1 reply to this topic

[WOWthatwascool]

Hi,

Just wanted to ask how many poems do we have to write on for English SL Paper 2? I've been looking at past paper questions and only those from a long time ago (2006) say "refer to three or four poems by two or three poets you have studied" and those recently (then until now) haven't said so, only to refer to "at least two" poets. Is there a requirement on how many poems we write on or does that depend on the essay itself? If so what would you recommend?

Thanks a bunch!
WOWthatwascool

[Sandwich]

You should make a decision based on common sense. You need to write a good comparative essay, showing a lot of knowledge and thought. Obviously you'll need to compare a minimum of 2 poets (and probably 3-4 poems per poet - or you'd both not be writing a comparative essay AND failing to show knowledge of the work studied) but essentially you should compare as many poems/poets as suits the essay, without losing track by having too many.

So yes, common sense. It's the same with all the types of Lit essay, whether you're doing poetry, drama or whatever. Some questions will give you a LOT to write about for two texts, others will mean you've got a little to write about all the texts you studied. The goal is to produce the best essay you can, so really it's up to your judgement to see what you can achieve in the time to maximise your marks. The only requirements really are that it's comparative, of good quality and really shows off your knowledge/understanding.