AQA GCSE English Literature 8702 • England

AQA GCSE anthology poetry comparison

Choose a studied poem that answers the question, compare the poets’ methods and turn your notes into a connected argument.

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Current answer

Start with the question, then choose the poem

To compare studied anthology poems, choose a second poem that gives you something precise to say about the question. Build a shared argument, select short evidence from both poems, then explain how their language, form or structure produce similar or different views. A useful comparison connects ideas and methods, rather than listing two poems’ features.

This guide covers AQA GCSE English Literature 8702 in England, Paper 2 Section B, using the current specification. The worked example uses Ozymandias and London from Power and Conflict. If you study another cluster, apply the comparison method to your own poems. Other boards have different tasks. For unfamiliar poems, use our separate GCSE unseen poetry guide.

What the AQA anthology task asks you to do

AQA currently offers Love and Relationships, Power and Conflict, and Worlds and Lives. Study all 15 poems in your chosen cluster and be ready for any of them. Check which cluster your class studies before using practice questions.

Two studied poems

Answer one comparative question on one named poem printed in the paper and one other poem from your anthology cluster. Choose from the cluster you have studied. See the AQA task outline.

A closed-book comparison

The named poem is supplied; the full text of your chosen second poem is not. Revise both short quotations and accurate references to important moments.

Ideas, methods and context

Section B carries 30 marks: AO1 12, AO2 12 and AO3 6. Develop an informed response with textual evidence, analyse language, form and structure, and connect relevant context to your interpretation. See the Section B specimen mark scheme.

Choose for the exact focus, not just the theme

Practice question: Compare how poets present the power of rulers in “Ozymandias” and in one other poem from Power and Conflict. This is a teaching example, not an AQA past-paper question.

Underline what needs comparing
Here the focus is the power of rulers. A poem about natural power might offer a contrast, but you must explain its relevance to rulers rather than drifting into a general essay about power.
Test a possible partner
Try William Blake’s “London”. You can connect the king’s ruined monument in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias” with the palace associated with suffering in “London”. Both allow a focused discussion of political authority.
Check the evidence you can explain
Before choosing, recall one precise moment, one method and one difference. If you remember only that both poems are about power, your connection is still too broad.
Write the relationship in a sentence
For this example: both poems challenge rulers’ power, but Shelley exposes its eventual collapse while Blake presents its continuing human cost. This becomes a provisional argument to test against the texts.

Build a grid that already contains an argument

The grid gives three possible comparisons. Check each detail against the full poems. Notice that the final column explains the relationship rather than simply saying “both use imagery”. Read the full poems in the AQA anthology, printed pages 21–22.

Comparison focus	Shelley: Ozymandias	Blake: London	What the comparison shows
Rulers’ authority	The inscription calls the ruler “king of kings”. The grand title asserts superiority.	The speaker links the soldier’s suffering to “palace walls”. The building can represent royal authority.	Both connect power with a public symbol, but one ruler boasts while the other is seen through suffering.
What challenges that authority	“Nothing beside remains” follows the boast: the surviving words promise power that the scene cannot deliver.	The image of blood running down the palace walls links political authority to the soldier’s pain.	Shelley makes the claim to greatness look futile; Blake makes authority appear implicated in harm.
Voice and movement	The ruler’s claim reaches us inside a traveller’s account, then gives way to the empty landscape.	A first-person observer moves through the city, repeatedly encountering distress.	Distance makes the king an object of scrutiny; the walk makes suffering feel widespread and immediate.

Turn the grid into a linked argument plan

Organise by the ideas you want to prove. The following plan is one workable choice, not a compulsory paragraph formula. Each part draws on both poems.

Opening argument
Both poems challenge political authority. Shelley presents a ruler whose claim to permanence has failed; Blake shows the damage associated with authority in a living city.
Develop the public symbols of power
Compare the boast on the statue with the palace image. Explain why the inscription and the building matter to the poets’ presentation of rulers.
Develop the challenge to power
Link the turn from the boast to the ruined landscape with the movement through suffering in London. Ask whether the poems offer distance from oppression or keep the reader close to it.
Reach a supported judgement
Return to the difference: a ruler can lose the power he claims is permanent, yet authority can still cause suffering while it lasts. Make the ending follow from your evidence rather than adding a new topic.

Note

One concise comparative paragraph

Example paragraph: Both Shelley and Blake undermine the prestige of rulers, but from different perspectives. In “Ozymandias”, the title “king of kings” makes an extravagant claim to supremacy. Its confidence is overturned by “Nothing beside remains”: the abrupt statement turns the ruler’s boast into evidence of his failure. In “London”, Blake instead directs attention to “palace walls”, associating royal authority with the soldier’s suffering. Where Shelley’s ruined monument exposes power’s impermanence, Blake’s palace image suggests its human cost while it still operates.

The paragraph makes a joint claim, examines specific details and ends by sharpening a difference. A full response would develop this argument with further relevant evidence and context.

Note

Explain what methods and context contribute

Move past the label. “Both poets use imagery” tells the reader very little. “Shelley turns the ruler’s monument into a ruin, whereas Blake associates the palace with the soldier’s suffering” identifies what the images do differently. Then explain how that difference answers the question.

Use structure to follow meaning. Do not just count stanzas or name a sonnet. Ask where the poem’s emphasis changes: in “Ozymandias”, placing the barren scene after the boast lets the landscape contradict the ruler’s words. In “London”, following the speaker through repeated encounters can support a reading of suffering as widespread.

Make context part of the reading. For this studied-poetry task, AO3 matters. Use relevant context from your course notes, then explain how it illuminates a detail. For example, a discussion of monarchy should help you interpret the palace image, rather than becoming an unrelated biography of Blake. Avoid claiming that a poet held a particular view unless you can support it.

Practise choosing, then test your paragraph

Use your class anthology and a practice question from the resources below.

Change the focus
Try a question about the effects of conflict instead of rulers. Reconsider your partner poem and argument; do not reuse the power paragraph unchanged.
Rebuild one row from memory
Close the anthology and note evidence for both poems. Reopen it to check words, speakers and the position of each detail. Correct uncertain quotations before practising again.
Check your explanation
Underline each link to the question and circle each method you actually explain. If you have merely named a device, add what it suggests in this poem.
Ask for focused feedback
Show your teacher the question, your poem choice and one paragraph. Ask whether the second poem fits the focus and whether your evidence supports the difference you claim.

Support and clarity

Frequently asked questions

Straight answers to the questions people ask most often.

Must every paragraph alternate between the poems?

No single sentence pattern is required. You can develop one poem’s idea before moving to the other, provided the relationship remains clear. Planning by comparative ideas can help you avoid writing two separate mini-essays followed by a brief comparison at the end.

What if I cannot remember the exact quotation?

Use an accurate textual reference rather than inventing words in quotation marks. Describe the specific moment and explain its relevance. Precise short quotations are useful for analysing word choices, so practise checking and recalling them alongside the poem’s wider movement.

Should I prepare one poem to compare with everything?

That is a fragile strategy: the question’s focus may not fit your prepared argument. Revise the whole cluster you study and practise choosing between plausible partners. For each choice, test whether you can explain a relevant similarity or difference using evidence.

1.
GCSE English Literature 8702: specification at a glance
AQA
Current Paper 2 Section B task.
2.
GCSE English Literature 8702: modern texts and poetry
AQA
Current anthology clusters and study requirements.
3.
Paper 2 specimen mark scheme
AQA
Section B assessment criteria and mark allocation.
4.
June 2022 poetry anthology examiner report
AQA
June 2022 examiner advice on choosing poems, precise references and relevant context; historical paper arrangement.
5.
Past and present: poetry anthology, version 1.2
AQA
Poem texts: Shelley’s Ozymandias and Blake’s London on printed pages 21–22.

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Start with the question, then choose the poem

Two studied poems

A closed-book comparison

Ideas, methods and context

GCSE unseen poetry: reading unfamiliar poems

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Frequently asked questions