SECTION B: POETRY SONGS OF OURSELVES: from Part 3 Read this poem, and then answer the question that follows it: Dover Beach The sea is calm to-night. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; – on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! 5 Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, 10 At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long ago 15 Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery: we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea. 20 The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, 25 Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world. Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems 30 To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, 35 Where ignorant armies clash by night. (by Matthew Arnold) Explore the ways in which Arnold vividly conveys his state of mind in this poem.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2010). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [25] Poetry is literary language at its most intense.
2. [25] A poem in a short space creates a multiplicity of resonances and hence possible meanings.
3. [25] We must expect that candidates will offer a very wide variety of responses and interpretations and as examiners must at all times keep a totally open mind when assessing work on a poem.
4. [25] In the exercise of our judgment, we shall, of course, read work which shows manifestly little or no understanding of a poem and we will mark that accordingly.
5. [25] However, it should also be a regular experience to find answers which offer valid perspectives new to the examiner and which, just as manifestly, deserve to be given high reward.
6. [25] We will differentiate first of all according to how directly the candidates answer the question.
7. [25] Where questions prescribe the poems from which the candidates should choose this is to ensure that the candidate is writing on a poem appropriate to the question.
8. [25] It is also designed to send a strong signal to candidates that they are taking a large risk going into the examination with only one or two poems which they are determined to fit to a question.
9. [25] The problem can be that some will choose a question because the poem they wish to write about appears in the list rather than because they can answer the question.
10. [25] We must be very careful not to give much reward for answers which manifestly are not addressing the question, even if they show a convincing grasp of the poem.
11. [25] Do not over-reward such run throughs and do not forget that all the tasks demand that the candidate engage with the poem through a specific route; they are never simple invitations to write about a poem.
12. [25] We should think very hard before putting such work in Band 3.
13. [25] Beyond focus on the question, we will also assess according to how well candidates convince us that they have engaged with the pleasure and excitement of good poetry.
14. [25] This means in effect that we do NOT give high reward to any explanation of "meaning" which shows little response to the words and how they create meaning.
15. [25] In all of the questions there is an explicit requirement to make a response to the words and it will be difficult for any work which fails to engage in this way to progress beyond Band 3.
16. [25] In addition, examiners should be careful not to over-reward comment which is able to isolate vivid features of a poem's language but which is unable to probe the reasons for their vividness.
17. [25] For instance, the noting of rhyme, sound and movement, the listing of significant words and figures of speech is only a very small first step to insightful personal response.
18. [25] Work given high reward should show the ability of the candidate to analyse how such features of a poem's language achieve their effect.
19. [25] Refer to the band descriptors in arriving at your mark.