IGCSE Songs of Ourselves PAST QUESTIONS

2010

1a) Re-read Dover Beach (by Matthew Arnold).

Explore the ways in which Arnold vividly conveys his state of mind in this poem.

1b) Explore how either The Flower-Fed Buffaloes (by Vachel Lindsay) or Report to Wordsworth (by
Boey Kim Cheng) powerfully conveys feelings about human destruction of the natural world.

1c) What do you find particularly memorable about the poets’ portrayal of night and moonlight in
Amends (by Adrienne Rich) and Full Moon and Little Frieda (by Ted Hughes)? Support your answer
with details from both poems.

2a) Re-read Sonnet 29 (by Edna St Vincent Millay).

What do you think makes this sonnet so sad? Support your ideas with details from the poet’s
words.

2b) In either Marrysong (by Dennis Scott) or First Love (by John Clare) explore how the poet’s
words vividly portray being in love.

2c) Sounds of words can contribute powerfully to a poem’s effect and meaning. Explore some
examples of this from at least two poems that you have studied from this section of Songs of
Ourselves.

3a) Re-read The Voice (by Thomas Hardy).

How does Hardy powerfully convey distress and grief in this poem?

3b) Explore in detail how the poet memorably conveys delight in nature in either Amends (by
Adrienne Rich) or On the Grasshopper and The Cricket (by John Keats).

3c) Explore some of the ways poets bring places to life in any two of the poems in the selection
from Part 3.

4a) Re-read Sonnet 43 (‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!’) by Elizabeth Barrett
Browning.
Explore how the poet memorably conveys the power of her love in this poem.

4b) In either So, We’ll Go No More A-Roving (by Lord Byron) or The Voice (by Thomas Hardy)
explore the ways in which the poet vividly conveys how short-lived love is.

4c) Explore in detail one moment from Full Moon and Little Frieda (by Ted Hughes) and one moment
from On the Grasshopper and the Cricket (by John Keats) that you find particularly vivid.

5a) Re-read The Flower-Fed Buffaloes (by Vachel Lindsay).

What are your feelings as you read this poem? Support your ideas by reference to the
words of the poem.

5b) How does the poet powerfully convey the sorrow of human life in either Dover Beach (by
Matthew Arnold) or Sonnet 29 (by Edna St Vincent Millay)? Support your ideas with details from the
poem.

5c) Some poems tell a story. Explore one poem from this selection which you feel does this,
showing how you think the poet makes the story compelling.
2011

6a) Re-read Marrysong (by Dennis Scott).

Explore the ways in which Scott beautifully portrays a relationship in this poem.

6b) Explore how the poet powerfully communicates the pain of loss in either The Voice (by Thomas
Hardy) or Sonnet 29 (‘Pity me not because the light of day’) (by Edna St Vincent Millay).

6c) In two of the following poems explore in detail lines which you find particularly striking.
Full Moon and Little Frieda (by Ted Hughes)
The Flower-Fed Buffaloes (by Vachel Lindsay)
Sonnet 43 (‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!’) (by Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

7a) Re-read Full Moon and Little Frieda (by Ted Hughes).
Explore how Hughes conveys the delight of this moment.

7b) Which parts of Lament (by Gillian Clarke) and Report to Wordsworth (by Boey Kim
Cheng) are particularly vivid for you in their portrayal of the way Nature is being damaged? Show
how the poets’ words create such a powerful effect.

7c) Explore how the words of one poem in this section vividly portray a single moment in time.

8a) Re-read On The Grasshopper and The Cricket (John Keats).

Explore how Keats vividly portrays the never-ending pleasures that Nature has to offer.

8b) Explore how the poets’ words create striking pictures of the world at night in Amends (Adrienne
Rich) and Dover Beach (Matthew Arnold).

8c) Explore the endings of two poems in the selection from Part 3 which you find particularly
memorable. By close reference to the poets’ words, show why you find them so memorable.
(NB Do not use On The Grasshopper and The Cricket in answering this question.)

9a) Re-read Time (by Allen Curnow).

Explore some of the ways in which Curnow describes Time in this poem.

9b) In Lament (by Gillian Clarke) explore how the poet’s words vividly convey feelings of
bitterness.

9c) Choose some lines from Marrysong (by Dennis Scott) and Sonnet 43 (by Elizabeth
Barrett Browning) which you find especially moving in their description of love. Explore the ways in
which the poets make your chosen lines so moving.

10a) Re-read First Love (John Clare).

Explore how this poem vividly communicates feelings of first love.

10b) In either Sonnet 29 (by Edna St Vincent Millay) or The Voice (by Thomas Hardy) explore how
the poet’s words create a feeling of great loss.

10c) Explore how in two poems in this selection the poets’ words create a vivid picture of the
places they are describing. (Do not use ‘First Love’ in answering this question.)