem below and, in a few minutes, note what you think it is about and two techniques the poet uses. 'The last bus hums and does not come; / the timetable lies in the rain. / I count the reasons I stayed too long / and lose the count, and start again.' Then write a first-response paragraph on how the poet presents waiting.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: On an unseen poem, trust your first reading. Fix the situation, a missed bus at night, then name one thing about sound or structure and one about image.
The repeated counting and the short, stalled lines both slow the poem down. Say what that does to the sense of waiting.
Model opening: From the first line the poet presents waiting as something almost comic that curdles into unease, as the stalled rhythm of 'hums and does not come' leaves the speaker stranded in the dark.
Checklist:
- Situation identified before technique
- At least two techniques named
- Reads the poem as it is, not as you hoped
- A point about effect, not just spotting
2Below is our original unseen poem. Decide which poem from your Anthology you would compare it with, and write two sentences justifying the pairing. 'My grandfather's watch has stopped at four; / I wind it, though it tells no time. / I keep it going the way we keep / the names of the dead alive in rhyme.' Then list the two strongest points of comparison.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: The best partner poem shares this one's real subject, remembrance kept alive through small rituals, not just its surface objects. Justify the pairing by theme and attitude. Then choose two points where the poems clearly meet or differ, such as how each treats objects or how each ends.
Model opening: I would compare this with an Anthology poem about holding on to the dead, because both make a small, useless object carry the whole weight of memory.
Checklist:
- Pairing justified by theme, not just objects
- Two clear comparison points chosen
- The unseen poem read closely first
- Points allow both similarity and difference
3Using our original unseen poem below and one Anthology poem you have studied on the same theme, write the opening paragraph of a comparison on how each presents fear. 'The house is louder when the lights go out: / the stairs confess, the cupboard clears its throat. / I tell myself it's only wood and wind, / and lie awake rehearsing every note.' Open with a thesis that holds for both poems.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: Name the unseen poem's central idea, a speaker talking themselves out of a fear that keeps returning. Pair it with your Anthology poem in one controlling sentence.
Tried these practice tasks? A teacher can mark your child's attempt and explain the next step in a paid one-hour trial.
Signal early whether the poems mostly agree or differ. Do not summarise either poem before the comparison begins.
Model opening: Both poems present fear as something the mind builds for itself in the dark; our unseen speaker turns an ordinary house into a chorus of threats, and the Anthology poem does much the same with its own familiar place.
Checklist:
- Both poems in the first sentence
- One idea that fits both
- Line of argument signalled early
- No summary before comparison
4In our original unseen poem below the poem changes direction halfway through. Write a paragraph comparing this turn with a moment of change in an Anthology poem you know. 'For years I wanted out of this small town, / the one traffic light, the shut-up cinema. / Then autumn came, the maples caught alight, / and I forgot, for once, that I was leaving.' Compare how each poet manages the shift.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: Locate the turn precisely; here it is the word 'Then', where resentment softens into wonder. Compare how your Anthology poem signals its own change, through a word, a stanza break or a shift in tense. Say what each turn does to the reader and whether the change feels earned.
Model opening: In our unseen poem the turn arrives quietly on the word 'Then', so that years of wanting to leave dissolve in a single autumn, whereas the Anthology poem marks its change far more abruptly.
Checklist:
- The turn located precisely in each poem
- How the shift is signalled, compared
- Effect of the change on the reader
- Both poems handled together
5Read our original unseen poem below, which can be read in more than one way. Write a paragraph offering two possible readings, using tentative language such as 'perhaps' or 'this could suggest'. 'She left the door unlocked all winter, / not carelessness, she said, but hope. / The snow came in and made a guest of it. / By spring the hinges had forgotten how to close.' Explore what the open door might mean.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: Unseen poems reward tentative, exploratory writing. Offer one literal reading, a woman waiting for someone, and one figurative reading, an openness that cannot be undone.
Hold both with words like 'perhaps' or 'seems to'. Anchor each reading in the same detail so it is grounded, not guesswork.
Model opening: The unlocked door perhaps stands for a stubborn hope that someone will return; equally, it could suggest a kind of surrender, since by spring the house can no longer shut anything out.
Checklist:
- Two grounded readings offered
- Tentative language used throughout
- Both readings tied to the text
- No single 'right answer' claimed
See the method and an annotated model on the unseen poetry comparison page for Pearson Edexcel 4ET1, or the technique in our unseen poetry comparison skills guide.