Paper 2 - All Quiet on the Western Front

Similarities and/or differences, Analysis, Language is very clear, effective, carefully chosen and precise, with a high degree of accuracy in grammar, vocabulary and sentence construction; register and style are effective and appropriate, B2 + D

Asyndeton

Omitting conjunctions to create a rapid, breathless rhythm. Effective for the chaos of the front: "guttering, choking, drowning" (Owen).

Polysyndeton

Repeating conjunctions ("and… and… and") to create a relentless, overwhelming effect, such as the monotony of trench life.

Tricolon

A group of three parallel words or phrases for emphasis and rhythm. Useful in analysis: "fear, exhaustion and numbness".

Caesura

A pause within a line or sentence (a full stop, dash or comma) that fragments rhythm. Mirrors shock or breathlessness in "Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!"

Enjambment

A sentence running over a line break without punctuation. It can show the unstoppable flow of events or a mind unable to rest.

Semicolon (use)

Joins two closely related independent clauses. Use it to link cause and effect: "Owen exposes war's brutality; he refuses to glorify it."

Colon (use)

Introduces an explanation, list or quotation. Use it to set up evidence: "Owen's tone is bitter: he labels patriotic rhetoric 'the old Lie'."

Embedded quotation

Weaving a short quote into your own sentence grammatically. Eg. Owen depicts soldiers who "die as cattle", reducing them to livestock.

Fragmented syntax

Broken, incomplete sentences that mirror trauma or chaos. Analyse its effect rather than just naming it.

Syntactic parallelism

Repeating a sentence structure for emphasis or contrast. Remarque contrasts the soldiers' youth with their premature ageing through parallel phrasing.

Short declarative sentence

A brief, factual statement that delivers a blunt, understated impact. Characteristic of Paul's detached narration of horror.

Complex sentence

An independent clause plus a subordinate clause. Use it to show nuance: "Although Owen condemns war, he writes with compassion for the soldiers."

Compound-complex sentence

Two or more independent clauses plus a subordinate clause. Use it to develop layered analytical arguments without losing clarity.

Passive voice (effect)

Hides the agent and shows helplessness. Analyse where soldiers are acted upon by war: "the men were swept away".

Active voice (effect)

Gives agency and directness. Contrast active and passive to show the loss of control in the soldiers' experience.

Imperative mood

A command form that creates urgency or immediacy. Owen's "Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!" thrusts the reader into the moment.

Direct address

Speaking directly to the reader ("My friend, you would not tell…"). Implicates the audience and challenges propaganda.

Present tense narration

Creates immediacy and a sense of being trapped in the moment. Remarque's narration shows Paul unable to look beyond the present.

Shift to third person

Remarque's final chapter abandons Paul's first-person voice, signalling his death and the impersonal nature of war's machinery.

Tense consistency

Analyse texts in the present tense: "Owen presents…" not "Owen presented…". Keep it consistent throughout.

Pathos

An appeal to the audience's emotions, especially pity. Owen's central aim: "The poetry is in the pity."

Pity (Owen)

Owen's declared subject. Verbs of compassion (mourn, lament, grieve) are more precise than "feel sad for".

Futility

The sense that actions are pointless. Key theme in Owen's "Futility" and "Exposure". Precise synonym: "meaninglessness".

Disillusionment

Loss of belief in ideals such as patriotism or glory. Central to Paul's arc and Owen's rejection of "the old Lie".

Dehumanisation

Reducing people to less than human. Owen's soldiers "die as cattle"; Remarque's soldiers become instinct-driven animals.

Desensitisation

Becoming numb to horror through repeated exposure. Describes how front-line soldiers cope in both texts.

Alienation

Estrangement from others or society. Paul feels cut off from his family, home and civilian life during leave.

Cynicism

A distrustful attitude towards sincerity or ideals. Mark the tone of Owen's final stanza in "Dulce et Decorum Est".

Visceral imagery

Imagery that evokes bodily, gut-level reactions. Owen's "obscene as cancer" is an example.

Juxtaposition

Placing contrasting ideas side by side to highlight difference, such as youthful innocence against mechanised slaughter.

Irony (dramatic/situational)

A gap between expectation and reality. Title of "Dulce et Decorum Est" ironically echoes the "sweet and fitting" lie it condemns.

Sibilance

Repeated "s" sounds. Can evoke hissing gas, whispers or stealth. Always link to effect, not just identification.

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate sound. "Stuttering rifles' rapid rattle" (Owen) mimics gunfire through its sound.

Tone verbs (precise)

Replace "shows" with: conveys, underscores, exposes, interrogates, laments, condemns, evokes, subverts, reinforces.

Hedging language

Phrases that qualify claims with nuance: arguably, perhaps, suggests, implies, seems to. Prevents overstated analysis.

Formal academic register

Avoid contractions, slang and first-person overuse. Prefer "Owen condemns" to "Owen really hates".

Its / It's

"Its" = possessive; "it's" = it is. A common accuracy error. Eg. The poem exposes its audience's complacency.

Possessive apostrophe

Owen's poetry (singular); soldiers' trauma (plural). Always check before adding an apostrophe.

Cohesive devices

Words linking ideas for flow: furthermore, however, in contrast, consequently, similarly. Vary them to avoid repetition.

Concision

Remove filler ("in order to", "it can be seen that"). Precise language demonstrates control and effectiveness.

Whereas (contrast)

A subordinating conjunction that sets up a direct contrast in one sentence. Eg. Owen condemns war with open anger, whereas Remarque conveys its horror through numbed understatement.

While / Whilst (concession)

Acknowledges a similarity before stressing a difference. Eg. While both writers expose the lie of glory, they do so through different forms.

Similarly / Likewise

Sentence adverbs that signal a parallel idea. Place at the start of a sentence, followed by a comma, and avoid overusing them.

Conversely / In contrast

Signals a reversal or opposing approach. More precise than "but" in a comparative paragraph.

Both... and...

A correlative pair for shared features. Eg. Both Owen and Remarque depict the loss of innocence. Keep the structure parallel on each side.

Neither... nor...

A correlative negative pair. Eg. Neither text offers consolation. Check that the verb agrees with the nearer subject.

Not only... but also...

Combines two shared ideas with emphasis. Eg. Not only does Owen mourn the dead, but he also indicts the living.

Parallel structure

Matching grammatical forms in a comparison. "Owen laments the dead; Remarque documents the dying" is balanced; "Owen laments the dead; the dying are documented" is not.

Comparative adjectives

more/less + adjective or -er. Eg. Remarque's tone is more detached; Owen's is more accusatory. Never write "more better".

Subordinate clause of concession

Begins with although, even though or despite. Eg. Although Owen uses verse, his imagery is as unflinching as Remarque's prose.

Relative clause (which / who)

Adds a comparative detail without a new sentence. Eg. Paul's narration, which withholds overt judgement, contrasts with Owen's explicit address to the reader.

Nominalisation

Turning a verb into a noun for academic register. "Both writers dehumanise soldiers" becomes "Both texts depict the dehumanisation of soldiers".

Comparative thesis

A single sentence stating the key similarity and difference. Eg. Though both texts expose the futility of war, Owen indicts the glorification of sacrifice while Remarque dramatises the loss of identity.

Integrated comparison

Discussing both texts within one paragraph, using connectives to move between them. Stronger than block structure, which treats each text separately.

Topic sentence (comparative)

Opens a paragraph with the comparative idea, not the text. Eg. Both writers present comradeship as the only redemptive force in war.

Form: verse vs prose

Owen's compression forces precise word choice and imagery; Remarque's prose allows extended, accumulative description. Always link form to effect.

Lyric voice vs narrative voice

Owen's speaker offers a concentrated emotional moment; Paul's narration builds experience across chapters. Compare how each shapes the reader's response.

Collective "we"

Used by both writers to speak for a generation. Owen's "we" in "Exposure" and Paul's collective voice show shared, not individual, suffering.

Retrospective vs immediate perspective

"Dulce et Decorum Est" recalls the gas attack in a haunted dream; Paul's present-tense narration traps the reader in the moment.

Direct accusation vs implicit critique

Owen directly challenges "you" the civilian; Remarque implies criticism through figures such as Kantorek. Compare explicit and implicit address.

Lexical field

A group of words from one semantic area. Compare Owen's lexis of sickness and disease with Remarque's lexis of animals and instinct.

Animalistic lexis

Both writers reduce soldiers to animals ("die as cattle"; Paul's instinctive "animal" survival). Supports a comparison of dehumanisation.

Euphemism

A softer word for a harsh reality. Remarque's soldiers use blunt, darkly casual language for death, where Owen exposes the euphemistic "glory" of propaganda.

Understatement (meiosis)

Remarque's flat tone makes horror more powerful. Contrast with Owen's heightened, visceral diction.

Pathos (comparative)

Both texts evoke pity, but Owen's pity is lyrical and elegiac, whereas Remarque's emerges from the accumulation of small, human details.

Irony (comparative)

Owen's title inverts a patriotic slogan; Remarque's title ironically contrasts "quiet" with the destruction it conceals. Both use irony to expose a lie.

Sentence length contrast

Remarque's short declaratives often mimic emotional numbness; Owen's broken lines and caesurae mimic panic. Compare how syntax mirrors psychological state.

Pararhyme

Owen's imperfect rhyme (eg. in "Strange Meeting") creates dissonance and unease. Compare with Remarque's use of disrupted syntax to unsettle.

Juxtaposition (comparative)

Both writers place youth beside death. Compare Owen's "boys" against the front with Paul's former schoolmates dying beside him.

Betrayal of youth

Shared theme. Owen blames those who tell "the old Lie"; Remarque blames teachers like Kantorek. Use the verbs "indict" and "betray".

Alienation from civilians

Paul's leave and Owen's "Disabled" both depict men cut off from home. Compare how each uses setting and tone to show estrangement.

Trauma and memory

Owen's "Mental Cases" and "Dulce et Decorum Est" show intrusive memory; Paul's leave shows an inability to reconnect. Use "haunted by" and "unable to reintegrate".

Nature vs mechanisation

Both writers contrast the natural world with industrial slaughter. Compare how each represents nature as indifferent or lost.

Comradeship (compare)

A shared value. Remarque shows it as practical survival and loyalty; Owen shows it as compassion and grief. Both present it as redemptive.

Evaluative comparative verbs

parallels, echoes, mirrors, diverges from, complicates, contrasts with, reinforces. Replace "is similar to" and "is different from".

Hedging (comparative)

Arguably, to a degree, perhaps. Eg. Remarque is arguably less overtly political than Owen. Prevents sweeping, unsupported claims.

Discourse markers (additive)

Furthermore, moreover, in addition. Use sparingly. Make sure each marker adds a new idea, not a repeated one.

Context link (comparative)

Connect each writer's perspective to their situation: Owen as a soldier-poet writing at the time; Remarque as a veteran writing retrospectively in 1929.

Concluding comparative sentence

Synthesise, don't repeat. Eg. Ultimately, while Owen mourns through poetry's compression, Remarque exposes through prose's accumulation; both insist war destroys more than it kills.

Textual features

Small-scale language choices: diction, syntax, imagery, sound, punctuation. Eg. Owen's "obscene as cancer" uses a simile of disease to make the suffering repellent.

Broader authorial choices

Large-scale decisions: structure, form, narrative perspective, title, ending, selection of events. Eg. Remarque's shift away from Paul's voice in the final passage.

And/or (strategy)

You may focus on features, on authorial choices, or on both. Marks reward depth of analysis and evaluation of meaning, not how many techniques you list.

Quality over quantity

Three techniques explored in depth beat ten named briefly. Choose fewer examples and explain each one's effect on meaning.

Feature, effect, meaning

A three-step chain: identify the choice, explain its effect on the reader, evaluate what it reveals about war. Never stop at step one.

Evaluate (verb)

To judge how effectively a choice shapes meaning. Eg. This fragmentation is arguably more powerful than description because it forces the reader to experience disorientation.

Insightful analysis

Goes beyond the obvious reading to a perceptive interpretation. Eg. Owen's pity is not passive sympathy but an accusation aimed at the living.

Convincing analysis

Every claim is backed by precise evidence and logical reasoning. Use "this suggests... because..." to show your reasoning.

Feature spotting (error)

Naming a technique without analysis ("Owen uses a simile"). Fix it by adding what the simile does and what idea it advances.

Narrative summary (error)

Retelling the plot instead of analysing choices. Replace "Paul then goes on leave" with "Remarque's placing of the leave chapter exposes Paul's alienation".

Narrative perspective

Who tells the story and how. Remarque's first-person Paul creates intimacy and limits the view; Owen's speaker often shifts between "I", "we" and "you".

First-person plural "we"

Merges individual and collective suffering. Evaluate: it positions the speaker as a witness for a whole generation rather than a lone victim.

Structural choice

How a text is ordered. Remarque's episodic chapters mirror the fragmented, unpredictable rhythm of front-line life, so analyse structure as meaning.

Poetic structure (Owen)

Sonnet-like or traditional forms are strained by horror. In "Anthem for Doomed Youth" the elegiac form mourns while rejecting conventional ritual.

Volta (turn)

A shift in argument or tone within a poem. In "Dulce et Decorum Est" the turn to "you" implicates the reader. Evaluate what the shift achieves.

Closing choice

How an ending shapes final meaning. Remarque's detached closing report of Paul's death makes the individual loss seem insignificant to the war machine.

Title as authorial choice

Titles frame the whole work. Both titles are ironic: one inverts a patriotic Latin tag, the other uses "quiet" as bureaucratic understatement.

Ironic distance

A gap between narrator's tone and the horror described. Evaluate how understated language intensifies, rather than lessens, emotional impact.

Connotation

The associations a word carries beyond its literal meaning. Analyse connotations: "cattle" implies slaughter without dignity or individual worth.

Diction (analysis)

Word choice and its effect. Never write "strong words". Name the semantic field and explain what the choice implies about the writer's attitude.

Semantic field

A group of related words. Owen's disease and hunting lexis versus Remarque's animal and instinct lexis both reveal a loss of humanity.