Your paper: one printed poem, one free choice, and the rule everybody gets wrong

Does a comparison essay have to compare the two poems in every single paragraph? It sounds like the definition of comparing, so it is tempting to plan that way. On this paper, one poem is printed in front of you. The other has to come out of your head. And how you are allowed to lay the two side by side is written down, in plain words, in an examiner's report. Whether every paragraph must compare gets settled once the paper itself is clear.

First, what the poetry question gives you. One poem from the fifteen is printed, named in the question. You choose the second poem yourself, from the same fifteen, and you write about it from memory, because the exam is closed book. The mark scheme sets the question at thirty marks: twelve for AO1, twelve for AO2 and six for AO3. AO1 is your argument and your references. AO2 is the poets' methods, their language, form and structure, and what they do. AO3 is context, the ideas the poems connect to. AO1 on this question is a comparison ladder. At the bottom sit simple comments relevant to comparison. Higher up, the comparison explores the poems and weighs them against each other. Which climbs higher: two good separate answers, or one argument about how the poems relate? One argument about how the poems relate. Two separate answers, however good, are still two answers, so they stay low on the ladder.

Now a different question, on layout. Here are three ways to lay out an answer. The first: compare both poems in every paragraph. The second: an introduction setting up the comparison, one poem, then the other, then a conclusion drawing them together. The third: either of those. Which of those three do you think the paper allows? The third: either. Comparing in every paragraph is allowed, but it is not required, and one poem then the other is fine. Here is where that is written down. The ruling comes from an examiner's report on the twenty twenty-five paper. One examiner's report says: Centres are reminded that there is no requirement for students to write an integrated comparison, where both poems are compared throughout the response. While some are able to handle this very successfully, for others it leads to forced comparisons and rather hinders their flow. It goes on: It's absolutely fine for students to introduce the nature of their comparison in their introduction, write about one poem then the other, and then draw their ideas together in their conclusion. The report has to remind schools of this, which is why it is worth knowing. What it warns against is the forced comparison, a link made in every paragraph whether or not the poems actually meet there. The habit: choose the structure that keeps your argument flowing.

Next comes choosing the second poem, which happens in the room, under time. The same report also says: The choice of the comparative poem is critical to the success, complexity, and coherence of the response. The fix is a two-step choice. Name the strand the question is really about, then pick a poem that shares it and differs from the printed poem in a way you can explain in one sentence.

Then, how exact a reference has to be, said once here for the whole chapter. Every reference has to be precise and relevant. Where your point is about the words the poet chose, the exact words have to be on the page, because AO2 is about methods, and a method lives in the words. Say your point is how Armitage builds the soldier's uncertainty in Remains. A paraphrase, the point in your own words, says he is not sure the man had a gun. What is in his exact words, "probably armed, possibly not", that the paraphrase loses? Two hedges. Probably and possibly both refuse to commit, so the doubt is built into the words themselves, and that is the method. A retelling loses exactly that. A report on the poetry paper puts the reward like this: It is impressive when students are able to cite well chosen, precise references to compare and comment on, and thus their choices will be judged as apt or judicious. And because the second poem comes from memory, the habit is to carry a short, exact line for each poem you might choose. That is what the shorthand lines in this chapter's poem videos are for.

Last, what makes a paragraph comparative rather than a list. The same report warns: Some students simply go through the poems with a comment and reference approach, almost like a list, which will be unlikely to achieve above Level 2 AO1. The fix is joining words that carry a judgement: whereas, similarly, in contrast, unlike, both. Each one forces you to say how the two poems relate, not just what each one does. Here are two sentences. The first: Owen uses the weather in Exposure. The second: whereas Owen makes the weather the killer, Heaney makes the threat a huge nothing. Which of those two is comparative, and why? The second. Whereas makes it judge a difference between two poets' choices, while the first only describes one poem. One more trap, which the twenty twenty-five examiner's report names: One area for improvement across the poetry responses was the tendency to overuse single word analysis. Candidates often spent several sentences discussing the effect of a single verb or noun, rather than stepping back to consider the broader literary techniques or underlying ideas being conveyed. So the habit is to step back to the idea first, and then choose the words that prove it, a sentence or two on each, never a paragraph on one verb.

A last run through the paper, four questions on what it gives you and what it wants. How many marks is the poetry question, and what do AO1, AO2 and AO3 cover? Thirty marks: argument and references, the poets' methods, and context. Now the ruling: must every paragraph compare both poems? No. One poem then the other, framed by an introduction and a conclusion, is fine, and every paragraph need not compare. Try this: when must a reference be exact, word for word? A reference must be exact when your point is about the words themselves, because a method lives in the words. One more: how would you make "In Remains, Armitage uses repetition" comparative with Exposure? Something like: whereas Owen repeats nothing happens to show the waiting doing the killing, Armitage repeats probably armed, possibly not to show a doubt that follows the soldier home. So no, a comparison does not have to compare in every paragraph. It has to be an argument about two poems, and the report says so in plain words.

If you can say what the paper hands you and what it wants back, you know your paper: thumbs-up and done. If it is hazy anywhere, keep it, and reread the structure ruling the day before the exam.

Next in the chapter: One comparison, start to finish: from the printed poem to the first paragraph. Hopefully that's next in your feed, but if not, search for ScholaFly E L four oh, two four.

Every other video is on scholafly.com too, easy to search by video code or by keyword. Whatever you're revising, go there and have a look, or, watch the next video.