Highlight the key words in the question below and then discuss their significance before revealing the suggestions

Read Text B below, the poem entitled ‘After the Lunch’ by Wendy Cope (b. 1945), and then answer the following question.

With detailed reference to two poems from the Anthology and Text B, compare and contrast how the theme of love is presented.

  • Two - The question clearly refers to the number of poems needed.
  • Theme - Notice how the focus of a question is often found at the end of the sentence.
  • Love - The question invites us to argue that the theme of love is presented by the poets in different ways. Your responses should explore the presentation of love.

After the Lunch

On Waterloo Bridge, where we said our goodbyes,
The weather conditions bring tears to my eyes.
I wipe them away with a black woolly glove
And try not to notice I’ve fallen in love.

On Waterloo Bridge I am trying to think:
This is nothing. You’re high on the charm and the drink.
But the juke-box inside me is playing a song
That says something different. And when was it wrong?

On Waterloo Bridge with the wind in my hair
I am tempted to skip. You’re a fool. I don’t care.
The head does its best but the heart is the boss-
I admit it before I am halfway across.

Wendy Cope

After the lunch by Wendy Cope © Faber & Faber www.faber.co.uk

Below is a candidate's response to the question. How does the candidate begin to explore and argue that love is presented in different ways in these poems?

After the Lunch by Wendy Cope, My Last Duchess, and Sonnet 130 all present love as something that has the potential to be sweet and fair, but in reality can be damaging and ill-conceived. Unlike many conventional love poems, these pieces take a pragmatic approach to show the more sinister side of love, the side that usually gets no recognition.

Firstly, Sonnet 130 and After the Lunch both focus on revealing a more realistic view of love in order to show how it is not something that should not always be romanticised. Shakespeare, for example, uses the typical structure of a sonnet in order to establish the foundations for Sonnet 130, but deviates greatly from this when he appears to show no love for his mistress at all.