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

Question 02

Up the Line to Death – ed. Brian Gardner

Examine the significance of fate and chance in Up the Line to Death.

You must write about at least two poems in your answer.

[25 marks]

Possible content:

Please refer to pages 4 to 7.

AO5 Explore literary texts informed by different interpretations

Students might consider:

• both ‘fate’ and ‘chance’ equally or focus on one

• poems that focus on the helpless nature of trench warfare where death is a chance event unrelated

to personal choices or actions. For example, Nichol’s ‘Noon’ and Gibson’s ‘Breakfast’

• poems that explore fate in broader, more spiritual terms as a personal understanding of mortality;

for example, Seeger’s ‘Rendezvous’

• poems that explore fate in more ambiguous ways; such as Marriott-Watson’s ‘Kismet’ and

Thomas’s ‘No One Cares Less Than I’

• poems that focus on the broader aspects of fate as a moral obligation to fight for those who have

already died; for example, poems such as ‘In Flanders Fields’

• early war poems that present fate as part of a moral, patriotic imperative; for example, ‘Happy is

England Now’

• poems that focus on the absurd chaos of war where there is no overarching order, for example,

Graves’ ‘Dead Cow Farm’

• the keywords ‘fate’ and ‘chance’

• etc.

AO4 Explore connections across literary texts

Focus might be on:

• typical representations of fate and chance in the literature of WW1 and its aftermath

• the presentation of fate and chance as part of wider attitudes towards war

• etc.

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

literary texts are written and received

Focus might be on:

• how differing responses to fate and chance reflect changing attitudes to the war

• how cultural attitudes and values relating to fate and chance differ over time

• the differing literary approaches to the presentation of fate and chance

• etc.

AO2 Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts

Focus might be on:

• aspects of poetic form and genre

• aspects of structure, eg use of stanzas

• aspects of language, eg rhyme, rhythm, imagery

• the organisation of the anthology

• 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.

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

authorial methods.