Guide to Answering an Edexcel Poetry Exam Paper

Template

• Point sentence
    * In the point sentence, include the keywords from the question.
    * Make sure to introduce the theme of the poem that the question focuses on.
    * Ensure to use the phrase ‘Both texts’.
• Introduce the quotation
    * Make sure the quotation is embedded rather than just adding the context at the end.
• Introduce the analysis
    * Begin with a simple, single-feature analysis.
• Develop the analysis
    * Develop the analysis by introducing another feature from the quotation and develop your ideas.
    * Make sure that all of the analysis is connected and relevant.
• Introduce the context
    * Embed the context
    * Make sure that the context is relevant and would have likely influenced the writing of the poet.
• Back to the text
    * Make sure to reference back to the keywords from your point sentence and analysis.
• Develop the context
    * Add another piece of relevant context.
    * Explore how this piece of context would have influenced the poet.
• Link back to the question
    * Link back to the by using keywords from the question.

Model Exam Question

Explore the presentation of relationships in Wedding Wind and one other poem of your choice. You must include context to support your response.

Introduction

Philip Larkin’s ‘The Less Deceived’ (1955) collection of poetry explores multiple themes, including love and relationships. In both Wedding Wind and Maiden Name, Larkin presents love as a destructive force and something that people enter blindly without recognising the consequences. Writing shortly after the end of the Second World War, Larkin felt that people made decisions, such as marriage, based on the desire to conform to societal expectations and regain the things that were lost during the war.

Paragraph 1

Firstly, both texts present relationships in a negative manner. In ‘Wedding Wind’, Larkin presents relationships as something which damages those who enter blindly into them. At the beginning of the poem the female speaker describes herself as being “left stupid in candlelight” when her new husband leaves to go outside and feels that she sees “nothing” in the “twisted candlestick”. The use of the verb ‘twisted’ creates the image of distortion and confusion, which suggests that the speaker feels she can no longer see the old version of herself in her reflection. The female speaker’s former self has been damaged by the marriage which she did not realise would take away her identity. This is further reinforced by the negator ‘nothing’ as it suggests that her new identity is limited in comparison to who she was before she was married. Larkin’s view of marriage and relationships is likely to have influenced this perception of relationships as damaging. Larkins's experience of marriage and relationships growing up was less than ideal, as he witnessed arguments between his mother and father regularly, and as a grown man Larkin described marriage and relationships as ‘bloody hell’. Larkin was influenced to present relationships as damaging for those who enter blindly into them, especially based on his experiences growing up.

Paragraph 2

Following on from this, Larkin also presents relationships as damaging for those who enter them blindly, especially for women in Maiden Name. Towards the end of the poem the speaker recognises that after marriage the woman is left “laden” with “depreciating luggage”. The metaphor is used to describe the marriage and her new husband and suggests that the woman is in a relationship which has damaged her future life. The connotations of ‘laden’ suggest the woman is now burdened by her husband and her new relationship, something which is further reinforced with the verb ‘depreciating’. The woman entered into the relationship without realising the damaging effects it would have, as her future is now considered to be ‘depreciating’ in value along with her identity and new self. Larkin is likely to have been influenced by his many failed serious relationships and the fact that he was never married. Larkin’s perception of marriage and viewing marriage was that it was limiting and merely societal conformity, therefore, never married and viewed marriage as damaging. Overall it is clear that Larkin presents relationships as damaging in both Wedding Wind and Maiden Name after his experiences.