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Exemplifying Examination Performance English Literature GCE A2 LEVEL Exemplifying Examination Performance English Literature For first teaching from September 2008 This is an exemplification of candidates’ performance in A2 examinations (Summer Series 2010) to support the teaching and learning of the English Literature specification A2 1: Goldsmith: Selected Poems 2 CCEA EXEMPLIFYING EXAMINATION PERFORMANCE EXEMPLIFYING EXAMINATION PERFORMANCE A2 English Literature Introduction These materials illustrate aspects of performance from the 2010 summer A2 examination series of CCEA’s revised GCE Specification in English Literature. Students’ grade A responses are reproduced as written in the examination. They are accompanied by commentaries written by senior examiners. The commentaries draw attention to the strengths of the students’ responses and indicate, where appropriate, how improvements could be made. The materials exemplify the standard for the lifetime of the specification. It is intended that they should provide a benchmark of candidate performance and help teachers and students to raise standards. The texts included for exemplification are dependent on the questions chosen by candidates in the summer 2010 examination series. For further details of our support package, please visit our website at www.ccea.org.uk Best wishes Majella Corrigan Education Manager, English Language, English Literature and English Email: [email protected] Telephone: 028 9026 1200 (ext. 2200) CCEA EXEMPLIFYING EXAMINATION PERFORMANCE 3 4 CCEA EXEMPLIFYING EXAMINATION PERFORMANCE A2 1 (AL211/1): Section A: The Study of Poetry 1300–1800 Goldsmith: Selected Poems CCEA EXEMPLIFYING EXAMINATION PERFORMANCE 5 6 CCEA EXEMPLIFYING EXAMINATION PERFORMANCE A2 Unit 1 English Literature By referring closely to extract 4(a) from ‘The Deserted Village’, printed in the Q4a accompanying Resource Booklet, and other appropriately selected parts of the poem, and making use of relevant external historical contextual material, examine the poetic methods which Goldsmith uses to present the theme of social injustice in the eighteenth century. Student’s response Social injustice is one of Goldsmith’s fundamental concerns in ‘The Deserted Village’. He sums up his condemnation by stating ‘Where, shall poverty reside, to scape the pressure of contiguous pride’. Hence, due to the impact of enclosure, wealthy landowners effectively priced landless labourers out of the property market and so rural English communities became depopulated. Goldsmith’s depiction of depopulation ‘provoked incredulity in London. This view is supported by Ginger, who notes that ‘while people went hungry, they were gratuitously insulted by the flamboyant display of wealth’, which caused social inequality in 18th century London. The heroic couplet above illustrates Goldsmith’s disapproval of wealthy property owners causing the poor to correspondingly become further impoverished. Goldsmith uses form and structure to outline his view of social inequality. ‘The Deserted Village’ is a long, reflective poem. As the poem is written in heroic verse, it is linked with Epic literature, the most weighty and formal form of poetry in the Eighteenth Century. By using heroic verse, Goldsmith ‘announces’ to his readers the gravity of social inequality. This was the form favoured by neoclassical writers such as Pope and Johnson. Neoclassicists believed that contemporary poets should model themselves on classical Greek and Roman writers, such as Homer and Virgil. Neoclassicists also believed that poets should provide a didactic function, as well as entertaining their readers. They also believed that poetry should examine humanity as a whole rather than focus on individuals and that this should be done with clarity, balance, dignity and moderation. Within the extract Goldsmith uses conventional poetic diction, which was associated with Eighteenth- Century formal poetry. ‘Turn thine eyes where the poor houseless shivering female lies’ emphasises that Goldsmith uses terms such as ‘thy’ and ‘thine’, which would have been considered as archaic by 1770. This quotation highlights alliteration and that social inequality in Eighteenth-Century Britain caused the poor to become landless. The growth of industry, the importation of tea and silk (luxurious items) and as London was the focal point of Britain’s burgeoning Empire, the poor became further impoverished. Hence, Goldsmith deals the contrast between the urban setting of wealth and poverty, splendour and squalor. Within the extract, Goldsmith uses hyperbole and a succession of negative images to depict social inequality in rural English Communities. ‘Thine, sweet AUBURN, thine, the loveliest train’ evokves the positive connotations and tranquility of rural English communities. This is sharply contrasted with the negative images which emphasise how wealth and ostentation caused by affluent landowners ‘at proud men’s doors they ask a little bread’. Hence, these images are juxtaposed as the poverty- striken rural poor contrast with the ‘proud men’ of wealth and status. This was condemned by Scott, who stated in 1775 that Britain gained vast wealth by ‘oppression by the plunder of slavery’. Hence, he criticised how Britain gained wealth via immoral means as slaves were exploited. Therefore Goldsmith condemns ‘the dome where pleasure holds her midnight reign’. Hence, Goldsmith includes frequent personification of abstractions as ‘Pleasure’ is personified. This is contrasted with ‘now lost to all; her friends, her virtue fled’. Hence, the ‘village’ is personified as a an innocent female. This hints at the use of apostrophe. Goldsmith also uses alliteration as ‘fenceless fields’ depicts how wealthy landowners managed vast CCEA EXEMPLIFYING EXAMINATION PERFORMANCE 7 A2 Unit 1 English Literature areas of land in an unkempt manner while ‘the cold’ and hungry were suffering. Hence, social injustice is condemned by Goldsmith. The tone of this extract evokes an emotional response from the reader. Goldsmith uses a condemnatory tone as he criticises ‘the rattling chariots clash, the torches glare’. Hence, personification and alliteration are used to emphasise his disdain. This tone is replaced with a nostalgic tone as he states ‘her virtues fled’. This evokes a mood of pathos as Goldsmith considers that the impact of social injustice will mean that the ‘modest looks’ and ‘innocence’ of rural life will never be regained. This also suggests a rueful tone. In the rest of the poem, Goldsmith uses form and structure to condemn social injustice. ‘While he sinks without one arm to save, the country blooms – a garden and a grave’. This paradox emphasises how the process of enclosure was a ‘garden’ for the rich and a ‘grave’ for the poor since social inequality and social injustice spurred poverty and affluence. Goldsmith was also influenced by pastoral literature as he describes a ‘busy mill’ and ‘mirth and manners’ which evokes the innocence of rural life. The Idylls of Theocritus (3rd Century) and Eclogues of Virgil (1st C, BC) are early examples of pastoral literature. The Idylls of Theocritus depicted the innocence of rural life while the Eclogues of Virgil introduced social comment. Goldsmith also introduced social comment as he states ‘ye friends to truth, ye statesmen who survey, the rich man’s joy increase, the poor’s decay’. Hence, he addresses British politicians on the issue of social inequality and social injustice. Goldsmith suggests that exile and emmigration were the results of social change and so the poor became helpless and destitute. Therefore, ‘the growth of industry was an unmitigated evil’, (Montague) in the British Empire in the Eighteenth Century. In the rest of the poem, Goldsmith also uses language and imagery to illustrate his condemnation of social injustice. ‘how do thy potions with insidious joy diffuse their pleasures only to destroy’. This extended metaphor compares the affect that luxury has on Britain with the affect that a poisonous, intoxicating liquid has on the body. ‘Insidious joy’ is an oxymoron, which emphasises that wealth and luxury will temporarily stimulate Britain, but they will ultimately lead to its destruction. Hence, this vast wealth that was accessed on an extraordinary scale led to many affluent proprietors gaining much land at the expense of landless labourers which evoked social injustice. ‘One only master grasps the whole domain’ sums up Goldsmith’s view of these extravagant proprietors. Yet, as Goldsmith condemns ‘midnight masquerades’, he criticises those who embraced the high life of London. Yet, ironically, he engaged in this apparent extravagance with Johnson in London during the period. Hence, the biographical context of the poem suggests that Goldsmith ‘identifies with the masqueraders as much as with the uprooted villagers’ (Ginger) in Auburn. In the rest of the poem, Goldsmith uses changing tones to depict the impact of social injustice. ‘Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain’ uses apostrophe and is celebratory and amiring tone to praise the simplicity of Auburn pre-enclosure and before social injustice was rife. This tone is replaced by one of disappointment and loss as it states ‘but all these charms are fled’. The term ‘but’ conveys a tonal shift from one of idealistic recall to one of loss due to his condemnation of social injustice. As Goldsmith criticises ‘the tyrant’s hand’ he uses a vituperative tone to condemn affluent proprietors who gained vast wealth at the expense of landless labourers and caused the depopulation of rural English communities. This tone is
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