Comparison Skills
The Comparison Question
Paper 2, Section B gives you one named poem (printed on the page) and asks you to compare it with one poem of your choice from the anthology. The question is worth 30 marks: AO1 (12 marks — ideas and comparisons), AO2 (12 marks — language, form, structure analysis), AO3 (6 marks — context). You have approximately 45 minutes. AQA English Literature is closed book throughout — you cannot take the anthology into the exam. The named poem is reproduced on the question paper; your chosen comparison poem must come from memory.
AO1 = 12 marks (ideas, interpretations, comparison). AO2 = 12 marks (methods — language, form, structure). AO3 = 6 marks (context). The majority of marks reward analysis and comparison, not plot summary. AO2 is equally weighted with AO1 — you must discuss methods to access the top band.
Choosing Your Comparison Poem
You must choose wisely. The best comparison poem is one that shares the theme of the question but takes a different approach. Similarities give you connection points; differences give you analytical depth. Prepare 3–4 “go-to” poems that you know well enough to quote from memory.
Prepared pairings save time in the exam. For example: if the named poem is about loss, you might choose “Neutral Tones” (bitter disillusionment) or “Eden Rock” (serene acceptance). If it is about desire, choose “Singh Song!” (joyful) or “Porphyria’s Lover” (possessive). The greater the contrast, the richer the comparison.
Romantic love: Byron + Barrett Browning (grief vs devotion), Shelley + Nagra (persuasion vs celebration).
Loss/distance: Hardy + Byron (bitter vs grief-stricken), Dooley + Causley (physical distance vs death).
Desire/power: Browning + Mew (fatal vs frustrated), Browning + Nagra (possessive vs mutual).
Parent-child: Heaney + Day-Lewis (reversal vs letting go), Duffy + Armitage (possessive memory vs leaving home).
Nature: Shelley + Sheers (nature as model for love vs nature reflecting emotion), Byron + Hardy (pathetic fallacy in grief).
Memory/time: Duffy + Causley (imagined past vs afterlife vision), Heaney + Waterhouse (childhood memory vs discovery).
Essay Structure
Introduction (2–3 sentences): State the theme and your argument. Name both poems and their poets. Example: “Both Sheers in ‘Winter Swans’ and Hardy in ‘Neutral Tones’ use pathetic fallacy to present strained relationships, but while Sheers’s couple find reconciliation through nature, Hardy’s speaker remains trapped in bitter disillusionment.”
Body paragraphs (3–4): Each paragraph should discuss both poems, organised around an aspect of the theme (not poem-by-poem). Use comparative connectives: “Similarly,” “In contrast,” “While [Poet A] presents…, [Poet B] suggests…” Each paragraph needs: a point comparing ideas, quotations from both poems, analysis of methods (AO2), and embedded context (AO3).
Structure: Introduction (thesis + both poems named) → 3–4 paragraphs (both poems in every paragraph, organised by aspect of theme) → Conclusion (link to poets’ wider messages). Never write about one poem then the other — weave them together throughout.
Point: State the comparison. “Both poets use natural imagery to present emotional states, but with contrasting outcomes.”
Evidence (Poem 1): Quote from the named poem. “Sheers describes the couple’s hands as ‘folded, one over the other, / like a pair of wings settling after flight.’”
Comment (AO2): Analyse the method. “The simile connects the couple to swans that ‘mate for life,’ suggesting their bond is instinctive and enduring.”
Link to Poem 2: Compare with your chosen poem. “In contrast, Hardy uses pathetic fallacy to present love as drained and lifeless: ‘the sun was white, as though chidden of God.’”
Context: Embed AO3. “Hardy’s Victorian pessimism, shaped by personal disillusionment, contrasts with Sheers’s modern, more optimistic view that relationships can recover.”
Similarity: Similarly, Both poets, In the same way, Like [Poet A], [Poet B] also…
Contrast: In contrast, However, While [Poet A]…, [Poet B]…, Conversely, On the other hand
Development: [Poet B] takes this further by…, [Poet A]’s approach differs because…, This contrasts sharply with…