JOHN KEATS: Poems Read this extract from The Eve of St Agnes, and then answer the question that follows it. 39 'Hark! 'tis an elfin-storm from faery land, Of haggard seeming, but a boon indeed: Arise - arise! the morning is at hand; – The bloated wassaillers will never heed: Let us away, my love, with happy speed; 5 There are no ears to hear, or eyes to see, Drown'd all in Rhenish and the sleepy mead: Awake! arise! my love, and fearless be, For o'er the southern moors I have a home for thee.' 40 She hurried at his words, beset with fears, For there were sleeping dragons all around, At glaring watch, perhaps, with ready spears – Down the wide stairs a darkling way they found. – In all the house was heard no human sound. A chain-droop'd lamp was flickering by each door; The arras, rich with horseman, hawk, and hound, Flutter'd in the besieging wind's uproar; And the long carpets rose along the gusty floor. 10 15 41 They glide, like phantoms, into the wide hall; Like phantoms, to the iron porch, they glide; 20 Where lay the Porter, in uneasy sprawl, With a huge empty flaggon by his side: The wakeful bloodhound rose, and shook his hide, But his sagacious eye an inmate owns: By one, and one, the bolts full easy slide: – 25 The chains lie silent on the footworn stones; – The key turns, and the door upon its hinges groans. 42 And they are gone: ay, ages long ago These lovers fled away into the storm. That night the Baron dreamt of many a woe, And all his warrior-guests, with shade and form Of witch, and demon, and large coffin-worm, Were long be-nightmar’d. Angela the old Died palsy-twitch'd, with meagre face deform; The Beadsman, after thousand aves told, For aye unsought for slept among his ashes cold. 30 35 Explore in this extract how Keats strikingly conveys the atmosphere in the castle as the lovers make their escape.

Mark scheme

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

1. Poetry is literary language at its most intense. A poem in a short space creates multiple resonances and hence possible meanings.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. We will differentiate first of all according to how directly the candidates answer the question.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. We should think very hard before putting such work in Band 3.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. Work given high reward should show the ability of the candidate to analyse how such features of a poem's language achieve their effect.