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Unseen poetry: comparing two poems

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In GCSE Paper 2, you compare two unseen contemporary poems linked by a theme (20 marks: AO1 and AO2). Comparison should run all the way through your answer.

Poem 1

Read this poem about memory and home.

Poem 2

Now read this poem about the same theme: memory and an absent person.

How to compare

Use comparative connectives: similarly, whereas, in contrast, both.
Compare ideas first (both remember a lost loved one through an everyday object), then methods (mint leaf versus keys; sensory memory versus waiting).
A strong structure: point about Poem 1, linked point about Poem 2, then explain the difference or similarity.
Worked example

Write a comparative topic sentence about how both poems use objects.

  1. Both poems use everyday objects to keep an absent person present.
  2. Poem 1 uses a mint leaf, which brings back the grandmother through smell and touch.
  3. Poem 2 uses keys that nobody moves, suggesting hope that the father will return.

Answer: Both poets use ordinary objects to keep a loved one present: a mint leaf brings the grandmother back through the senses, while untouched keys hold on to hope that the father will return.

Key idea

Compare ideas and methods throughout, using connectives. Link each point about one poem to a point about the other. AO1 (response) and AO2 (methods).

The interactive lesson includes the diagrams for this topic.

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