A Level English Literature: Paper 4 – Pre- and Post-1900 Poetry and Prose — Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs — examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available free from your board.

Related: Paper 4 revision notes · Paper 4 study guide

Paper 4 of Cambridge International A Level Literature in English (9695) asks for two essays in two hours: one on a pre-1900 set text (Section A) and one on a post-1900 set text (Section B), one poetry and one prose, each out of 25 and each assessing AO1–AO5. The questions below follow the paper’s (a) essay / (b) passage pattern on texts set for examination in 2026. Section A passages are printed where the text is out of copyright; for Section B, (b) questions name a passage for you to find in your own copy, because the texts are in copyright. Rubric checks come first.

Using these questions for 2027. Middlemarch, Shakespeare’s Selected Sonnets and Katherine Mansfield’s Selected Stories remain set for 2027. Pride and Prejudice, The Wild Iris and Beloved are not on the 2027 list, so if you sit Paper 4 in 2027, adapt those questions to your own set text (for example Mansfield Park in place of Pride and Prejudice).

Section 0: Rubric checks

1. A candidate studied Pride and Prejudice (Section A) and Beloved (Section B). Explain why this pairing is not allowed on Paper 4. [2]

2. State two differences between an (a) and a (b) question on Paper 4. [2]

3. Explain what AO5 requires and give one way of meeting it without quoting a named critic. [3]

Section A: Pre-1900 Poetry and Prose

4. Shakespeare, Selected Sonnets (b) Discuss Shakespeare’s presentation of ageing and love in the following sonnet, relating it to your wider reading of the selection. [25]

That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by black night doth take away, Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest. In me thou seest the glowing of such fire That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the death-bed whereon it must expire, Consumed with that which it was nourished by. This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long. (Sonnet 73)

5. George Eliot, Middlemarch (a) “Middlemarch is a novel about failure.” How far do you agree with this view of the novel? [25]

6. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (a) Discuss the ways in which Austen presents marriage as an economic necessity for women in the novel. [25]

Section B: Post-1900 Poetry and Prose

7. Katherine Mansfield, Selected Stories (a) Discuss Mansfield’s presentation of moments of sudden understanding in two stories from your selection. [25]

8. Louise Glück, The Wild Iris (a) Discuss the ways Glück uses different speaking voices in the collection to explore the relationship between the human and the divine. [25]

9. Toni Morrison, Beloved (b) Find the opening chapter of the novel, from its first sentence to the point where Paul D first appears at 124. Discuss Morrison’s narrative methods in this passage and their importance to the novel as a whole. [25]

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Answers and indicative content

The indicative content below is a guide to the range of relevant points, not a checklist. Credit any well-supported argument that addresses the question.

1. Both texts are prose [1]. Paper 4 requires one essay on a poetry set text and one on a prose set text, from different sections [1].

2. Any two [1 each]: (b) prints a passage or poem from the set text on the paper, (a) does not; (b) centres on close analysis of the printed material, (a) asks for a wider essay across the text; (b) still expects links to the wider text.

3. AO5 is to “discuss and evaluate varying opinions and interpretations” [1]. It can be met by setting out two readings of a moment, such as a sympathetic and a critical view of a character, or two critical approaches [1], and judging which is more convincing with evidence [1].

Question 4 (Sonnet 73)

AO	Indicative content
AO1	Situates the sonnet among the poems to the young man; links to other sonnets on time and decay, such as Sonnets 60 or 65, if studied
AO2	Three quatrains with shrinking time-scales (season, day, fire); the “bare ruined choirs” image, possibly evoking ruined monasteries; night as “Death’s second self”; the paradox “Consumed with that which it was nourished by”; the couplet’s shift from “me” to “thou”
AO3	An argued view of what the couplet does: consolation, persuasion, or plea
AO4	A structured argument that moves beyond line-by-line commentary and connects to the wider selection
AO5	Evaluates readings: the couplet as reassurance that love grows stronger, or as a demand that the beloved love more because the speaker is dying; possible ambiguity of “leave” (the beloved must leave the speaker, or lose him)

Model paragraph. “Each quatrain narrows the span of time: a season, then a single evening, then the last minutes of a dying fire. The effect is a quickening, as if the speaker were watching his own end draw closer while he speaks. Yet the couplet hands the decision to the listener: ‘This thou perceiv’st’. One reading finds this generous, a celebration of love sharpened by loss; another finds it quietly coercive, since the beloved is told what to feel. The second reading seems stronger when the sonnet is set beside others in the selection in which the speaker’s confidence in his poem’s power to outlast time sits uneasily with his fear of being forgotten.”

What separates stronger answers. Weaker answers paraphrase each image. Stronger answers explain how the structure of three quatrains and a couplet creates the poem’s argument, and they evaluate the ambiguity of the ending instead of resolving it too quickly.

Question 5 (Middlemarch)

AO	Indicative content
AO1	Dorothea and Casaubon’s marriage; Lydgate’s compromised ambitions and marriage to Rosamond; Bulstrode’s exposure; Fred Vincy and Mary Garth; the Prelude’s St Theresa and the Finale
AO2	Omniscient narration and its sympathetic judgements; multi-plot structure and parallels between Dorothea and Lydgate; imagery of webs and of the pier-glass; the Prelude and Finale as a frame
AO3	A clear position on “how far”: many lives fall short of their aims, but the novel redefines success
AO4	Structured comparison of plot strands rather than plot summary
AO5	Evaluates the view: failure as the novel’s theme versus the Finale’s claim that “the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts”; feminist readings of Dorothea’s limited options

Question 6 (Pride and Prejudice)

AO	Indicative content
AO1	The entail on Longbourn; Charlotte Lucas’s acceptance of Mr Collins; Mrs Bennet’s urgency; Lydia and Wickham; Elizabeth’s refusals
AO2	The ironic opening sentence; free indirect style in Charlotte’s reasoning; dialogue and narrative irony; parallel and contrasting marriages as structure
AO3	A judgement on whether the novel endorses or criticises the economics of marriage
AO4	Organised by idea, not by character
AO5	Evaluates whether the ending (Elizabeth marries a rich man for love) resolves or evades the problem; Charlotte as pragmatic or as a warning

Question 7 (Mansfield, two stories)

AO	Indicative content
AO1	Accurate detail from two stories, for example “The Garden Party” (Laura’s visit to the dead carter’s house) and “Miss Brill” (the overheard insult)
AO2	Close third-person focalisation; free indirect thought; symbolic objects (the hat, the fur); open or abrupt endings; compression of the short-story form
AO3	An argument about whether these moments change the characters or are quickly closed off
AO4	Integrates the two stories within paragraphs where useful; comparison is not required but discussion of two stories is
AO5	Evaluates readings of an ending: Laura’s unfinished question as revelation or as evasion; Miss Brill’s final sentence as tragic or as self-deception continuing

Question 8 (The Wild Iris)

AO	Indicative content
AO1	The three voices of the sequence: the flowers, the human speaker’s prayers (matins and vespers poems), and the god who replies; range across several poems
AO2	Poem titles signalling speaker; dramatic monologue; the sequence’s seasonal structure; tonal shifts between plea, rebuke and resignation; garden imagery
AO3	An argued view of the relationship: distance, dependence, mutual misunderstanding
AO4	Clear structure tracing the conversation across the sequence
AO5	Evaluates readings of the god’s voice as indifferent, as parental, or as a projection of the human speaker

Because the collection is in copyright, quote only short phrases from memory.

Question 9 (Beloved, opening)

AO	Indicative content
AO1	Knowledge of how the opening’s withheld facts (the baby ghost, Sethe’s past, Sweet Home) are later revealed
AO2	The house as a character; non-linear chronology; fragmented memory (“rememory”); shifting focalisation; the matter-of-fact treatment of the supernatural
AO3	A view on why Morrison delays explanation
AO4	Links passage detail to the novel’s overall structure
AO5	Evaluates readings of the ghost as literal, as psychological trauma, or as the history of slavery returning

What separates stronger answers. A (b) answer at the top of the range analyses the passage closely and connects it to later revelations; an answer that only summarises what the opening describes stays in the lower range however accurate it is.

Frequently asked questions

How much quotation do I need in a closed-book exam? Learn short, flexible quotations and precise references for each text. Paper 4 rewards secure knowledge (AO1) but you are not expected to quote at length.

Can I use a critic I have read? Yes, if you evaluate the view. AO5 is about discussing and evaluating opinions, so explain whether the critic’s reading holds up against the text.

Should I practise both (a) and (b) questions? Yes. You choose on the day, and the right choice depends on the specific question, so practise both for each of your two texts.

Official syllabus

Cambridge International AS & A Level Literature in English (9695) syllabus for 2024, 2025 and 2026, Paper 4 and the set texts for examination in 2026 — cambridgeinternational.org.