Literature: Prose, Poetry and Supplementary Reader
The Literature section asks you to show understanding of theme, character and technique in the prescribed prose, poetry and supplementary reader. Answers are judged on relevance and textual support, not on plot summary.
What to do with each genre
- Prose: identify the theme in one sentence, then support it with character, conflict and narrative voice (first person versus omniscient). A character sketch needs traits plus the incident that reveals each trait.
- Poetry: separate the speaker from the poet - the voice in the poem is a persona. Track tone shifts, then name figurative devices precisely: simile (like/as), metaphor (direct identification), personification (human qualities to non-human), alliteration (repeated initial consonants), onomatopoeia (sound words), irony, symbol.
- Supplementary reader: longer narrative, so revise chapter-level events, cause and effect between chapters, and the arc of the main character.
Worked example
Line: The kettle coughed and spat its steam. Question: Name the figure of speech. Reasoning: coughing and spitting are human or animal actions assigned to a kettle, and there is no like or as, so the device is personification, not simile. Test each label against its definition before writing it down.
How to structure a literature answer
Use point–evidence–explanation: state your point, quote three to six words as evidence, then explain how the quotation proves the point. Answer the exact directive - describe, compare, why, with reference to context - and keep to the marks available.
Traps that cost marks
- Retelling the story instead of analysing it.
- Attributing the speaker's view to the poet.
- Mislabelling a device (calling a metaphor a simile).
- Making a character judgment with no textual evidence.
- Ignoring a "with reference to context" instruction, which requires situating the extract.