Edexcel IGCSE English Literature: Poetry and Modern Prose (4ET1)

This guide covers Component 1 Poetry and Modern Prose, the compulsory first component of Pearson Edexcel International GCSE English Literature (4ET1), first teaching September 2016. All candidates take Component 1, then choose either Component 2 (exam) or Component 3 (coursework, 40% weighting) as their second component.

Where this fits in 4ET1

Component 1 is the shared foundation every candidate sits, regardless of which second component they go on to take. It pairs poetry study with a modern prose text, giving candidates experience of both verse and modern fiction before Component 2 or 3 extends into drama and literary heritage texts.

Syllabus coverage

PEARSON EDEXCEL INTERNATIONAL GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE (4ET1) — COMPONENT 1 POETRY AND MODERN PROSE

Component 1 assesses the prescribed poetry anthology (Section B) and a modern prose text chosen from Pearson’s prose list (Section C), alongside an unseen poem (Section A). Both lists are printed in full in the specification and revised by specification issue rather than rotated by series – see the set-text list below. Candidates respond to poetry and prose material within the same paper.

The poetry anthology (16 poems, all candidates study all sixteen and are given the poems in the exam): If (Rudyard Kipling), Prayer Before Birth (Louis MacNeice), Blessing (Imtiaz Dharker), Search For My Tongue (Sujata Bhatt), Half-past Two (U A Fanthorpe), Piano (D H Lawrence), Hide and Seek (Vernon Scannell), Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds (William Shakespeare), La Belle Dame sans Merci (John Keats), Poem at Thirty-Nine (Alice Walker), War Photographer (Carol Ann Duffy), The Tyger (William Blake), My Last Duchess (Robert Browning), Half-caste (John Agard), Do not go gentle into that good night (Dylan Thomas), and Remember (Christina Rossetti).

The modern prose list (candidates study one): To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee), Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck), The Whale Rider (Witi Ihimaera), The Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan), Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe), Klara and the Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro) and Western Lane (Chetna Maroo) – the last two added for first teaching September 2024, first assessment May 2026.

How to approach it

Because Section B questions ask candidates to compare two poems from the anthology, practising comparison – not just close reading of individual poems – is essential; build short comparative notes on theme, form and language across pairs of poems from the sixteen-poem list above rather than revising each poem in isolation. For the modern prose text, tracking how a theme or character develops across the whole novel gives stronger material than focusing only on a single memorable scene. The anthology and prose lists above are revised by specification issue, not rotated by series, so confirm which specification issue governs your own examination series before detailed revision, but do not expect a different list each series.

Assessment at a glance

Component 1 (4ET1/01) is a 2-hour written exam worth 90 marks – 60% of the total International GCSE. It is closed book for the prose section only: the unseen poem for Section A is printed on the question paper and the anthology poems for Section B come in a booklet issued with it, so only Section C’s prose text is unavailable in the exam room. It has three sections: Section A is a 20-mark essay exploring meaning and effects in an unseen poem printed in the question paper (AO2); Section B is a 30-mark essay, from a choice of two questions, comparing two poems from the prescribed anthology (AO2, AO3); Section C is a 40-mark essay, from a choice of two questions on each set text, on the candidate’s chosen modern prose text, testing close textual knowledge and understanding of context (AO1, AO4).

Component 1 combines with Component 2 (Modern Drama and Literary Heritage Texts, a 1 hour 30 minute open-book exam worth 60 marks and 40% of the qualification – prescribed editions of the set texts are taken into the exam and must be completely unmarked) for candidates on the examined route, or with Component 3 (non-exam assessment, also 40%) for candidates on the coursework route.

Section A in more depth

Section A is pure AO2: since the unseen poem is printed on the paper, no memorisation is needed, and the mark is entirely for analytical skill in explaining how meaning and effect are created through language, form and structure. A top-band response builds sustained analysis across all three of these areas – language such as imagery, word choice and sound; form such as rhyme, meter and stanza shape; and structure, meaning how the poem develops or shifts – with every point rooted in a short, precisely selected quotation and a clear effect explained rather than merely named.

Section B in more depth

Section B assesses AO2 and AO3 together, and AO3 specifically means a response that analyses two poems well but never directly compares them is missing marks it could otherwise have earned. The strongest answers organise by point of comparison rather than poem-by-poem – for instance, noting that both poets use natural imagery but each poet’s specific choices produce a different emotional effect – and sustain that comparison explicitly throughout the response rather than confining it to a closing paragraph.

Section C in more depth

Section C assesses AO1, an informed and textually supported argument, and AO4, understanding of context, and rewards tracking how a theme or character develops across the whole novel rather than focusing on one memorable scene, with social, historical or cultural context woven into the argument rather than added as a separate paragraph at the end. A frequently tested angle within this section is using a specific setting to reflect or influence a character’s state of mind at different points in the novel, tracking that setting explicitly rather than describing it for its own sake.

Timing and exam strategy

The question paper itself prints recommended timings above each section, and they are worth following over any proportional calculation from the marks: 35 minutes for Section A, 40 minutes for Section B, and 45 minutes for Section C. Simple proportional allocation from the 20/30/40 mark split would suggest roughly 27/40/53 minutes – notably less time on Section A than the paper actually recommends, because Section A is deliberately given more time per mark than its tariff alone would suggest. Follow the paper’s own timings rather than deriving your own from the mark split, and still leave a few minutes to check all three responses.

Why Component 1 is worth the most of the qualification

Component 1’s 90 marks make up 60% of the total International GCSE, the largest single share of the qualification, which is worth factoring directly into revision planning: it deserves proportionally more preparation time than Component 2 or Component 3, both worth 40%. It is compulsory for every candidate regardless of which second component they go on to take, but it is only closed book for the prose section: the anthology poems are supplied in the exam, so precisely recalled quotation matters for the modern prose text only – that is the one text with no copy available in the exam room to check a half-remembered quotation against. For the anthology, revision time is better spent on comparative analysis than on memorising the poems verbatim.

Official specification

Pearson Edexcel International GCSE English Literature (4ET1) specification, first teaching 2016 — qualifications.pearson.com.