'Valentine' GCSE Exam Questions and Essay Plan

This carefully constructed essay plan will act as the ultimate teaching and revision tool as part of the Eduqas GCSE English Literature Poetry Anthology.

This resource provides five pairs of potential exam questions (each pair contains both a 7|1 (15 mark single named poem analysis) and 7|2 (25 mark comparative analysis)) and creates an essay plan that can address all five pairs of questions with a focus on ‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy. For the comparative question, there are three suggestions of poems to consider for comparison along with a brief overview of how the suggested poem can be compared to ‘Valentine’ based on the given question.

The essay plan details the ‘Big Idea’ behind the poem which acts as an introduction for the essay’s line of argument (ensuring it addresses each of AO1, AO2 and AO3). There are then three points that follow the structure of: Key Quotation --> Language and analysis --> Purpose. Each point begins with a focus on a method and quotation used by the poet, then explores the potential effects of this method before considering its purpose (linking back to the ‘Big Idea’ and Context) thus ensuring the essay hits top band for each of AO1, AO2 and AO3. There is also a potential structural point that can be included should you wish.