Unseen poem approach practice

Read the unseen poem below.

"The men who never returned came home in boxes, flag-draped, a ceremony of guns and silence. Their mothers pressed the cloth to their faces and wept into the stars and stripes."

Compare how this poem and one poem from your set cluster present the impact of war on those left behind.

[20 marks]

Mark scheme (levels-based, AO1+AO2+AO3 equally weighted):

L2 (7–12): Some relevant comparison; quotation used; basic technique identification; limited AO3.

L3 (13–16): Clear comparative argument; language analysis of both poems; some AO3 (WWI mothers' grief; American flag imagery — Vietnam/modern war?); comparative connectives used.

L4 (17–20): Convincing sustained comparison; precise language analysis ("flag-draped" — the flag simultaneously honours and conceals; "wept into the stars and stripes" — grief absorbed into national symbol); integrated AO3; considered judgement about different ways poets present civilian grief.