These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Passages are public-domain poems (author, title and date given) or original poems written by Marlbridge, labelled as such. Mark points are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Questions 1 to 6 are multiple choice; Questions 7 and 8 are written responses. Allow about 45 minutes. No calculator is needed.
Question 1 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which of the following is best described as a symbol rather than only an image?
- (A) “a yellow light” in a poem about a shop window, mentioned once
- (B) “the sick rose”, which the speaker addresses directly and which is destroyed by a hidden force
- (C) “a grey Tuesday morning” in the first line of a poem
- (D) “the sound of rain on a tin roof” used to describe a room
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The rose is given weight beyond its literal role: it is addressed, it is the target of a hidden destroyer, and the poem’s emotional force centres on it. That marks a possible symbol.
- (A), (C) and (D) are sensory images used to set a scene. Nothing in the descriptions suggests they stand for anything beyond themselves.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
In William Blake’s “The Sick Rose” (1794), the destroyer is described as “The invisible worm, / That flies in the night”. Which statement best explains what the worm suggests?
- (A) A hidden, corrupting force that works unseen, supported by “invisible”, “night” and “dark secret love”.
- (B) A real insect that attacks gardens, used to show the poet’s knowledge of botany.
- (C) A cheerful character who brings the rose joy.
- (D) The poem’s speaker, who is describing himself.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The poem repeats words of concealment (“invisible”, “night”, “secret”, “dark”), so the worm comes to suggest a hidden force that destroys from within.
- (B) treats the worm as only literal; a worm that flies is already not an ordinary insect.
- (C) is contradicted by “destroy”.
- (D) has no evidence; the speaker addresses the rose and describes the worm as another being.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
In Blake’s “London” (1794), “How the chimney-sweeper’s cry / Every blackening church appals”. What does “blackening” most plausibly do in this line?
- (A) It suggests the church is being newly built.
- (B) It suggests both literal soot on the church and a figurative darkening of the church’s moral standing.
- (C) It describes the colour of the sweeper’s clothing.
- (D) It is a neutral weather report.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Soot from chimneys blackens a church (literal), and in the poem’s context of suffering and complicity, the church’s moral reputation is also darkened (figurative). The double sense is what makes the church a symbol of an institution.
- (A) reverses the sense of decline.
- (C) misattributes the word; it modifies “church”.
- (D) ignores the context of cries, blood and accusation.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
Read this poem, “The Suitcase”, written by Marlbridge.
It stands beside the wardrobe, packed and shut,
its leather corners softened by the years;
the label’s ink has blurred. He dusts it, but
does not lift the lid, nor speak of fears.
Each spring he swears he’ll go. Each autumn, when
the rain begins, he tests the brass clasp’s weight,
then sets it back, and sits down once again
to read a timetable. The trains run late.
What does the suitcase most plausibly symbolise?
- (A) A departure that is always planned and never taken, a life deferred.
- (B) A literal item of luggage whose only significance is its age.
- (C) A life of travel that the speaker has recently completed.
- (D) The man’s wish to start a business.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The suitcase is “packed” yet he “does not lift the lid”; each spring he “swears” and each autumn he sets it back; the blurred label and softened corners show years passing. Those details accumulate into a symbol of deferred departure.
- (B) ignores the repeated attention the poem gives to the case and the dates.
- (C) contradicts the evidence: the case has not been used.
- (D) has no support in the poem.
Question 5 (multiple choice · core)
Which of these explanations of a symbol is weakest?
- (A) “Because the case is touched each autumn and then put back, it suggests a cycle of resolve and retreat.”
- (B) “The suitcase symbolises travel.”
- (C) “The suitcase, kept packed but never opened, suggests a deferred life.”
- (D) “The suitcase, dusted but unopened, implies a speaker who respects the man’s hesitation.”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It decodes the symbol in one word and gives no evidence of what this poem does with it. The others each cite details from the poem and state a meaning that is specific to it.
- (A), (C) and (D) all tie a detail to an interpretation. (D) also uses the symbol to say something about the speaker’s attitude, which is a strong move.
Question 6 (multiple choice · stretch)
In “London”, the church “appals” at the sweeper’s cry and the soldier’s sigh “Runs in blood down palace-walls”. What do these symbols imply about the speaker’s perspective?
- (A) A tourist enjoying the sights of the city.
- (B) A supporter of the monarchy who regrets some minor flaws.
- (C) A detached observer who records the city without judgement.
- (D) An angry, accusing listener who treats the cries of the poor as evidence against the institutions of church and crown.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (D). The verbs (“appals”, “runs in blood”) treat the suffering as a stain on the institutions, and the speaker’s repeated “I hear” shows him as a witness. The tone is accusatory.
- (A) is contradicted by the poem’s focus on “weakness” and “woe”.
- (B) is contradicted by the image of blood on palace walls.
- (C) ignores the charged diction.
Question 7 (written response · core)
Write a paragraph of about 150 words explaining how Blake’s “The Sick Rose” uses its rose and worm to convey the speaker’s attitude. Quote at least two words or phrases and avoid a one-to-one decoding.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (written by Marlbridge). In “The Sick Rose” the speaker’s attitude is one of horrified pity, and the symbols carry it. He addresses the rose directly (“thou art sick!”), treating it as a being he cannot protect, and the destroyer is “invisible”, which makes the speaker’s knowledge a burden: he sees what the rose cannot. The rose’s “bed / Of crimson joy” suggests vulnerable passion, and the worm’s “dark secret love” joins the language of love to the language of destruction. The symbols do not stand for a single person or idea; they show a joy that is destroyed from within by something hidden. The poem’s brevity and its refusal to say who or what the worm is make the speaker’s alarm general: he warns that secrecy can poison what it claims to cherish.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points)
| Point | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | A defensible claim about what the symbols suggest and the speaker’s attitude. |
| 2 | Two accurate quoted words or phrases. |
| 3 | Explains how the poem builds the symbol (concealment words, address, “bed of crimson joy”) rather than decoding. |
| 4 | Ties the symbol and attitude to the poem’s whole meaning. |
Question 8 (written response · stretch)
Write a paragraph of about 150 words on “The Suitcase” (Question 4), explaining how the suitcase works as a symbol and what it implies about the speaker’s attitude toward the man. Refer to specific details.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (written by Marlbridge). The suitcase works as a symbol of deferred departure, and the speaker’s quiet observation shows tender, unjudging attention to the man. Its condition records time passing: “softened by the years”, the label “blurred”. Yet it remains “packed and shut”, and the repeated pattern, “Each spring he swears he’ll go. Each autumn… sets it back”, turns the object into a calendar of resolve and retreat. The man “dusts it” but “does not lift the lid”, so his care for the case replaces the journey it was packed for. The closing flat statement, “The trains run late”, could be a practical excuse or a quiet joke at his expense. The speaker does not scold; the neutral tone and the detail of dusting suggest pity, and the case becomes a symbol of a life lived in preparation.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points)
| Point | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | A defensible claim about what the suitcase symbolises. |
| 2 | Specific, accurate details or quotations (packed and shut, dusts but does not lift, spring/autumn). |
| 3 | Explains how repetition and detail build the symbol, and what the speaker’s treatment implies. |
| 4 | Links the symbol to the poem’s overall meaning, including the last line. |
How did you do?
- Questions 1 to 6 correct: move to the 8.4 study guide.
- Missed 1 or 5: reread “What makes something a symbol?” in the study guide.
- Missed 2, 3 or 6: use the five questions (spot, track, suggest, attitude, whole) on each symbol.
- Written responses below 3 points: avoid one-to-one decoding; rewrite to say what this poem makes the symbol suggest.