Paper 2 questions (English A: Literature)

Questions are divided into 4 distinct genre-types, with three questions in each to choose from. You must answer one question only, using at least two of the part 3 works you studied in class. You will be required to compare and contrast these works in response to the question.

Answer one essay question only. You must base your answer on at least two of the part 3 works you have studied and compare and contrast these works in response to the question. Answers which are not based on a discussion of at least two part 3 works will not score high marks.

Drama

1. With reference to at least two plays you have studied, compare the means by which playwrights seek to direct our attention to particular moments in the dramas they have crafted, and explore the effects created.

2. Some characters in plays remain static: they don’t change. With reference to at least two plays you have studied, compare how static characters are used and to what effect.



3. It has been said that all drama teaches. With reference to at least two plays you have studied, compare the methods used to teach or educate the audience and consider their effects.



Poetry

4. Compare the means by which at least two poets you have studied have explored the power and significance of memory.



5. Many poets seem to employ deliberate ambiguity. Comparing the work of at least two poets you have studied, consider how ambiguity adds to the reader’s experience of the poems.



6. Comparing the work of at least two poets you have studied, consider their use of diction – grand, elevated, informal, subject-specific and so on – and discuss the effects achieved.



Prose: novel and short story

7. In the works of at least two authors you have studied, consider and compare the techniques used to make their fictional worlds believable.



8. Compare the methods chosen by at least two authors you have studied for the openings of their works, and the effectiveness of these choices in establishing contact with the reader.



9. Discuss the presentation and significance of physical action in the works of at least two authors you have studied.



Prose other than fiction


10. What Trollope said of fiction – that above all it must be readable, we must want to read on – is just as true of other types of prose writing. In at least two works of prose other than fiction you have studied, compare the means by which authors have made us want to keep reading.



11. Writers of prose non-fiction often employ physical, emotional or other barriers or obstacles. In at least two works of prose other than fiction you have studied, compare the presentation and effects of such barriers.



12. It has been argued that while some works of literature can be open to interpretation, non-fiction cannot. Comparing at least two works of prose other than fiction you have studied, discuss the elements used to make the work particularly closed – or open – to interpretation.