Structuring the Essay (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Your exam question paper will ask you to compare two of your studied anthology poems. This can seem daunting, especially as you have to write about two separate poems in one essay, and that only one of these poems is printed in the exam paper. However, examiners just want to see your ideas and opinions on the poems you have studied. The guide below will enable you to best express these ideas and opinions in a way that will gain the highest marks. It includes guides on:

• Answering the question
• Planning your essay
• Writing your essay

Regardless of which poetry anthology you have studied, the type of question you’ll need to write an essay for will be the same. You will be asked a question that asks you to compare and analyse two anthology poems. Your answer will need to address both the given (printed) poem and another poem of your choice from the anthology.

It is tempting to jump straight in and start analysing the given poem immediately. However, completing the steps below first will ensure you answer the question in the way that examiners are looking for.

6 key steps to answer the poetry anthology exam question effectively:

1. The very first thing you should do once you open your exam paper is to look at the question:

• This sounds obvious, but it’s really crucial to read through the question a few times 
• Why is this important? Regardless of what subject you’re being examined in, the single biggest mistake most students make in their exams is not reading the question through carefully enough that they answer the question they think they’re being asked, rather than the question they’ve actually been asked 
• It’s especially important to get this right in your GCSE English Literature exams because you only have five essay questions to answer across two papers, so if you misread a question, you’re potentially costing yourself a large number of marks  

2. Identify the key words of the question

• The key words are the focus of the question: the specific themes or ideas the examiners want you to focus on
• For the above question, the key words of the question are “ideas about power and control” 
• This is the theme the examiners want you to explore in your essay
• Do not be tempted to write a question on a related theme, even if you have revised more for it: this will affect your overall mark badly, as you won’t be directly answering the question! 
• In the example above, the theme is power and control, so make sure you plan and write an essay about power and control, rather than, for example, the corruption of power
• Although this is a related theme, your answer won’t be focused on the question and will lose you marks

3. Critically evaluate the idea or theme of the question in terms of the poetry anthology as a whole

• Think: what is this question asking, and what is it not asking?
• The question is not asking you to explore other ideas explored in the anthology or poem itself, for example, the power of nature, or war
• Try to define the key words of the question to get a better sense of what the question is asking you to explore:
  • It is asking you to explore power and control - the ability to exert authority or influence over people or events

4. Consider your given poem in terms of this key idea or theme

• Use your definition of the key terms of the question to frame your thinking about the given poem
  • The definition of power and control was “the ability to exert authority or influence over people or events”
  • Where do we see this kind of power and control in the given poem?
    • Who is presented as having control? Who is not?
  • How is this type of power and control presented by the poet?
  • What is the poet’s overarching message about this kind of power and control?

5. Now you have identified and evaluated the key idea or theme of the question, select another poem in the anthology that explores that same theme or idea

• You can immediately rule out lots of the other anthology poems which do not explore the idea of power and control
• Of the remaining poems, think:
• Which of the poems features ideas about power and control prominently?
• What are the other poets trying to say about power and control?
• Which poem do I feel most comfortable writing about how ideas about power and control are presented?
• Do not select a second poem because you know it best, or because you have memorised lots of quotations from it if it doesn’t explore the idea or theme in the question
• This is a guaranteed way to lose huge numbers of marks because you will not be answering the question

6. Read and analyse the given poem

• You should only now start reading and analysing the printed poem
• Your reading and analysis will now be focused on the terms of the question, and also the second poem you will be analysing
• This will change the way you approach the given poem, and make your reading more efficient

Planning your essay is absolutely vital to achieve the highest marks. Examiners always stress that the best responses are those that have a logical, well-structured argument that comes with spending time planning an answer. This, in turn, will enable you to achieve the highest marks for each assessment objective. The main assessment objectives are:

AO1	Write a clear essay with a central argument based on your own opinions Select quotations and references from both the given poem and a second poem of your choice
AO2	Use analysis of poets’ methods to support your argument
AO3	Use contextual ideas and perspectives to support your argument and to provide further insight into the poets’ choices

• Your plan should include all aspects of your response, covering all of the assessment objectives, but mainly focusing on AO1:
• Your overall argument, or thesis (AO1)
• Your topic sentences for all your paragraphs (AO1)
• The quotations you will be using and analysing from the given poem (AO1)
• The quotations and references you will be using and analysing from your second poem (AO1)
• A sense of why the poets have made the choices they have (AO2)
• A sense of what contextual factors give further insight into the ideas and theme presented in the question (AO3)
• Therefore, a plan may look like the following:

Thesis statement: In London, William Blake is concerned with how human power can be used to control and oppress both people and the natural world, whereas Robert Browning in My Last Duchess presents power through the individual character of the Duke, who uses his position of authority to control women. Both poets do this to criticise inherited or institutional power over ordinary people.
Topic sentence	Evidence from the given poem	Evidence from the chosen poem
Both WB and RB present powerful institutions or figures having control over women	“the youthful harlot’s curse Blasts the new-born infant’s tear”	The last duchess’s smile disappeared; his final “command” over her resulted in her death
Both WB and RB use their poems to criticise inherited power	“the hapless soldier’s sigh Runs in blood down palace walls”	“she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody’s gift”
Whereas RB focuses on the dominance of people, WB seeks to show that humanity also seeks to control the natural world	“Near where the chartered Thames does flow”	The Duke’s commands at end of the poem towards the Count; the false nature of his (rhetorical) questions
Poets’ methods: First-person perspective; symbolism; personal pronouns
Contextual factors: role of women; ideas about inherited power and monarchy, ideas about humanity’s relationship with nature

Some other tips:

• You do not need to include a counter-argument (disagreeing with the question/including paragraphs which begin “On the other hand”)
• The questions have been designed to enable as many students as possible to write essays 
• Examiners say that the inclusion of a counter-argument is often unnecessary and unhelpful
• It can affect your AO1 mark negatively
• Similarly, you do not need to include both similarities and differences between your two poems
• Focus only on what is relevant
• You do not necessarily need to include analysis of both poems in each paragraph
• Comparison of texts is not assessed separately
• Some students prefer to write about one poem first, then the second
• This has the benefit of allowing you to expand on your analysis of your points, which examiners want to see
• However, including both poems in each paragraph has benefits:
• Examiners state that it is vital to include both poems in your introduction
• Mentioning both poems in each topic sentence is a useful way to cover all aspects of the question
• It also ensures you cover two poems fairly equally, especially useful under the time pressure of an exam
• However, do ensure that you are explaining all your points fully, before moving on to connections between the two poems
• The examiners state it is “the depth and quality of the points that get them the marks”

Once you have read and evaluated the question, chosen your second poem, analysed your given poem, and created a clear plan, you are ready to begin writing. Below is a guide detailing what to include.

Your essay should include:

• An introduction with a thesis statement
• A number of paragraphs (three is ideal!), each covering a separate point. It’s a great idea to start each paragraph with a topic sentence
• A conclusion

Introduction

• Your introduction should aim to clearly, and briefly, answer the question
• The best way to do this is to include a thesis statement
• A thesis statement is a short statement (one or two sentences) that summarises the main point or claim your argument is making
• You should include the exact words from the question in your thesis statement
• Examiners want to see your own opinion: your interpretation of what the poets are trying to show
• Your thesis statement should also attempt to explain why you think the poets have presented the idea or theme of the question in the way that they have: what are they trying to say overall? What are the poets’ messages?
• A good way to think about this is to ask: what is each poet’s one big idea in terms of the ideas or themes addressed in the question?
• Including the poets’ message or one big idea helps create a “conceptualised response”, which examiners reward the highest marks

• An example of a thesis statement:

Question:

Thesis statement:

“In London, William Blake is concerned with how human power can be used to control and oppress both people and the natural world, whereas Robert Browning in My Last Duchess presents power through the individual character of the Duke, who uses his position of authority to control women. Both poets do this to criticise inherited or institutional power over ordinary people.”

Some other tips:

• Introductions should not be too long, or include all the details of what each paragraph will include
• You will not be rewarded for including the same information twice, so don’t waste time repeating yourself
• Always include both poems in your thesis statement, and how they are similar or differ
• The examiner report says: “Where students outlined their choice of a second poem in their introduction with a clear overview of the over-arching themes within both poems, well-developed and insightful comparisons often followed”
• Write your thesis in the third person, not the first person (don’t use “I”)
• “I believe that the poets present power and control in order to…” ❌
• “Blake and Browning present ideas about power and control … in order to show …” ✅

Paragraphs

• Try to include three separate paragraphs that cover three separate points
• This will ensure your response is to what examiners call the “full task”
• Start each paragraph with a topic sentence
• A topic sentence is an opening sentence which details the focus of its paragraph
• It should include the words of the question
• All topic sentences must relate to your thesis
• They can refer to both poems or just one poem
• They should be seen as sub-points that provide a more specific and narrower focus than your thesis statement
• Everything that follows a topic sentence in a paragraph must support the point it makes

Example of a topic sentence:

“Both William Blake and Robert Browning present powerful institutions or figures having control over women to highlight the oppression encountered by women in their respective societies.”

• Paragraphs can include analysis of both poems but do not necessarily have to
• The most important thing is that you include a detailed and expanded analysis of the poets’ methods to show how and why they present ideas about, here, power and control as they do
• Beware of writing an overly structured paragraph which follows a set pattern
• You may have learned PEE, PEAL, PEED, or other structures for your paragraphs
• However, examiners often say that although these are excellent for learning what to include in essays, they can be limiting in an exam
• Instead, be led by the ideas in the text, and prove your own argument (both the overall thesis and your topic sentences)
• Examiners say it is especially limiting to have a set structure that includes ‘comparison’
• Instead, they say, “the best responses adopted a less integrated approach to comparison, developing an idea in one poem before making a link with the second poem.”

Conclusion

• It is always a good idea to include a conclusion to your essay so that your essay reads coherent and focused on answering the question throughout
• This can result in improved marks for AO1
• However, there is no need to spend a long time writing your conclusion
• A conclusion for a poetry anthology essay should only summarise the proof you have provided for your thesis
• It only needs to be two or three sentences long
• It should include the words of the question and your thesis
• Remember, you do not get rewarded for including the same information twice

An example of a conclusion:

“In summary, both William Blake in London and Robert Browning in My Last Duchess present ideas about power and control in their poems to criticise the oppression of people - especially marginalised groups - by powerful institutions. However, while Browning focuses his poem on a criticism of the abuse of power over women, Blake has a larger focus: the attempted control by the powerful of all people in society and even nature itself. Both poems seem to argue that this type of arrogant inherited power always seeks to dominate those groups who are deemed inferior.”