Comparing Relationships poems — Edexcel GCSE English Literature 1ET0
Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0
Comparing Relationships poems
What you need to know
How the anthology question works: one poem from the collection is printed, and you compare it with one other poem you choose from the collection and write about from memory, in about 35 minutes.
How to choose the second poem, plan and structure a comparison, using the June 2025 question as the worked example, with a model answer and commentary.
The marks: 20 in all, 15 for language, form and structure and 5 for context, with comparison running through every level; an answer that discusses only one poem cannot go above the top of Level 2.
The mark scheme's five levels, and what lifts an answer from obvious similarities to perceptive comparison with context woven into the argument.
What examiners look for: language, form, structure and context in both poems, a second poem chosen because it fits the theme rather than because it is familiar, and form and structure, the parts most often missed.
A worked plan and a model answer of about 650 words to the June 2025 question on feelings about the loss of someone, comparing My Father Would Not Show Us with A Child to his Sick Grandfather.
The level and mark an examiner would give the model answer and why, set beside the examiners' Level 2, Level 4 and full-mark answers from 2025.
