Starter quiz
- Where does a thesis statement appear in your essay?
- introduction ✓
- main body paragraph
- conclusion
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- What does 'oppressed' mean?
- free
- burdened with unfair treatment ✓
- lasting a short time
- disconnected from reality
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- How does oppression occur in 'Checking Out Me History'?
- Agard describes that he received a diverse curriculum
- Agard's native country was overcome with tyrants
- Agard was denied the opportunity to learn about his heritage in Guyana ✓
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- What is the form of both 'Checking Out Me History' and 'My Last Duchess'?
- ballad
- sonnet
- dramatic monologue ✓
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- Match the method to the type of evidence.
- caesura⇔structural evidence ✓
- light imagery⇔language evidence ✓
- a poet's Romanticism⇔contextual evidence ✓
- dramatic monologue⇔form ✓
- What is tentative language?
- language that expresses certainty
- language that expresses an opinion
- language that expresses possibility ✓
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Exit quiz
- Starting with the first, put the steps below which outline your comparative analysis paragraph in the order you'd complete them.
- 1⇔a clear, relevant topic sentence linked to your thesis statement
- 2⇔embed evidence into analytical sentences
- 3⇔analyse one poem before analysing another
- 4⇔use tentative language for personal interpretations
- 'Checking Out Me History' explores colonial power whilst 'My Last Duchess' predominantly explores...
- matriarchal power
- institutional power
- patriarchal power ✓
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- ‘Checking Out Me History’ explore how…
- marginalised groups triumph over oppressors ✓
- colonial power oppresses identity
- marginalised groups cannot reclaim control
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- A thesis statement should…
- focus heavily on contextual information
- discuss one poem in a lot of detail
- introduce both poems and summarise their key ideas ✓
- summarise multiple themes across two poems
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- How do we see evidence of marginalised groups triumphing over oppressors in 'My Last Duchess'?
- The Duke's narrative is shaped by his wife's behaviour. ✓
- The Duchess suffers a tragic death.
- The Duchess' "spot of joy" in the portrait is a mark of her defiance. ✓
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- Concealment is relevant in both 'My Last Duchess' and 'Checking Out Me History', whilst the Duke seeks to conceals the identity of his late wife through a curtain, Agard...
- conceals the truth about his education.
- had European history concealed from him.
- was denied the opportunity to learn about his own heritage and identity. ✓
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Identifying nuances in theme and perspective will construct a purposeful comparison.
- Gather ideas for both texts before planning so you know which evidence you can use.
- Ensure your thesis statement summarises both poems, links to the question and focuses on the entirety of both texts.
- Topic sentences should be specific, precise and express duality.
- Evidence should be embedded into analytical paragraphs.
Common misconception
'My Last Duchess' and 'Checking Out Me History' are written over 100 years apart, thus won't make for the most effective comparison.
When looking at poems to compare, look closely at similarities between big ideas and you can find nuanced links between poems that are written in different socio-political contexts.
Keywords
Marginalised - treated as if less important
Thesis - the primary argument or central idea presented in a piece of academic writing
Topic sentence - a sentence that introduces the main idea or theme of a paragraph, guiding its content
Embedded - information or objects that are firmly and deeply fixed within something else
Tentative language - words or phrases that express a lack of certainty when presenting ideas
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