Aspects of Narrative Exam (Unit 1)
Section A Questions
Spend 30 minutes on each question. 21 marks for each question in this section
Uneven questions:
AO2 (language, form and structure)
Even (debate) questions:
AO1 (written expression), AO3 (different interpretations),
AO4 (linking context, text and task)
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Section A: The Ancient Mariner
Sections covered in previous exams: 1, 2 (twice), 3, 4, 6, 7 (twice)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------May 2014
1. Write about the ways that Coleridge tells the story in Part 1 of the poem.
2. How far do you agree with the view that the Wedding Guest is much more significant than simply being a listener to the
Mariner’s strange tale?
May 2013/Jan 2010
1. Write about the ways Coleridge tells the story in Part 2 of the poem
2. How do you respond to the view that the only function of the extreme locations in the poem is to reflect the mariner’s
extreme psychological state?
2. (Jan 2010) How far do you agree that The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a condemnation of exploration and
discovery?
Possible content:
Some will agree and focus on

the lack of joy in the experience the death of all the crew and the living death of the mariner the contrast between the way the
ship leaves the harbour and what happens when it returns being the “first that ever burst into that silent sea” leads to the
experience of stagnation and thirst the mariner’s experience more than they bargained for man is condemned for tampering
with the mysteries of the universe the ending of the poem would suggest that man would be best to simply enjoy going to
church and bending in supplication to God, the link between the pursuit of knowledge here and that of Adam, etc.
Some will disagree and say

the experience leads to moral growth that however terrifying the journey is it is better to have seen into the mysteries of the
universe that the ambiguity around the mariner’s journey means it cannot be clearly stated that this is a journey of discovery
that although wisdom might lead to sadness there is something compelling about being wise, etc.
Jan 2012
1. Write about the ways that Coleridge tells the story in Part 3 of the poem.
Possible content:

Form: Reference might be made to how this section relates to the overall ballad form and the extended narrative poem which
is in 7 sections; this section develops the mariner’s personal crisis/structure: begins in despair, with the agony of the mariner,
progresses to vision of the ship and hope, moving to the haunting image of the Life-in-Death ship; ends dramatically with the
deaths of 200 men

Voices: the ancient mariner’s personal agonised story, the voice of the taunting Life in Death figure

use of gothic imagery

use of religious and diabolical imagery/ recreated drama of the moment “See! See (I cried) she tacks no more!”

use of questions

use of natural imagery, colour

comment might be made on the use of quatrains and the variations to the pattern

similar variations with rhyme and rhythm/ recurring motif of the albatross/ use of onomatopoeia, etc.

simple language, use of voices, gothic imagery, religious references, dream language, descriptive detail, figurative language,
repetition, use of contrasts, nautical and natural imagery, etc.
2. Coleridge described his poem as a ‘work of pure imagination’.
To what extent do you agree with his assessment of ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’?
Possible content:

Some will agree and focus on the extraordinary images the fanciful ideas the extraordinary experiences the references to the
supernatural, religious and metaphysical worlds the possible lack of an overall design

the ambiguity at the end the possible way that the poem defies analysis the random ideas and random images, etc.

Some will disagree and focus on the neatness of the conclusion the coherence from a religious perspective the moral tale and
the poem’s moral destination social context of the poem political context of the poem

Some will claim that Coleridge was over - praising his own work and focus on the ragbag of ideas which do not cohere, etc.
2. (Specimen question) “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is an exploration of the unconscious mind. How do you
respond to this reading of the poem?
Possible content:
Some will agree and

discuss the poem from a psychoanalytical perspective

reference might be made to the Mariner, the Wedding Guest or the creative artist behind the poem ñ Coleridge/

some will deconstruct the task and say

the poem is an exploration of the conscious mind or the minds of human beings in extremity

some might suggest other ways of responding to “exploration”, etc.
June 2012
1. Write about the ways that Coleridge tells the story in Part 4 of the poem.
Authorial methods need to be related to the story being told in this section of the poem.
Possible content:

narrative perspective/voices: use of mariner’s voice, the Wedding Guest, range of tones, etc.

setting: outside the church, ship, sea, unspecified time period, use of day and night, reference seven days and nights passing,
etc.

ballad, reference might be made to how this section connects with what has gone before and what follows, the fourth of seven
parts, gothic/supernatural/moralistic genre, etc.

begins with an interruption by the Wedding Guest, moves back into the Mariner’s story, dramatic climax of his blessing the
water snakes, reference to the albatross at the end, use of rhyme and repetition to structure the narrative, use of patterns,
circularity of the whole poem, etc.

simple language, use of voices, gothic imagery, religious references, dream language, cosmic imagery, nature imagery, use of
the apostrophe, descriptive detail, figurative language, repetition, use of contrasts, etc.
Accept references to Coleridge’s gloss.
2. How far do you agree with the view that ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ is essentially about the power of prayer?
Possible content:

Some will agree and focus on the significance of prayer in Part 4 the horror of being unable to pray the Mariner’s claim at the
end of the poem that prayer is better than wedding feasts the significance of the moral ‘He prayeth well who loveth well...’ a
Christian reading of the poem the autocratic God, perhaps, suggested by ‘While each to his great father bends’, etc.

Some will disagree and focus on the importance of prayer being only one element of the poem the power of the natural world
the power of the supernatural world the harmony of human beings an ecological reading the poem’s being a work of pure
imagination that defies analysis, etc.
June 2011
1. Write about the ways Coleridge tells the story in Part 6 of the poem.
Authorial methods need to be related to the story being told in this section of the poem.
Possible content:

narrative perspective/ voices: use of mariner’s voice to speak directly to the Wedding Guest, to tell his tale and to record the
voices of others, the First and Second voices, implied voice of the hermit, etc.

setting: ship, sea, northern hemisphere, movement towards home/ time unspecified time period, night setting (and the moon),
etc

ballad ñ quatrains and the longer six-line stanzas and their significance, reference might be made to how this section fits into
the longer narrative poem, the sixth stage of the story, sixth of seven parts, gothic/ supernatural/ religious genre, etc.

dramatic opening of the two voices, the standing and cursing of the dead men, movement of the ship, returning to his own
country, the strange sights of the seraphs on each body, the seeing and hearing of the pilot and hermit, reference at the end to
the albatross’ blood and the need to be shriven, link of albatross to other sections of the poem, use of rhyme and repetition to
structure the narrative, use of patterns, etc.

simple language, use of voices, gothic imagery, religious references, dream language, descriptive detail, figurative language,
repetition, apostrophes to God, etc.
2. How do you respond to the view that “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is “so mystifying, it simply befuddles and
confuses the reader”?
Possible content:
 Some will agree, responding in a negative sense and focus on
 the bizarre collection of voices, cosmic beings and spirits
 the uncertainty of whether the mariner is alive or dead
 the uncertain divisions between sleep and waking
 the difficulty in piecing together what actually happens
 the strange world that Coleridge creates

 Coleridge’s own decision to include a gloss
 what the voyage was all about
 the albatross and its significance, etc.
Some will agree that it is mystifying and see this as the charm of the poem
Some will say the poem is not mystifying and focus on
 how the events of the poem reflect life and the unknown
 how the events reflect the dream landscape
 how the poem reflects the difficulty of recording experiences that are disturbing and terrifying
 the power of the imagination, etc.
Some might refer to Coleridge’s drug addictions, etc.
Jan 2013/June 2010
1. Write about the ways Coleridge tells the story in Part 7 of the poem.
Authorial methods need to be related to the story being told in this section of the poem.
Possible content:

narrative perspective/ voices: use of mariner’s voice, the hermit, the Pilot and the Pilot’s boy, use of omniscient narrator to
end poem and complete the frame, etc.

setting: ship, sea, Pilot’s boat, the dry land, the church/use of unspecified time period, perhaps 17th century, use of day
and night, reference to the next morning, etc

ballad – reference might be made to how this section concludes the longer narrative poem, the final stage of the story,
seventh of seven parts, gothic/ supernatural/ moralistic/ religious/ adventure story genre, use of quatrains and the longer
six-line stanzas and their significance, etc.

structurally this begins with a description of the hermit, leads to the climactic destruction of the ship, ends with the account
of the mariner’s lonely existence, his need to tell his story and his moralising, final stanza is the effect of the story on the
Wedding Guest, use of rhyme and repetition to structure the narrative, use of patterns, circularity of the whole poem, etc.

simple language, use of voices, gothic imagery, religious references, dream language, descriptive detail, figurative
language, repetition, use of contrasts, use of dialogue, etc.
2. (Jan 2013) The Hermit asks the Mariner, “What manner of man art thou?”
Do you think that the poem as a whole offers an answer to this question?
Possible content:
Some will argue that

the poem does offer an answer and focus on the mariner’s ordinariness, how he might represent everyman the mariner’s
strangeness and his possible supernatural qualities his connections to Cain and the Wandering Jew his being an
allegorical figure his being a sailor, an adventurer his being a mean-spirited figure who prevents an ordinary man from
attending a wedding and enjoying a feast his being a violator of nature the mariner as personified arrogance the mariner
as a ‘fallen’ man, connected to Adam, etc.
Some will argue that

the poem offers no single clear-cut answer. Several points above might be used in the argument.
Other comments might include

how the poem defies analysis on every level, even to the nature of the Mariner how the interest of the poem is in the lack
of clear-cut definition, how critics often want to pin down meaning when the poem frustrates or simply delights readers at
every reading, etc
b) (June 2010) It has been said that a fault of the poem is the over-emphasised moral at the end.
How satisfying do you find the poem’s moral that “He prayeth well, who loveth well/Both man and bird and beast”?
Possible content:
Some will agree and focus on

the idea that the moral does not do justice to a work of pure imagination (Coleridge)

that the experience is a heavy price for shooting a bird

the neat sententious conclusion which seems contrived perhaps

the religious sentiment at the end being unconvincing when the whole poem has suggested

that there is no moral order in the universe, etc.
Some will disagree and focus on

the neatness of the conclusion

the ecological message at the end being just

the need to see that man is not in control of the planet

the importance of God

the fact that the moral sentiment is not the final message and that the mariner is still a lonely

wanderer, one who is in fact prevented from simply going to church to pray to God, etc.
Section A Questions: The Kite Runner
Chapters covered: 18, 20, 15, 7, 2, 22, 13, 9
Not covered: 1,3,4,5,6,8,10,11,12,14,16,17,19, 21,23,24,25
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------May 2014
1. Write about the ways Hosseini tells the story in Chapter 17.
2. “It is impossible to sympathise with Amir despite his heroism in rescuing Sohrab.”
How do you respond to this view?
May 2013
1. Write about the ways Hosseini tells the story in Chapter 18
2. Rahim Khan has been described as “a true hero and yet too good to be true”
How do you respond to Rahim Khan’s character and role in The Kite Runner?
Jan 2013
1. Write about the ways Hosseini tells the story in Chapter 20
2. “Rubble and beggars. Everywhere I looked, that was what I saw.” (Ch 20) How far is this bleak view of Afghanistan and
its people borne out in The Kite Runner?
June 2012
1. Write about the ways Hosseini tells the story in Chapter 15.
 narrative perspective/voices: first person retrospective narrator, use of introspection, serious tone, use of other voices:
Rahim Khan, Baba, self-reflexive references, etc.
 setting: Afghanistan, Peshawar, 2001, references to 1981, 1992 – 1998, etc
 adventure/thriller story, psychological exploration, confessional, an immigrant saga, shades of a bildungsroman, etc.
 linear chronology of Amir’s meeting with Rahim Khan, flashbacks to the late twentieth century through Khan’s reports,
movement towards the dramatic centre at the mention of Hassan, ends with the promise of Hassan’s story, etc.
 descriptive detail, use of dialogue, use of Afghan words, language of reflection,
 introspection, use of emotive language, use of precise historical details, dates, places, variety of sentence length, time
references, references to Afghan politics and history, etc.
2. To what extent do you think The Kite Runner presents a thoroughly depressing picture of life in Afghanistan?
Agree
 the turbulent politics
 the fighting and violence
 the oppression of the Hazaras and the desire for ethnic cleansing
 the way that Amir and others are forced to flee
 the way that Assef is allowed to thrive
 the bleakness of the late 20th / early 21st century chapters
 the immorality of its people – even Baba and Amir •
 the descriptions of the landscape in the darker chapters of the novel, etc.
Disagree
 the beauty of the Afghanistan of the 1975 time frame
 the kindness of characters like Ali and Hassan which is shown perhaps as the ‘real’
 Afghanistan
 the bravery of Baba and Rahim Khan –again offering a brighter vision of Afghanistan
 the need that Amir has for redemption suggesting a moral consciousness that lies deep
 within the Afghan people
 Amir’s and Baba’s natural love for their country
 the way that Afghanistan is shown to be a victim of history and the interference of other countries, etc.
Jan 2012
1. Write about the ways Hosseini tells the story in Chapter 7.
 narrative perspective/voices: first person retrospective narrator, use of introspection, serious tone, use of other voices:
Hassan, Assef, voices of the crowd in the kite - flying tournament, Omar, etc
 setting: Afghanistan, 1975, the alley/ a single day, etc
 adventure/thriller story, psychological exploration, confessional, shades of a bildungsroman, biblical allegory, tale of
morality, etc.
 linear chronology but broken by reflections in italics, use of paragraph breaks, opens with a
 direct link with the previous chapter – the next morning, leads to the excitement of the tournament, then the rape of Hassan,
ends uncomfortably with Amir in Baba’s embrace, etc.
 descriptive detail, use of dialogue, use of Afghan words, language of reflection, introspection, use of emotive language,
variety of sentence length, time references, references to love, death, contrasting tones, reference to the lamb and
slaughter, reference to ‘For you a thousand times over’, etc.
2. How far do you agree with the view that The Kite Runner is a celebration of the bonds of brotherhood?
Agree
 Hassan and Amir as brothers in a symbolic sense
 Hassan and Amir as half - brothers, sharing the same father, being fed from the same breast
 Hassan’s unstinting loyalty towards Amir
 Amir’s guilt which leads him to seek atonement for the rape of Hassan
 Amir’s ultimate love for Hassan and his realisation of the value of brotherhood
 the brotherhood of Baba and Rahim Khan
 the brotherhood of Afghans, sharing the common enemy of the Russians and the Taliban
 etc.
Disagree
 the betrayal of Amir
 the horrible scene of Hassan’s rape
 Amir’s planting his birthday watch under Hassan’s mattress
 Baba’s betrayal of Ali relationship between Amir and Sohrab
 Afghans betraying all bonds of brotherhood in supporting the Taliban, etc.
June 2011
1. Write about the ways Hosseini tells the story in Chapter 2.
 Narrative perspective/ voices: first person retrospective narrator, use of introspection, serious tone, use of other voices: Ali,
Hassan, various children, Sanaubar, older voice of Amir commenting on his younger self, etc.
 Setting: place - Afghanistan, Wazir Akbar Khan scenes, scenes in the countryside, in Amir’s mansion and in Ali’s hut/ time
— references to 1931, 1963 and 1964, projection forward to 1975, various daytime settings, etc.
 here a bildungsroman, a confessional, a novel about sin and redemption, fictive autobiography, psychological exploration,
etc.
 a retrospective glance at Amir’s childhood, events are disordered, references to Amir’s pastoral childhood with Hassan, a
factual account of the boys’ births and the disappearance of Hassan’s mother, snatches of memory in a seemingly random
order, etc.
 descriptive detail, use of dialogue, pastoral imagery, use of Afghan words, use of emotive language, variety of sentence
length, time references, adverbs, use of dates, use of song, references to winter, specific cultural and religious references
(Pashtuns, Hazaras, Sunnis, Shiías), use of speech, dialogue, use of vulgarisms, etc.
2. How far do you agree that the most moving moments in The Kite Runner are those that Amir and Hassan spend
together as children?
Agree
 the early days of idyllic happiness between the two boys 
 the love that Hassan has for Amir 
 Amir’s natural love for Hassan 
 Hassan’s loyalty 
 the boys’ closeness with nature 
 Amir’s dependence on Hassan because of his father’s neglect, etc.
Disagree 
 the unhappiness of so much of Amir’s childhood with Hassan and the disturbing effect this has on the reader
 the haunting memory for Amir of Hassan’s rape and the horror of this event for the reader 
 the “moving’ scenes between Amir and Soraya, Amir and Baba, Amir and Sohrab 
 the kite runner scene at the end of the novel, etc.
Jan 2011
1. Write about the ways Hosseini tells the story in Chapter 22.
 narrative perspective/ voices: first person retrospective narrator, use of introspection, serious tone, use of other voices:
Farid, Assef, Sohrab and Amir, guards acting like a chorus, etc.
 setting: place — Afghanistan, Wazir Akbar Khan, the locked room/ time — prolonged sense of the interview and altercation
in the 1990s time frame, reminiscences from earlier points in Afghan history . . .
 adventure/ thriller story, psychological exploration, shades of a bildungsroman, etc. 
 begins with Amir’s arrival at the house in Wazir Akbar Khan, use of flashback through
 Amir’s memories of Baba — focus on Baba’s death and burial in Hayward, return to the present and Amir’s meeting with the
armed guards, their reminiscences of 1998 and the massacre of the Hazaras, dramatic moment of the meeting with
Sohrab, the revelation of Assef as a Talib, flashback of the Russian invasion from Assef, the confrontation between Assef
and Amir, the fight and Sohrab’s intervention, their escape, ends with Amir’s passing out/ extensive use of flashbacks in
the characters’ speech and thoughts, etc.
 descriptive detail, use of dialogue, use of Afgan words, use of repetition, use of emotive language, variety of sentence
length, time references, adverbs, religious references, violent images, use of italics, capital letters, etc.
2. “Assef is nothing more than an evil thug.”
How do you respond to Assef’s character and role in The Kite Runner as a whole?
Agree
 Assef’s treatment of Hassan 
 his behaviour in chapter 22 
 his sadism 
 his bullying, his paedophile tendencies, his raping of Hassan and Sohrab 
 his attitudes towards women
 his links with Nazism/ fascism 
 the way he is significant only in his role as a villain 
 the way he is not a rounded character, etc.
Disagree
 his significance as a plot device 
 his importance in the structure of the novel (parallels and mirroring) 
 his being an antithesis of Amir and his helping to reveal Amir’s character 
 the way Hosseini uses him to comment on politics and history, etc.
June 2010
1. Write about the ways Hosseini tells the story in Chapter 13.
 narrative perspective/voices: first person retrospective narrator, use of introspection, dramatic present, serious tone, use of
other voices: Baba, Soraya, the mourners at the funeral — dramatic chorus, etc
 setting: America, references to Afghanistan, late 1980s, etc 
 adventure/thriller story, psychological exploration, confessional, a love story, shades of a bildungsroman, etc 
 linear chronology, series of potted stories with paragraph breaks, opens with a direct link with the previous chapter — the
next evening, leads to coverage of various events — the wedding, Baba’s death, married life of Amir and Soraya, Amir’s
writing, Soraya’s inability to conceive at end of the chapter, etc
 descriptive detail, use of dialogue, use of Afghan words, language of reflection, introspection, use of emotive language,
variety of sentence length, time references, references to love, death, birth, irony of the writer within the novel, references
to Afghan politics and history, etc.
2. “The men are more convincingly portrayed than the women in The Kite Runner.’” What do you think of this view?
Agree
 the characters of Amir, Baba, Hassan, Ali, General Taheri, Rahim Khan, Assef, Ali, etc 
 the introspective first person male narrator 
 the most painful relationships being those between brothers, male friends, male enemies
 and fathers and sons, etc 
 the guilt felt by Baba and Amir 
 the background war story and the adventure story which is dominated by men 
 the fact that women are only seen as mothers or wives, etc.
Disagree
 Soraya and her inner strength 
 minor female characters who are courageous and who have voices however small, etc 
 the way that some male characters have female characteristics, etc.
Jan 2010
1. Write about the ways Hosseini tells the story in Chapter 9. (21 marks)
 narrative perspective/voices: first retrospective narrator, use of introspection, dramatic present, serious tone, use of other
voices: Baba, Ali, etc Setting: Afghanistan, Amir’s birthday, a single day, etc
 adventure/thriller story, psychological exploration, a confessional, shades of a bildungsroman, novel about family
relationships, etc
 linear chronology, opens with Amir reflecting on his birthday presents and his father, dramatic centre is Amir’s planting his
new watch under Hassan’s mattress and the ensuing accusations, the leaving of Ali and Hassan concludes the chapter,
etc
 descriptive detail, use of dialogue, use of Afghan words, use of emotive language, variety of sentence length, time
references, use of parallel sequences, language of guilt and pain, use of pathetic fallacy, etc.
2. “In The Kite Runner the relationships between fathers and sons are never joyful.”
What do you think of this view? (21 marks)
Agree
 Baba and Amir and their tortured relationship — especially Amir’s childhood 
 Hassan and Ali — their poverty and Ali’s knowledge that he is not the father of Hassan 
 their leaving Baba’s employment falsely accused and with the terrible knowledge of Hassan’s rape 
 the relationship between Baba and Hassan 
 Amir and Sohrab and the problems in their relationship, etc.
Disagree
 the way that eventually the relationship between Amir and Baba improves 
 the relationship between the surrogate Rahim Khan and Amir 
 the tender and caring relationship between Ali and Hassan 
 the promise of a good relationship between Amir and Sohrab, etc.
Specimen Paper
1. Write about the ways Hosseini opens the story in Chapter 1.

might be made to the importance of the chapter in relation to the novel’s form as an adventure story, as a fictive
biography

structure: this is a dramatic start to the novel which sets up an unsolved mystery; why has the narrator become what
he is today?

the chapter begins and ends with the same focus, the dramatic centre is the relationship with Hassan, the kite runner

use of dates, first person retrospective narrator

language associated with guilt/ use of location/ informal style

suggestion of embedded stories to come, etc.
2. Some readers see the title Kite Runner as representing a journey. What meanings can you find in the title of the text?
 Some will pick up on the implications offered in the task and talk about journeys in a variety of ways
 some will talk about the importance of the competition and the link to the father son relationship
 some will talk about the kite as an image of the creative imagination, of hope, ambition, dream, faith
 some will see the title as having cultural significance, etc.
Section A: The Great Gatsby
Chapters covered: 8 (twice), 2 (three times), 7, 1 (twice), 9, 5, 4, 3
Not covered: 6,
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------June 2013
1. Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 1
2. Nick says that, when he returned from the East, he wanted the world to be “at a sort of moral attention forever”.
How far do you think that The Great Gatsby affirms the virtues of living a moral and decent life?
May 2013
1. Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 8
2. How appropriate do you think it is to label The Great Gatsby as a Rags to Riches story?
Jan 2013
1. Write about some of Fitzgerald’s narrative methods in Chapter 2
2. “In The Great Gatsby, the lower social classes are presented as crude and vulgar”. How do you respond to this view?
June 2012
1. Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 7.
2. How appropriate do you think it is to describe The Great Gatsby as a tragedy?
January 2012
1. Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 2.
2. How do you respond to the view that it is very difficult for readers to feel anything other than contempt for Tom Buchanan?
June 2011
1. Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 1.
2. Some readers are irritated by Nick Carraway as a narrator. What is your view of Fitzgerald’s use of Nick Carraway as a
narrator?
January 2011
1. Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 8.
2. How far do you agree with Nick’s view that Gatsby is “worth the whole damn bunch put together”?
June 2010
1. Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 9.
2. “lllusory as it is, Gatsby’s dream gives meaning and value to human experience”
How do you respond to this view?
January 2010
1. Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 5.
2. What do you think of the view that obsession with money and the consumer culture of the 1920s dominates human thinking
and behaviour in The Great Gatsby?
June 2009
1. Write about the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 4.
What do you think about the view that there are no women in The Great Gatsby with whom the reader can sympathise?
January 2009
1. Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 3.
2. “Gatsby’s world is corrupt but ultimately glamorous.” How do you respond to this view of the novel?
Section A: Auden Questions
Poems covered in previous exams (backwards from latest exam):
1st September, Victor, O What Is that Sound, Miss Gee, O Where Are you Going, 1st Sept, If I Could Tell You, O What Is that
Sound, Miss Gee
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May 2014
1. Write about Auden’s narrative methods in “1st September 1939”
2. How far do you agree that Auden’s stories have love at their centre?
May 2013
1. How does Auden tell the story in ‘Victor’?
Possible content:
 narrative perspective/voices: omniscient narrator who is detached and sardonic, voices of Victor, his father, the bank clerks,
Anna, the Authorised Version, etc.
 setting: place - England, various locations – home, the dog-cart, the Peveril hotel/time setting: Victor as a baby, frosty
December days, specific spring days of April 2nd etc.
 use of the ballad form, regular rhyme scheme, etc.
 chronology - begins with Victor as a baby, then his rapid growing up, his father’s death,
 reaching eighteen and getting a job, meeting Anna, learning of her infidelity, being heart- broken, seeking advice from
God/his father, deciding to kill Anna, her murder, his arrest, his pitiful incarcerated end, etc.
 use of religious imagery, use of sexual imagery, Chaplinesque comic images and snatches of speech, use of repetition, use
of intertextual references from the Bible, time references, natural imagery, significance of the title, colloquial language, etc.
2. Is ‘Victor’ anything more than an attack on religion?
Some will argue that it is just an attack on religion and focus on
 Victor’s theoretical religious attitudes
 his father’s indoctrination
 the limitations of the particular kind of religious teaching practised by Victor
 Victor’s rather self-satisfied piety
 the comedy of Victor reading his bible in bed
 the mockery of a religion that does not prepare Victor for women like Anna
 the comic use of biblical quotations, etc.
Some will challenge the question and focus on the view
 that the poem is only an attack on a particular kind of religious indoctrination
 that puts theory before practical concrete living
 that the poem is more a melodramatic comedy that Victor can be seen as a tragic victim
 that the poem is an attack on women that the poem is about male brutality that it is about the failure of love
 that Auden is really trying to shock us out of conventional attitudes, etc.

Jan 2013
1. How does Auden tell the story in “O What Is That Sound”?
2. “We never step into the same Auden twice” (Randall Jarrell)
How far do you agree that Auden’s narratives are always very different from each other?
(For indicative content, see paper copy in marking folder)
June 2012
1. Write about Auden’s narrative methods in ‘Miss Gee’.
Authorial methods need to be related to the story being told in the poem.

narrative perspective/voices: first person narrator who is anonymous, ironic, wry and detached but one who is omniscient,
sense of a recorder of events, internal voice of Miss Gee, the vicar, Doctor Thomas, comic/ serious tone, etc.

setting: rural England 1930s etc. ballad, use of abcb rhyme scheme, use of quatrains, blues song (originally set to the tune of
‘St James’ Infirmary’), regular rhythm, etc. use of framed narration, linear chronology with a time jump at the end, repetition of
phrasing, direct opening, central crisis – her illness, narrative gap about her actual death, comic abrupt ending, etc.

use of simple often monosyllabic language, use of speech, contemporary references - ‘Oxford Groupers’, use of detail,
symbolism, imagery of repression, use of names, title of poem, use of temporal markers, use of slapstick humour, use of
contrast, use of the apostrophe, use of simple conjunctions, use of parallels and patterns, etc.
2. How far do you think that Auden’s poems are dominated by death?
Some will agree and focus on
 the explicit discussion of death and characters dying or about to die e.g. ‘Miss Gee ..’, ‘O What Is That Sound’, ‘Ist
/September 1939’, etc.
 the use of death imagery
 the negative destinations of some of the stories, etc.
Some will disagree and focus on
 the life-affirming qualities of some poems
 the comic tone of ‘Miss Gee’
 the acceptance that death is an inevitable part of life but not dominating
 the poems being dominated by love, politics, fear, and not death, etc.
Jan 2012
1. How do you respond to the view that Auden’s poems are too obscure to be enjoyable?
Some will agree and focus on
 the anonymity of voices
 the lack of specific settings
 the difficulty in working out what the poems are about – ‘Ode’, ‘O Where Are You Going’, etc.
 the use of references that are not immediately accessible – ‘1 September 1939’, ‘Ode’, etc.
 the poems’ being grounded in Auden’s 1930s’ intellectual and political world, etc.
 the focus on politics, etc.
Some will disagree and focus on

the simplicity of poems like ‘Miss Gee’, ‘As I Walked...’

the poems’ not being obscure

the poems’ being obscure but nonetheless enjoyable

there being so much to enjoy about the poems, etc.
June 2011
1. Write about Auden’s narrative methods in “1st September 1939”.
Authorial methods need to be related to the story being told in the poem.
 narrative perspective/ voices: first person narrator who may be Auden, voices of the commuters, self-conscious poetic voice
of the seer, etc.
 setting: place - America, precisely a dive on Fifty-second Street, strong European context, classical past/ time setting:
precise date, outbreak of 2nd World War, etc.
 nine stanzas of eleven lines, irregular rhyming pattern, significance of the rhyme of the final lines of the stanzas, etc.
 chronology - begins in the present and then becomes reflective, excursions into the future, tentative hope at the end, etc.
 use of military and political imagery, references to different cultures, real historical figures, the classics, snatches of speech,
use of Americanisms, use of complex diction, haunting tone, significance of the title, etc.
2. “The shadow of death hangs over all of Auden’s poetry.” How do you respond to this view?
Some will agree and focus on
 “1st September 1939” death of society/ death linked to war/ death as a warning as in the given quotation
 “As I Walked ...” — implicit connection between Time and Death (“A lane to the land of the dead” at the centre of the poem)
 “Ode” - connected to ideas about war/ images of death/ idea of Love’s being “hugged to death”
 “O what is that Sound” — death of love/ sound itself might be the Grim Reaper/ implicit menace of the soldiers” threat of
death “Miss Gee” — death the most significant happening for Miss Gee, etc.
 Some will challenge the question and focus on the view that the poems have other major concerns (accept any valid
argument) that in “Miss Gee” death is not haunting but is part of the poem’s comedy that death is only peripheral and not
central

on fear and abandonment, etc. that death is not menacing but more part of an intellectual or philosophical debate, etc.
January 2011
1. How far do you agree with the view that Auden’s poems always leave the reader with a disturbing sense of
uncertainty?
Agree
 the uncertainty of the narrative voices
 the lack of clear locations
 the gaps in the narratives
 the uncertain endings
 the uncertainties about antagonists and protagonists,
 the lack of clarity about dates and times and events
 he blending of comic and serious tones in “Miss Gee”, etc.
Disagree

the view that the uncertainties are not disturbing, but perhaps consoling

“1st September 1939” having plenty of certainty since we read the poem in retrospect

the comic content of “Miss Gee”

the disturbing certainty of time moving inexorably forward in “As I walked Out One Evening”
June 2010
1. Write about Auden’s narrative method in “As I Walked Out One Evening”.
 narrative perspective/voices: first person narrator who is anonymous and detached, sense of a recorder of events, internal
voice of the lover who seems to be male, sense of the female addressee, voice of Time? (omniscient and omnipotent —
perhaps compassionate) ironic tone of Time, varied tones throughout the poem — detached, romantic, urgent , angry,
compassionate, etc
 setting: England, Bristol Street in Birmingham, references to a kind of never-never land, desert and glacial landscapes, midtwentieth century with an awareness of an unspecified future, etc
 ballad, use of abcb rhyme scheme, use of quatrains, etc
 use of framed narration, chronology — a story about an overheard conversation, use of past tense, then dramatic present
for the overheard story, narrative frame to complete, time has moved on and the lovers have long gone, use of repetition
and echoes to hold story together, etc

use of romantic imagery, sustained metaphors, clichés, intertextual references, fairy-tale imagery and references, natural
imagery, use of hyperbole, personification, use of contrast, use of the apostrophe, use of simple conjunctions, use of
parallels and patterns, etc.
2. It has been said that the “whirr and chime” of clocks can be heard throughout Auden’s poetry. How important is time in
Auden’s poetry?
Agree
 the explicit references to time in “As I Walked ..”, “1st September 1939”,
 the implicit references in “O What Is That Sound” and “Ode”
 the use of time as a theme
 the way time is used in imagery
 the actual hearing of the clocks through sound echoes, etc.
Disagree
 other thematic concerns
 other sounds that can be heard, etc.
January 2010
1. Write about the ways in which Auden tells the story in “O What Is That Sound”. (21 marks)
 narrative perspective/voices: no narrative frame, immediacy of the two voices, unnamed characters defined by what they
say, subtle changes of tone, etc
 setting: England, seems like rural England, importance of military background, seems to be set in a previous century, etc
 ballad, regular quatrain pattern, regular pattern of longer lines line at the start of the stanzas and a final shorter fourth line,
regular abab rhyme, two speaking voices, etc
 chronology¬ — present time: determined by the movement of soldiers ever closer to the two speakers/balanced question
and answer format of alternating speakers (seems like a female voice followed by a male’s), etc
 use of the urgent apostrophe of the female voice, archaic language, tender (sincere?) forms of address, use of repetition,
language of love and betrayal, use of the present participle, use of detail, use of nouns, etc.
2. How far would you agree with the view that romantic relationships in Auden’s poetry are far from happy?
Agree
 the sense of dependency and betrayal in “O What Is That Sound”,
 the effects of time in “As I Walked out One Evening”
 the sexual frustration of Miss Gee
 the emptiness expressed in “1st September 1939”, etc.
Disagree
 the beauty of love in “As I Walked”
 the possible positive affirmation of love in “As I Walked”
Some might write about different types of love and that Auden moves beyond romantic love.
Specimen Paper
1. Write about Auden’s poetic method in 1st September 1939.
 Form: 8 stanzas, 11 lines, regular pattern yet irregular rhyme (vague imitation of Yeats’ Easter 1916)
 structure: personal opening, set in New York, moving to a personal contemplation of the significance of the date; ending —
sense of despair mingled with faint hope
 educated academic language, use of classical, scholarly references, use of direct speech, use of time, use of images from
modern life, use of questions, political tone, use of imagery of light and darkness, references to time, etc.
2. How do you respond to the idea that Auden’s poems are about “despair illuminated by a few sparks of hope”?
Agree
 the darkness of twentieth century life as depicted in Auden’s poems
 some will focus on the voices of the narrators of the poems and the despairing tone
 comment will also be made on the faint optimism that cuts through the poems
Disagree
 some might say there is no illumination, that the despair dominates
 some might focus more on the irony and humour, etc
 Some answers will cover a range of poems; some might focus more specifically on two or three/ either approach is
acceptable.
Aspects of Narrative Section B Questions
Aspects of Narrative in Brief
Place
Beginnings/endings
Crises
Climaxes/anti climaxes
Structure
Descriptive language
Gaps
Names
Genres
Narrators
Repetition
Speech
Protagonists
Suspense
Conflict
Time Settings
Symbols
Motifs
Openings/first sentences
Spend 1hour on this section. 42 marks for this section
Answer either/or NOT both questions
AO1 (written expression), AO2 (language, form and structure), AO3 (different interpretations),
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------May 2014
1. Symbols and motifs (recurring elements) are used by writers to shape stories and open up meanings. Write about the
significance of symbols and/or motifs to the narratives of the three writers you have studied.
2. The opening of any story is an important choice that writers make. Write about the significance of the opening sentence to the
stories of the three writers you have studied.
June 2013
1. “ In narratives, the hero or heroine always experiences some conflict, which affects the resolution of the story”. Write about the
significance of conflict in the stories of the three writers you have studied.

conflict with self (e.g. Hosseini – Amir’s need to assuage his guilt and find a way to be good again leading to his
rescue of Sohrab)

conflict with self could be an epiphany

conflict with an adversary, an antagonist (Gatsby’s confrontation with Tom Buchannan in New York)

conflict with the time, the state of the world (the narrator in ‘1st September...’ taking the speaker to the resolution of
‘We must love one another or die’) physical conflict

the absence of conflict leading to stagnation

the way narrative conflict leads to the story’s resolution

the form or genre of the text in relation to the narrative conflict

the ways texts are structured and where the narrative conflict occurs, etc.
Accept any valid discussion about narrative conflict in texts but there needs to be specific illustration. Some candidates will only see
conflict as a physical confrontation.
2. The time settings in which writers choose to place their stories are always significant. For example, writers might choose a
particular era, specific years, seasons, months, times of day etc. Write about the significance of time settings as they are used in
the narratives of each of the three writers you have studied.
Jan 2013
1. In a narrative there is usually a hero or heroine, a protagonist, on whose fate the readers’ interest in the story principally rests.
Write about the significance of protagonists in the narratives of the three writers you have studied.
2. Write about the significance of the ways the three writers you have studied create and use suspense in their narratives.
Jun 2012
1. Write about the significance of climaxes and/or anticlimaxes in the narratives of the three writers you have studied.

identification of the climax/anticlimax

where the climax/anticlimax occurs structurally

what meanings arise from the climax/anticlimax

how the climax/anticlimax shapes the rest of the story

how the writers use language to create the climax/anticlimax

how the writers use the narrators to create the climax/anticlimax
2. Write about the significance of the ways speech is used in the work of the three writers you have studied

to create character (characterisation)

to create tension

to challenge others’ viewpoints including first person narrators

for humour

for tragic purposes

to dramatise the story being told

use of naturalistic speech in modern texts

use of heavily stylised speech in older texts

representations of dialect

use of reported and direct speech

use of idioms

use of or omissions of speech tags, verbs of saying, etc

use of speech to indicate cultural background, age, etc.

indications of tone

use of taboo words

to create contrast

to advance the plot

to explore key events, etc.
Jan 2012
1. Writers draw upon the conventions of different genres when in constructing their narratives: for example, ballads, monologues,
elegies, fictive biographies, thrillers, romances. Write about the significance of generic conventions in the narratives of the three
writers you have studied.

different conventions and how they have been used by prose writers/ poets eg mysteries,

love stories, ballads, elegies, etc

how conventions might be blended, eg bildungsroman and elements of the thriller in The Kite Runner

how conventions might be used in the story being told,

how readers might be teased as to what genre the text is

how meanings can be arrived at through consideration of the conventions, eg the cautionary tale in ‘Tithonus’.
2. A key choice writers make is how they name or refer to their characters. Write about the significance of the choices writers have
made in naming or referring to their characters in the three texts you have studied.

use of titles for characters, e.g. “Miss” Gee

use of formality/ informality

use of symbolic names











use of comic names
use of names for cultural constructs
use of names for self conscious irony/ metanarrative
use of first names/ surnames
use of ‘you’ instead of a name
use of pronouns
unnamed characters, the Wedding Guest, Ancient Mariner,etc.
collective nouns (Oxford Groupers – ‘Miss Gee’)
use of Indian names
use of adjectives to accompany names, The Great Gatsby,
male/female names, etc.
June 2011
1. “In narratives, what we are not told is just as important as what we are told.” Write about the significance of the gaps or of the
untold stories in the narratives of the three writers you have studied.

the ways gaps leave unanswered questions

the ways readers are invited to fill the gaps or speculate (eg Coleridge, why did the mariner shoot the albatross?)

the choices writers make in what they include at the expense of what is not included

the way gaps can lead to irony and ambiguity (eg Auden “Miss Gee” no detailing of the moment of her death)

the form or genre of the text in relation to the gaps

the ways texts are structured and where the gaps occur, etc.
2. Write about the significance of descriptive language as it is used by each of the three writers you have studied.

descriptive language to reveal character (eg Fitzgerald - description of introduction of Daisy possible significance: to
show Nick’s romanticism and unreliability)

descriptive language to reveal places

descriptive language to reveal events

descriptive language to reveal historical information

descriptive language to reveal actions

descriptive language to reveal objects

Accept comment on any kind of descriptive language - figurative; lyrical; ironic; childish; through dialogue; stark;
minimalist.
Jan 2011
1. Write about the significance of the ways the three writers you have studied have structured their narratives.

chronology

mirroring

journeys

events and where they are placed

the climax occurs

resolutions

chapters

stanza patterns

rhyme, repetition etc.
2. Write about the significance of the ways the three writers you have studied used places in their narratives.

countries

cities, towns, villages

buildings, houses, churches, rooms, etc.

the countryside

the sea or ships

mythical or actual places

places that might change, etc.
June 2010
1. Write about the significance of the ways writers end their narratives in the work of the three writers you have studied.

inconclusive, open-endedness

deliberate pattern or echo of other parts of the text

dramatic surprise

non-chronological ending

sense of closure

moralistic ending, etc.
2. Write about the significance of narrators in the three texts you have studied

use of a first person narrator who is also a secondary character or participant in the story

use of a first person frame narrator

use of third person

use of authorial intervention

use of multiple perspectives



use of characters as centres of consciousness
use of retrospective narration
use of the voice of what seems to be the author, etc
Jan 2010
1. Many narratives have one or more significant moments of crisis. Write about the significance of crises in the work of the three
writers you have studied.

the interest excited in the reader by the crisis/crises themselves

where the crisis or crises occur structurally

how it affects the novel’s outcome

how the writer controls the crisis

whether it is appropriate to talk about crises in all of the texts, etc

how the crisis might be interpreted.
2. How do writers use repetition to create meaning in their texts?

repetition in the structuring of texts

some candidates might write about motifs

some will write about repetition thematically

some will write about repetition in terms of character

expect comment on repetitions of: patterns in poetry, repeated ideas and happenings, lexical

features, time sequences, etc

how readers might respond to/find meanings in the repetitions selected.
June 2009
1. Write about some of the ways characters are created in the three texts you have studied.
2. Write about the ways authors use time to shape the order of events in the three texts you have studied.
Jan 2009
1. Writers often choose their titles carefully to allow for different potential meanings. Write about some potential meanings in three
texts that you have studied.
2. Write about the significance of one or two events in three texts that you have studied.
Extra question
Write about the ways that writers aim to make the beginnings of their texts exciting. Refer to three texts you have studied.

Some will write about the beginnings in terms of creating excitement

some will challenge excitement, and say the beginnings are doing something else

some will take the beginning as being whole chapters, some as two or three pages, some as the opening lines to
poems: be flexible here provided points are made

some will question what beginnings are anyway

some will explore establishment of character, time, place

some will see chronological connections with other parts of the text

expect details from three texts but they do not have to be treated equally/ etc.