Part of the challenge of A2 is that you will be asked to compare texts from different periods and genres. You should begin this process by finding something that your texts share. Even if your exam board does not specify single poems or extracts to work with, your task will be more manageable if you start the process by examining key extracts and single poems. You can broaden your scope later if required. Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion (published 1818) and Thomas Hardy’s Poems 1912–13 are different in time and form, but they share a common theme, regret, as well as themes and techniques related to time, place, repetition and voice.
The question you are set may ask you to focus on the expression of themes that the passages have in common, or it might ask you to address more specific issues such as how the writers use names or landscape. You could be asked to examine narrative techniques or explore what is unspoken. Do you agree with the similarities and contrasts identified in the boxes? Can you think of other ways to ‘compare and contrast’ this pairing or your own texts?
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