Section C: Unseen poetry

Answer both questions in this section.

A Well Worn Story

In April, in April,
My one love came along,
And I ran the slope of my high hill
To follow a thread of song.

His eyes were hard as porphyry

With looking on cruel lands;
His voice went slipping over me
Like terrible silver hands.

Together we trod the secret lane

And walked the muttering town.
I wore my heart like a wet, red stain
On the breast of a velvet gown.

In April, in April,
My love went whistling by,
And I stumbled here to my high hill
Along the way of a lie.

Now what should I do in this place

But sit and count the chimes,
And splash cold water on my face
And spoil a page with rhymes?

Dorothy Parker

In ‘A Well Worn Story,’ how does the poet present the story of a past
relationship?

[24 marks]
 Now that You Too Must Shortly Go

Now that you too must shortly go the way

Which in these bloodshot years uncounted men
Have gone in vanishing armies day by day,
And in their numbers will not come again:

I must not strain the moments of our meeting

Striving for each look, each accent, not to miss,
Or question of our parting and our greeting,
Is this the last of all? is this—or this?

Last sight of all it may be with these eyes,

Last touch, last hearing, since eyes, hands, and ears,
Even serving love, are our mortalities,
And cling to what they own in mortal fears:—
But oh, let end what will, I hold you fast
By immortal love, which has no first or last.

Eleanor Farjeon

In both ‘A Well Worn Story’ and ‘Now that You Too Must Shortly Go’ the
speakers describe their feelings about the ending of a relationship.

What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways the poets present
these perspectives?

[8 marks]