Flashcards · 8702 · Topic 2

Modern texts and poetry flashcards

12 cards on Topic 2, subtopics 3.2.1 to 3.2.3. Pick a subtopic or study them all.

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How is AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 2 set out?: 2 hours 15 minutes, closed book, 96 marks, 60% of the GCSE. Section A modern texts (34), Section B the poetry anthology (30), Section C unseen poetry (32).
What does Paper 2 Section A require?: One essay from a choice of two on the studied modern prose or drama text (post-1914), 30 marks plus 4 for AO4 accuracy. There is no printed extract.
Name some modern texts on the AQA 8702 list.: There are twelve, centre-chosen, including An Inspector Calls, Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm.
What should a strong modern-text paragraph combine?: What a character does or says, the theme it connects to, the context that shapes why it matters, and the writer's method, moving between them fluidly.

What does Paper 2 Section B require?: A 30-mark comparison of a named poem from your anthology cluster with a second poem of your own choice from the same cluster. The named poem is printed.
What are the clusters in the AQA poetry anthology?: Poems Past and Present has three clusters of 15 poems: Love and Relationships, Power and Conflict, and Worlds and Lives. You study one.
Why does comparing poems by theme alone cap the mark?: AO2's higher bands need comparison of form and structure as well as language and theme, for example a rhyme scheme that breaks down against restless enjambment.
What is a pairing plan for the anthology question?: Two or three poems you could confidently compare with any other poem in the cluster on shared themes such as loss, power or identity, prepared in advance.

What does Paper 2 Section C require?: Two compulsory questions: analyse one unseen poem (24 marks), then compare it with a second unseen poem (8 marks).
What is a repeatable first-read routine for an unseen poem?: First read: subject and tone. Second: structural shape (stanzas, rhyme, line length). Then find two or three language choices that support or complicate the first impression.
What should the 8-mark unseen comparison focus on?: How the two poets' methods (language, structure, form) compare in presenting a shared subject, not just what each poem is about.
What is the effect of a regular rhyme scheme breaking down?: The form can enact a loss of order or control that the speaker feels, so the structure itself carries the meaning.