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This is a synoptic question. It's a bit of a soup or a juggling act. A synoptic question is one where you are expected to draw on every element of the entire A level. They are testing your ability to analyse language closely, compare texts, refer to contextual features - from biographical to ideological details as well as respond to theoretical perspectives.
Introductions:
- Must define the key words in the title
- and explain clearly and simply what you mean by the asserting statement and the question that follows
- should contain a summary of the two two texts in relation to the topic in the title
- should make general comparative and or contrasting points
- should comment on contexts - the writers and the society texts were written in
- should comment on genres - drama and poetry -
- be as detailed and specific as you can
- should comment on key dramatic and poetic techniques used by both writers
- make a key comparative and or contrasting statement - to begin with
- make it clear, simple and concise
- avoid descriptive or lengthy reflective statements
- avoid re-telling the story or plot of the play
- draw on close, detailed, relevant ideas in the text discussed
- comment on dramatic and poetic techniques on the quotations used in your essay
- write fairly short, distinct and detailed pargraphs rther than long and featureless paragraphs
An analytical paragraph must include:
- a main comparative assertion
- short and concise quotations
- identify a range of dramatic / poetic / language features
- the effects on other characters, the audience - both 18th century and contemporary
- contextual references
- the culture and society the texts were written in
- this may include other voices and theoretical perspectives
- In Blake love is a driving force bringing together natural, animal, human, cosmic and spiritual existence together as a unified state of being.
- You must actually address the arguments presented in the question. You can agree completely or you can disagree completely. Or you can support the proposition up to a point.
- In Little Girl Lost and Little Girl Found Lyca's parents are transformed. At first their love is strong but limited. It is dominated by fear. However in Little Girl Found the parents have become liberated. Their love has become interwoven with the natural world. In The Blossom, love is presented as open, direct, physical, natural and positive. In The Sick Rose - The Blossom's linked poem - love, is presented as destructive. It is associated with disease and secrecy.
- Use a strong academic and formal register throughout your essay
- Embed comparisons throughout the essay
