Hello, hello, what are your AOs?

You’ve probably heard a lot about ‘AOs’ in all your subjects, but what do
they actually mean in English Literature? Let’s take a look.

AO1: Be able to analyse and evaluate a text and create your own detailed
response. This includes creating your own personal ideas in a well-written essay
and using references and quotes to back up your ideas.

AO2: Analysing the use of language, structure and form in the extracts you are
given and the whole text you have studied and revised for, looking at how these
areas are used to create meanings and effects for the reader.

AO3: Show that you understand texts are not written or studied in isolation – they
link to historical and social contexts, too.

AO4: This is your SPAG mark – spelling, punctuation, grammar, vocabulary, and
so on. Basically it’s all the essential cogs in a good essay.
The Sun Rising
1

Of a crowd of workmen and drivers in a bar-room around the stove late of a winter night, and I unremark’d seated in a corner,

What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways the poets present those
John Donne, 1572 - 1631

In both ‘The Sun Rising’ and ‘A Glimpse’ the speakers describe feelings about being in
Of a youth who loves me and whom I love, silently approaching and seating himself near, that he may hold me by the hand,
Busy old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains, call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
Late school-boys and sour prentices,
Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride,
Call country ants to harvest offices;
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

A long while amid the noises of coming and going, of drinking and oath and smutty jest,
There we two, content, happy in being together, speaking little, perhaps not a word.
Thy beams so reverend, and strong
Why shouldst thou think?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long.
If her eyes have not blinded thine,
Look, and to-morrow late tell me,
Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou left'st them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, "All here in one bed lay."

She's all states, and all princes I;

Nothing else is;

A glimpse through an interstice caught,

Princes do but play us; compared to this,
All honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
Thou, Sun, art half as happy as we,
In that the world's contracted thus;

feelings?[8 marks]
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
By Walt Whitman

This bed thy center is, these walls thy sphere.

A Glimpse

love.
In ‘The Sun Rising’, how does the poet present the speaker’s feelings about
being in love? [24 marks]
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Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)
Q1 - In The Sun Rising , how does the poet present the speaker’s • The speaker juxtaposes “us” and “everywhere” to emphasise how
feelings about being in love? [24 marks] only the lovers are important to each other. The bed is the Sun’s
‘centre’ and the walls of their room ‘thy sphere’.

Language:
Structure and form:
• Personification used to describe the Sun (“Busy old fool, unruly Sun”)
and ask why it has to shine on the speaker and his lover as they are • The poem has a very formal structure. The poem is constructed of
in the bed (the pronoun “us” used to allude to the couple). three ten-line stanzas and each stanza is constructed the same way.

• The speaker tells the sun to go and bother others, referring to it as a • Lines 1, 5, and 6 of each stanza are iambic tetrameter (eight syllables
‘Saucy pedantic wretch’ and says it so go to “late school-boys” and with four of them stressed. Line 2 is in dimeter, meaning it has four
“country ants” because love doesn’t know any time or weather (“Nor syllables, with two stressed. The rest of the lines are the more
hours, days, months”, referring to these as the “rags” of time, using standard iambic pentameter—ten syllables, five stresses).
the metaphor to show that these ‘clothes’ of time have no relevance
to those in love). • The short lines allow Donne to emphasise some rhetorical questions
("Why shouldst thou think?") and then focus the reader on the
• The speaker claims the Sun sees its beams as “reverend” and speaker's claim that "nothing else is."
“strong”, using the adjectives to imply the Sun thinks itself great, but
ultimately the speaker can dismiss the beams “with a wink”, but he • Some lines begin with trochees (Where you emphasize the first
would not want to miss seeing his lover for even that short period of syllable of the metrical foot). Because of these, Donne's speaker
time (“But that I would not lose her sight so long”). becomes more forceful. Donne starts the poem with one of these:
"busy old fool." The penultimate line also starts this way,
• The speaker claims that his love is more powerful than all the world emphasizing the first word: "shine here to us, and thou art
and all the kings within it (“All here in one bed lay” – all the kings lay everywhere.“
in the speaker’s bed because he has more power and more
happiness than them all because he is in love). • The rhyme scheme of each stanza (ABBACDCDEE) is a combination of
two types of sonnet forms: the Petrarchan and the Shakespearean.
• “She’s all states, and all princes I” – the writer uses sibilance and the Generally the first four lines follow the Petrarchan form which start
repetition of “all” to exaggerate how important the lover is to the each argument or idea. The next four lines are more like a
speaker (“all states”) and how much she has an impact on the Shakespearean sonnet, and they help to 'answer' the argument put
speaker (“all princes I”). forward. The final couplet in each stanza sums up what was said
previously and emphasises the speaker's message or idea.
• “Since thy duties be / To warm the world, that’s done in warming us”
– the speaker implies that the whole world is now in their bedroom
and so the Sun does its duty by shining on them. The speaker does
this to accentuate how important the relationship is to the speaker.
Nothing else matters.
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Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

Q2 - In both ‘The Sun Rising’ and ‘A Glimpse’ the person (“I”) about his relationship with his lover
speakers describe feelings about being in love. (“that he may hold me by the hand”). In Donne’s
poem the speaker refers to his lover in the third
What are the similarities and/or differences between person (“she”) but speaks directly to the Sun,
the ways the poets present those feelings?[8 marks] personifying it in the process.

Language:
Structure and form:
• There are very different perspectives on love in these
poems. ‘A Glimpse’ doesn’t paint a romantic picture • Whilst Donne uses a very rigid and specific structure
to emphasise both the speaker’s arguments and his
of love but one that is quite ordinary and make a
answers to the arguments put forward, as well as
relationship seem almost mundane (“we two, summing up his ideas with the final couplet,
content, happy in being together, speaking little, Whitman has a very loose, free structure. He doesn’t
perhaps not a word”). employ rhyme or any particular meter, rather
focusing on describing the world around the couple
• Whilst John Donne uses personification to bring the before focusing in on them, a glimpse of love within
Sun to life and make the speaker question why it a world of chaos.
dares shine on the couple, making them seem the • Whitman’s poem begins with the reader on the
most important thing in the whole world (“I could outside looking in through an interstice (a small
eclipse and cloud them with a wink, / But that I space) to see the crowd of people before focusing on
would not lose her sight so long”), Whitman suggests the speaker as he sits with his partner, a part of the
the lovers’ relationship is just at a distance from the crowd but separate as well. Donne’s poem begins
each stanza with an argument before answering that
hectic and busy world that surrounds them (“A long argument and setting up a final conclusion.
while amid the noises of coming and going”).
• The speaker in Whitman’s poem speaks in the first
Remember by Christina Rossetti Idea 61: Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and
part by Michael Drayton
Remember me when I am gone away, Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part.
Nay, I have done, you get no more of me;
Gone far away into the silent land; And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart,
When you can no more hold me by the hand, That thus so cleanly I myself can free.
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,
Remember me when no more day by day And when we meet at any time again,
You tell me of our future that you plann'd: Be it not seen in either of our brows
Only remember me; you understand That we one jot of former love retain.
It will be late to counsel then or pray. Now at the last gasp of Love’s latest breath,
When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies;
Yet if you should forget me for a while When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
And afterwards remember, do not grieve: And Innocence is closing up his eyes—
For if the darkness and corruption leave Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, From death to life thou might’st him yet recover!
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad. In both ‘Remember’ and ‘Idea 61: Since there’s
no help, come let us kiss and part’ the speakers
In Remember, how does the poet present the describe feelings about leaving.
speaker’s feelings about leaving? [24 marks]
What are the similarities and/or differences
between the ways the poets present those
feelings?[8 marks]

2
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Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In Remember, how does the poet present the feet of two beats each) – the most common form of
meter in English poetry.
speaker’s feelings about leaving? [24 marks]
• Written in the sonnet form (14 lines), "Remember" is a
Language: Petrarchan sonnet. This means that the poem can be
divided into a group of eight lines (an octave, lines 1-8)
• Rossetti’s poem sees the speaker talking directly to their and a group of six lines (a sestet, lines 9-14). In most
lover or a close relative, discussing what will happen Petrarchan sonnets, there is a noticeable change of
once they have died (“Gone far away into the silent direction around line 9 (this is called the volta, a turn).
land”). Sometimes the sestet will answer an argument posed in
the octave, while at others the octave will explore one
• The use of pronouns “you”, “our” and “me” highlight the idea, but then the sestet will take things in a completely
closeness of the couple and of the conversation that different direction.
takes place within the poem.
• In the first 8 lines of the poem, the speaker talks about
• The speaker initially asks her partner to remember her her lover and about him remembering her after she dies.
once she has gone, repeating “remember me” three Starting around line 9, however, she starts to shift her
times in the first eight lines. focus away from remembrance to forgetfulness. In the
last two lines of the poem, the speaker actually says it is
• The speaker says to their lover that if they forget about better for her partner to forget about her than to
their partner for a time it does not matter, as it is better remember her and feel sad. It is as if she has a change of
to forget and be happy than remember and be sad. attitude halfway through after reflecting on her situation.
(“Better by far you should forget and smile / Than that
you should remember and be sad.”) • The first eight lines follow a rigid ABBA ABBA rhyme
scheme, while the sestet has rhyme scheme of CDD ECE.
• “the silent land” is a euphemism and allusion to death, This helps to make the ‘volta’ of the poem clearer but
the speaker feeling unable to refer to it directly, perhaps also accentuate the speaker’s change of mind halfway
hinting at some discomfort talking about the future. through the poem.

Structure and form:

• Written in iambic pentameter (ten syllables a line or five
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Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In both ‘Remember’ and ‘Idea 61: Since there’s no help, the thought of leaving her partner but thinking about
come let us kiss and part’ the speakers describe how they will or will not remember her.
feelings about leaving. • Drayton’s speaker uses an array of language features
to emphasise how desperate their relationship is and
What are the similarities and/or differences between how it is coming to an end (“Now at the last gasp of
the ways the poets present those feelings?[8 marks] Love’s latest breath” – using alliteration here to
accentuate this desperation), whilst Rossetti’s
Language: speaker uses repetition to get across a sense of
confusion and loss.
• There are very different perspectives on leaving in
Structure and form:
these poems. In Rossetti’s poem the speaker talks of
her future parting with her lover due to her death, • Both poems employ a sonnet structure (14 lines) and
whereas Drayton looks at someone who has resigned both poems feature a volta or turn halfway through
to breaking up with their partner as their relationship on the 9th line, but whilst Rossetti’s speaker decides it
is okay for her partner to forget her and be happy,
is finished, although it does have a subtle twist at the
Drayton’s speaker says the end of the relationship
end. could be stopped and all this desperation reversed if
the lover decided it to be (“From death to life thou
• The speaker in Drayton’s poem seems quite blunt might’st him yet recover!”) This idea of recovery
and forceful, using pronouns to announce the end of begins with the word ‘Now’ on the 9th line and ‘now’
the relationship to their partner (“I have done, you is repeated several times to show that not all hope is
get no more of me”), whereas the speaker gives off a lost.
loving and caring tone to their beloved (“When you
can no more hold me by the hand”).
• The speaker in Drayton’s poem sees happy about
their relationship ending, using repetition to
emphasise this feeling (“And I am glad, yea glad with
all my heart, / That thus so cleanly I myself can
free”), whilst Rossetti’s speaker is terrified and sad at
John Keats – You Say You Love
John Clare – The Secret
I.
You say you love; but with a voice
Chaster than a nun’s, who singeth
I loved thee, though I told thee not,
The soft Vespers to herself Right earlily and long,
While the chime-bell ringeth –
O love me truly!
Thou wert my joy in every spot,
II. My theme in every song.
You say you love; but with a smile
Cold as sunrise in September,
And when I saw a stranger face
As you were Saint Cupid’s nun, Where beauty held the claim,
And kept his weeks of Ember.
O love me truly!
I gave it like a secret grace
III. The being of thy name.
You say you love – but then your lips
Coral tinted teach no blisses.
And all the charms of face or voice
More than coral in the sea – Which I in others see
They never pout for kisses –
O love me truly!
Are but the recollected choice
IV. Of what I felt for thee.
You say you love; but then your hand
No soft squeeze for squeeze returneth,
It is like a statue’s dead – In both ‘You Say You Love’ and ‘The Secret’ the
While mine to passion burneth – speakers describe feelings about unrequited
O love me truly!
V.
love.
O breathe a word or two of fire!
Smile, as if those words should burn be,
Squeeze as lovers should – O kiss
And in thy heart inurn me!
What are the similarities and/or differences
O love me truly! between the ways the poets present those
feelings?[8 marks]
In ‘You Say You Love’, how does the poet present the speaker’s
feelings about unrequited love? [24 marks]
3
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Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In ‘You Say You Love’, how does the poet present the show he only speaks to his beloved, no one else and
speaker’s feelings about unrequited love? [24 marks] directly to her.
Use of imperatives and sibilance together to persuade
Language: his lover to behave as she should: “Squeeze as lovers
should”
The refrain ‘You say you love’ is used at the beginning of
every stanza to emphasise how the object of the
speaker’s affections claims to love but actually does not
show any evidence of this. Structure and form:

The speaker compares his beloved to a nun’s voice The rhyme in the second and fourth line of each stanza
(silent), a smile that is as warm as a September morning seems to make a comparison between how the woman
(incredibly cold) and so on. The writer uses similes and behaves and how the speaker acts or feels about her.
metaphors to make stark contrasts between how his This happens in every stanza (“blisses”/”kisses”,
lover claims to behave and how she actually behaves “singeth”/”ringeth”).
around him, suggesting that although she says she loves,
Each stanza opens with the same refrain and closes with
actually she does not.
the same refrain, too. This helps to emphasise not only
The refrain of ‘O love me truly’ at the end of each stanza the coldness and lack of emotion from the speaker’s
appears to be a desperate plea from the speaker to get beloved but also accentuates his desperation for her to
his beloved to actually love him properly and to show, as show him some actual affection.
he current behaviour (provided in examples in each
Each stanza is in a cinquain (five lines) which set up how
stanza) shows that she does not act the way she should
the beloved claims she feels, before the speaker
do if she were genuinely in love. The love appears to be
provides an example to show how wrong she is, and
one way and unrequited throughout, with the final line
then finally implores her to actually show how she feels.
of each stanza emphasising the speaker’s desperation
It’s repetitive and the structure doesn’t change but it
for her to love him.
helps to get across how desperate he feels.
It’s written in first person from the speaker’s own
perspective but with regular use of the pronoun ‘you’ to
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Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In both ‘You Say You Love’ and ‘The Secret’ the loves (“Are but the recollected choice / Of what I
speakers describe feelings about unrequited love. felt for thee”). In the first poem, the speaker is
more angry and frustrated with their beloved’s
What are the similarities and/or differences
behaviour rather than being lost and forlorn.
between the ways the poets present those
feelings?[8 marks] Structure and form:
The Secret uses a simple alternate rhyme scheme
Language: (ABABCDCDEFEF) which helps him to link to how he
• Both poems see the speaker directly address the feels now to what he felt for his unrequited lover, as
well as helping him to recollect how he felt before.
objects of their affection, but in The Secret the Although he seems to have moved on, emotionally
speaker has not actually told the one he loves he hasn’t really.
how he feels – it is secret. He refers to her as
Both The Secret and You Say You Love use simple
‘thee’ and repeats this a lot, just like the speaker
and repetitive structures to get across their clear
uses ‘you’ in the first poem. and repetitive thoughts. One is of a man desperate
to be closer to his partner, the other is the same but
• The speaker in ‘The Secret’ uses the pronoun ‘I’ unwilling to do anything about it – too scared of the
and ‘my’ a lot to show how much his feelings are consequences. Both have very different tones to
affecting him – this person is about how he feels their poems (the first is quite angry and aggressive,
about someone else, not about how he feels the second more detached, lonely and sad).
about her behaviour and how he feels she needs
to change. There are very different perspectives
here.
• No matter whom he is with, the speaker in ‘The
Secret’ cannot forget about the one he truly
“The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke Anthem for Doomed Youth
By Wilfred Owen
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
That is for ever England. There shall be — Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Can patter out their hasty orisons.
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam; No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
A body of England’s, breathing English air, Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And think, this heart, all evil shed away, And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; What candles may be held to speed them all?
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven. The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
In ‘The Soldier’, how does the poet And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

present the speaker’s feelings about

war? [24 marks] In both ‘The Soldier’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed
Youth’ the speakers describe feelings about
war.

What are the similarities and/or differences

between the ways the poets present those
feelings?[8 marks]
4
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Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In ‘The Soldier’, how does the poet present the suggest we all go back to where we came from, and
speaker’s feelings about war? [24 marks] implies that by fighting and dying for your country,
you are returning back to the ‘dust’ that made you
and shaped you.
Language:
• A water metaphor is used to suggest purity and
• This is a very positive and patriotic poem, suggesting cleansing: “Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of
the man wishes to fight and to be remembered for home”, linking fighting for one’s country to nature. It
his heroic actions (“That there’s some corner of a is natural for this to happen and for you to fight.
foreign field /
That is for ever England” – the alliteration of Structure and form:
‘foreign’, ‘field’ and ‘for ever’ highlight the speaker’s
desire to be remembered heroically and bravely). • This poem is written in a fourteen line Petrarchan
sonnet – a form of poetry usually linked with love
• ‘England’ is repeated four times and ‘English’ twice – and romance. Did Brooke choose this to help him
the focus of this poem is about fighting and dying for create a romantic imagery of war and fighting for
your country on the battlefield and creating a sense your country?
of heroism around national identity. The speaker
talks of being ‘under an English heaven’ at the end • Like any sonnet there is a turn or volta in the poem,
of the poem, living with ‘hearts at peace’. He creates usually on the 9th line but here occurring on the 4th
an idyllic and utopian picture of his homeland: “Her after the speaker finishes describing the soldier’s
sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; / And potential death and moves on to talking about his life
laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness”; the use and how his country shaped him.
of personification helps the reader to imagine • Unlike most sonnets, however, there is no real
England as a living being, as something worth
change in tone. The whole poem is idyllic and
fighting for and ultimately fighting for a peaceful
blissful, suggesting the nobility of fighting and dying
world.
for one’s country. By doing so, you leave a small part
• The Biblical allusion of “A dust whom England bore, of your country elsewhere. You take your country
shaped, made aware” links to the famous line “ashes with you.
to ashes, dust to dust” used at Christian funerals to
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Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In both ‘The Soldier’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ (“all evil shed away”), whereas Owen does the very
the speakers describe feelings about war. opposite. He portrays the fighting as vicious and
ruthless: “No mockeries now for them; no prayers
nor bells”, using religious metaphors to suggest there
What are the similarities and/or differences between is no remembrance or service for these soldiers. They
the ways the poets present those feelings?[8 marks] simply die without honour and respect. The very
antithesis of Brooke’s message.
Language:
Structure and form:
• Owen’s poem could not be more different to • Like Brooke’s poem Owen’s Anthem For Doomed
Brooke’s. Whilst Brooke creates a utopian idea of Youth uses a sonnet structure of 14 lines but employs
fighting for one’s country, Owen smashes all these a different rhyme scheme and divides up the ideas
ideas and suggests war is ruthless, cold and a kind of into two stanzas. Owen seems to use the sonnet
slaughter (“these who die as cattle”). ironically, describing the brutal slaughter of innocent
young people through a poetic form usually
• Owen uses a range of imagery and language features associated with romance and love. In contrast,
to get across his disgust and horror at the realities of Brooke adapts the form to paint a wonderful image
of the noble and patriotic soldier going off to
war (“Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle” – represent his country.
alliteration here mimics the motions and sounds of
an actual rifle being fired), including a lot of • Owen makes use of a final rhyming couplet (adapting
personification to make the battlefield come to life a more Shakespearean sonnet rhyme scheme for his
own purposes), to emphasise how detached and
and act as an enemy to the soldiers: “The shrill, isolated the soldiers are from the reality they once
demented choirs of wailing shells”. knew as blinds are drawn, shutting them out of
others’ lives back home. Brooke uses a more
• Brooke uses metaphors and personification to bring traditionally Petrarchan rhyme scheme in his poem.
his country to life and create a very vivid image of
England as a kind of idyllic paradise worth fighting for
The Homes of England And green forever be the groves,
By Felicia Dorothea Hemans And bright the flowery sod,
Where first the child’s glad spirit loves
THE STATELY Homes of England, Its country and its God.
How beautiful they stand!
Amidst their tall ancestral trees, In ‘The Homes of England’,
O’er all the pleasant land; how does the poet present
The deer across their greensward bound
Through shade and sunny gleam, the speaker’s feelings about
And the swan glides past them with the sound
Of some rejoicing stream. her home life? [24 marks]
The merry Homes of England!
Haunted Houses A vital breath of more ethereal air.
Around their hearths by night, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
What gladsome looks of household love Our little lives are kept in equipoise
Meet in the ruddy light. All houses wherein men have lived and died By opposite attractions and desires;
There woman’s voice flows forth in song, Are haunted houses. Through the open doors The struggle of the instinct that enjoys,
Or childish tale is told; The harmless phantoms on their errands glide, And the more noble instinct that aspires.
Or lips move tunefully along With feet that make no sound upon the floors.
Some glorious page of old. These perturbations, this perpetual jar
We meet them at the door-way, on the stair, Of earthly wants and aspirations high,
Along the passages they come and go, Come from the influence of an unseen star
The blessèd Homes of England!
Impalpable impressions on the air, An undiscovered planet in our sky.
How softly on their bowers A sense of something moving to and fro.
Is laid the holy quietness And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud
That breathes from Sabbath hours! There are more guests at table than the hosts Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light,
Solemn, yet sweet, the church-bell’s chime Invited; the illuminated hall Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd
Floats through their woods at morn; Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts, Into the realm of mystery and night,—
All other sounds, in that still time, As silent as the pictures on the wall.
Of breeze and leaf are born. So from the world of spirits there descends
The stranger at my fireside cannot see A bridge of light, connecting it with this,
The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear; O’er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,
The cottage Homes of England!
He but perceives what is; while unto me Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.
By thousands on her plains, All that has been is visible and clear.
They are smiling o’er the silvery brooks,
And round the hamlet-fanes. We have no title-deeds to house or lands; In both ‘The Homes of England’ and ‘Haunted Houses’ the
Through glowing orchards forth they peep, Owners and occupants of earlier dates speakers describe feelings about home life.
Each from its nook of leaves; From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,
And fearless there the lowly sleep, And hold in mortmain still their old estates. What are the similarities and/or differences between the
As the bird beneath their eaves. ways the poets present those feelings?[8 marks]
The spirit-world around this world of sense
Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere
The free, fair Homes of England!
Wafts through these earthly mists and vapours dense
Long, long in hut and hall,
May hearts of native proof be reared
To guard each hallowed wall!
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Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In ‘The Homes of England’, how does the poet present the the glorious buildings she describes.
speaker’s feelings about her home life? [24 marks]

Language: Structure and form:

• This poem is quite unusual in that it seems to be a love • The speaker starts off with the mighty and majestic
note to the all the different types of homes of England, ‘stately’ homes of England, beginning with larger scale
eulogising about how wonderful they are and the lives homes before moving on to smaller and smaller abodes
that are kept within them (“What gladsome looks of as the poem progresses, eventually moving on to
household love / Meet in the ruddy light”). cottages and gardens (“The cottage Homes of England! /
By thousands on her plains”).
• The writer uses an awful lot of powerful imagery to
across an idyllic perspective on all the different houses in • Each stanza uses syntactic parallelism to describe the
the country, spending a lot of the poem describing the different types of houses in England: “The __________ of
settings of each house (“The deer across their England!” This refrain allows the speaker to create a
greensward bound / Through shade and sunny gleam, / patriotic and overwhelmingly joyful tone and allows her
And the swan glides past them with the sound / Of some to address different types of building in each stanza.
rejoicing stream”). The personification of the stream as
‘rejoicing’ suggests even nature itself is happy to be
• Each stanza follows an eight line structure (octaves), with
around these buildings, and the swans ‘glides’ past and most of the poem using an alternate rhyme scheme to
the deer ‘bound’ – the positive verbs highlight the get a bouncing, joyful tone throughout. This is not a
beautiful scene the speaker describes. complex poem but has a simple message that is got
across plainly and clearly to the reader with a very clear
• There is an undercurrent of religious devotion within this tone.
poem, suggesting all these places are touched by God:
“Solemn, yet sweet, the church-bell’s chime / Floats
through their woods at morn” and the final lines of the
poem highlight the importance of religion to the speaker:
“Where first the child’s glad spirit loves / Its country and
its God.” This is both a patriotic and Christian poem that
wants to eulogise about how wonderful the speaker’s
country is and how she feels an affinity to God through
 5
Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In both ‘The Homes of England’ and ‘Haunted Houses’ This perhaps alludes to God or some supernatural
the speakers describe feelings about home life. force without being explicit what the writer is
referring to. This poem is not as directly or bluntly
What are the similarities and/or differences between Christian as the first, but it does question life and
the ways the poets present those feelings?[8 marks] living throughout by using the concept of ghosts and
haunted houses as a vehicle for philosophical
reflection).
Language:
• The speaker in the second poem repeats the idea of
• Haunted Houses has a very different tone to the first a ‘bridge of light’ where the ghosts from the houses
poem; it talks about how the spirits of the dead seem go. Is this an allusion to heaven or something else?
to haunt places and how it is possible to see and feel It’s never quite explained but it does seem the
these spirits as you walk around. (“Through the open speaker is questioning reality and how we behave.
doors / The harmless phantoms on their errands The first poem is far more simple and direct but does
glide, / With feet that make no sound upon the try to get across a sense of the ‘holy spirit’ at times
floors.” within the poem.
• The writer builds a tone of mystery and the Structure and form:
supernatural through his descriptions of the houses
and the ghosts (“and everywhere / Wafts through Haunted Houses uses a simple quatrain (four line stanza)
these earthly mists and vapours dense / A vital structure with clear alternate rhyme (ABAB) in each
breath of more ethereal air”). This is in contrast to stanza. This creates a regular and rigid pattern that may
the first poem that builds a vivid description of idyllic mimic the writer’s own thoughts and life and the
settings mixed with a sense of Christian spirituality afterlife – we live our lives and then we move on to
that pervades and permeates everything. elsewhere, with nothing changing. The structure of ‘The
Homes of England’ uses octaves and an alternate rhyme
• The writer of Haunted Houses seems to use the idea scheme to set up each topic and then to be able to
of ghosts to question the nature of reality and ask describe each setting in detail.
why people behave as they do (“These
perturbations, this perpetual jar / Of earthly wants
and aspirations high, / Come from the influence of an
unseen star / An undiscovered planet in our sky”.
My Mother by Ann Taylor
Who fed me from her gentle breast, Who ran to help me when I fell,
Mother by Lola Ridge
And hush’d me in her arms to rest, And would some pretty story tell,
And on my cheek sweet kisses prest? Or kiss the place to make it well?
My Mother. My Mother.
Your love was like moonlight
turning harsh things to beauty,
When sleep forsook my open eye, When thou art feeble, old, and gray,
Who was it sung sweet hushaby, My healthy arm shall be thy stay,
so that little wry souls
And rock’d me that I should not cry? And I will soothe thy pains away. reflecting each other obliquely
My Mother. My Mother.
as in cracked mirrors . . .
Who sat and watched my infant head, And when I see thee hang thy head, beheld in your luminous spirit
When sleeping in my cradle bed, ‘Twill be my turn to watch thy bed.
And tears of sweet affection shed? And tears of sweet affection shed, their own reflection,
My Mother. My Mother. transfigured as in a shining stream,
When pain and sickness made me cry, For God, who lives above the skies, and loved you for what they are not.
Who gazed upon my heavy eye, Would look with vengeance in His eyes,
And wept for fear that I should die? If I should ever dare despise
My Mother. My Mother. You are less an image in my mind
than a luster
Who dress’d my doll in clothes so gay,
And taught me pretty how to play.
In ‘My Mother’, how does I see you in gleams
And minded all I had to say? the poet present the pale as star-light on a gray wall . . .
My Mother.
speaker’s feelings about evanescent as the reflection of a white swan
Who taught my infant lips to pray,
her mother? [24 marks] shimmering in broken water.
And love God’s holy book and day.
And walk in Wisdom’s pleasant way?
My Mother.
In both ‘My Mother’ and ‘Mother’ the speakers
And can I ever cease to be
Affectionate and kind to thee,
describe feelings about mothers.
Who was so very kind to me?
My Mother

Ah, no! the thought I cannot bear; What are the similarities and/or differences between
And if God please my life to spare, the ways the poets present those feelings?[8 marks]
I hope I shall reward thy care,
My Mother.
6
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Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In ‘My Mother’, how does the poet present the stanza is emphasised further. The short sentence at the
end of each stanza also helps to accentuate it from the
speaker’s feelings about her mother? [24 marks] rest of the stanza, too. This is because ‘My Mother’ is the
very focus on the poem.
Language:
• However, the final three stanzas has a change in tone and
• This is a simple ode to the speaker’s mother, listing all perspective. Rather than asking rhetorical questions
the wonderful things the speaker’s mother did for her in about who helped out the speaker so much as a child,
the past in her role as mum. the focus shifts to the speaker feeling a sense of
responsibility for the ageing mother after she did so
• At times the poem highlights the strength of the mother much for her as a child (“When thou art feeble, old, and
in adversity and gets across the speaker’s respect for her gray, / My healthy arm shall be thy stay, / And I will
parent, but at other times hints at the anguish and soothe thy pains away. / My Mother).
struggle the mother must have gone through (“When
pain and sickness made me cry, / Who gazed upon my • The writer repeats one line of her poem in the
heavy eye, / And wept for fear that I should die?”) penultimate stanza from earlier on in the poem (“And
tears of sweet affection shed”) to accentuate how their
• There is also a sense of religious duty and responsibility roles have reversed and now the daughter nurses the
throughout the poem, both for mothers and children mother.
(“Who taught my infant lips to pray, / And love God’s holy
book and day. / And walk in Wisdom’s pleasant way?”) • It could even be argued the final stanza even has quite a
troubling and menacing tone, suggesting God would have
• A variety of language features are used to get across the vengeance in his eyes if she should ever go against her
sheer joy and closeness of the mother and daughter, mother. Although you wouldn’t know this from the
including sibilance (“sung sweet hushaby”). unseen poem, the writer eventually changed the last
stanza as she wasn’t happy with it! It’s a strange final
stanza as the poem is so loving and so innocent, before it
Structure and form: takes on a darker and more powerful tone at the end. It
feels quite clumsy and awkward in comparison with the
• The first triplet (three lines) of each quatrain is a list of
rest of the poem.
rhetorical questions, with the final line of each quatrain
being a blunt refrain: ‘My Mother’. Each triplet is
rhyming, meaning the first three lines of each stanza
rhyme with each other, meaning the final line of each
 6
Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In both ‘My Mother’ and ‘Mother’ the speakers elderly parent, with a sense of religious responsibility
describe feelings about mothers. always hanging in the distance. However, Ridge talks
more of a hard-to-define understanding of her mother
and how her memory is becoming less and less clear, it
fading and becoming more distant, but still powerful and
What are the similarities and/or differences between strong in its uncertainty.
the ways the poets present those feelings?[8 marks]
Structure and form:
Language: Whilst Taylor’s poem uses a very rigid and artificial
structure to get across its meaning, Ridge’s poem is not
Ridge’s poem is a lot more metaphorical than Ann reliant on meter or any specific structure. The ellipses
Taylor’s and uses light imagery to get across the used in both stanzas emphasise the speaker’s
speaker’s love for her mother (“Your love was like uncertainty and lack of clarity in her memories, and it
moonlight / turning harsh things to beauty”). The writer reflects her difficulty in trying to explain how she feels
talks of the mother’s luminous spirit, with others being and remembers her mother, but is able to use the motif
altered by her mother’s shining stream. of light to get across her mother’s power despite not
To the speaker, the mother is not a clear image but has being able to describe her memories with any clarity.
become a ‘luster’ or a soft glow in her mind, seen only in
‘gleams’ and ‘pale’. It makes the reader feel that the
writer doesn’t have any specific details to give about her
mother but rather an overall, more nebulous feeling
about how her mother makes her feel.
The mother is ‘evanescent’, the speaker’s memory
fading and disappearing ‘as the reflection of a white
swan / shimmering in broken water.’
There is a clear contrast between the two poems as
Taylor’s poem is about listing very specific and very
detailed memories of her mother and how she now
takes on the responsibility of motherhood towards her
Jonathan Swift, ‘Cooking Poem: How I Shall Dine’. Coolness of the Melons by Matsuo Basho

Gently blow and stir the fire, Coolness of the melons

Lay the mutton down to roast,
flecked with mud
Dress it nicely I desire,
In the dripping put a toast, in the morning dew.
That I hunger may remove:
Mutton is the meat I love. In both ‘Cooking Poem: How I Shall Dine’ and
‘Coolness of the Melons’ the speakers describe
On the dresser see it lie,
feelings about food.
Oh! the charming white and red!
Finer meat ne’er met my eye,
On the sweetest grass it fed:
What are the similarities and/or differences
Let the jack go swiftly round,
between the ways the poets present those
Let me have it nicely browned.
feelings?[8 marks]
On the table spread the cloth,
Let the knives be sharp and clean:
Pickles get and salad both,
Let them each be fresh and green:
With small beer, good ale, and wine,
O ye gods! how I shall dine.

In ‘Cooking Poem: How I Shall Dine’, how does

the poet present the speaker’s feelings about
food? [24 marks]
7
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Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In ‘Cooking Poem: How I Shall Dine’, how • The final stanza uses imperatives (“Let the knives
be sharp and clean”) which kind of get across the
does the poet present the speaker’s feelings sense of Swift detaching himself from the
about food? [24 marks] situation and looking at it separately, admiring
his work.
Language:
• Jonathan Swift has written some absolutely Structure and form:
cracking novels in his time, including Gulliver’s
Travels (if you haven’t read it then read it, or at Three stanzas of six lines (sestet) are used which
the very least go and watch the awesome TV include four lines of alternate rhyme before a final
series with Ted Danson… I digress), but I don’t rhyming couplet at the end of each stanza. The first
think anyone expected him to write a poem four lines of each stanza generally describe how
about how much he loves… mutton. But here we Swift prepares his meal and the things he needs for
are. his meal, and the last rhyming couplet of each
stanza emphasises how he feels about being able to
• The speaker uses adverbs like ‘nicely’ and ‘gently’ eat his meal.
to get across a simple but joyful tone. Swift is
preparing a meal that he is looking forward to The final line of the poem gets across his
eating. He uses down-to-earth imagery for an anticipation to eat the meal (“O ye gods! how I shall
ordinary meal, but it gets across a simple joy at dine”).
what he is about to eat. My favourite food is
cheese on toast, but I don’t need to use fancy
words to get across how awesome it is.
• Swift does use hyperbole in his second stanza to
get across to the reader how much he likes the
mutton he is preparing (“Finer meat ne’er met
my eye, / On the sweetest grass it fed”).
 7
Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In both ‘Cooking Poem: How I Shall Dine’ and • Whilst Swift’s poem goes into a lot of detail about his
‘Coolness of the Melons’ the speakers describe ingredients, his preparations and also his feelings
feelings about food. about making the meal and getting ready to enjoy it,
the haiku simply describes what the melons look like.
What are the similarities and/or differences It is up to the reader to infer how the speaker feels
between the ways the poets present those about them.
feelings?[8 marks]
• The adjective ‘flecked’ suggests the melons have
Language: been moved about or at the very least affected by
the nature around them, they are still at one with
• Coolness of the Melons has been translated into nature.
English, but it follows a haiku structure – although
perhaps not strictly given the translation. It has three • The noun ‘coolness’ shows the speaker is touching
lines, which would really follow a 5,7,5 syllable the melons, perhaps for the first time, moving them
structure if strictly a haiku, but instead uses a 6,3,5 away from being a part of nature to being eaten.
pattern. Structure and form:
• Yes, it is a remarkably short poem, but haikus are Coolness of the Melons follows a loose haiku structure,
about reading in between the lines, not about the although it has been translated from its original
words that are written but what is not written. We Japanese. It provides three statements of facts about the
fruit, and it is up to the reader to infer how the speaker
are told the melons are cool, with patches of mud on feels about them.
them and they are described in the morning, but the
dew gets across their freshness and their connection Swift’s poem follows a completely different structure of
to nature, the patches of mud does the same and the three sestets with an alternate rhyme scheme and a final
rhyming couplet at the end of each stanza to get across
coolness hints at the speaker’s pride and sense of his sense of joy at the meal he has prepared and is about
wonder at the fruit. to eat.
Edward Thomas – Adlestrop Paul Laurence Dunbar - A Summer’s Night

The night is dewy as a maiden’s mouth,

Yes, I remember Adlestrop – The skies are bright as are a maiden’s eyes,
The name, because one afternoon Soft as a maiden’s breath the wind that flies
Of heat the express-train drew up there Up from the perfumed bosom of the South.
Like sentinels, the pines stand in the park;
Unwontedly. It was late June. And hither hastening, like rakes that roam,
With lamps to light their wayward footsteps home,
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. The fireflies come stagg’ring down the dark.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw In both ‘Adlestrop’ and ‘A Summer’s Night’ the
Was Adlestrop – only the name speakers describe feelings about summer.

And willows, willow-herb, and grass,

And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, What are the similarities and/or differences
between the ways the poets present those
No whit less still and lonely fair
feelings?[8 marks]
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.

And for that minute a blackbird sang

Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

In ‘Adlestrop’, how does the poet present the

speaker’s feelings about summer? [24 marks] 8
 8
Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In ‘Adlestrop’, how does the poet present the the few ‘cloudlets’ (not big enough to be clouds, it is summer
after all) in the sky. Does this hint at the speaker’s own sense
speaker’s feelings about summer? [24 marks] of loneliness and isolation?

Language: Then the speaker describes the sound of a single blackbird as

it sings, which then grows into “Farther and farther, all the
On the surface Adlestrop seems a relatively simple poem. It birds / Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire”. This seems like a
is about a man on an express-train that has to stop at a pretty innocuous and pointless statement, but is the speaker
station unexpectedly (‘unwontedly’). Whilst stopped there feeling a connection with nature and feeling less isolated and
he begins to see and hear tiny details of the platform, the lonely himself having reflected on the beautiful nature he is
people and the nature around him. witnessing at a place as plain as Adlestrop? Has the summer
and his experience made him feel more a part of something?
“The name” in the second line almost seems like the speaker
is trying to recall specific details from his memory, as his Even the fact he is on the ‘express-train’ suggests he is
speech is unsure and lacking in direction (emphasised rushing to go somewhere. Perhaps this moment of stopping
through the use of the dash and comma). has allowed him to step back and appreciate the world
around him more.
The writer uses a lot of short sentences in the poem,
providing us with snatches of information, statements of Structure and form:
fact, without explaining to use directly why he tells us about
them. It’s quite modernist in a sense that we as readers are The use of short sentences across the poem gives us a sense
expected to fill in the gaps or uncover the rest of the idea of time slowing down and stopping, as it can feel like during
icebergs beneath the words. The short sentence “It was very hot and humid summer days.
June” implies it was very hot and summery, and we know the The poem uses a simple quatrain structure with four stanzas
train stopped “Of heat”. of the same length and some use of alternate rhyme within
The speaker initially focuses on the name of the station, the stanzas. It seems to add to that sense of the
which is perhaps something we all do when looking out at a unremarkable – that this is an ordinary setting but something
station and seeing a huge sign with the station’s name on it. truly remarkable is there under the surface.
Yet, he moves on from ‘the name’ and looks at the flowers
and plants by the platform: “And willows, willow-herb, and
grass, / And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry”. The speaker
describes the flowers as no “less still and lonely fair” than
 8
Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In both ‘Adlestrop’ and ‘A Summer’s sees the scene to the reader. It is beautiful,
unusual and powerful. However, in the first
Night’ the speakers describe feelings poem the power comes from understanding
about summer. how time comes to stand still and seeing how
we are all connected to a wider world, not
What are the similarities and/or living in isolation.
differences between the ways the poets Structure and form:
present those feelings?[8 marks]
The first poem relies heavily on short
Language: sentences to get across a sense of time
slowing down. It is written in a rigid, four
In ‘A Summer’s Night’ the writer uses similes quatrain structure that appears unremarkable
in the first four lines to make comparisons on the outside, but delve deeper and you can
between a summer night and a beautiful appreciate the structure a lot more – much
woman: “as a maiden’s mouth”, “maiden’s like the message of the poem. In the second
breath”, “perfumed bosom”. The second set poem the poem is a rigidly structure octave
of four lines uses an awful lot of alliteration to (eight line stanza) with an ABBACDDC rhyme
describe the scene: “pines”, “park”, “hither scheme that reflects the change in focus from
hastening”, “like rakes that roam”. the first four lines to the second set of four
lines.
The use of imagery is a lot more artificial and
stunted than the very matter-of-fact tone of
the first poem that relies on the reader to fill
in the gaps. The writer of the second poem is
using a series of images to get across how he
Robert Frost – Desert Places Emily Dickinson – It sifts from leaden sieves

It sifts from leaden sieves,

Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast It powders all the wood,
In a field I looked into going past, It fills with alabaster wool
The wrinkles of the road.
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last. It makes an even face
Of mountain and of plain, —
Unbroken forehead from the east
The woods around it have it - it is theirs. Unto the east again.
All animals are smothered in their lairs.
I am too absent-spirited to count; It reaches to the fence,
It wraps it, rail by rail,
The loneliness includes me unawares. Till it is lost in fleeces;
It flings a crystal veil
And lonely as it is, that loneliness
On stump and stack and stem, —
Will be more lonely ere it will be less - The summer’s empty room,
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow Acres of seams where harvests were,
With no expression, nothing to express. Recordless, but for them.

It ruffles wrists of posts,

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces As ankles of a queen, —
Between stars - on stars where no human race is. Then stills its artisans like ghosts,
Denying they have been.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.
In both ‘Desert Places and ‘It sifts from leaden sieves’ the speakers
describe feelings about winter.
In ‘Desert Places’, how does the poet present the
speaker’s feelings about winter? [24 marks]
What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways the
poets present those feelings?[8 marks]

9
 9
Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In ‘Desert Places’, how does the poet present the how we might all be alone in the universe when
speaker’s feelings about winter? [24 marks] there is no other life out there (as far as we know).
But this cannot scare the speaker because he gets
scared from his own ‘desert places’. Is this alluding to
Language: his own cut-off isolation or is it alluding to his sense
• The repetition of ‘falling’ in the first line gets across of mental isolation where he has created a ‘desert
the image of snow constantly falling from the sky. place’ in his mind? The snow seems to act as the
perfect symbol of loneliness and being isolated.
• The sibilance of ‘smooth in snow’ helps to get across
a sense of everything being covered in a white
blanket and being smoothed over, which snows Structure and form:
tends to do to everything. Again, the sibilance of • The poem uses a rigid four quatrain structure that
“stubble showing” emphasises a soft tone that fits in seems well organised and makes sense, perhaps in
well with the description in the poem. contrast to the confusion and loneliness of the
• The repetition of “The loneliness includes me disorganised mind that writes the poem.
unawares. / And lonely as it is, that loneliness” • The rhyme scheme is AABA CCDC EEFE GGHG, where
accentuates the speaker’s sense of isolation amongst the third line of each stanza stands out from the rest.
the all-encompassing snow as it ‘smothers’ all the Does this help to get across a sense of difference and
animals’ homes. He is cut off and isolated as they isolation, too? Is the speaker like the one line that
are. doesn’t fit in with the rest? If this is what Frost
• The snow provides “no expression, nothing to intended it is incredibly clever.
express”, it is just cold, emotionless and lonely. The
world has become an even more isolated place
because of the snow and because of the speaker’s
own feelings.
• He talks about loneliness in the universe: “They
cannot scare me with their empty spaces / Between
stars - on stars where no human race is”, alluding to
 9
Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In both ‘Desert Places and ‘It sifts from leaden during winter, and in doing so creating a kind of
sieves’ the speakers describe feelings about temporary death of the world: “a crystal veil”,
winter. “artisans like ghosts”.
• Dickinson seems to discuss the power of the
What are the similarities and/or differences snow to completely alter the world and hide the
between the ways the poets present those work of the summer (“The summer’s empty
feelings?[8 marks] room”), whereas Frost uses snow as a vehicle for
describing his own mental state and sense of
Language: isolation from the rest of the world. Frost’s
description of the snow falling and covering the
• The pronoun ‘It’ makes snow sound all like one, it world seems a lot more passive than Dickinson’s
very much covers everything together and acts almost aggressive description. This is not a battle
like “alabaster wool” or powder as described in between man and nature but between one man
the poem. and himself.
• Like Frost’s description of the snow, Dickinson Structure and form:
talks about how snow smooths everything out
Like Frost’s poem, Dickinson employs quatrains in
using vivid imagery: “Unbroken forehead from her piece but uses a lot more half-rhyme at times or
the east / Unto the east again”, personifying the full rhyme at different points in her stanzas. Her
setting in order to get across how the scenery is rhyme scheme is not rigid and seems to shift and
affected. change, perhaps mimicking the movement of snow
as it covers over what we used to know and in the
• The verbs ‘flings’, ‘wraps’ and ‘sifts’ are used to process makes our memories of what we once knew
personify the snow and make it seem alive, an harder to grasp.
all-encompassing being that takes over the world
 The Tyger - William Blake
Lewis Carroll - How Doth the Little Crocodile
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
How doth the little crocodile What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Improve his shining tail,
In what distant deeps or skies
And pour the waters of the Nile Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On every golden scale! On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare sieze the fire?

How cheerfully he seems to grin, And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
How neatly spreads his claws, And when thy heart began to beat,
And welcomes little fishes in, What dread hand? & what dread feet?

With gently smiling jaws! What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp

In ‘How Doth the Little Crocodile’,

Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,

how does the poet present the

And water’d heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

speaker’s feelings about the Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

crocodile? [24 marks] What immortal hand or eye

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

In both ‘How Doth the Little Crocodile’ and The

Tyger’ the speakers describe feelings about
animals.

What are the similarities and/or differences

between the ways the poets present those
feelings?[8 marks]
10
 10
Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In ‘How Doth the Little Crocodile’, how does to eat the fish and has simply deceived them into
going into his mouth.
the poet present the speaker’s feelings
about the crocodile? [24 marks] Structure and form:
This short poem uses only two quatrains – the first
Language: describe the almost majestic power and beauty of
the creature, with the second portraying it as
• On the surface this appears to be a very simple friendly and pleasant before the final twist in the
poem about a crocodile and the speaker’s last line getting across the monstrousness of the
admiration for the animal. It’s tail is ‘shining’ and creature. It is ruthless, despite appearing to the
it has ‘golden’ scales, these adjectives conveying contrary. The poem could be read as a metaphor for
to the reader the respect the speaker has for this the deceptiveness of those that appear friendly and
beast. The adjective ‘every’ emphasises how honest, or it could just be a little poem about the
powerful and careful the monster is – it can ease power of an animal like a crocodile!
water onto every scale; not one is missed.
The use of simple alternate rhyme in quatrains gives
• The adverbs ‘cheerfully’ and ‘neatly’ seem to the poem a simple and almost innocent tone,
personify the crocodile and make it seem more setting us up for the twist at the end of the poem.
human, with the speaker giving it a pleasant side.
The crocodile ‘seems to grin’ and ‘welcomes’ in
fish. However, the speaker is able to suddenly
shift the tone of the poem with the last line,
providing a sudden twist for the reader: “With
gently smiling jaws!” The language is similar to
the rest of the poem, with the adverb ‘gently’
and the verb ‘smiling’ suggesting this is a friendly
pleasant creatures, but the final word and noun
‘jaws’ implies that this creature is in fact planning
 10
Indicative content (Ideas you could have included in your answers)

In both ‘How Doth the Little Crocodile’ and The Tyger’ the and yet really both poems seem to have the same message
speakers describe feelings about animals. at their centre.
Blake achieves a lot of impact through the use of alliteration
("frame" and "fearful") combined with imagery (burning,
What are the similarities and/or differences between the fire, eyes), and he structures the poem to have repetitive
ways the poets present those feelings?[8 marks] questioning, asking the creature, "Who made thee?"
Structure and form:
Language:
"The Tyger" is six stanzas in length, each stanza four lines
"The Tyger" isn’t really a narrative poem as such – there is no long. Much of the poem is in trochaic tetrameter.
real story to it. The first stanza opens the main theme of the
whole piece: "What immortal hand or eye, / Could frame thy The first stanza opens up the idea of a tiger and why it exists,
fearful symmetry?" The speaker wonders how could any before moving on to the second stanza which questions "the
being create something like a tiger, something with such Tyger" about where he was created; the third about how the
“fearful symmetry”? A tiger is a thing of beauty but it is also creator formed him; the fourth about what tools were used
a create that humans fear the most due to its tremendous in its creation. In the fifth stanza, Blake ponders on how the
power and ruthlessness. The speaker asks a number of creator reacted to "the Tyger", and who created the
rhetorical questions about the creature, but never receives creature. Finally, the sixth goes back to the central question
an answer because he cannot have them. How can we know at the start of the poem while adding more power to it;
how and why a tiger has been created? For what purpose rather than merely question who or what "could" create the
does it exist? Tyger, the speaker wonders: who dares.

In this way it is different to Carroll’s piece. Whilst Carroll lulls Carroll’s structure in his piece is very simple and very
us into a false sense of security around the crocodile, Blake predictable, with the exception of the final line which
paints a beautiful and yet fearful picture of a tiger. Carroll radically alters our perspective on the animal. Blake doesn’t
wants us to admire the crocodile, and yet the very end of the do this as such, but he changes only one word between the
poem ‘snaps’ very much like a crocodile, eating the first and last stanzas to ask who would DARE create such an
unsuspecting fish that move into its welcoming jaws. animal as a tiger.
Although the tiger does not ‘attack’ anything in Blake’s
poem, he is able to use his poem as a vehicle to question
how and why such violent and yet majestic creatures like the
tiger exist. Is this quite similar to what Carroll was trying to
achieve? His tone seems more comical and light-hearted,