The Unseen Poetry component of the AQA English Literature GCSE comes in Paper 2, and as such is the final thing you complete for this GCSE. You will be given two poems you have not studied and will be given two tasks to complete: 

1. Analyse a given theme in the first unseen poem, for 24 marks.

2. Compare how a given theme is addressed in both poems, for 8 marks.

You need to complete both tasks, and read/annotate both poems, in just 45 minutes.

This guide will break down a recommended approach to each task. This guide focuses on comparing the second unseen poem to the first.

Comparing the second unseen poem to the first

This second part of the process seems harder, as there are now two poems to work with, but you do not need the same level of depth of understanding of the second poem. You are just using it to connect to the first poem, of which you are now a master. Another piece of good news is that the question will probably ask you about essentially the same theme in this part.

Step 1: Read the question.

You’ll now know what to be looking for.

Step 2: Read the poem.

As you go, underline any words/phrases that relate to the given theme – especially if you think they may correspond to or contrast with the way the theme was addressed in the first poem.

See below: 

The speakers of both poems discuss feelings about parenthood. What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways the poets present these feelings? (8 marks)

Born Yesterday

Tightly-folded bud,

I have wished you something

None of the others would:

Not the usual stuff

About being beautiful,

Or running off a spring

Of innocence and love —

They will all wish you that,

And should it prove possible,

Well, you’re a lucky girl.

But if it shouldn’t, then

May you be ordinary;

Have, like other women,

An average of talents:

Not ugly, not good-looking,

Nothing uncustomary

To pull you off your balance,

That, unworkable itself,

Stops all the rest from working.

In fact, may you be dull —

If that is what a skilled,

Vigilant, flexible,

Unemphasised, enthralled

Catching of happiness is called

Step 3: Identify connections between the poems’ presentation of the theme.

Make connections by listing 3-4 similarities and/or differences between the two poems and highlighting quotations from each poem for each connection. This is not how examiners work, but imagine that you get a mark for each quotation you use, assuming that it is linked to a quotation from the other poem and to a connection between the two poems.

See below:

Similarity 1: Encouraging ordinariness in children (“find the wonder [...] of an ordinary life” // “May you be ordinary”).

Similarity 2: Talk about potential for joy in children (“infinite pleasure / in the touch of a hand” // “enthralled catching of happiness”).

Difference 1: Addresses parent (“your children”) // Addresses child (“Tightly-folded bud”).

Difference 2: Cares about experiences (“cry / when pets die”) // Cares about qualities (“skilled, / Vigilant, flexible”)

Step 4: Write up the connections, simply.

There are only 8 marks on offer, here, so do not go deep. Provide some basic inference based on the quotation you bring, but little else.

Here is a structure that works:

Similarity: Both poets present … . In Poem 1, this is clear in the [word/phrase/line] “...”, suggesting … . Similarly, in Poem 2, we see this in the [word/phrase/line] “...”, suggesting … .

Difference: Both poets engage with … , but in Poem 1 it is … and in Poem 2 it is … . In Poem 1, this is clear in the [word/phrase/line] “...”, suggesting … . Conversely, in Poem 2, we see this in the [word/phrase/line] “...”, suggesting … .

Here it is in practice, with one of each:

Similarity:
Both poets present their feelings about parenthood in terms of encouraging ordinary lives for their children. In Poem 1, this is clear in the phrase “find the wonder [...] of an ordinary life, suggesting that there is magic in the prosaic. Similarly, in Poem 2, we can see this in the imperative phrase, “May you be ordinary”, suggesting that the speaker wills it so, wanting goodness from it.

Difference:
Both poets engage with audiences for their thoughts on parenthood, but in Poem 1 it is parents who make up the audience, and in Poem 2 it is the speaker’s own child being addressed. In Poem 1, this is clear in the phrase “your children” and “them” in third person, suggesting that this is guidance for parents. Conversely, in Poem 2, we can see this in the vocative phrase “Tightly-folded bud” that begins the poem, suggesting that the burgeoning child of the speaker is the target for the treatise on parental hopes for a child.

Two more like the above, and you’ve got yourself all 8 marks!

Job done.