Comparing Time and Place poems — Edexcel GCSE English Literature 1ET0
Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0
Comparing Time and Place poems
What you need to know
How the anthology question works: comparing the printed poem with one other poem from the Time and Place collection from memory, the assessment objectives, and the limit on answers about only one poem.
How to choose a partner poem and structure a comparison, using the June 2025 question on To Autumn as the worked example, with a plan and a model answer placed in the mark scheme's levels.
Paper 2, Section B Part 1: one poem from the collection is printed with the question, and students compare it with one other poem of their choice from the collection, written about from memory; the other 14 titles are listed under the question.
20 marks, 15 for language, form and structure and 5 for context, in about 35 minutes; an answer that discusses only one poem cannot go above the top of Level 2.
The worked example is the June 2025 question on how the passage of time is presented in To Autumn and one other poem.
Choosing the second poem: one that fits the theme, such as Where the Picnic was, Adlestrop or Nothing's Changed for time passing, and why a poorly matched choice such as London makes comparison hard.
A worked plan: three or four comparative points, each pairing a method in To Autumn with one in Where the Picnic was, with context woven into each point.
A model answer of about 600 words comparing To Autumn with Where the Picnic was, with the level and mark an examiner would give and why.
How the five levels rise: from simple similarities and differences to a wide range of comparisons, sustained comment on form and structure, precise terminology and context built into the argument.
