3.5 pages of notes analysing ‘Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass’ (Simon Armitage), from ‘Poems of the Decade’ for the A-Level Edexcel English Literature syllabus.
A festive themed past-paper style passage followed by comprehension questions, and a choice of two creative writing prompts.
Questions are a mixture of short-answer (testing understanding of the passage), vocabulary,
Passage taken from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Would be suitable for 13+ entrance practice, or high-level 11+ entrance/scholarship practice.
Detailed analysis of all poems on the Poems of the Decade Edexcel A-Level English Literature specification (as of 2018), with the exception of ‘Out of the Bag’ (omitted for exam strategy).
Eat Me Patience Agbabi 3
Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass Simon Armitage 6
Material Ros Barber 10
History John Burnside 25
An Easy Passage Julia Copus 37
The Deliverer Tishani Doshi 43
The Lammas Hireling Ian Duhig 51
To My Nine-Year-Old Self Helen Dunmore 52
A Minor Role U A Fanthorpe 57
The Gun Vicki Feaver 62
The Furthest Distances I’ve Travelled Leontia Flynn 64
Giuseppe Roderick Ford 66
Effects Alan Jenkins 92
Genetics Sinéad Morrissey 125
From the Journal of a Disappointed Man Andrew Motion 127
Look We Have Coming to Dover! Daljit Nagra 129
Please Hold Ciaran O’Driscoll 132
On Her Blindness Adam Thorpe 170
Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn Tim Turnbull 172
2.5 pages of notes analysing ‘A Valediction of Weeping’ by John Donne (summary, technical terms, title, structure, five important quotes, context).
Designed for A-Level English Edexcel Metaphysical Poetry.