Task 1: Close Reading: How To Get Full Marks (OCR A Level English Literature)

Task 1: Close Reading: How To Get Full Marks

Regardless of which text you choose, the type of question set for the Close Reading task should always prompt you to critically analyse a poem (taken from a collection) or an extract from a piece of prose or drama and relate this to the rest of the poems from the collection or the text from which the extract is taken.

It is tempting to jump straight in and start writing immediately. However, following this guide will ensure you answer the question in the way the examiners are looking for.

Below you will find sections on:

• What skills are required

• Steps for success

What skills are required

Each task for the NEA has a dominant Assessment Objective (AO). For this task, the dominant objective is AO2, which requires you to analyse the ways in which the writer of the extract or poem has used language, form and structure to shape meanings. The minor objective for this task is AO1, which assesses you on the way you present your response, in an accurate and coherent manner, so as long as you keep your response sharply focused on the question and the passage or poem, you will hit this objective. The following sections explore the skills you will need to demonstrate mastery of in more detail:

• Critical analysis (AO2)

• Presenting a response (AO1)

Critical analysis (AO2)

Being able to confidently engage in a critical analysis of a prose or drama extract, or a poem,  takes practice. You are being asked to apply everything that you have learnt in your study of English Literature so far to new material. A critical analysis goes beyond just spotting elements of language, form and structure, although these can be used as a springboard for explaining the impact of such choices the writer has made. Essentially, ask yourself how the writer evokes certain feelings or meanings by manipulating language, structure and form.

To begin with, you might find the following questions useful to consider when reading the extract or poem for the first time:

You may also wish to consider:

• How the author might give prominence to certain events by their position in the passage or poem

• How the author builds suspense, tension or drama

• Whether there are any shifts in tone

• Whether the presentation of the character(s) is realistic, unrealistic, reliable or unreliable

• The writer’s use of symbolism or motifs

• Whether the passage or poem presents events from different points of view

• In poetry, you should consider poetic form and structure, including any relevant exploration of the purpose of (or absence of) rhyme, rhythm or stanzas

In addition, critically analysing language means that you consider the deliberate choices a writer has made to include specific words or phrases in their writing, and why. In order to do this, you should consider both the denotation and the connotations of particular words:

• Denotation = the literal meaning of a word or phrase

• Connotation = the associations or implied meanings of the word or phrase

When commenting on words and phrases from the text, you should always try to consider why you think the writer has chosen that particular word to use in their sentences. Below are some questions that you might ask yourself when analysing the words and phrases in a text:

Form and structure

Any exploration of form and structure should take into account the type of text being analysed. The following tables give you a starting point when considering these things.

Poetry:

Poems come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Analysing a poem’s form and structure can help clarify the message and meaning of a poem.

Drama:

The form is the type of writing the author has selected to tell their story and explore themes when presenting their work, while the structure is how the piece of drama unfolds.

Prose:

The form is the type of writing the author has selected to tell their story and explore themes when presenting their work, while the structure is how the text unfolds.

Presenting a response (AO1)

AO1 requires you to write an articulate personal and creative response to a text, and use concepts and terminology written in an accurate and coherent way. Below is a more detailed exploration of what the examiner is looking for:

You will also succeed if you bear in mind the importance of coherent, accurate expression (AO1): 

• You should try to respond flexibly and imaginatively to the demands of the question set

• Answering the question set is an important determining factor for the success of an answer and one of the key matters examiners keep in mind when judging the quality of your response

• A personal and genuine response to your text will produce a more impressive effect than a rehearsed presentation of established views

• Better answers tend to synthesise a developing argument

• Examiners will reward original but well-focused answers and implicit as well as explicit responses to questions

• Try to write imaginatively and with a fresh, creative approach:

  • Your response should not hindered by rehearsed, generalised ideas

• Examiners will accept a wide range of responses

Steps for success

To do well in this task, you need to respond to your chosen extract or poem as an interesting example of a piece of literature, but the examiners also want to see evidence of your genuine knowledge and wider reading. Excellent answers will be able to see the extract as a whole and respond to its unique and interesting qualities. It is important to not just hunt for what is “typical” of the genre.

Completing the steps below first will ensure you complete this task in the way that examiners are looking for:

• Do your research:

  1. OCR has an online Text and Task tool that students are able to use in the research stage of the NEA

  2. It can be useful to see what other candidates have written about in order to help you formulate your own work

  3. Your teacher is able to make amendments or additions to any text or task submission until the deadline of 31st January (in the year of examination)

• Decide on your poem or extract and collaborate with your teacher on the wording of the task:

  1. This may be dictated by your centre, although the exam board do encourage independence and creativity in your choice of text

  2. The task should be kept simple and it should have a thematic or stylistic focus that applies to both the extract or poem chosen and the text (or anthology) as a whole

  3. Ideally, the task should also refer to the text or collection as a whole in the title, as this will help you keep this focus in mind when drafting

• Plan and draft your response:

  1. Give yourself plenty of time for this

  2. Try not to leave this until the last minute and without any time for amendments or improvements

  3. Work through the poem or passage in a logical and methodical way, paying particular attention to the writer’s use of language and structure, as well as the form of the text, and draw thematic links to the rest of the text or the collection of poems

• Re-read, refine and improve:

  1. Use feedback to make changes and improve the strength of your arguments

• Re-read and check your work for overall sense and accuracy before final submission (AO1)