Comparing poems

The anthology question is in Paper 2, Section B. It names one poem, printed on the paper, and asks you to compare how it presents an idea with one other poem of your choice from the cluster. The second poem isn't printed, so you need to know it well.

It is worth 30 marks. Spend about 45 minutes on it. The marks are for:

• AO1: your argument, comparing the poems, with quotations;
• AO2: language, form and structure in both poems;
• AO3: context.

Choose a poem that gives you something to compare: a clear link to the question, and an interesting difference.

• If the named poem is about a parent and child, choose another family poem told from the other side, such as Walking Away with Mother, any distance.
• A poem from a different time or with a different form gives you more to say: compare a Victorian monologue with a modern poem.
• Choose a poem you know well, with quotations you remember.

Use the themes grid to prepare: for each poem, know two or three good partners.

The best answers compare all the way through, not one poem and then the other.

1. Introduction: your overall argument about both poems.
2. Three or four paragraphs, each on one point of comparison, such as how each poem uses nature, or each poem's structure. Discuss both poems in every paragraph.
3. Conclusion: sum up the most important similarity or difference.

For example: both Walking Away and Mother, any distance present a child leaving a parent. Day-Lewis's son drifts away like a satellite ‘Wrenched from its orbit’, while Armitage is still tied by the tape, ‘Anchor. Kite.’

These words signal comparison: