Section B (20%) Poetry 1789 to the present day — Eduqas GCSE English Literature

Section B of the WJEC GCSE English Literature exam focuses on poetry from 1789 to the present day. This period spans the Romantic, Victorian, Modern, and Contemporary eras, offering a rich variety of poetic voices, forms, and themes. You will study a selection of poems from the WJEC anthology, which includes works by poets such as William Blake, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Wilfred Owen, and Carol Ann Duffy, among others. The exam requires you to compare two poems from the anthology, analysing how poets use language, structure, and form to convey ideas about universal themes like love, nature, conflict, identity, and power.

This section is worth 20% of your total GCSE English Literature grade, so mastering it is essential. The skills you develop here—close reading, comparative analysis, and contextual understanding—are transferable to other parts of the exam and to your wider studies. By engaging with poetry from different historical periods, you will gain insight into how poets respond to their world and how poetry can challenge, comfort, and inspire. The key is to move beyond simple summary and instead explore how poets craft meaning through specific choices in language and structure.

To succeed in Section B, you need to be familiar with the poems in your anthology, understand the key themes and contexts, and practise comparing poems effectively. The exam question will ask you to compare two poems, focusing on a specific theme or idea. You must discuss both poems in detail, using evidence to support your points, and consider how the poets' use of language, form, and structure creates effects. Remember, the examiner is looking for a thoughtful, well-structured response that shows your ability to analyse and compare, not just describe.

• →Form and structure: Understand how a poem's form (e.g., sonnet, dramatic monologue, free verse) and structure (e.g., stanza length, rhyme scheme, enjambment) contribute to its meaning and effect.
• →Language and imagery: Analyse the poet's choice of words, figurative language (similes, metaphors, personification), and sensory imagery to explore how they create mood, tone, and themes.
• →Context: Consider the historical, social, and cultural context of each poem, including the poet's biography and the period's literary movements (e.g., Romanticism, Modernism).
• →Comparison skills: Practise comparing poems by identifying similarities and differences in themes, techniques, and perspectives, using comparative phrases like 'similarly', 'in contrast', 'whereas'.
• →Themes: Focus on recurring themes such as love, nature, conflict, power, identity, and memory, and how different poets approach these themes.

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the Shakespeare text through an extract-based question and an essay question.
• Analyze the writer's use of language, structure, and form.
• Show understanding of key themes, characters, and ideas.
• Demonstrate understanding of poetry content, key ideas, and the relationships between poems.
• Consider the context of poems and the poets' use of language, structure, and form.
• Accurate spelling, punctuation, and grammar (AO4).

• 💡Ensure you study all poems in the anthology as you must compare two in the exam.
• 💡Practice writing about both the extract and the wider text for the Shakespeare section.
• 💡Use specific literary terminology when analyzing language, structure, and form.
• 💡Manage your time effectively across the two sections of the 2-hour paper.
• 💡Support all points with relevant textual references or quotations.
• 💡Tip 1: Always start with a clear thesis that directly answers the question. For example, if the question is about how poets present conflict, your opening sentence should state what both poems suggest about conflict and how they do it.
• 💡Tip 2: Use the 'PEEL' structure (Point, Evidence, Explanation, Link) for each paragraph. Make sure your explanation zooms in on specific words or techniques and explores their effect on the reader.
• 💡Tip 3: Practise timing. You have about 45 minutes for this section. Spend 5-10 minutes planning, 30 minutes writing, and 5 minutes checking. A well-planned essay is more coherent and focused.

• Failing to address both the extract and the whole text in the Shakespeare section.
• Neglecting to compare the two poems in the poetry anthology section.
• Ignoring the context of the poems.
• Lack of focus on language, structure, and form analysis.
• Poor organization of arguments or lack of clear textual references.
• Misconception: 'I just need to explain what the poem is about.' Correction: Summary alone will not get high marks. You must analyse how the poet uses language, form, and structure to create meaning and effect.
• Misconception: 'Context is just background information to add at the end.' Correction: Context should be integrated into your analysis to explain why the poet made certain choices. For example, knowing that Wilfred Owen wrote 'Dulce et Decorum Est' from his experience in WWI helps explain the poem's graphic imagery and anti-war message.
• Misconception: 'I should compare poems by listing similarities and differences in separate paragraphs.' Correction: A good comparison weaves points together, discussing both poems in relation to each other throughout your response. Use comparative connectives to link your ideas.