How to Revise Exploring poetry and Shakespeare (02) — OCR GCSE English Literature
Exploring poetry and Shakespeare (02) is a topic in the OCR GCSE English Literature specification. This guide covers learning objectives, examiner tips, common mistakes, and key terminology to help you revise effectively.
Examiner Tips for Exploring poetry and Shakespeare (02)
- Ensure you are familiar with the specific requirements for the poetry cluster (Love and Relationships, Conflict, or Youth and Age)
- Practice comparing a studied poem with an unseen poem to develop comparative skills
- For Shakespeare, be prepared to link an extract to the whole play or answer a discursive question
- Use the provided extract on the paper as a starting point for analysis
- Ensure your writing is sustained, coherent, and maintains a consistent viewpoint
Common Mistakes in Exploring poetry and Shakespeare (02)
- Failing to use textual references or quotations to support arguments
- Neglecting to analyse the impact of language, form, and structure
- Writing descriptively rather than analytically
- Ignoring the comparative element required for the poetry section
- Using heavily edited editions of Shakespeare plays
Key Marking Points
- Maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response
- Use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations
- Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects
- Use relevant subject terminology accurately
- Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written
- Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect
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