Comparative

Kold

We'd get away with just studying for themes and issues right?

Also I'm only bothering to study Dickinson and Mahon. I know it's never safe but these are all fairly surefire right?

subway_ie

Only three things can come up in comparative - Theme/Issue, Cultural Context and Literary Genre. Theme/Issue and Literary Genre are tipped to come up, but like you said, its taking a (very big) risk only preparing one of them. Although you have prepared the one that will most likely come up...

Poetry - nothing's "surefire". I'm hoping Dickinson will come up, but she might not. Although Mahon/Kavanagh/Dickinson are the ones most likely to come up, nothing's definite. Looking through the past/sample papers, they seem to be very fond of alternating between Hopkins and Dickinson, so I've done both of those relatively well. BUT, the sample papers are prepared by the Educational Company, so that's not too good a sign.

Funky

Its a bit of a risk picking theme or issue since literary genre hasnt come up in ages and is gone next year...

Dickinson and Kavanagh are the best bets if you're just going for 2 poets.

subway_ie

Originally posted by Funky
Its a bit of a risk picking theme or issue since literary genre hasnt come up in ages and is gone next year...

Even though cultural context has came up for the past 2 years?

Healio

when answering under literary genre can you refer to the theme and cultural context?

i.e two of my texts are set against a civil war and they all deal with freedom and imprisonment in some sort or another

subway_ie

Originally posted by Healio
when answering under literary genre can you refer to the theme and cultural context?

i.e two of my texts are set against a civil war and they all deal with freedom and imprisonment in some sort or another

You can make reference to them, but be sure t jeep it confined to a reference. Don't create your answer around the theme/cultural context, but you can refer to it and link them together, as long as it's all logical and you're not just writing out an essay you've learned off.

Healio

ye thats what i thought, it adds a bit more depth to my essay and it also shows a good knowledge to the examiner.

i was goin to say have they have a common theme and that they all deal with it in an interesting way.

then i was goin to say how two of the texts are immediately affected by civil war and the other isn't, and how the context of the texts lead to them being told in their different ways.

(should that be effected or affected)