Question 1
This question is always the same. You will be given two texts of the same genre (either poetry, prose or drama) and you must write about them using your wider reading of the SAME genre. Here is the question:
1. Read the two texts (Item A and Item B) carefully, bearing in mind that they were written at different times by different writers and are open to different interpretations.
Write a comparison of these two texts.
In your answer you should consider the ways in which XX (in Item A) and XX (in Item B) use form, structure and language to present their thoughts and ideas; make relevant references to your wider reading in the [depending on the texts] poetry/drama/prose of love. (40 marks)
Below are the titles of the texts used an their genres. Scroll down further for the actual texts (as far as they can be reduced according to copyright restrictions. You can use these for practice exam essays.
January 2010:
Poetry:
Sonnet XIX by William Shakespeare
Poem by Louis MacNeice (not reproduced in the exam materials online because of copyright constraints)
June 2010
The Magic Toyshop (1967), a novel by Angela Carter
A Sentimental Journey (1768), a novel by Laurence Sterne
January 2011
The Scrutiny, a poem by Richard Lovelace (1618-1657)
Wild Oats, a poem by Philip Larkin (1922-1985)
June 2011
Disgrace (1999), a novel by J. M. Coetzee
Jude the Obscure (1895), a novel by Thomas Hardy
January 2012
The Anniversary, a poem by John Donne (1572-1631)
One Flesh (1966), a poem by Elizabeth Jennings
June 2012
Richard III (1592), a play by William Shakespeare
The Homecoming (1965), a play by Harold Pinter
January 2013
Private Lives (1930), a play by Noel Coward
Skylight (1995), a play by David Hare
Question 2
The difference from Question 1 is that this ALWAYS has a specific focus and it will use texts of a DIFFERENT genre than in Question 1. You must write about them using your wider reading of the OTHER TWO genres from Question 1. For example, if Question 1 used poetry, Question 2 will use prose and drama, and these are the two genres you should write about in Question 2.
2. Read the two extracts (Item C and Item D) carefully, bearing in mind that they were written at different times by different writers and are open to different interpretations.
Write a comparison of the ways in which XXtheme in loveXX is/are presented in these two extracts.
In your answer you should consider the ways in which XX (in Item C) and XX (in Item D) use form, structure and language to express their thoughts and ideas. You should make relevant references to your wider reading. (40 marks)
January 2010
Drama and Prose:
"forbidden love"
The Invention of Love, a play by Tom Stoppard
The Well of Loneliness, a novel by Radclyffe Hall
June 2010
"views about the nature of love"
The Definition of Love, a poem by Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)
Love's Labour's Lost (1564), play by William Shakespeare
January 2011
"the pains of love"
The Age of Innocence (1920), a novel by Edith Wharton
Antony and Cleopatra (1606), a play by William Shakespeare
June 2011
"attitudes towards sexual relationships"
The Rover (1677), a play by Aphra Behn
They Flee From Me, a poem by Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)
January 2012
"unfaithfulness"
The Woodlanders (1887), a novel by Thomas Hardy
Troilus and Cressida (1602), a play by William Shakespeare
June 2012
"the separation of lovers"
The Rector's Daughter (1924), a novel by Flora Macdonald Mayor
When We Two Parted, a poem by Lord Byron (1788-1824)
January 2013
"the attitude of the lover towards the loved one"
To Celia (1616), a poem by Ben Johnson
North and South (1855), a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell
January 2010 texts:
Text AWilliam Shakespeare
Sonnet xix
TH’ expense of Spirit in a waste of shameIs lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
Enjoy’d no sooner but despisèd straight;
Past reason hunted; and, no sooner had,
Past reason hated, as a swallow’d bait
On purpose laid to make the taker mad: Mad in pursuit, and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;
Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream. All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.
Extract B cannot be reproduced due to copyright restrictions.
Extract D
'Look,' said Stephen, and she pointed to the swan called Peter, who had
come drifting past on his own white reflection. 'Look,' she said, 'this
is Morton, all beauty and peace--it drifts like that swan does, on calm,
deep water. And all this beauty and peace is for you, because now you're
a part of Morton.'
Angela said: 'I've never known peace, it's not in me--I don't think I'd
find it here, Stephen.' And as she spoke she released her hand, moving a
little away from the girl.
But Stephen continued to talk on gently; her voice sounded almost like
that of a dreamer: 'Lovely, oh, lovely it is, our Morton. On evenings in
winter these lakes are quite frozen, and the ice looks like slabs of gold
in the sunset, when you and I come and stand here in the winter. And as
we walk back we can smell the log fires long before we can see them, and
we love that good smell because it means home, and our home is
Morton--and we're happy, happy--we're utterly contented and at peace,
we're filled with the peace of this place--'
'Stephen--don't!'
'We're both filled with the old peace of Morton, because we love each
other so deeply--and because we're perfect, a perfect thing, you and
I--not two separate people but one. And our love has lit a great,
comforting beacon, so that we need never be afraid of the dark any
more--we can warm ourselves at our love, we can lie down together, and my
arms will be round you--'
She broke off abruptly, and they stared at each other.
'Do you know what you're saying?' Angela whispered.
And Stephen answered: 'I know that I love you, and that nothing else
matters in the world.'
Then, perhaps because of that glamorous evening, with its spirit of
queer, unearthly adventure, with its urge to strange, unendurable
sweetness, Angela moved a step nearer to Stephen, then another, until
their hands were touching. And all that she was, and all that she had
been and would be again, perhaps even tomorrow, was fused at that moment
into one mighty impulse, one imperative need, and that need was Stephen.
Stephen's need was now hers, by sheer force of its blind and
uncomprehending will to appeasement.
Then Stephen took Angela into her arms, and she kissed her full on the
lips, as a lover.
Through the long years of life that followed after, bringing with them
their dreams and disillusions, their joys and sorrows, their fulfilments
and frustrations, Stephen was never to forget this summer when she fell
quite simply and naturally in love, in accordance with the dictates of
her nature.
To her there seemed nothing strange or unholy in the love that she felt
for Angela Crossby. To her it seemed an inevitable thing, as much a part
of herself as her breathing; and yet it appeared transcendent of self,
and she looked up and onwards towards her love--for the eyes of the young
are drawn to the stars, and the spirit of youth is seldom earth-bound.
She loved deeply, far more deeply than many a one who could fearlessly
proclaim himself a lover. Since this is a hard and sad truth for the
telling; those whom nature has sacrificed to her ends--her mysterious
ends that often lie hidden--are sometimes endowed with a vast will to
loving, with an endless capacity for suffering also, which must go hand
in hand with their love.
But at first Stephen's eyes were drawn to the stars, and she saw only
gleam upon gleam of glory. Her physical passion for Angela Crossby had
aroused a strange response in her spirit, so that side by side with every
hot impulse that led her at times beyond her own understanding, there
would come an impulse not of the body; a fine, selfless thing of great
beauty and courage--she would gladly have given her body over to torment,
have laid down her life if need be, for the sake of this woman whom she
loved. And so blinded was she by those gleams of glory which the stars
fling into the eyes of young lovers, that she saw perfection where none
existed; saw a patient endurance that was purely fictitious, and
conceived of a loyalty far beyond the limits of Angela's nature.
June 2010
Extract A
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