AQA A-Level English Literature A Paper 2: Texts in shared contexts (2A), June 2025: Question 12

25 marks · Hard difficulty · Extended Response

Compare the significance of team spirit and shared values in two texts from WW1 and its aftermath, using one post-2000 prose text and at least two poems.

Practise this question

Question

Question 12 asks students to compare the significance of team spirit and shared values in two other texts studied. It specifies to include reference to how meanings are shaped in the texts compared, using one prose text written post-2000 and one poetry text (writing about at least two poems), worth 25 marks.
Question text

12 Compare the significance of team spirit and shared values in two other texts you have

studied.

Remember to include in your answer reference to how meanings are shaped in the texts

you are comparing.

You must use one prose text written post-2000 and one poetry text in your response.

You must write about at least two poems.

[25 marks]

Mark scheme

Show the mark scheme Mark scheme for Question 12 detailing assessment objectives AO1 through AO5. It provides points for consideration including military morale, patriotism, group loyalty, contrasting genres, historical contexts across duration and aftermath, authorial methods in characterisation, dramatic and poetic structure, and coherence of argument, totaling 25 marks.

Question 12

Compare the significance of team spirit and shared values in two other texts you have studied.

Remember to include in your answer reference to how meanings are shaped in the texts you are

comparing.

You must use one prose text written post-2000 and one poetry text in your response.

You must write about at least two poems.

[25 marks]

Possible content:

Please refer to pages 4 to 7.

AO5 Explore literary texts informed by different interpretations

Focus might be on:

• team spirit’ and ‘shared values’ equally or one might be prioritised

• the debate around team spirit and shared values through the consideration of ideas and attitudes

such as military morale, patriotism and group loyalty as presented in their two texts

• the extent to which the contrasting genres of the two texts affect the ways in which team spirit and

share values are presented

• etc.

AO4 Explore connections across literary texts

Focus might be on:

• connections of similarity and/or difference at the level of subject matter/genre/attitudes and/or

methods

• links to the shared historicist content of literature of WW1 and its aftermath

• etc.

AO3 Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which

literary texts are written and received

Focus might be on:

• the differing experiences of team spirit and shared values from different times both in the duration

of the war and its aftermath

• how the presentation of team spirit and shared values may vary at different times

• how attitudes towards team spirit and shared values might change over time

• how team spirit and shared values can be considered from differing perspectives such as the

home-front and the front-line

• how team spirit and shared values might be viewed and experienced differently because of age,

gender, class and culture

• etc.

AO2 Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts

Focus might be on:

• the varying presentations of team spirit and shared values

• the ways in which varying forms of characterisation present team spirit and shared values

• dramatic methods such as: explicit structural devices; dramatic irony; stage directions; indirect

ways of communicating the writers’ messages and ideas; naturalistic and other styles of

representing character, incident and narrative

• poetic methods such as: types of verse form; explicit and implicit structural features; use of tropes

for rhetorical effect; use of aural devices for rhetorical effect; elliptical use of language

• etc.

AO1 Articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated

concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression

• quality of argument

• organisation of ideas

• use of appropriate concepts and terminology

• technical accuracy

• comparing texts.

Accept any valid interpretations, any valid comments on contexts and any valid discussion of

authorial methods.

Option 3

Section A: Prose Set Text

How to answer it

WW1 Literature: Comparing Team Spirit & Shared Values

Paper 2 Option 3 World War One and Its Aftermath • Question 12 • 25 Marks

What This Question Tests

This question evaluates your ability to construct an integrated, comparative argument across prose and poetry under the theme of World War One and Its Aftermath.

  • Rubric Compliance: You must compare exactly one post-2000 prose text (e.g. The Impressionist by Kunzru, My Boy Jack prose adaptation, or Birdsong if set post-2000 syllabus equivalent / modern historical fiction) and at least two poems from the set poetry collection.
  • AO1 (Argument & Expression): Cohesive thesis, clear comparative transitions, precise literary register.
  • AO2 (Authorial Methods): Systematic analysis of structure, narrative perspective, metre, rhyme, and imagery shaping meaning.
  • AO3 (Contextual Significance): Historical, cultural, and ideological conditions of wartime cohesion, propaganda, trench camaraderie, class divisions, and post-war disillusionment.
  • AO4 (Literary Connections): Explicit exploration of similarities and contrasts across differing genres and forms.
  • AO5 (Debate & Critical Viewpoints): Nuanced debate—is "team spirit" genuine brotherly solidarity, an imposed military survival mechanism, or a destructive myth?

Question 12: Prompt & Command Analysis

Deconstructing the Exam Prompt

💡 The Core Prompt Concept

"Team spirit and shared values"

  • Team Spirit: Comradeship in the trenches, unit cohesion, reliance on peers under bombardment, shared stoicism, or collective trauma.
  • Shared Values: Patriotism, duty, chivalric honour, imperial expectations, religious faith, or home-front solidarity vs. front-line reality.
  • The Inherent Tension: Are these values authentic bonds that preserve humanity, or state-sanctioned propaganda that entraps young men?

📐 Step-by-Step Structural Checklist

1 Check Text Selection: 1 prose post-2000 + at least 2 poems. Failing to write about 2 poems caps your rubric ceiling.

2 Establish a Nuanced Thesis: Contrast front-line solidarity (survival camaraderie) with institutional shared values (patriotism, ruling-class duty).

3 Weave Integrated Paragraphs: Connect prose and poetry in every paragraph using the Compare - Method - Context - Debate loop.

4 Balance Form & Genre: Contrast how sustained narrative arc in prose differs from concentrated lyrical forms in poetry.

Assessment Objectives in Practice

How the Mark Scheme Distinguishes Band 4 from Band 5

✅ Top-Band Exemplar Points (Band 5: 21–25)

  • Dual Perspective on Camaraderie: Explores how trench loyalty was both life-saving (protective brotherhood) and tragic (intensified grief when comrades died).
  • Form-Specific Analysis: Contradicts communal "team spirit" with solitary poetic voices (e.g. lyric isolation, broken iambic pentameter, fragmentation reflecting psychological breakdown).
  • Historical Shift Across Time: Analyzes how initial shared Victorian/Edwardian chivalric codes deteriorated as the war progressed into industrialized attrition.
  • Subversive Values: Shows soldiers adopting an alternative, anti-heroic value system (survival, black humour) in direct opposition to high-command propaganda.

❌ Common Examiner Criticisms

  • Treating Poetry as a Single Entity: Only writing about one poem or mentioning the second poem in a brief, tokenistic sentence.
  • Feature Spotting without Effect: Labelling alliteration, rhyming couplets, or caesura without tying them directly to camaraderie or disillusionment.
  • Context as Historical "Add-on": Pasting Wikipedia-style paragraphs about trench conditions or Kitchener’s recruitment instead of contextualizing the authors' thematic intent.
  • Sequential "Block" Essays: Writing all of the prose in Part 1 and all of the poetry in Part 2, reducing AO4 synthesis.
Band 5 Discriminator (Mark Scheme AO1–AO5): High-scoring scripts explore "the debate around team spirit... through the consideration of ideas and attitudes such as military morale, patriotism, and group loyalty" and evaluate "the extent to which the contrasting genres of the two texts affect the presentation".

Comparative Framing Strategy

Pairing Post-2000 Prose with Dual War Poems

🧠 Exam Technique: Comparative Linking Phrases

  • "While [Prose Author] uses retrospective narrative distance to dismantle the myth of collective duty, [Poet 1] conveys an immediate, visceral fracture..."
  • "Both writers demonstrate that official shared values are subverted into a localized, protective comradeship; however, [Poet 2] exposes how this bond..."
  • "In stark contrast to the militaristic solidarity manufactured on the home front, both texts reveal..."

💡 Thematic Arguments to Deploy

Argument 1: Imposed Values vs. Lived Reality
Official national values (honour, sacrifice) function as coercive mechanisms, while genuine team spirit is born of mutual suffering.

Argument 2: The Double-Edged Nature of Camaraderie
Team spirit keeps soldiers functional during artillery barrage, yet shared survival compounds survivor guilt and collective mourning.

Argument 3: Class Stratification & Fractured Values
Officers and ordinary ranks may profess shared patriotic values, but class hierarchies often fractured true collective unity.

Pre-Submission Revision Checklist

Essential Elements Checked

  • Did I include one prose text written post-2000?
  • Did I analyse at least two distinct poems in detail?
  • Is every point rooted in authorial craft (AO2)?
  • Are contextual factors linked directly to the characters'/speakers' values (AO3)?
  • Is the comparison balanced equally across prose and verse (AO4)?

Instant Penalties to Avoid

  • Forgetting to define "shared values"—state patriotism vs. trench brotherhood.
  • Ignoring poetic structure (stanzas, rhythm, rhyme schemes, meter).
  • Using pre-2000 prose texts for this specific syllabus question requirement.

Topics

WW1 and its aftermath · Up the Line to Death · Scars Upon My Heart · A Long, Long Way · The First Casualty · Life Class · The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry · The Oxford Book of War Poetry · The War Poems of Wilfred Owen

Question and mark scheme from the AQA A-Level English Literature A examination, Paper 2: Texts in shared contexts (2A), June 2025. QuestionVault is an independent revision resource; questions remain the copyright of the awarding body.