IB EXAMSPAPER 2 PAST QUESTIONSPage 1 of 5

2008
POETRY -- Either
a)Some poets look from the particular to the universal to explore human experience. Discuss poems from at least two poets in relation to this statement, considering also the ways in which they achieve their effects.
b)“A poet would like all parts of a poem – words, lines, stanzas, thoughts, metaphors, rhythms – to work in perfect harmony.” To what degree could the poems you studied be considered unified wholes? You must refer to poems from at least two poets. / GENERAL QUESTIONS ON LITERATURE
a)“Why won’t writers allow children simply to be children?” Discuss the presentation and significance of children, or the state of childhood, in at least two works you have studied in the light of this complaint.
b)It is said that writers are the conscience of the world. In what ways have at least two of the woreds you have studied encouraged you to appreciate or question this assertion?
c)“Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.” Discusss at least two works you have studied in light of this statement, and say how far you would agree with it.
d)“Although doubt is not a pleasant condition, certainty is an absurd one.” In the light of this statement, explore the impressions of doubt and/or certainty conveyed in at least two works you have studied.
2008 (November)
Poetry
2. Either
(a) “Poetry fails when it tries to both entertain and instruct.” Say how far at least two poets in
your study have either confirmed or questioned the value of this claim about poetry.
(b) Contradictions and/or paradoxes are often attractive to poets both in terms of content and
stylistic choice. Explore some ways in which at least two poets you have studied convey their
interest in these strategies through what they write about and how they do so. / General Questions on Literature
5. Either
(a) The description of people or places or events in literary works is likely to be more than
just decoration. Compare several instances in at least two of the works you have studied
where description has had a crucial effect on the work.
(b) The courage to think or speak or act differently from others is often at the heart of literature.
In what ways have at least two writers you have studied presented such choices?
(c) Literature frequently “challenges the barriers that prejudice erects”. How convincingly have
at least two writers in your study presented such barriers and with what effect have they
been opposed?
(d) “In literature, names are never wasted.” In at least two works you have studied, discuss the
ways writers use names in their works to achieve their larger purpose.
2007
POETRY
a)“A good poem is not merely a collection of poetic devices but the expression, through such devices, of underlying ideas.” With reference to at least two poets you have studied, discuss the ways in which poetic devices are used to support the poets’ ideas.
b)“Ambiguity in a poem is perhaps its greatest attraction.” Referring closely to poems from at least two poets in your study, examine how multiple meanings can be suggested in a
c)poem. / GENERAL QUESTIONS ON LITERATURE
a)Some writers present a world view that is pessimistic and disorderly, while otherws present a world of hope and possibility. How, and to what extent, do your writers reflect these view in two or three words you have studied?
b)“It is the role of literature to challenge and confront the conventional values of a society.”
In what ways, and to what extent, have conventional values been challenged in two or three words you have studied?
c)“Memory feeds imagination.” To what effect has memory been used in two or three words you have studied?
d)“It is impossible for literature to be completely objective.” How, and to what extent, does this statement apply to two or three works you have studied?
2006
POETRY
a)A poet coined the term “auditory imagination” to define the response which the sounds of poetry evoke in the mind of the reader. In the light of this definition, examine how poets have used sound devices to influence your experience or understanding of poems you have studied. You must refer closely to the work of two or three poets in your study and base your answer of a total of three or four poems.
b)A poem often arises out of a specific occasion, even, or experience from th / GENERAL QUESTIONS
a)“Art is on the side of the oppressed.” Evaluate the means by which two or three works in you study either confirm or raise questions about the validity of this assertion.
b)“Works of literature are often layered, and many required close attention to discover their depth and complexity.” With respect to two or three of the works you have studied, show how valid this view is.
c)“A writer conveys not only experiences but a whole world in which these are possible.” With respect to two or three works you have studied, discuss whether the author has created a coherent, imagined “world.”
d)In what ways and to what effect have writers in your study made use of illustrative elements such as anecdotes, analogies, allusions and the like in their works?
2005
POETRY
a)Discuss and compare the role of the speaker or persona in poems you have studied. You must refer closely to the work of two or three poets in your study and base your answer on a total of three or four poems
b)“The principal concern of poets is either to explain themselves to the world, or to explain the world to themselves.” Considering in detail how poets in your study convey their principal concerns, say to what extent you agree with the above statement. You must refer closely to the work of two or three poets in your study and base your answer on a total of three or four poems. / GENERAL QUESTIONS ON LITERATURE
a)“Some works of literature are universal and timeless; others seem specific to one place and/or time.” In what ways do two or three works in your study explore this range of possibilities?
b)A writer speaks of being “surprised by joy.” In two or three works you have studied, discuss some moments which have surprised and/or delighted you and consider the ways writers have achieved those particular effects.
c)Using two or three of the works you have studied, discuss how and to what effect writers have used exaggeration as a literary device.
d)Writers make many deliberate choices in the course of creating their works. Considering one of two stylistic aspects, compare the effectiveness of some choices writers have made in two or three works you have studied.
2005 (Nov)
GENERAL QUESTIONS ON LITERATURE
5a. Using two or three works you have studied, discuss how and to what extent the writers have show the pervasive influence of the past.
5b. If one of the roles of literature is to provide insight into human nature, by what techniques and to what degree did you texts offer you such insight? Discus with reference to two or three works you have studied.
5c. A writer may speak in his or her own voice or take on the voice of a character or persona. Comparing two or three works you have studied in the light of this statement, discuss what effects these choices have on each work as a whole.
5d. “In the end is my beginning.”
This is a statement made by an author to describe how he organizes his works. What do you understand by the sentence, and how does it cast light on the literary strategies employed in two or three works you have studied.
2004
GENERAL QUESTIONS ON LITERATURE
5a. “Some writers succeed in hypnotizing the reader; others compel the reader to think.” Compare and contrast two or three works of literature in your study in light of this statement.
5b. “In literature the concept of ‘home’ is often used to locate the thoughts of memories and dreams of humankind.” In the light of this quotation, explore the ways in which ‘home’ is used in two or three works of literature you have studied.
5c. Compare the ways in which writers have explored the relationship between experience and understanding. Refer in detail to any two or three works of literature in your study.
5d. Consider the use made of music or musical elements in any two or three works of literature you have studied.
2003
POETRY
(a) “Poems work because they recover the surprising, even the shocking, nature of familiar ideas.” Comment on how poets have developed familiar ideas, with close reference to two or three poems by different poets.
(b) “Artifice”, we are told, is an important word for poets. With detailed consideration of the literary techniques employed in two or three poems by different poets, discuss what that word might mean, and say whether it helps in your appreciation of the works. / GENERAL QUESTIONS ON LITERATURE
5a. In what ways does the concept “freedom of choice” inform your reading in any two or three works you have studied?
5b. To what extent have you found it possible, in your consideration of literary works, to separate the individual from his or her public role? In your answer you should refer to any two or three works you have studied?
5c. “Fact versus fantasy; this is a clash that can have comic or tragic results.” Bearing this statement in mind, explore the results of using realism and fantasy in any two or three works you have studied.
5d. Compare how writers in your study have explored the themes of judgment and punishment, or disguise and deceit, and with what effect.
2002 (Nov)
POETRY
a)By detailed discussion of the work of two writers, identify what you consider to be the characteristics features of each poet’s writing and indicate how important these features are to your reading of the poems concerned.
b)Imagery is one of the most potent instruments which a poet can use to awaken the feelings of a reader. Compare the nature and effects of images in three or four poems you have enjoyed. / GENERAL QUESTIONS ON LITERATURE
(a)“The past is another country: they do things differently there.”
Discuss the problems and benefits of reading works from another age.
(b)What questions about power has your study of literature raised?
(c)A novelist wrote: “As regards plots I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots.”
From your reading, draw some of your own conclusions about the relationships between writing and “real life.”
(d)In reading a work of literature, how useful or misleading is information about the author’s life?
2002 (H)
POETRY
a)Compare in detail two or three poems by different poets, discussing the structure and form of each work. Give some idea of the importance of the structure in evaluating the meaning and impact of the poems
b)Focusing closely on two or three poems by different poets, say how the poems reveal the social and cultural context in which they were written. / GENERAL QUESTIONS
a) To read work which was produced in a culture other than your own has difficulties, but cultural differences between audience and text may be productive. How far do you agree?
b)Literature admits conflicts between good and good, as well as between good and evil. Which two or three works would you choose to discuss to illustrate this generalization, and why might both types of conflict be important?
c)Compare in some detail the use made of the cinema or techniques from the cinema in two or three works you have studied.
d)How far has your study of two or three works of literature suggested that the idea of the writer’s “intention” is beset with difficulties or is a use approach, or is both.
e)
2001
POETRY
a)Drawing on specific poems you have read, say in what ways gender seems to be important to poets
b)“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.”
Discuss the part played by memory and recollection in shaping poems you have read / GENERAL QUESTIONS
a)With specific reference to two or three works you have read, including drama if appropriate, compare the effects of an identified or unidentified narrative voice
b)“Realism is as contrived a way of writing as any of the methods of writing against which it is defined.”
With specific reference to two or three works which you have read, say how far you would agree with this proposition.
c) Compare the subject matter and style of two or three works you have read, which highlight regional locality, saying in each case what is gained by this local focus.
d) “Reading against the grain” is a phrase often used to describe reading that identifies but refuses to accept unspoken or implicit assumptions that lie deep within texts.
In what ways could you read two or three texts “against the grain” and with what validity?
POETRY
(a) Discuss and compare the role of the speaker or persona in poems you have studied. You must refer closely to the work of two or three poets in your study and base your answer on a total of three or four poems.
Or
(b) “The principal concern of poets is either to explain themselves to the world, or to explain the world to themselves.” Considering in detail how poets in your study convey their principal concerns, say to what extent you agree with the above statement. You must refer closely to the work of two or three poets in your study and base your answer on a total of three or four poems. / GENERAL QUESTIONS
(a) “Some works of literature are universal and timeless; others seem specific to one place and/or time.” In what ways do two or three works in your study explore this range of possibilities?
(b) A writer speaks of being “surprised by joy.” In two or three works you have studied, discuss some moments which have surprised and/or delighted you and consider the ways writers have achieved those particular effects.
(c) Using two or three of the works you have studied, discuss how and to what effect writers have used exaggeration as a literary device.
(d) Writers make many deliberate choices in the course of creating their works. Considering one or two stylistic aspects, compare the effectiveness of some choices writers have made in two or three works you have studied.
2000
a)“Tension can be one of the most powerful qualities of a poem, between for example levels of language, the beginning of the poem and the end, the feelings of the poet”
What tensions have you found in poems which you have studied and how are they explored by the poet? / Format different – no general questions
b)How important have you found pattern to be in poems which you have studied? You may wish to consider such features as the construction of the pome, its verse, its cultural context, its language, its sound or any others.