At first sight, being asked to compare two poems you have probably not seen before might appear to be one of the most challenging tasks of literary criticism, particularly under exam conditions. In contrast to prose passages, there is unlikely to be a narrative to provide a relatively easy way in. And there is the additional task of finding a point of comparison between poems.
In the time-honoured words, don’t panic. In the AQA (A) specification, for instance, you know that both poems will be on the ‘Love through the ages’ theme and the question itself will give a further steer. Edexcel asks you to compare an unseen poem with one you have studied in your anthology; you should already have several points on which to build a comparison.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
