1. Scottish Texts: The10 Mark Question

2. Success Criteria Learning Intention
To understand how to structure the final question for the Scottish set texts.
To be able to structure your own answer to an unseen question.
To be able to choose relevant material from the seen and unseen poems.
Success Criteria

3. How to answer the Q…
All Questions are worth 10 marks and should be structured using bullet points and headings.
Use the headings:
General Comment (2 marks)
Exam Poem (2 marks)
Other poems (6 marks)

4. (1) General Comment
Write a sentence for each poem to show how it ties in with the question.
Example: Show how “Anne Hathaway” and another of Duffy’s poems explores the theme of love.
In “Anne Hathaway” we see the speaker reflecting on the happy times spent with her husband and how strong their relationship was compared to others. (1 mark)
In “Havisham” we see a very different speaker reflecting on the love she lost and the horrible things she wants to do to punish him for leaving her.
(1 mark)

5. (2) Exam Poem Quote a relevant example from your exam poem.
Pick out the techniques used in the quote.
Explain what they show us and link this back to what the question is asking.
Mark breakdown:
* 1 mark given for a reference to the text or quote
* 1 mark given for an insightful comment on his this ties in with what the question was asking.

6. (3) Other Poems
Do exactly the same as the Exam Test but do it twice. You should focus on 2 different other poems.
Remember to always link back to the question at the end of each bullet point.
E.g. Reference to text/quote (1 mark) + comment (1 mark) (x3)

7. Practice Question
Text: “Originally”
Discuss how Carol Ann Duffy uses contrast in this poem and at least one other to highlight the poems’ main concerns.
(10 marks)

8. Possible secondary texts?
Practice Question
Text: “Originally”
Discuss how Carol Ann Duffy uses contrast in this poem and at least one other to highlight the poems’ main concerns.
(10 marks)
Possible secondary texts?

9. Possible routes… Contrast between personas’ personalities.
Contrast between settings.

10. My Answer: Persona General comment
In “Originally”, we are shown the contrast between a young Duffy, unwilling to accept her new life in a foreign community, and an older Duffy, a woman who accepts that change is a natural part of life and believes it must be embraced.
In “War Photographer”, we are shown the contrast between the calm, dutiful photographer in the war zone and then the vulnerable, troubled man back home in peaceful England.

11. Exam Poem * “I stared at the eyes of a blind toy, holding its paw.”
* Clear contrast between Duffy as a child and as an adult. As a young girl, Duffy was afraid to move city as she disliked the change and felt she would never fit in. This toy represents Duffy herself: blind to the road ahead and seeking someone to comfort her and hold her hand.
“But then you forget, or don’t recall, or change”
As an adult we see the change in her beliefs. The more mature Duffy realises that moving on is a natural part of life and must be accepted.
Duffy uses this contrast to explore the theme of childhood as we see a clear change in her; she has gone from uncertainty to acceptance that things must chance and we must leave things in our childhood behind.

12. Other Poems ”as though this were a church and he
a priest preparing to intone a Mass.”
This simile compares him to a priest. His job is a calling - although he has to witness horribly sad things, he must do the job for the sake of others. He seems like a strong, calm individual at the beginning of the poem as he prepares to develop pictures.
* “All flesh is grass.”
He appears to be determined to remain detached from the horrors witnessed by accepting that all bodies must return to the ground eventually. Biblical reference again ties him to the image of a priest, hinting that he remains unaffected by what he sees.
“Solutions slop in trays
beneath his hands, which did not tremble then
though seem to now.”
We see the clear contrast to this strong facade when the alliteration draws our attention to his weakness while developing pictures. Clearly, the horror of what he has witnessed affects his mentality. After holding it together for so long, he allows himself to have a moment of weakness when reflecting.
Duffy use the photographer to explore the theme of apathy as he feels the need to do this job to inform people of the horrors others are experiencing while we enjoy the comforts of our home.

13. My Answer: Setting General Comment
In “Originally”, we are shown the contrast between how young Duffy feels about her new environment. She first feels uncomfortable in her new home but soon settles into it.
In “War Photographer”, we are shown the contrast between the calm, peaceful setting of rural England and the chaotic, dangerous world of the war zones he travels to.

14. Exam Poem * “Your accent wrong. Corners, which seem familiar,
leading to unimagined, pebble­-dashed estates, big boys
eating worms and shouting words you don’t understand.”
Clear contrast between Duffy’s safe childhood home and the new dangerous estate she inhabits. She feels that she does not fit in with these surroundings as everything she describes seems foreign to her or the opposite of what she’s used to.
* I remember my tongue
shedding its skin like a snake, my voice
in the classroom sounding just like the rest.”
After a few years, her new world is now a setting to which she blends in very well. Imagery comparing losing her accent to a snake losing skin shows how easily she assimilated into this setting.
Theme - Identity does not come with a place and gets harder to pin down the older you get and more things you experience.

15. Other Poems * “to fields which don't explode beneath the feet
of running children in a nightmare heat”
Word choice of “nightmare” emphasises how unpleasant the war zones are and the idea of bombs exploding beneath children is put in to shock us.
* “A hundred agonies in black and white
from which his editor will pick out five or six
for Sunday's supplement.”
Word choice of agonies shows how much people are suffering abroad - sets up for the casual disinterest of the editor who has a safe, relaxed life and doesn’t need to worry about the sheer number of people suffering.
* ”The reader's eyeballs prick
with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers.”
Focus on the comforts of our homes to contrast to the danger and uncertainty of theirs.
Duffy explores the theme of apathy as she shows how little we care as we are perfectly happy with our own lives in our safe homes - a clear contrast to the dangerous war zones.

16. Other practice questions
1. By referring to “Havisham” and to at least one other poem by Duffy, discuss her ability to surprise the reader with unexpected ideas and/or unexpected language.
2. Discuss how Duffy uses the closing lines in “Mrs Midas” and at least one other poem to highlight the poem’s central concerns.
3. Discuss how effectively Duffy explores the theme of love in “Valentine” and at least one other poem.
4. Discuss how the theme of loss is explored by Duffy in the poem “Mrs Midas” and at least one other.
5. By referring to “War Photographer” and at least one other poem, discuss how Duffy conveys the feeling of isolation.
6. By referring to “Anne Hathaway” and at least one other poem, discuss how Duffy uses effective imagery to explore an important theme.
7. By referring to “Originally” and at least one other poem, discuss how Duffy uses structure effectively to help explore a key theme.