January Mocks Exam Preparation

AS ENGLISH LITERATURE: LOVE THROUGH THE AGES REVISION
1 hour 30 mins
SECTION A
POETRY
SECTION B
PROSE
25 marks
You will be assessed on one poem from
the pre-1900 anthology. You will be
asked to debate a critical viewpoint
25 marks
You will be assessed on your
comparisons across both prose texts:
Atonement and Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Examine the view that Richard
Lovelace presents the speaker
in this poem as having a selfish
attitude to love.
Which words in particular are
encouraging you to address AO5?

• Clearly, the word ‘selfish’ can be examined in Q5 to enable
precise engagement with interpretation.
• You are perhaps unlikely to argue that Lovelace’s speaker is
other than selfish so it is more to do with the extent to
which you might agree with the critical opinion.
Remember that you do not need to set up a debate that
must be balanced with argument and counter-argument.
You might agree OR disagree OR balance the debate if you
wish.
Examine the view that Richard Lovelace presents the speaker in this poem as having
a selfish attitude to love.

Other Carpe Diem poems include ‘The Flea’ by John Donne and
‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell, which both try to
persuade a woman to seize the day and have sex with them.
Although the speakers in these poems could be said to be
selfish in their demands, they do not humiliate the woman in
the ways that Lovelace’s speaker does. In ‘The Flea’ the
woman’s action of squashing the flea lets the reader know the
woman’s response to the speaker, which Lovelace does not do-
so helping to make his speaker seem more selfish.
How successfully does this response begin
to address the Assessment Objectives?

Other Carpe Diem poems include ‘The Flea’ by John Donne and
‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell, which both try to
persuade a woman to seize the day and have sex with them.
Although the speakers in these poems could be said to be
selfish in their demands, they do not humiliate the woman in
the ways that Lovelace’s speaker does. In ‘The Flea’ the
woman’s action of squashing the flea lets the reader know the
woman’s response to the speaker, which Lovelace does not do-
so helping to make his speaker seem more selfish.
There is an honest attempt to address AO4 here but, given the
time, the student would perhaps have been better to make do
with a brief reference to Carpe Diem and the typicality of
selfish seducers thus enabling more time to look in detail at the
poem in question.

Hardly surprisingly, given the male-centred world in which this cavalier
poet was writing, Lovelace presents only the point of view of the
speaker through the continual use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ and we
are not directly privy to the woman’s reaction to his argument; whilst a
modern feminist reader no doubt finds the speaker’s reasoning selfish, it
may be that a female of the poem’s era would not be shocked by such
an egotistical male attitude. Certainly the intended private male
readership at Court were not only unlikely to be offended but were
probably entertained and amused by the speaker’s attitude.
Nonetheless, the absence of the woman’s direct voice emphasises the
speaker’s selfishness. His rhetorical questions: ‘Why should you swear?’
and ‘Have I not loved thee...?’ convey not only a sense that she is in fact
challenging his behaviour but also his irritation with this challenge and
dismissal of it. Coming at the beginning of the poem, the questions form
the basis of his argument, one which feels calculated through Lovelace’s
use of a reinforcing regular ABABA rhyme scheme.
How successfully does this response address the AOs?

‘Women characters are presented primarily
as those who suffer and endure.’
By comparing two prose texts, explore the
extent to which you agree with this
statement.
Which AOs does this question prompt
you to explore?

Both questions begin with a critical view about presentation in ‘Love Through
the Ages’ prose texts prompting engagement with AO5
The main stem begins with ‘By comparing two prose texts…’ prompting AO4
and AO5
Both use the command word ‘EXPLORE’ prompting AO2
As always, answers are assessed using all of the assessment
objectives. AOs 1 and 3 are not explicitly prompted in the question but
they are no less important.
SECTION B
PROSE
25 marks
You will be assessed on your comparisons
across both prose texts: Atonement and
Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
You will have a CHOICE OF QUESTIONS.
ONLY ANSWER ONE!

Gatsby's suffering is emphasised by Fitzgerald because he withholds it from
the reader to begin with. Fitzgerald suggests Gatsby is successful and
popular before we meet him through his house parties where 'champagne
was served in glasses bigger than finger bowls' so his lovesickness is a
surprise to the reader. We learn, that 'Gatsby bought that house so that
Daisy would be just across the bay' and Fitzgerald uses the symbolism of
the green light Gatsby can see at the bottom of Daisy's land to show how
he is pining for her: 'he stretched out his arms toward the dark water…I
could have sworn he was trembling.’
‘Women characters are presented primarily as those who suffer and endure.’
By comparing two prose texts, explore the extent to which you agree with this
statement.
How successfully does this response begin
to address the Assessment Objectives?

Gatsby's suffering is emphasised by Fitzgerald because he withholds it from
the reader to begin with. Fitzgerald suggests Gatsby is successful and
popular before we meet him through his house parties where 'champagne
was served in glasses bigger than finger bowls' so his lovesickness is a
surprise to the reader. We learn, that 'Gatsby bought that house so that
Daisy would be just across the bay' and Fitzgerald uses the symbolism of
the green light Gatsby can see at the bottom of Daisy's land to show how
he is pining for her: 'he stretched out his arms toward the dark water…I
could have sworn he was trembling.’
AO1 - Logical, coherent, building an interesting argument
AO2 - Thorough understanding of Fitzgerald as writer at work with
references to symbolism and reader manipulation
AO3 - Some implicit relevant reference to the text in the context of its time
AO5 - Engages thoroughly with different kinds of suffering
AO4 is the only objective NOT to be addressed

SO HOW DO YOU TACKLE…
A04 (EXPLORE CONNECTIONS ACROSS LITERARY TEXTS)

Demonstrates the extent to which you have understood
texts in terms of the Literature of Love through the Ages.

In Paper 2 Section B, where two prose texts are compared, it is
obvious what to do. Elsewhere, single texts are the focus so AO4
is implicit in awareness of typicality of:
 Subject matter
 Characters and situations
 Themes
 Methods
Recognition of typicality/atypicality is sufficient to cover
this AO. Discussing methods involves AO2 so it may be
that you show your awareness of typical/atypical
methods and cover both AO2 and AO4 at the same
time.

Sir…should I deal with texts separately or take a
more integrated approach when I weave both
texts into the same paragraph?
There is no right or wrong answer here. You could
potentially tackle both texts independently.
HOWEVER…
Given the limitations of time it is a good idea to keep
moving between the two texts. This will ensure it does
not matter if you run out of time!

Consider the following 2
paragraphs and how the
student has ensured
that both texts are
linked…

Having loved Daisy from afar for five years, Gatsby engineers
afternoon tea at Nick's to reacquaint himself with her and Fitzgerald
presents Gatsby as so desperate to impress her that he becomes very
nervous with 'trembling fingers' and 'a strained counterfeit of perfect
ease'. In the same way, Benjamin is presented as 'anxious' to know
whether Cicely still loved him after her stay in America and his
'yearning' and 'nervousness' is 'transparent.' Where we see Gatsby's
lovesickness through Nick's narration, Coe gives Benjamin a 36- page
sentence to narrate his and his rambling style emphasises how he
has suffered through loving Cicely from afar: 'I had tried not to doubt
her during that time, but once or twice, it's inevitable I suppose, you
find yourself wondering, not about other men, I was never worried
about that, but feelings fade, it happens all the time, or so I'm told,
or so I've read.‘
Identify where the student has SIGNPSTED AO4…

The outcomes for Gatsby and Benjamin are, however, very different. By
the end of the novel, Cicely and Benjamin are together and Coe effectively
expresses Benjamin's relief and joy: 'suddenly it's as if everything refers to
me and Cicely, everything is a metaphor for the way we feel, somehow
the entire city has become nothing less than a life-size diagram of our
hearts'. Gatsby's dream, however, crumbles. Firstly Daisy doesn't enjoy
Gatsby's party, which he believed would impress her, and this leads to 'his
unutterable depression' where he stops the parties and sack his servants
'so the whole caravansary had fallen in like a card house at the
disapproval of her eyes.' Undeterred, however, Gatsby continues to
pursue Daisy to the point of humiliation. When Daisy admits to having
loved Tom, 'the words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby' but he still
takes the blame for Myrtle's death to protect Daisy and then pitifully sits
outside Daisy's house until 4 a.m. in a misguided belief he is protecting
her from Tom when he is 'watching over nothing.’
What other strategies does the student use to ensure they are
SIGNPOSTING their literary connections?

INTRODUCTIONS
Stereotypically, women are portrayed as the weaker sex in pre-1900
literature and they often suffer and endure unhappy marriages because of
the inequality of the sexes. In post-1900 literature, however, women are
shown as more equal and so writers don’t focus on their suffering alone but
also on the suffering of male characters in relationships. This is true of The
Great Gatsby and The Rotters’ Club where women do suffer and endure but
arguably men are presented as suffering even more.
The Great Gatsby focuses on the main character of Jay Gatsby and his
unrequited love for Daisy whereas The Rotters’ Club includes many
relationships. There are, however, similarities between Gatsby’s suffering
and that of Benjamin Trotter and Sam Chase, although the outcomes are
different, and so this essay will focus on those male characters.
What makes this a successful introduction?

Stereotypically, women are portrayed as the weaker sex in pre-1900 literature and they often
suffer and endure unhappy marriages because of the inequality of the sexes. In post-1900
literature, however, women are shown as more equal and so writers don’t focus on their
suffering alone but also on the suffering of male characters in relationships. This is true of The
Great Gatsby and The Rotters’ Club where women do suffer and endure but arguably men are
presented as suffering even more.
The Great Gatsby focuses on the main character of Jay Gatsby and his unrequited love for Daisy
whereas The Rotters’ Club includes many relationships. There are, however, similarities between
Gatsby’s suffering and that of Benjamin Trotter and Sam Chase, although the outcomes are
different, and so this essay will focus on those male characters.
AO1: The student has already outlined a critical, informed and personal response to
the question. It is very clear that the student has already planned out an argument
prior to starting the essay.
AO2: The student has already started to outline the writer’s methods
AO3: The students has already demonstrated a secure understanding of the relevant
socio-historical contexts for both the C19th and C20th. This context has also been
directly linked to the text and the writer’s methods.
AO4: The student has started to outline some similarities between both texts as a
way of establishing their argument and recognising connections between the male
protagonists.

http://bwenglishlit.edublogs.org/

January Mocks Exam Preparation

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