Paper 1: Grade boundaries June 2016

The grade boundaries:

Grade 1- 8/64
Grade 2-16/64
Grade 3-26/64
Grade 4-32/64
Grade 5 36/64
Grade 6 42/64
Grade 7 48/64
Grade 8 54/64
Grade 9- 60/64
 UNSEEN POETRY

How do I use MITSL?

What is each question asking me to do?
How much time should I spend on this section?
What should I do in the introduction?
How should my answers look?
What is that 8 mark question all about?

MITSL + P
Meaning
 what is the poem about?
 who is the speaker? - are they dramatized (a character)
 who is being spoken to or addressed?
 what is being spoken about?
 Theme(s) of the poem - what is it really about?
 Setting/culture - where’s the poem set? Culture it is from/about?
 where does the poem “get to” from start to end?
Tone
 How would the poem be spoken? (angry, sad, nostalgic,
bitter, humorous etc)
Structure
 Rhyme - is there a rhyme scheme? Couplets? Internal rhyme?
 Rhythm - how many syllables per line? Is it regular or free verse?
Why are some different lengths?
 Stanzas - How many? How do they change? Is there a narrative?
 Lines - how many are their in each verse? Do some stand out?
 Enjambment - do the lines “run on” to the next line or stanza?
 End stopping - does each line finish at the end of a sentence?
 Form - does the poem have a shape to it?
 Caesuras – Check the middle of the lines for punctuation.
Imagery Alliteration - the repeating of initial sounds.
 Assonance - is the term used for the repetition of vowel sounds
within consecutive words as in, 'rags of green weed hung down...'.
 Metaphor - comparing two things by saying one is the other.
 Simile - comparing two things saying one is like or as the other.
 Personification - giving something non-human human qualities.
 Onomatopoeia - words that sound like the thing they describe.
 Repetition - does the poet repeat words or phrases?
 Senses – Which are used and why?
Language:
What kinds of words are used?
 Puns - a pun is a play on words - “Shear Class!” if Shearer scores.
 Connotation - associations that words have (as "stallion" connotes a
certain kind of horse with certain sorts of uses)?
 Double meanings - “butts in” - putting bottoms in or interrupting.
 Ambiguity - is the word or phrase deliberately unclear? Could it
mean opposite things or many different things?.
 Word order - are the words in an unusual order – why?
 Adjectives - what are the key describing words?
 Key words and phrases - do any of the words or phrases stand out?
Do they shock? Are the words “violent” or “sad” etc?
 Slang or unusual words and misspellings - Does the poet use
slang or informal language? Are American words used?
 Intertextuality - does the poem reference another text?
 Style - does the poet copy another style? (Newspaper, play etc)
 Characters - if there are characters how do they speak?
Personal Response
 Complement, Criticise or say how you felt.
Always link everything to meaning. Ask yourself how does this contributes to
the meaning? Why has the poet used this technique?
 UNSEEN QUESTION ONE AND TWO

Question One – 24 marks

Plan and Annotate = 5 Mins
Introduction = 5 mins (The meaning part of MITSL)
PEEL paragraphs = 25 mins – at least 2 PEELS – cover the rest of MITSL

Question two – 8 marks

Plan – 3 mins
Write 2 paragraphs outlining the similarities and differences = 7 mins
 In “To a Daughter Leaving Home”, how does
the poet present the speaker’s feelings about
her daughter?
(24 marks)

Speaker’s feelings about her Element of MITSL

daughter
 INTRODUCTION = MEANING OF THE
POEM AND ANSWER THE QUESTION

In ‘To a daughter leaving home’ Linda Pasten tells the story of a mother and
daughter relationship through the specific event of teaching her child how to
ride a bike. This event acts as a metaphor for the mixed emotions the speaker
feels about her daughter growing up. On the one hand she feels joy at her
daughter’s success but on the other hand a sense of sadness and worry at not
being able to protect her daughter and losing control of the relationship.

What is the poem about?

What feelings are presented?

In “To a Daughter Leaving Home”, how does the poet present the
speaker’s feelings about her daughter?
(24 marks)
 In “To a Daughter Leaving Home”,
UNSEEN POETRY PEEL = ANSWER how does the poet present the
speaker’s feelings about her
THE QUESTION AND COVER MITSL+P daughter?
(24 marks)

In ‘To a daughter leaving home’ Linda Pasten presents the speaker’s feelings of fear and sadness
as she watches her daughter ride into the distance. These feelings are presented with use of a
simile, “The hair flapping/ behind you like a/ handkerchief waving/goodbye,” to demonstrate
how the speaker feels she is losing her daughter as she grows up. The comparison to a
handkerchief confirms the link to sadness as it is associated with wiping away tears. Also the use
of enjambment in this quote emphasises the speed of which the speaker feels her daughter is
growing up and links to the idea that the speaker is worried that time is moving too quickly. The
poet also uses a negative and fearful lexis throughout the poem, ‘wobbled’, ‘crashed’, ‘breakable’
and ‘screaming’ to highlight the concern the speaker has about the dangers and uncertainty her
daughter will face. The presentation of fear leaves the reader feeling sympathy for the speaker
because they can relate to a mother and child relationship and in my opinion the poet has
successfully developed a melancholy tone to help present the paradoxical grief a parent feels at
watching their children grow up.

What feelings are presented?

What do different elements of MITSL show?
What is the reader reaction?
 UNSEEN POETRY COMPARISON =
ANSWER THE QUESTION

In ‘To a daughter leaving home’ and ‘Poem for my sister’ both poets use extended metaphors to present
the sense of fear and concern for someone they love. Pasten using a bike ‘as you wobbled’ away’ and
Lochhead uses shoes, ‘I wish you could stay sure footed’ to present the idea that the speakers are
worried about their loved ones being safe.
In contrast, in ‘Poem for my sister’ Lochhead uses a more humorous tone to present the speaker’s desire
that her sister doesn’t make the same mistakes she did, ‘I try to warn my little sister about unsuitable
shoes.’ Whereas in ‘To a daughter leaving home’ Pasten presents more extreme feelings about the child’s
safety, ‘I kept waiting for the thud of your crash.’ This perhaps emphasises the fact that maternal
relationships are usually more intense.
In my opinion Lochhead is more successful at presenting feelings about a loved one because her
imagery and tone create a more realistic depiction of the relationship.

IN BOTH ‘POEM FOR MY SISTER’ AND ‘TO A

D A U G H T E R L E AV I N G H O M E ’ T H E S P E A K E R S
D E S C R I B E F E E L I N G S A B O U T WAT C H I N G S O M E O N E
T H E Y L O V E G R O W U P. W H AT A R E T H E
SIMILARITIES AND/OR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
What feelings are presented? T H E WAY S T H E P O E T S P R E S E N T T H O S E F E E L I N G S ?
Are they similar of different? [8 MARKS]
 IN BOTH ‘POEM FOR MY SISTER’ AND ‘TO A
D A U G H T E R L E AV I N G H O M E ’ T H E S P E A K E R S
D E S C R I B E F E E L I N G S A B O U T WAT C H I N G
S O M E O N E T H E Y L O V E G R O W U P. W H AT A R E
THE SIMILARITIES AND/OR DIFFERENCES
B E T W E E N T H E WAY S T H E P O E T S P R E S E N T
THOSE FEELINGS?
[8 MARKS]

Similarities Differences
Blessing
The skin cracks like a pod. In “Oh what is that sound”, how does the poet
There never is enough water. present the speaker’s feelings about Poverty?
Imagine the drip of it,
the small splash, echo (24 marks)
in a tin mug,
the voice of a kindly god.
Sometimes, the sudden rush
of fortune. The municipal pipe bursts,
silver crashes to the ground
and the flow has found
a roar of tongues. From the huts,
a congregation : every man woman
child for streets around
butts in, with pots,
brass, copper, aluminium,
plastic buckets, frantic hands,
and naked children
screaming in the liquid sun,
their highlights polished to perfection,
flashing light,
as the blessing sings
over their small bones.
Yesterday I found a photo
of you at seventeen,
holding a horse and smiling,
not yet my mother.
The tight riding hat hid your hair,
and your legs were still the long shins of a
boy’s.
You held the horse by the halter,
your hand a fist under its huge jaw.
The blown trees were still in the background
and the sky was grained by the old film stock,
but what caught me was your face,
which was mine.
And I thought, just for a second, that you were
me.
But then I saw the woman’s jacket,
nipped at the waist, the ballooned jodhpurs,
and of course the date, scratched in the corner.
All of which told me again,
that this was you at seventeen, holding a horse
and smiling, not yet my mother,
although I was clearly already your child.
In “Not yet my Mother”, how does the poet
present the speaker’s feelings about his
Mother?
(24 marks)