A-Level English Literature A

Transcription

1 A-Level English Literature A LTA1B: Unit 1: Texts In Context World War One Literature Report on the Examination 2740 JUNE 2015 Version: 1.0

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3 The Literature of World War One Senior Examiners reported that, overall, candidates found this penultimate paper to be a highly accessible examination. In Section A, candidates were able to demonstrate close reading of a text which, while being unseen, was rich in terms of subject matter and choices of form, structure and language. The nature of the extract readily enabled candidates to apply contextual knowledge and awareness. The extract also provided many opportunities to make links and connections to a variety of wider reading texts. Balancing the attention paid to close and wider reading was, as usual, the key to success. In Section B, candidates were able to choose a set text question that best suited their knowledge and interest. The debates embedded in each question were straightforward to identify for most candidates and both the given view and a range of possible counter-arguments could be developed in a variety of ways. Two discriminating key issues stand out: More candidates omitted a wider reading genre than ever before and a significant number omitted two. The standard of expression and accuracy of spelling, punctuation and grammar continues to deteriorate. Section A: Contextual Linking The extract from the Daily Mirror (often referred to as the Daily Mail) was unusual for a variety of reasons: it was a media text; it was strikingly short; and it was about the Armistice. However, candidates willingly engaged with it and very few struggled to offer a plausible commentary on the thoughts and feelings demonstrated. More successful answers were alert to changes in focus and tone and looked at a range of thoughts and feelings: pride, respect, compassion, grief, optimism, religious philosophy, etc. Such candidates also considered the various ways in which the newspaper s authorial voice was constructed to present facts dispassionately as well as to speak for the nation, even to urge an appropriate national mood. They also paid due attention to the rich range of figurative devices and rhetorical techniques in the extract. The context was carefully considered, acknowledging the role of propaganda in the war years and why the kind of patriotism associated with 1914 attitudes might have been reiterated in the wake of the Armistice. Less successful answers tended to make assertions about propaganda, reading the extract as a conspiracy to deceive the Home Front and obscure the true horrors of war. Such candidates tended to describe the content rather than pay due attention to form, structure and language. There was also a tendency to be distracted by inappropriate or inaccurate aspects of context at the 3 of 7

4 expense of looking closely at the extract itself. Some did not understand armistice and discussed the end of the war in terms of winning. Weaker responses tended either to be very brief in their response to the extract or inordinately long. Schools and college and candidates should note that very long answers do not always correspond to higher marks; often the more selective and succinct answers are more successful. If a candidate concentrates on the essential subject matter and key skills requirements for each answer, then this invariably makes the answer more effective. In terms of wider reading, as ever, the more successful answers made secure links based firmly on the content of the extract. They were also conscientious in ensuring that all three genres were covered. There were some clear trends in terms of links and connections. The patriotic tones of the extract enabled ready links to the poetry of Brook, Asquith and Grenfell. Also, to discussions about the Goulds in Black ell, Raleigh in Journey s End, and recruitment in Oh, What a Lovely War! and My Boy Jack. Conversely, candidates were able to discuss the horrors of war not featured in the extract by referencing a range of realistic texts: the poetry of Owen, Sassoon, Rosenberg and Sorley as well as Regeneration, Strange Meeting, All Quiet on the Western Front, A Long, Long Way, Birdsong, Testament of Youth, Accrington Pal, Not About Heroes, etc. Extracts from past papers tended not to be used very well and often emerged as generalised responses that were not closely read and not considered contextually. In less successful answers links tended to be undeveloped or insecure. A typically insecure way of linking was to begin with This is like but then not to explain exactly why. Also, links made on the basis on features of form, structure or language tended to be apparently random and therefore unconvincing. Section B: Poetry There were many engaged and enthusiastic answers with most prepared to address poetic effects created by writers choices of form, structure and language. Where problems occurred, they were often to do with: Balancing the debate: there must be appropriate attention to the given view but there must be some counter-argument Selecting appropriate material, ie precisely relevant to the given view or to the counterargument Linking poetic techniques and aspects of form, structure and language to meaning This year a striking number of answers in response to the named-poem questions considered only that poem. This was a rubric infringement and self-penalising in that it did not enable candidates to access a developed and balanced debate. Given the need to balance the debate as well as read closely and make links, it was crucial that answers were carefully planned and structured to ensure 4 of 7

5 a clear, coherent and cogent response. The best answers were carefully paragraphed with consideration given to appropriate discourse markers in order to signal the argument to the reader. The War Poems of Wilfred Owen - ed. Jon Stallworthy Question 2 This proved to be by far the most popular option of the two Owen questions. More successful answers looked closely at pain, often at different kinds of pain (physical, psychological, emotional, etc), and balanced this against one or more of the many other features of Owen s work. Dulce et Decorum Est, Arms and the Boy, S.I.W, The Last Laugh, Spring Offensive, Insensibility and Exposure featured frequently in arguments to support the given view. Counter-arguments tended to look at pity, grief, futility, etc. Poems such as Greater Love, Futility, Has Your Soul Sipped?, Strange Meeting and A New Heaven were used to good effect. Some counter-arguments were forced attempts to argue that some poems did not have anything to do with pain at all. Question 3 Although fewer candidates opted to discuss Disabled, there were many confident, informed and sensitive readings to support both the given view and counter-arguments. To support the given view candidates suggested that Disabled is central because of Owen s creation of pathos for the individual soldier and the ways the poem tracks his change in attitude as the result of his war experience. Candidates also explored the dislocation and lack of empathy between the Home Front and those directly involved in the fighting itself. Counter-arguments were often constructed by suggesting alternative poems of central importance. Dulce et Decorum Est, Anthem for Doomed Youth, Spring Offensive and Exposure were often promoted as poems of more central importance, all for the reason that they depict trench warfare directly rather from a retrospective, post-battle perspective. Scars Upon My Heart ed. Catherine Reilly Question 4 This was the more popular of the two questions on Scars Upon My Heart and produced some excellent answers from candidates who looked closely at the balance between loss, bitterness and anger. The given view involved looking at grief but candidates often explored different kinds of loss too. Supporting texts included poems such as The Parson s Job, He Went for a Soldier, The 5 of 7

6 Veteran and Pluck. Counter-arguments tended to focus on poems of quiet acceptance such as Perhaps, Lamplight and The Seed Merchant s Son. Question 5 Fewer candidates opted to write about A War Film but there were some high quality answers that looked closely at the presentation of mother and son and were alert to changes in mood as the poem develops. The debate was about the typicality of this poem in representing Home Front attitudes and balanced debates found both typicality and atypicality. Arguments for typicality tended to focus on the perspective of the nurturing female shocked and helpless in the face of the destructiveness of war. Poems about grief and concern from the point of view of various female roles included To My Brother, At the Movies, Perhaps, The Veteran, Pluck and Lamplight. Poems specifically from the point of view of parents were cited to useful effect, such as The Seed- Merchant s Son. Counter-arguments looked at atypical aspects of the poem such as the unusual settings and use of child character. They also considered poems from the point of view of selfinterested women such as the voice in Munition Wages. Excellent use was made of Women at Munition-Making where candidates were able to explore the paradox of fertile women- mothers and potential mothers- making instruments of death. The Oxford Book of War Poetry ed Jon Stallworthy Question 6 This proved to be a very popular question. The most successful candidates explored power / powerful, the force of contrast and effects keeping these key words and phrases clearly in focus. The heart of the question involved examining the role of contrast within the poems chosen and the role contrast plays in their effects. The given view was supported by a whole range of poems but notable use was made of The Volunteer, They, Glory of Women, The Hero, To His Love, Anthem for Doomed Youth and Subalterns. Candidates were able to look closely at how contrast creates powerful effects in these poems. Care was needed in constructing a counterargument. Some tried to force the issue and tried to argue that some poems that perhaps did contain powerful contrasts, did not make use of contrast at all. Better counter-arguments looked at the consistency of setting or mood and/or argued that other techniques such as graphic realism or anger were the source of a poem s power. Dead Man s Dump, The Soldier, For the Fallen, Peace, When you see millions of the mouthless dead and Dulce et Decorum Est are just a few of the poems that were used well here. Some candidates looked at contrast between poems as a 6 of 7

7 source of effect. They chose pairs of poems such as a patriotic versus a cynical poem and/or intertextual pairings such as Housman s Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries and MacDiarmid s Another Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries. Such approaches could be made to work and tended to offer counter-arguments about similarities within the selection. Some excellent answers looked both at contrasts within and between poems. Question 7 This also proved to be a very popular option. Candidates relished the opportunity to discuss such a richly ironic poem and produced some excellent responses. In supporting the given view candidates argued that various contrasts supported the idea that the poem is of central importance : sentimental patriotism vs cynical realism; Home Front vs fighting front attitudes; youth vs age; parents vs children; officers vs other ranks; glory vs disgrace; propaganda vs truth. There were some interesting explorations of Sassoon s attitude to the mother using parallels with Glory of Women, some hinting that he is patronising and misogynistic in his sympathy for her. At the same time, it was common for candidates to read parts of the poem less closely. For example, many assumed that the description of Jack as cold-footed, useless swine is Sassoon s own view and missed the fact that this opinion is presented as the thoughts of the Brother Officer. This assertive misreading lessened the success of some answers. Only the very best saw that such a view was unlikely to be held by someone of Sassoon s experience with his avowed sympathy for the plight of ordinary soldiers and scepticism about the dismissive attitudes of some COs. Counterarguments often relied on arguing that the Home Front setting and the partial glimpse of the horrors of war meant that other poems were more central in their importance. A range of poems from Dulce et Decorum Est, Anthem for Doomed Youth and Dead Man s Dump to The General were promoted as alternatives, invariably cited as more complete and direct presentations of battle realities. Some even argued that a patriotic poem such as The Soldier would be more suitable. Mark Ranges and Award of Grades Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results Statistics page of the AQA Website. Converting Marks into UMS marks Convert raw marks into Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) marks by using the link below. UMS conversion calculator 7 of 7