Unit 1 Love Through the Ages
Section C
Preparing for the Exam
Section C
 Comparing texts
 Open book
 Gatsby and pre-1900 love poetry
 One essay
 25 marks
 1 hour
Remember: Section A = Othello Section B = unseen poetry
( compare two unseen poems in light of a statement)
Key guidance on what to include in
your answer:
 Write about at least two poems for band 4
 In Section C you are expected to discuss AO2 choices with precise detail.
Authorial methods (AO2) must be considered in both texts: form/genre +
structure+ language/imagery/other devices.
 You must address the central historicist concept that is set up in the
question (so if your question is ‘compare how two authors present ideas
about marriage’, at some point in your essay you need to explicitly
address the way in which marriage was understood at the time of writing/
by genre)
 Your response must answer the question and offer a relevant argument
around the two texts
 There must be substantial coverage of both texts
 AO1 competence is necessary
Sample question:
Decide how you will interpret the key word. Narrow your focus.
Obsession
Compelling desire &
longing
Idolatry /
unrequited
Passionate & intense love
Compare how the authors of
two texts you have studied
present ideas about passion
Mutual passion
Suffering resulting from
passion
Anger
Jealousy
Some foci for comparison for Section C
1. Ideas about passion (including obsessive love)
2. Barriers to love
3. Transcendental love and positive representations
4. Suffering in love (including loyalty/ betrayal / jealousy)
5. Unequal relationships
Exemplar Band 5 answer from AQA website
 Read through the exemplar which is answering a
question about ‘the loss of love’.
 As you read, you could annotate for the AOs in the same
way that I do; this really helps you to see if and when a
student is hitting them all.
 You know that this is a mid Band 5. How does it
compare with the most recent work you have been
doing?
 What can you learn from reading this work?
Start by thinking about what Fitzgerald
is saying about passion:
Passion = strong and barely controllable emotion
= sexual desire / lust or romantic feelings
= devotion
= Passion of Christ (crucifixion; passion is from the Latin ‘passionem’
meaning suffering) he is, after all, a “son of God” (Ch.6)
Is Gatsby a hero? What is the reader supposed to think about his quixotic
passion? (Quixotic – idealised, unrealistic, viz. Don Quixote (1612-20)
How does the novel hold up a mirror to 1920s America? What does it reveal
about passion at this time in history?
What does Nick Carraway, the narrator, feel about Gatsby’s passion and
Gatsby’s ultimate demise?
What other ‘options’ (than being passionate) are represented by other
characters? Are they shown as a preferable way of loving/ living?
Gatsby: ideas to consider on the theme of
‘passion’
 Fitzgerald said ‘The book contains no important woman character’ and reflecting on its
limited popularity ‘They [women readers] don’t like it. They do not like to be emotionally
passive’. Do the female characters get to experience passion?
 Male writer & largely a male narrator - is there any significance in this?
 Social sexual freedom granted at the time of writing – address the context of the novel
 1920s writers thought it possible to tell about the inner experience of Americans ‘the
way it was’ (Hemingway). Is The Great Gatsby typical of writing at the time?
 Myrtle = overt, unconcealed sexuality, voluptuous and sultry. How is her death
presented with sexual undertones? How is her passion punished? Fitzgerald’s attitude?
 Jordan Baker (restrained and self sufficient) as a foil for Daisy with her ‘bright and
passionate mouth’ What does the author think of Jordan? Daisy?
 Passion of Gatsby & evocation of Jesus in Jay Gatsby – google this article and see if you
can make sense of it. *Challenge task *
 Green light? Weather? Valley of Ashes? How do these AO2 devices shape ‘passion’
Links to the poems – some starting
points
 Do any poems also represent a devalued passion – a
insouciant attitude towards passion and love? Which of
the poems reflects a society where promiscuity thrives?
 Do any poems also represent a quixotic (idealistic /
impractical) passion? One which fails to fully recognise
social barriers?
 Do any poems represent longing and worship of a
woman?
 Find your own original links to the poems
Preparation & Revision
 Lead with Gatsby in your essay
 Choose two poems for comparison based on the focus of the question
 Create quote banks for each ‘aspects of love’ (rather than for each text? Do
you agree?) Choose quotes which allow AO2/3 – only choose quotes which
will work hard for you
 Revise the poems by printing out clean copies of all poems and reannotate
with links to Gatsby/quote and also key AO2 ideas to revise poem.
 Revise Gatsby with a speed read making a note of key love quotes
 Prepare revision sheet on structure for Gatsby and each poem
 Prepare revision sheet on genre/form for Gatsby and each poem
 Prepare revision flashcard for each poem and Gatsby for key historical and
literary contextual details
 Prepare revision sheet on critical interpretations for Gatsby and each poem.
 Prepare an ‘original links’ sheet using more obscure poems to (pleasantly)
surprise the examiner.
Section C: Mini-Mock
 You have one hour in which to answer the question:
Compare how the authors of two texts you
have studied present ideas about passion
 25 marks
 Do NOT write on the clean copies; make any notes on your lined
paper.
 Make sure you address all the AOs:
AO1 28%
AO2 24%
AO3 24%
AO4 12%
AO5 12%
Sample question:
Decide how you will interpret the key word.
Narrow your focus.
Time
GG – Social Barriers
GG- Materialism
Compare how the authors of two
texts you have studied present
ideas about barriers to love.
GG – Human Selfishness
Control
Death
Anything else?
How to Hit the AOs
In all questions more weight should be given
to AO1, AO2 and AO3 than to AO4 and AO5.
However, they shouldn’t be ignored.
AO1 Articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts,
using associated concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate
written expression. (28%)
AO2 Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts. (24%)
AO3 Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the
contexts in which literary texts are written and received. (24%)
AO4 Explore connections across literary texts. (12%)
AO5 Explore literary texts informed by different interpretations. (12%)
When comparing texts …
 Have you focused on the central historicist literary concept set up in
the question and referred to two texts?
 Have you engaged in a relevant debate or constructed a relevant
argument around the two texts?
 Have you considered the writers’ authorial methods in the two texts?
 Have you given substantial coverage of two texts?
 Have you shown AO1 competence?
How do we hit the AOs on this question?
Time
GG – Social Barriers
GG- Materialism
Compare how the authors of two
texts you have studied present
ideas about barriers to love.
GG – Human Selfishness
Control
Death
Anything else?
AO1:Articulate, informed, personal and
creative responses to literary texts,
using associated concepts and
terminology, and coherent, accurate
written expression.
quality of argument
organisation of ideas
use of appropriate concepts and terminology
technical accuracy
AO1
Although on a first
reading Rossetti’s
sonnet is affecting and
consoling with its
elegiac tone, there are
undertones of
patriarchal power
oppressing the female.
Use of literary terminology.
Expression is technically
accurate.
The argument is being
established convincingly.
AO2: Analyse ways in which meanings are
shaped in literary texts.
relevant aspects of form and genre
relevant aspects of narrative structure
relevant aspects of language, tone, imagery, etc.
AO2
Although on a first reading Rossetti’s sonnet
is affecting and consoling with its elegiac
tone, there are undertones of patriarchal
power oppressing the female.
Furthermore, the poet is highlighting a
rather rigorous insistence of the male voice:
‘day by day/ You tell me of our future that
you planned’ as the possessive pronouns
here imply an ownership of her thoughts
and desires and the enjambment between
one line and the next highlights the holding
on of one to another.
Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald employs a
recurring motif of time to signal the futility of
Gatsby’s pursuit of love and that the
protagonist will, in the end, find himself: be
unable to ‘repeat the past’. At key points in
the story, attention is drawn to the time of
four o’clock suggesting the protagonist is
fixed and unable or unwilling to move
forward.
Relevant aspects of form and
genre
Relevant aspects of language,
tone, imagery, etc.
Relevant aspects of narrative
structure
AO3: Demonstrate understanding of the
significance and influence of the contexts in
which literary texts are written and received.
the differing representations of barriers to love
as shown in your chosen texts
the gender of each writer and the extent to
which men and women are presented as
equally able to challenge or transcend the
barriers to love they face
other factual issues around society, culture,
historical period or text type that shows
understanding of the importance of contextual
factors.
AO3
In ‘The Great Gatsby’, the transgressive
female character, Myrtle, is punished for her
infidelity, whereas Tom, who is equally guilty
of adultery, walks away relatively
unscathed. Despite the enfranchisement of
American women in 1920, double standards
within society continued to prevail, as well as
the social class system denying the fulfilment
of the American Dream to those of the lower
social echelons.
In both ‘The Great Gatsby’ and the poetry
anthology, writers suggest that control is a
barrier to love; the manipulation of others whether through C18th religious oppression,
as highlighted by Blake, or the
objectification of the female as a
patriarchal prize to own – often results in
love being replaced by power.
The gender of the writer and
the representation of
men/women.
Social/cultural/historical
factors which are relevant
AO4: Explore connections across literary texts.
In connecting these two texts about love, students will address the central issue of
literary representations of barriers to love in texts separated by a substantial period
of time.
• relevant genre-related comment on the ways in which poets
and novelists can present ideas about barriers to love
• similarity and/or difference at the level of subject matter
• similarity and/or difference at the level of prose and poetic
methods and how writers present their thoughts and opinions
about barriers to love
• the extent to which each text’s representation of barriers to
love can be seen as typical of its genre, form or historical
period.
AO4
Fitzgerald takes care to mention
time here, as the ‘slipping away’ of
the day appears almost guilty, like
an enemy that is always in the
shadows of Gatsby’s horizons.
Blake’s representation of time is
much darker than Fitzgerald’s as
the persona is confronted with
‘graves’, ‘tombstones’ and the
lexical field of death which leads
onto images of damnation and
punishment: ‘briars’, ‘binding’.
As a Decadent poet, Dowson
seems to celebrate obsession
almost as a virtue. However, whilst
Nick also seems to celebrate the
obsessions of Gatsby, he
nevertheless warns against them
and ‘disapprove[s] of him from
beginning to end’ which highlights
Fitzgerald’s own ambivalence
towards the Jazz Age.
Similarities/differences in how
writers present their thoughts
on barriers to love.
Each text’s representation of
barriers to love can be seen
as typical of its genre, form or
historical period.
AO5 Explore literary texts informed by
different interpretations.
Students need to offer different interpretations of ‘barriers to love’, which is a topic
sufficiently open to allow for the exploration of many types of obstacles that can
separate lovers in their chosen texts. They may then choose to focus on the significance
of one type of ‘barrier to love’ in the texts, or to explore more than one, such as:
class or racial barriers
the ways in which barriers are created by a rival lover or lovers
religious and/or political barriers
physical barriers
less tangible barriers, such as secrets or the emotional distance
between lovers that can emerge over time
the ways in which different types of barrier can affect lovers
permanent and temporary barriers
any other relevant obstructions, impediments and limitations
placed on love.
AO5
In both ‘The Great Gatsby’ and
the poetry anthology, writers
suggest that control is a barrier
to love; the manipulation of
others - whether through
religious oppression, as
highlighted by Blake, or the
objectification of the female as
a patriarchal prize to own means that love is replaced by
power.
Student interprets the
question, viewing ‘control’ as
one of the barriers of love that
they have identified in the
texts.
Sample question:
Plan bullet points to answer this
question.
Use the AOs as part of your plan.
GG – Social Barriers
GG- Materialism
Time
Compare how the authors of two
texts you have studied present
ideas about barriers to love.
GG – Human Selfishness

AO1 Articulate informed, personal and creative responses
to literary texts, using associated concepts and
terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression.
(28%)

AO2 Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in
literary texts. (24%)

AO3 Demonstrate understanding of the significance and
influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written
and received. (24%)

AO4 Explore connections across literary texts. (12%)

AO5 Explore literary texts informed by different
interpretations. (12%)
Control
Death
Anything else?
Choose your question …
Prep your notes for your
preferred question, using the
format we have practised –
addressing all the AOs
Useful Videos?
I haven’t had chance to actually listen to these, so can’t be sure of the
quality but click on the links, check them out and see if they are useful.
How to hit the AOs
Link to analyses of
all poems
Love as Reckless:
Gatsby & The Flea
Love as a Memory:
Gatsby & Remember
Love as a Memory:
Garden of Love &
Gatsby
True Love: Gatsby &
Sonnet 116