1

GCSE Examination Revision Guide for Papers 1 and 2:

AQA English B 3701 June 2010

Contents:

Aunt Julia by Norman MacCaig 2

Memories by Trilokesh Mukherjee 4

After the Deluge by Wole Soyinka 6

Late Winter Months by Jon ur Vor 8

Escape Journey, 1988 by Choman Hardi 10

Beginning in a City, 1948 by James Berry 11

Figures of speech/ imagery/ writer’s use of

words and phrases/ writer’s use of language
plus some other useful terms 13

Definitions of other words and phrases used in

examination questions 14

Essential examination tips 15

The 5 part formula (using PEE) 16

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 2

Aunt Julia by Norman MacCaig

Theme

Norman MacCaig recollects his child-hood visits to his Aunt Julia’s house in
Luskentyre in the Scottish Highlands. He is clearly impressed by her vigour, strength
and capability as she performs various rural manual tasks. He is also clearly
impressed by her Gaelic heritage and mentions twice that she spoke Gaelic. He also
seems to take some satisfaction in the fact that he came to learn some Gaelic but,
perhaps, he is frustrated by the fact that by the time he had achieved this greater
understanding, she had died.

He clearly liked and admired his Aunt Julia and presents her as a passionate (verse 1),
welcoming (verse 5) and comforting person (verse 3) who made him feel safe. The
ending of the poem is ambiguous. As he recollects Aunt Julia welcoming him, who is
it who is getting “angry/ with so many questions unanswered”? Is he recalling (see
verse 1) how his Gaelic was not fluent enough in order to respond to her everyday
questions and so she is becoming frustrated with him. Or is he expressing the
frustration that he now feels about the fact that, with his present day greater
understanding of Gaelic, he would like to ask her many questions but cannot as she
has passed away.

The poem can be read as a lament on the passing away of a beloved aunt but it might
also be possible to read it as a lament on the passing away of an entire way of life.
The poet certainly tries to give the reader a sense of admiration for the kind of low-
tech cottage industry life that Aunt Julia lived.

* The tone of this poem is a mixture of respect, admiration, affection, frustration and
lamentation (grief).

Use of Language

The poet uses a variety of metaphors in order to portray his impression of Aunt Julia’s
personality. I have included some, but not all, below:
 Verse 2 – “her right hand drew yarn/ marvellously out of the air.” This
conveys an impression to the reader of her almost magical technique on the
spinning wheel and clearly expresses the young poet’s fascination as he
watched her work on this basic rural skill.
 Verse 4 – “she was buckets/ and water flouncing into them.” This conveys an
impression to the reader of how quickly and energetically she performed her
manual tasks. It also identifies her with nature by suggesting that she was
water.
 Verse 4 – “she was winds …” again, identifies her with nature and suggests
her energy and speed.
 Verse 5 – “welcoming me/ with a seagull’s voice …” Again, strong
identification with nature but it also gives the impression of a harsh voice
despite her caring nature. This fits in with the idea that she spoke “very loud
and very fast” (verse 1) in a language the boy could not fully understand.

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 3

Structure

The use of the first person narrative voice suggests that the poet is recounting a
personal recollection.

MacCaig uses free verse, i.e. irregular length lines with no pronounced rhythm and no
regular rhyme scheme. As a result the poem reads more like an autobiographical
extract, thus giving the impression that it is describing true events in the poet’s life.

However, the use of a poetic structure – as opposed to using prose – does allow the
poet to make his repetitions stand out, e.g. the idea that “ Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic/
very loud and very fast”. In this way, he can use the poetic structure to emphasis
ideas which are important to the poem. This particular idea is important because Aunt
Julia’s Gaelic culture is clearly the aspect of Aunt Julia which fascinates the poet –
probably because it makes her so different from most of the other people that he
knows.

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 4

Memories by Trilokesh Mukherjee

Theme
As the introduction to the poem tells you at the top of p. 13 of the pre-release booklet,
the poet is Indian and is remembering his grandmother’s story-telling. He was born in
India in 1938. Damayanti, Bheema, Bishma and Krishna are characters and gods from
Hindu religion and mythology.

The poet describes a regular childhood ritual, sitting around a fire at night with other
children and listening to his grandmother tell stories about the Hindu gods mentioned
above. The poet describes the scene in great detail, including the sounds of insects,
birds and animals; the smoke; and the smell of the food. After the shared meal, he
recalls lying down on straw and listening to his grandmother’s stories. She was such
a vivid story-teller that he and the other children would become totally absorbed in
what she was saying and would demand more and more despite having heard the
same stories numerous times. The poet describes his grandmother’s voice as very
reassuring. Eventually the children would fall asleep and the characters in his
grandmother’s stories would then appear in the children’s dreams.

In the second verse, the poet abruptly announces that his grandmother is dead.
However, she is still present in his memories. The suggestion is that this is such a
pleasant memory that he recalls it often with great fondness. The notion of “our lost
lives” suggests that in his present life, he feels a sense of loss for those past days of
closeness with his extended Indian family and, in particular, with his grandmother.
However, through the power of memory, he is able to experience them again and,
clearly, they are a comfort to him.

The final one line verse suggests that these are the most important memories that he
has, presumably because of the way they support him in his present life.

The poem evokes a strong sense of family closeness across generations … something
that is certainly absent in technologically advanced western societies such as the U.K.
There is clearly an absence of technology in the culture described in the poem –
cooking over a fire, living close to nature, sleeping on straw – and it may well be
because of the absence of such things as televisions and computers that the bond
between the grandmother and the children is so strong.

* The tone of this poem is a mixture of respect, affection and bereavement (sadness
over a death).

Use of Language
In the third line of the poem, the poet uses a metaphor when he states “The glow
worms added golden firework sparks on the dark canvas …” The comparison of the
glow worms to firework sparks creates an impression of beauty and child-like
excitement as he listened to his grandmother’s stories. The “dark canvas” may also

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 5

be a metaphor referring to the night sky, again a poetic and beautiful image which
helps to recreate the magic of the moment.

Most of the language, however, is descriptive rather than figurative. In other words,
he does not rely much on a use of metaphors, similes, personifications, etc. But in his
descriptive language, he does use a great deal of sensual language, i.e. words and
phrases which appeal to the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell.
There are many examples of this in the first nine lines, e.g. “Smelled the smoke of the
fire” (line 4).

The poet also introduces a line of dialogue in the middle of verse 1 in order to recreate
the children’s sense of excitement at the story telling: “… And then, Grandma! What
happened then?” The question regarding what happens next is repeated twice to
emphasise the children’s suspense. Also, the exclamation after “Grandma!” also
emphasises excitement.

Structure

Again, the use of the first person narrative voice suggests that the poet is recounting a
personal recollection.

As with “Aunt Julia”, free verse has been used. Therefore, this poem also reads more
like an autobiographical extract than a poem, thus again enforcing the impression that
the poet is describing true events in his own life.

The use of a poetic structure does allow the poet to emphasise words or phrases which
appear at the beginnings or endings of lines, e.g. the word “us” appears twice at the
end of a line, possibly to suggest the sense of belonging that the poet felt as a child.
However, as Mukherjee makes such little use of the poetic structure, one wonders
why he did not write this cherished memory as a straightforward autobiographical
prose account.

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 6

After the Deluge by Wole Soyinka

Theme

Wole Soyinka appears to be writing about inequality, corruption and political

upheaval in an unnamed African nation. He does so by relating the story of a man
who was extremely rich before “the lynch days” (verse 4). This suggests that some
sort of change of government has taken place which has led to the confiscation of his
wealth, presumably because the man who is the subject of the poem was either a
member of that government or one of its prominent supporters.

Prior to his fall from power, he used his wealth ostentatiously and immorally, wasting
it on idle bets which simply served to demonstrate how wealthy he was, e.g. filling his
swimming pool with bank notes (verse 1.) This is immoral because the rest of his
country men are living in abject poverty, as verse 4 suggests when it refers to a village
being in an area of “parched land where/ Water is a god/ That doles its favours by the
drop …”.

He also used his power to make money for himself regardless of the consequences for
other people, as is indicated in verse 2 in which the poet describes how his
manipulation of the currency and gold bullion markets caused much social and
political unrest in a number of countries

In order to isolate himself from the poverty of his fellow countrymen, this selfish and
uncaring man protected himself by living in a fortified complex (verse 3). It is also
suggested that, as a result of this selfishness, he was generally unloved because his
only company was the vicious guard dogs which helped to protect him. Another
unpleasant aspect of his personality, also shown in verse 3, is his meanness with
regard to charitable donations (“His widow’s mite”). It is made clear that he gave
away as little as possible but claimed maximum publicity for what little he gave
(“discreetly publicised”).

After the coup d'état which takes place in his own country (after the deluge), he
escapes execution (verse 4) and is allowed to live (verse 5) to experience a life of
poverty. Ironically, it might even have been his own financial manoeuvrings which
brought the government down in his own country and, therefore, which have led to his
own downfall. In verse 4, the narrator of the poem describes a dream in which the
once super rich man experiences life in a poor drought –stricken village. The narrator
also describes this man enviously passing by the houses of the super rich (“chrome-
and-platinum retreats”) and explains how business continues smoothly without him,
he now being a forgotten figure of the past.

Verse 5 describes the man’s poverty explicitly in the phrase “He scratches life/ From
earth …”. The fine house he once owned is now deserted and becoming increasingly
run down. For example, his swimming pool is now home to snakes and lizards and
there is crusted algae on its surfaces.

* The tone of this poem is a mixture of contempt for the main character and
satisfaction at the fact that this selfish man has fallen from a life of excess to one of
poverty.

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 7

Use of Language

The poem relies very heavily on Biblical imagery in order to give it the force of a
parable as might appear in the Bible. The poem appears to be a moral tale, such as
Jesus might have related, about how this man’s selfishness has most likely contributed
to his own downfall. The title of the poem may well refer to The Flood (also known
as The Deluge) which is described in Genesis. The reason for the flood was that
humanity's behaviour had become so hopelessly evil that God could no longer tolerate
it. However, Noah was allowed to survive the flood because he was a righteous man.
Ironically, the man in this poem has been allowed to survive, but in greatly reduced
circumstance, because he was not a righteous man. His survival in a life of poverty is
his punishment for his previous behaviour.

The reference to “His widow’s mite, discreetly publicised” (verse 3) is also another
Biblical reference, this time to an actual story related by Jesus. Again, the Biblical
reference is ironic as the widow in Jesus’ story gives as much as she can afford and,
therefore, shows the comparative meanness of all those much wealthier than her who
gave more but, in reality, only gave a small fraction of what they could have given.
She, on the other hand, gave an immense proportion of her very limited resources
because she was a generous soul. The man in this poem, ironically, was of the
character of those people that Jesus was criticising in his story, i.e. those who gave as
little as possible and who only gave anything at all in order to gain themselves a good
reputation rather than out of a genuine desire to help others.

The man is also characterised through imagery (metaphors, similes and

personifications) as a bird of prey in verse 4. This metaphor again suggests his cold-
blooded nature and lack of humanity, as does the fact that his swimming pool is now
home to snakes and lizards.

The man’s lack of generosity in this poem is, perhaps, best symbolised through his
“heart-shaped swimming pool” (verse 1) which he used to show off his vast wealth to
his friends. The shape of the pool has been used to symbolically represent his own
lack of heart, i.e. compassion for other people.

Structure

As with the previous two poems in the pre-release booklet, this poem has also been
written in free verse, i.e. irregular length lines with no pronounced rhythm and no
regular rhyme scheme. As a result the poem reads like a Biblical parable full of
eternal moral truth. It is as if the poem is a Biblical parable itself.

However, it differs from the previous two poems because it has been written in the
third person narrative voice. This is most likely because this poem, unlike the
previous two, is not recording a personal experience of the poet.

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 8

Late Winter Months by Jon ur Vor

Theme
As the introduction to the poem tells you at the top of p. 15 of the pre-release booklet,
Jon ur Vor is an Icelandic poet who was born in 1917. During the winter months in
Iceland there is very little daylight and a great deal of ice.

Each of the first three verses begins with a question directed to an unnamed person
regarding their childhood – although it may well be that he is asking these question of
himself, thereby reminding himself of his own childhood in Iceland when he was a
young boy. The life that he describes through these questions is certainly rural and
technologically unsophisticated. For example, verse 1 refers to “rotten fish”, thus
indicating a lack of a fridge. There also appears to be no internal plumbing as a
“wellhouse” is also mentioned. It is a life lived close to nature which is obviously
very dependent on fishing. There are no modern comforts or amenities but the poem
does portray a strong family bond, especially with the beloved fosterfather. The
culture described in this poem also has a strong sense of communal responsibility as
the child is brought up by loving foster parents, presumably because his own parents
have died.

Verse 1 recalls the midwinter in which food and daylight would be in short supply –
no milk, rotting fish and long evenings.

Verse 2 recalls the child who is the subject of the poem standing on a beach with his
fostermother waiting for the return of the fosterfather who had been out in the icy
waters of the fjord on a fishing trip. The child was in fear for the safety of the
fosterfather because it was growing dark, there were sounds of an impending storm
and the fosterfather’s boat had not returned. The child went to bed alone and cried
himself to sleep.

Verse 3 recalls the child’s happiness as he is awoken in the middle of the night by a
tender caress from his fosterfather.

Verse 4 shows the close emotional bond between the child and the fosterfather.

Verse 5 describes the happiness of the next day when the child awoke to find fresh
fish and sunshine. The poem ends by referring to the “happiness in a poor man’s
house”.

* The tone of this poem is very nostalgic and affectionate as the poet recalls a simple
life in a household/culture in which survival is a daily struggle – and yet it was a time
full of love and happiness as well as worry and struggle.

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 9

Use of Language
The poet uses a few figures of speech. In verse 1, he refers to “the simple song of the
water’s flow”, a metaphor which helps to emphasise the lack of technology in that the
only ‘music’ to be heard is that of nature as opposed to the sounds of a radio or
television. The song comparison further suggests that the sound of the water was
pleasing to the poet. Also in the first verse, the poet uses the simile “the evening long
as eternity itself”, a comparison which emphasises how little daylight there would
have been in the winter. It may also emphasise the lack of things to do as he would
most likely be confined to his home during the darkness.

Most of the language, however, is descriptive rather than figurative. In other words,
he does not rely much on a use of metaphors, similes, personifications, etc. But in his
descriptive language, he does use a great deal of vivid language which appeals to the
sense of sight. However, there are also a number of references to the other senses,
e.g. sound (“the song of the water’s flow”) and touch (“cold feet”). Touch features
quite prominently, especially in verses 3 and 4 when the affectionate fosterfather
returns.

There is also an interesting line at the end of the second verse when the poet describes
the bed as being too large for the child, thus suggesting the smallness of the child and
hence his vulnerability as he lies alone in bed fearing that his fosterfather has
drowned.

Structure
The poem is unusual in that it uses the second person to address questions to an
unnamed individual. However, the writer still appears to be recalling a personal
recollection. The poem also differs from the other poems in the pre-release booklet in
that these memories of a past life in a different culture are revealed in the form of
rhetorical questions (questions which do not really require an answer).

Again free verse has been used. However, the indentation of certain lines within the
poem is, again, unusual. Perhaps it suggests the ebb and flow of tides as the winter
comes to and end and the ice melts.

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 10

Escape Journey, 1988 by Choman Hardi

Theme

As the pre-release booklet tells you on the top of page 15, the poem describes her
family’s escape from Iraqi Kurdistan into Iran in 1988. She was 14 at the time and
Iraqi Khurds were being attacked with chemical weapons by Sadaam Hussein’s army.
The impression created is that the escape journey is difficult and dangerous, the climb
being very steep. The mule owner appears to be a smuggler who is well used to this
route but the young poet herself is frightened and has difficulty believing that she will
ever get off the mountain alive in order to reach the snow covered valley and frozen
river below. The poet also records the mule owner’s angry rebuke when she
expresses her fears (“You are too young to complain …”). The poet also records the
quiet determination of her father who is breathing heavily due to the steepness of the
climb. Unlike the young 14 year old poet, he has followed this route once before.

* The tone of the poem is one of fear and concern.

Use of Language

The poet repeatedly uses phrases which convey her main concern during the journey,
the great height of the mountain, e.g. “They force you to crawl, these mountains” and
“The steepness makes me lean backwards”. Furthermore, the phrase “”I cannot
imagine being rescued …” (in the third paragraph) suggests how vulnerable and
frightened she is feeling.

Most of the language used is literal and descriptive, thus giving an autobiographical
feel to the events being described by the poet. However, she does occasionally use
more obviously literary devices, e.g. the metaphor “A valley of plaster” which vividly
conveys the whiteness of the snow-covered valley far below. She also uses rhetorical
questions in the first verse which suggest the great age of the mountain. (A rhetorical
question is a question which does not require an answer as it is being used to
emphasise a point.)

The poem also uses dialogue, e.g. the exchanges between the 14 year old poet and the
mule owner. This helps to create a sense of immediacy (as if the event is happening
before our eyes) and so helps to bring the remembered incident back to life.

Structure

The use of the first person narrative voice suggests that the poet is recounting a
personal recollection.

Hardi uses free verse, i.e. irregular length lines with no pronounced rhythm and no
regular rhyme scheme. As a result, the poem reads more like an autobiographical
extract, thus giving the impression that it is describing true events in the poet’s life.

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 11

Beginning in a City, 1948 by James Berry

Theme

The poem is concerned with cultural displacement. As the pre-release booklet

informs us on page 17, the poet (James Berry) was born in Jamaica in 1924 and
emigrated to Britain in 1948 as part of the first wave of Caribbean people coming to
live and work in Britain after World War 2.

The poet begins the poem by saying that this is the first time that he has looked back
on the experience of his first arrival in London. The suggestion is that he was guided
to London by historical forces that he had no control over. On arriving in London, he
is a complete stranger and utterly lost. His first task is to find accommodation and so
he leaves his bag at ‘left luggage’ whilst he goes on his search. On the advice of a
policeman, he walks through the London streets to a particular boarding house. As he
does so, he notes how cold it is (November) and how the war weary Londoners are
dressed against the cold in heavy overcoats. He, on the other hand, is wearing much
lighter and much less protective Caribbean clothing as the metaphor “half-finished
shack” (verse 3) suggests.

At the guesthouse, he pays ten shillings (50 pence) for a bed for four nights. He is
initially happy to find accommodation but much less happy when he sees the shabby
room with its dim light, unclean blanket, no curtains and no pillow on the bed. The
next morning, as he climbs out of the bed, he faces a freezing cold morning and ice
cold water to wash with. He then goes to a communal room where he meets other
inmates of the house. He is appalled by the awful smell of the room.

After leaving the unpleasant guesthouse, he walks across the unfamiliar city until he
reaches Brixton where he sees a queue of men, both black and white. He stops and
asks a fellow black immigrant why the men are queuing and is informed that he is at
the labour exchange (job centre).

* The tone of the poem is one of misery and discomfort. The poet is clearly
portraying his arrival in post World War 2 London as a young Caribbean immigrant
as a most unpleasant experience.

Use of Language

With this being quite a long poem, there are many aspects of language that you might
comment on; for example, in the second verse, the repeated use of the idea that he has
no knowledge of London. This suggests how ‘lost’ he feels. Furthermore, the
repeated use of negative phrases such as “I knew no” suggest how uncertain and
insecure he is feeling.

In the third verse, the poet uses the more traditional poetic technique of imagery. He
describes the war-weary Londoners as “like dark-coated bears in a snowy region”.
This simile suggests how heavily wrapped up against the cold Londoners are, thus
making them appear larger than normal, as if they are bears. The simile also tells us
about the poet’s feelings towards these people. The comparison with bears suggests

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 12

that he sees them as alien and, possibly, threatening. Also, the image of bears in snow
conveys the impression of how cold it is.

In the fifth verse, the poet again uses imagery to convey his thoughts and feelings. He
refers to himself as having “wooden legs” and a “frosty-board face”. Both metaphors
compare parts of his own body to wood, thus emphasising how stiff his muscles feel
as a result of the cold.

In the sixth verse, he again uses imagery in order to convey the unpleasantness of his
experience. He uses the metaphor, “A rage of combined smells attacked me”. The
violence in the metaphor clearly suggests how unpleasant the smell in the room is.
The metaphor at the end of the verse, “choked in the deadly air”, also creates an
impression of death and, again, emphasises the misery of his situation. It also
illustrates once again how insecure and threatened the poet feels. The use of the
phrase “fellow-inmates” helps to create the atmosphere of a prison, again emphasising
the stale conditions that he his now living in but also suggesting that he feels trapped.

The final two verses of the poem introduce dialogue in which the poet has used
phonetic spelling and non-standard English grammar in order to create an impression
of the Caribbean dialect as the poet asks a fellow immigrant about the reason for the
queue. This use of dialogue helps to bring the situation alive, almost as if it is a
drama being played out once again, but this time before the reader. This use of
dialogue also helps to emphasise his Caribbean identity and reinforce the idea that he
is not alone in his search for work. The suggestion is that the search for jobs will be
competitive and that he will have to struggle to survive.

The poem is a very vivid poem which powerfully conveys the poet’s unfavourable
first impressions of London owing to the use of the above techniques and owing to the
use of description which appeals to a variety of senses, especially the senses of sight,
touch and smell.

Structure

Once again, this poem has been written in free verse (no regular rhyme or rhythm).
The use of free verse also, once again, conveys the impression that we are reading
about real rather than imagined experience – as does the use of the first person
narrative voice.

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 13

Definitions of some figures of speech in order to help you

when you are using PEE to comment on these aspects of a
writer’s use of language/ a writer’s use of words and phrases

* All of the three writing techniques which follow can also be referred to as
imagery or comparisons. The main sense that they tend to appeal to is the sense
of sight, hence the word imagery.

SIMILE - a comparison in which one thing is said to be like or as another thing, eg.
“the surface of the lake was as smooth as a mirror.”

METAPHOR - a comparison in which one thing is said to be something which it

literally is not, e.g. “the surface of the lake was a mirror”; OR when something is said
to be able to do something which it literally cannot do, eg. “the surface of the lake
burned in the mid-day sun.”

PERSONIFICATION – a comparison in which an inanimate (non-living) thing or

animal is given human qualities which it literally cannot have, eg. “the surface of the
lake glowed with happiness.”

* The following are other figures of speech which you might refer to. They
appeal more to the sense of hearing as they are sound qualities and so could not
be classified as imagery – which appeals to the sense of sight.

ALLITERATION – A series of words that begin with the same letter or sound

ONOMATOPOEIA - A word imitating a real sound (e.g. tick-tock, boom, crash)

Other useful terms (especially for writing about poetry)

FREE VERSE – a poem which has no regular rhyme of rhythm

TONE - the emotional ‘feel’, mood or atmosphere of the writing, e.g. nostalgic,
respectful, sympathetic, hostile, ironic, humorous, tragic, etc..

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 14

Definitions of other key words and phrases used in

examination questions

A writer’s use of words and phrases = a writer’s use of language = a writer’s use of
imagery (and other figures of speech) = a writer’s use of comparisons.

The style of a text or a poem = the above + the structure of the writing.

Tone = the emotional ‘feel’, mood or atmosphere of the writing, e.g. nostalgic,
respectful, sympathetic, hostile, ironic, humorous, tragic, etc..

Theme = the topics covered in a poem or media text, e.g. wealth and poverty, the
importance of water, the loss of relatives, the position of women in Islamic society,
emigration.

Compare and contrast = examine similarities (comparisons) and differences

(contrasts).

Emotive words and phrases = words and phrases which present strong emotions
and/or which are used to have a powerful emotional impact on the reader.

Vivid words and phrases = words and phrases which create a strong visual image in
the reader’s mind, e.g. imagery.

Informal language = casual everyday words and phrases which might be used to
create humour or to ‘befriend’ the reader thus making the reader more sympathetic to
the writer’s situation or point of view.

Formal language is the more correct form of English you would find, for example, in
a letter to an employer or in a history textbook.

Words and phrases which create tension could include words and phrases which
suggest danger, urgency, panic, fear, etc..

A fact is something known to be true. Statistics count as facts.

An opinion is a person 's ideas and thoughts towards something. It is an assessment,

judgment or evaluation of something. An opinion is not a fact because it has not been
proven or verified. If it later becomes proven or verified, it is no longer an opinion,
but a fact.

In media texts, facts are used to provide information and/or to support opinions.

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 15

Essential exam tips

1. THE SECTION B ESSAY QUESTIONS (WORTH 27/54 MARKS) ARE ON

THE LAST PAGE OF BOTH EXAMINATION PAPERS – PAGE 4.
PLEASE DO NOT DO WHAT ONE STUDENT DID LAST YEAR -
FORGET TO TURN OVER TO THE LAST PAGE - PAGE 4!!!!!
2. Take your pink exam entry statement + photographic ID to the exam.
3. If the exams are in TT week, then please check the status of the roads well
before leaving. Leave early in any case, as the roads will be busier than usual.
4. Use a black biro in the exam and have a spare one. Make sure that both pens
allow you to write neatly and quickly.
5. Read all of the examination paper instructions carefully before beginning to
write anything and try to stick to the suggested timings for each section of the
exam.
6. Remember to paragraph, use full stops and keep your handwriting legible.
Words that cannot be read clearly will be regarded as containing spelling
mistakes.
7. Read the unseen media extract (Paper 1) and unseen poem (Paper 2) very
carefully before beginning to write about them.
8. Read all questions carefully and keep referring to the essay question or prompt
in your answer in order to ensure that you always remain relevant.
9. If you are faced with a difficult essay question in the exam, then remember the
rest of the country is also stuck with same question so do not panic – plan it!
You should spend 5 minutes planning each of the Section B essays before
beginning to write. You should also spend 5 minutes at end checking each of
these Section B essays for careless SPAG errors.
10. Remember to keep all quotations as short as possible, i.e. if commenting on a
writer’s use of words and phrases, do not copy out whole sentences! Also,
remember to always explain what a quotation means and always explain what
impact the writer means it to have on the reader.
11. Finally, do not become despondent if you feel that an exam has not gone well.
A couple of years ago I met one of my students leaving the exam hall and
asked him how he had done. He shook his head and reported that the exam
had not gone well. On results day, not only did he receive an A* but he also
received a certificate from the exam board informing him that he had scored in
the top 5 out of 330,000 students!

Peter Morrisson January 2010

 16

The 5 part formula – an easy way of using PEE when

commenting on some of the above aspects of a writer’s use of
language.

 All of the three writing techniques which follow can also be referred to as
figures of speech, imagery or comparisons.

If you are finding it difficult to explain why a writer has used a SIMILE,
METAPHOR or PERSONIFICATION, then you could try using the following 5
part formula.

When commenting on a writer’s use of any one of the above figure of sopeech, you
should:

(a) copy out the figure of speech in quotation marks;

(b) state which figure of speech it is;
(c) say what the original thing being described is;
(d) say what it is said to be like/as (SIMILE), or what it is said to be - or said to be
able to do - (METAPHOR), or what human qualities it is said to possess
(PERSONIFICATION);
(e) find as many impressions as possible which have been created about the
original thing by use of the figure of speech.

By doing this you will, in effect, have used PEE.

EXAMPLE:

(a) “The surface of the lake was a mirror.”

(b) In this metaphor,
(c) the original thing being described is the surface of the lake.
(d) The writer is comparing it to a mirror.
(e) The impressions created about the surface of the lake by this metaphor are
that: the lake is reflective; the water is very still and calm and, therefore, flat;
it is probably a sunny day without any breeze. Therefore, the writer is creating
an impression of gentleness, peacefulness and calmness.

Peter Morrisson January 2010