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English Literature

Pearson Edexcel IGCSE 4ET1 · Paper 1: Poetry + Modern Prose · Section A: Unseen (20 marks) · Section B: Anthology Poetry (30 marks) · Section C: OMAM (40 marks) · Closed book

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Section C — Of Mice and Men · 40 marks · Closed book. AO1 (20 marks): knowledge, argument, personal response. AO4 (20 marks): context — 1930s Great Depression, itinerant workers, racism, gender. Every paragraph needs a quote AND a context link. Learn the quotes — you cannot take the book in.
ThemesOMAM — Themes
AO4 · Context
Historical Context
Great Depression, migrant workers, racism, gender — essential AO4 for every essay
Not attempted
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Theme · 40 marks
Dreams & the American Dream
The farm dream, its symbolic importance, why it fails — every character's dream
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Theme · 40 marks
Loneliness & Friendship
George & Lennie, Crooks, Candy, Curley's wife — all defined by isolation
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Theme · Jun 2021
Cruelty
Real Jun 2021 question. Curley, Crooks, Lennie, the natural world — cruelty everywhere
Not attempted
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Theme · Jun 2023
Responsibility
Real Jun 2023 question. George, Candy, Curley, society — who bears responsibility?
Not attempted
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CharactersOMAM — Characters
Character · Jun 2024 & Jun 2022
Curley
Most frequently examined character. Petty power, insecurity, violence
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Character · 40 marks
Crooks
Race, segregation, loneliness — Jim Crow and the destruction of hope
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Character · 40 marks
Candy
Age, obsolescence, the dog, the dream — a figure of vulnerability
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Character · 40 marks
Curley's Wife
Never named. Victim of patriarchy and loneliness. Complex, not simply villainous.
Not attempted
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Exam technique
Essay Structure & Technique
AO1+AO4 structure, PEE paragraphs, quotes to memorise, Level 4 descriptors
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Section B — Anthology Poetry · 30 marks. You choose one question from two. Each asks you to compare two named poems. AO2 (analyse language, form, structure) + AO3 (compare throughout — not one poem then the other). Poems are provided in the exam.
All 16 poemsAnthology Poems — Edexcel IGCSE 4ET1

All 16 poems from Part 3 of the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE English Anthology. Click any poem to revise key analysis and comparison techniques.

Carol Ann Duffy · Contemporary
War Photographer
Guilt, indifference, the photojournalist's moral weight
Not attempted
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Robert Browning · Pre-1900
My Last Duchess
Power, jealousy, the dramatic monologue, Victorian patriarchy
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John Agard · Contemporary
Half-Caste
Identity, race, dialect as resistance, the absurdity of racial categories
Not attempted
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Christina Rossetti · Pre-1900
Remember
Death, grief, the Petrarchan sonnet volta — selfless love
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Dylan Thomas · 20th century
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
Death, resistance, the villanelle, a son's grief
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William Blake · Pre-1900
The Tyger
Creation, evil, God as blacksmith — the Romantic sublime
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John Keats · Pre-1900
La Belle Dame Sans Merci
Seduction, destruction, the ballad form, the femme fatale
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William Shakespeare · Pre-1900
Sonnet 116
Ideal love as constant and unchanging, time, the sonnet
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Imtiaz Dharker · Contemporary
Blessing
Water scarcity, community, the miraculous, religious imagery
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Sujata Bhatt · Contemporary
Search for My Tongue
Bilingualism, cultural identity, the mother tongue as a plant
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U.A. Fanthorpe · Contemporary
Half-past Two
Childhood time, imagination, invented vocabulary, nostalgia
Not attempted
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Alice Walker · Contemporary
Poem at Thirty-Nine
Grief, father, memory, cooking as love — direct and simple
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D.H. Lawrence · Early 20th century
Piano
Involuntary memory, childhood, grief overcoming masculine composure
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Vernon Scannell · Mid-20th century
Hide and Seek
Childhood disappointment, abandonment, second person — desolate ending
Not attempted
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Louis MacNeice · WWII (1944)
Prayer Before Birth
Resistance to dehumanisation, WWII context, anaphora, the unborn voice
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Rudyard Kipling · Edwardian
If—
Edwardian masculinity, virtue, empire — conditional structure
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Section A — Unseen Poetry · 20 marks · AO2 only. A poem you have not seen before is given to you in the exam. You write one essay exploring how the poet creates meaning and effects. No comparison needed. Focus on: language choices, imagery, structure, tone, form. The poem is there — use it.
TechniqueUnseen Poetry — Approach

For unseen poetry, the exam gives you the poem. Your job is to annotate and analyse — not to recall. These skills transfer from the anthology poems you've already studied.

Exam technique
Poetry Analysis Skills
How to annotate an unseen poem, structure your response, use evidence — the same techniques as Section B
Start here
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