The Component 1 paper (Poetry and Prose): a poetry comparison pairing a pre-1914 anthology poem with an unseen post-1914 text (AO1, AO2, AO3, AO4) and an essay on a studied prose fiction text (AO1, AO2, AO3, AO5), worth 30 percent over 2 hours.

What this dot point is asking

Component 1, Poetry and Prose, is the first written paper and the one that combines the qualification's two big skills: idea-led comparison and the sustained analysis of a studied text. It is worth 30 percent over 2 hours, in two sections, and knowing exactly what each section assesses, and how its objectives are loaded, is the foundation of preparing for the paper. This dot point sets out the structure of Component 1 and what the poetry comparison and the prose essay each reward.

The answer

Component 1 tests two distinct skills in one paper, so preparation has two strands: command of the anthology and the prose text from study, and fluency at integrated comparison and essay-writing under time. The two sections reward different things.

Section A: the poetry comparison

Section A pairs a poem from the pre-1914 Poetry Anthology, studied in advance, with an unseen post-1914 text printed on the paper. You write a single integrated comparison of the two, reading language, form, structure and context across the pair. The objective loading is AO1, AO2, AO3 and AO4, with AO4 prominent because the task is comparative: the answer must weave the two texts together around a shared idea, not analyse one fully and then the other. The anthology poem is known, so its secure knowledge and context anchor a comparison with a text read cold in the exam.

Section B: the prose essay

Section B is an essay on a studied prose fiction text from the Eduqas prescribed list (examples include Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Ian McEwan's Atonement). It is read through the integrated method with a focus on narrative method: how the story is told, the narrative perspective and focalisation, the language that builds character and voice, the structure. The loading is AO1, AO2, AO3 and AO5, so context frames the reading and, where the question invites it, an interpretation is held live. The text is studied in advance, and close analysis is anchored in moments but reaches across the novel from memory.

Examples in context

The anthology, the unseen and the prose text vary, so the moves below are illustrative; confirm your texts against the current Eduqas A710 materials.

A comparative opening (Section A). "Both texts hold time as loss, but the anthology poem keeps the past present through relentless present-tense verbs, where the unseen text fixes it as complete through a single perfective; the contrast in tense is the contrast in how each speaker bears what is gone." A point that exists only as comparison.

A prose argument (Section B). "The novel isolates its protagonist grammatically as much as narratively: she is repeatedly the object of others' verbs and the focaliser of her own confinement, so the narration enacts the separation it describes. Reading the telling, not the events, shows where the isolation lives." Narrative method read to effect.

Try this

Q1. How is Component 1 structured, and what is its weighting? [2 marks]

• Cue. A 2 hour written paper worth 30 percent, in two sections: a poetry comparison (Section A) and a prose fiction essay (Section B).

Q2. Why is AO4 prominent in Section A? [2 marks]

• Cue. The poetry task is a comparison of a pre-1914 anthology poem with an unseen post-1914 text, so the connections objective (AO4) is loaded on top of AO1 to AO3.

Q3. Explore how the writer presents the protagonist's isolation in your prose text, considering contexts. [out of 60]

• What the marker wants. An argued, integrated reading of narrative method (AO1, AO2), framed by context (AO3) and, where invited, interpretation (AO5), anchored in moments but reaching across the novel, not plot retelling.

A note on Component 1

This guide is AI-written and not individually human-reviewed. The set prose text, the anthology and the unseen vary by cycle and centre, and the exact section tariffs and timings are set by WJEC Eduqas; confirm them against the current A710 specification and sample assessment materials.