Revision Worksheet English Literature – Grade 9
Revision Questions for Paper 1: Shakespeare
2015-2016
You should spend about 55 minutes on this section. You should divide your time equally
between parts (a) and (b) of the question.
Julius Caesar
Read the following lines carefully and answer the questions which follow.
Julius Caesar Act 1, Scene 2 Lines 132 to 161
Question:
(a) Explore how Shakespeare presents the character of Cassius as being in control in this extract.
In your answer you should consider:
• The description of Cassius
• What Cassius says
• What he does
• How other characters react to him
Refer closely to the extrat in your answer.
(20)
(b) In this extract, there is conflict between the characters.
Explain the importance of conflict elsewhere in the play.
In your answer you must consider:
• how conflict is shown
• the reasons for the conflict.
You should refer to the context of the play in your answer.
(20)
Page 1 of 3
Revision Worksheet English Literature – Grade 9
Revision Questions for Paper 2: Section A – Post 1914 Literature
You should spend about 50 minutes on this section. Your response will be marked for the range
of appropriate vocabulary, sentence structure and accurate use of spelling and punctuation.
To Sir With Love (Chapters 1 – 8)
Read the following extract carefully and answer the question which follows.
BRAITHWAITE: I tried everything – labour exchanges, employment agencies, newspaper ads – all with
the same result. I even advertised myself mentioning my qualifications and the colour of my skin, but
there were no takers. Then I tried applying for jobs without mentioning my colour, but when they saw
me the reasons given for turning me down were all variations of the same theme: too black.
1.
Explore how E. R. Braithwaite presents the theme of racism.
In your response you should consider:
• How Rick suffers as a result of his efforts to look for a job
• How people in London treat him
• How post-war London formed a different world altogether for Rick
You must refer to the context of the novel in your answer. You should comment on attitudes in
society and / or expectations of different cultural groups.
Total for Question 1 = 20 marks (includes 4 marks for the range of appropriate vocabulary and sentence
structures and accurate use of spelling and punctuation)
2.
Rick is a well-trained, highly educated communications engineer who has applied for, and accepted,
a teaching position.
Explore how Rick views his new job? Why?
In your answer you should consider:
•
What are the forces that led him to this line of work
•
What challenges are waiting for him when he has made his choice
•
How well he deals with those challenges
(20)
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Revision Worksheet English Literature – Grade 9
Revision Question for Paper 2: Section B – Unseen Poetry
You should spend about 25 minutes on this section. Your response will be marked for the range
of appropriate vocabulary, sentence structure and accurate use of spelling and punctuation.
Read the following poem carefully and answer the question which follows.
A THRUSH BEFORE DAWN
By Alice Meynell
A voice peals in this end of night
A phrase of notes resembling stars,
Single and spiritual notes of light.
What call they at my window-bars?
The South, the past, the day to be,
An ancient infelicity.
Darkling, deliberate, what sings
This wonderful one, alone, at peace?
What wilder things than song, what things
Sweeter than youth, clearer than Greece,
Dearer than Italy, untold
Delight, and freshness centuries old?
4
8
12
And first first-loves, a multitude,
The exaltation of their pain;
Ancestral childhood long renewed;
And midnights of invisible rain;
And gardens, gardens, night and day,
Gardens and childhood all the way.
16
Question:
What Middle Ages passionate,
O passionless voice! What distant bells
Lodged in the hills, what palace state
Illyrian! For it speaks, it tells,
Without desire, without dismay,
Some morrow and some yesterday.
20
24
All-natural things! But more--Whence came
This yet remoter mystery?
How do these starry notes proclaim
A graver still divinity?
This hope, this sanctity of fear?
O innocent throat! O human ear!
28
Page 3 of 3
Write about how natural loveliness or beauty is
presented in the poem.
In your answer you should consider:
•
•
•
The ideas in the poem
The poet’s use of language
The poet’s use of form and structure
Use evidence from the poem to support your
points.