Section A — Unseen poem: 'Allotment, Late October' (written for this paper)
My father's hands are maps I never learned —
the creases where the river of his life
went underground, the knuckles like the hills
he left behind, the scar from a bread knife
in nineteen seventy-nine. He kneels in mud
and pulls the last potatoes from the clay
as if they're letters from a home that's gone,
reads each one, brushes it, puts it away.
I offer help. He waves me off. Not yet.
The light goes thin as tea. The bonfire smoke
leans east, the way his talk does after wine,
towards a village, and a lane, and an oak.
I stand there with my phone, my clean white trainers,
my accent from the town where I was born,
and watch him plant the garlic for next year —
one clove, and then another, in the cold, in the dark, in the turned earth, like a vow.
Section A — Unseen poem: 'Allotment, Late October' (written for this paper)
My father's hands are maps I never learned —
the creases where the river of his life
went underground, the knuckles like the hills
he left behind, the scar from a bread knife
in nineteen seventy-nine. He kneels in mud
and pulls the last potatoes from the clay
as if they're letters from a home that's gone,
reads each one, brushes it, puts it away.
I offer help. He waves me off. Not yet.
The light goes thin as tea. The bonfire smoke
leans east, the way his talk does after wine,
towards a village, and a lane, and an oak.
I stand there with my phone, my clean white trainers,
my accent from the town where I was born,
and watch him plant the garlic for next year —
one clove, and then another, in the cold, in the dark, in the turned earth, like a vow.
130 marks
Read the unseen poem 'Allotment, Late October'. Compare the ways in which the writer presents a parent–child relationship in this poem and in one other poem of your choice from your post-2000 anthology (for example, 'Eat Me', 'Out of the Bag' or 'Material').
230 marks
Section B — The Metaphysical Poets
Explore the ways in which the Metaphysical poets present the relationship between physical and spiritual love. You must refer to at least two poems. You must relate your discussion to relevant contextual factors.
Finished?
Answer every question to finish (2 left), or finish when the time’s up.
Score 0 / 60 · 0 of 2 marked
This paper is written by Plasmo in the style of the Edexcel A-Level English Literature exam. It is not a past paper and is not produced or endorsed by the exam board.
Edexcel A-Level English Literature Mock Exam: Component 3: Poetry | Plasmo