(B710U10-1) 3 © WJEC CBAC Ltd. 1. Compare and contrast how political figures are presented in Text A ‘A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General’ and either Text B or Text C. In your response, you are required to: • apply concepts and methods from integrated linguistic and literary study • analyse ways in which meanings are shaped • explore connections between Text A and your chosen text. [40] Section A: Comparative analysis of poetry and unseen text Answer Question 1. Your response must include: • detailed analysis of Text A, a poem taken from the WJEC Eduqas AS/A Level English Language and Literature Poetry Pre-1914 Anthology • close comparative reference to one of the two unseen extracts which appear on the following pages. Text A: The poem ‘A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General’ by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). Text B: An extract from a eulogy, a funeral speech, for politician Ted Kennedy by the then President of the United States, Barack Obama. It was delivered at Kennedy’s funeral service in Boston, USA in 2009. Text C: An extract from an obituary of ex-President of the United States, Richard Nixon, entitled ‘He Was A Crook’ by Hunter S. Thompson. It was published in Rolling Stone magazine in 1994. B710 U101 03 Turn over. (B710U10-1) 4 © WJEC CBAC Ltd. Text A: the poem ‘A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General’ by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) His Grace! impossible! what, dead! Of old age too, and in his bed! And could that mighty warrior fall, And so inglorious, after all? Well, since he’s gone, no matter how, The last loud trump must wake him now; And, trust me, as the noise grows stronger, He’d wish to sleep a little longer. And could he be indeed so old As by the newspapers we’re told? Threescore, I think, is pretty high; ’Twas time in conscience he should die! This world he cumber’d long enough; He burnt his candle to the snuff; And that’s the reason, some folks think, He left behind so great a stink. Behold his funeral appears, Nor widows’ sighs, nor orphans’ tears, Wont at such times each heart to pierce, Attend the progress of his hearse. But what of that? his friends may say, He had those honours in his day. True to his profit and his pride, He made them weep before he died. Come hither, all ye empty things! Ye bubbles rais’d by breath of kings! Who float upon the tide of state; Come hither, and behold your fate! Let pride be taught by this rebuke, How very mean a thing’s a duke; From all his ill-got honours flung, Turn’d to that dirt from whence he sprung. Text B: an extract from a eulogy for Ted Kennedy by Barack Obama in 2009 Through his own suffering, Ted Kennedy became more alive to the plight and suffering of others – the sick child who could not see a doctor; the young soldier sent to battle without armor; the citizen denied her rights because of what she looks like or who she loves or where she comes from. The landmark laws that he championed – the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, immigration reform, children’s health care, the Family and Medical Leave Act – all have a running thread. Ted Kennedy’s life’s work was not to champion those with wealth or power or special connections. It was to give a voice to those who were not heard; to add a rung to the ladder of opportunity; to make real the dream of our founding. He was given the gift of time that his brothers were not, and he used that gift to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow. We can still hear his voice bellowing through the Senate chamber, face reddened, fist pounding the podium, a veritable force of nature, in support of health care or workers’ rights or civil rights. And yet, while his causes became deeply personal, his disagreements never did. While he was seen by his fiercest critics as a partisan lightning rod, that is not the prism through which Ted Kennedy saw the world, nor was it the prism through which his colleagues saw him. He was a product of an age when the joy and nobility of politics prevented differences of party and philosophy from becoming barriers to cooperation and mutual respect – a time when adversaries still saw each other as patriots. Turn over. 5 © WJEC CBAC Ltd. (B710U10-1) Text C: an extract from an obituary of Richard Nixon, entitled ‘He Was A Crook’ by Hunter S. Thompson published in 1994 Richard Nixon is gone now, and I am poorer for it. He was the real thing – a political monster straight out of Grendel1 and a very dangerous enemy. He could shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time. He lied to his friends and betrayed the trust of his family. If the right people had been in charge of Nixon’s funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles. He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal. His body should have been burned in a trash bin. These are harsh words for a man only recently canonized by President Clinton and my old friend George McGovern – but I have written worse things about Nixon, many times, and the record will show that I kicked him repeatedly long before he went down. I beat him like a mad dog with mange every time I got a chance, and I am proud of it. He was scum. Let there be no mistake in the history books about that. Richard Nixon was an evil man – evil in a way that only those who believe in the physical reality of the Devil can understand it. He was utterly without ethics or morals or any bedrock sense of decency. 1Grendel: A novel by John Gardner (1971) based on the man-eating monster Grendel in the Old English poem Beowulf (B710U10-1) 6 © WJEC CBAC Ltd. Section B: Creative writing and commentary Answer Question 2. It is divided into three parts, (a), (b) and (c). You may draw inspiration from Texts A-C in Section A to help you answer all parts of the question. You may introduce material of your own to help you in your responses. In part (a) and part (b), you are required to: • demonstrate expertise and creativity in the use of English to communicate in different ways. In part (c), you are required to: • apply concepts and methods from integrated linguistic and literary study • analyse how meanings are shaped • explore connections across texts. 2. (a) Write a blog entry entitled ‘The World Needs Inspirational Leaders’. In your blog you may consider the qualities of a good or bad leader as well as offering practical advice for future leaders. Aim to write approximately 200 words. [10] In the blog entry you should: • consider whether the tone should be serious or light-hearted • show awareness of audience and purpose • make appropriate language choices • use an appropriate tone and style. (b) Imagine that you are a tour guide, leading a walking tour entitled ‘Heroes and Villains: A Walking Tour!’ Write an extract from your talk. Aim to write approximately 200 words. [10] While this is a text written to be spoken, it should not be presented as a transcription. For your talk you should: • choose a real or imaginary character as the focus of your talk • consider how to engage the listeners’ attention • demonstrate clear awareness of audience and purpose • use an appropriate tone and style. (c) Write an analytical commentary that compares and contrasts your choices of style, form and content in both the blog entry and the talk. Aim to write approximately 400 words. [20] END OF PAPER BLANK PAGE (B710U10-1) 7 © WJEC CBAC Ltd.