AQA Anthology

The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (the AQA) has produced Anthologies for GCSE English and English Literature studied in English schools. This follows on from AQA's predecessor organisations; Northern Examinations and Assessment Board (NEAB) and Southern Examining Group (SEG).

The 2008 edition of the AQA Anthology

2000 Anthology

The 2000 AQA anthology covered four sections: poets in the English Literary Heritage, poems from other cultures and traditions, 20th-century prose, and 20th- or pre-20th-century poetry.[1]

Simon Armitage
  • "I Am Very Bothered When I Think"
  • "Poem"
  • "It Ain't What You Do, It's What It Does To You"
  • "Cataract Operation"
  • "About His Person"

Ted Hughes
  • "Works and Play"
  • "The Warm and the Cold"
  • "The Tractor"
  • "Wind"
  • "Hawk Roosting"

Carol Ann Duffy
  • "War Photographer"
  • "Valentine"
  • "Stealing"
  • "Before You Were Mine"
  • "In Mrs. Tilscher's Class"

English: Poems from other cultures and traditions

English literature: 20th-century prose

English literature: 20th- or pre-20th-century poetry
  • "Hearts and Partners"
  • "That Old Rope"
  • "When the Going Gets Tough"[3]

2004 Anthology

The 2004 AQA Anthology was a collection of poems and short texts. The anthology was split into several sections covering poems from other cultures, the poetry of Seamus Heaney,[4] Gillian Clarke, Carol Ann Duffy and Simon Armitage, and a bank of pre-1914 poems. There was also a section of prose pieces, which could have been studied in schools which had chosen not to study a separate set text.

English: Poems from Other Cultures
Seamus Heaney

GCSE English students studied all of the poems in either cluster and answered a question on them in Section A of Paper 2. In 2005, Andrew Cunningham, an English teacher at Charterhouse School complained in the Telegraph that the inclusion of the poems represented an "obsession with multi-culturalism".[5]

Cluster 1

Cluster 2

Seamus Heaney

Gillian Clarke

Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy

Simon Armitage
  • from Book of Matches, “Mother, any distance greater than a single span”
  • from Book of Matches, “My father thought it...”
  • "Homecoming"
  • "November"
  • "Kid"
  • from Book of Matches, “Those bastards in their mansions”
  • from Book of Matches, “I've made out a will; I'm leaving myself”
  • "Hitcher"
  • "The Manhunt"

Pre-1914 Poetry Bank

English Literature: Prose

2008 Reissued Anthology

In 2008 the Anthology was reissued without "Education for Leisure" following complaints about its reference to knives and concerns about rising levels of knife crime in schools.[6] In the new Anthology the poem was replaced with a "This page is left intentionally blank" notice. After removing "Education for Leisure" from the anthology the exam board was accused of censorship.[7]

2010 Anthology

The fifth anthology was produced for first teaching in 2010.[8]

The anthology includes poems under the heading "Moon on the Tides" and prose under the heading "Sunlight on the Grass".[9] Some of the poems are by authors of poems in the first anthology such as Agard and Armitage.

The poetry anthology was divided into four clusters, titled "Character and voice",[10] "Place",[11] "Conflict",[12] and "Relationships".[13]

Character and voice
  • 'The Clown Punk' by Simon Armitage
  • 'Checking Out Me History' by John Agard
  • 'Horse Whisperer' by Andrew Forster
  • 'Medusa' by Carol Ann Duffy
  • 'Singh Song!' by Daljit Nagra
  • 'Brendon Gallacher' by Jackie Kay
  • 'Give' by Simon Armitage
  • 'Les Grands Seigneurs' by Dorothy Molloy
  • 'Ozymandias' by Percy Bysshe Shelley
  • 'My Last Duchess' by Robert Browning
  • 'The River God' by Stevie Smith
  • 'The Hunchback in the Park' by Dylan Thomas
  • 'The Ruined Maid' by Thomas Hardy
  • 'Casehistory: Alison (head injury)' by U. A. Fanthorpe
  • 'On a Portrait of a Deaf Man' by John Betjeman

Place

Conflict

Relationships

Modern Prose

2015 Anthology

The newest edition of the anthology was produced for first teaching in 2015,[14][15] in line with the reformed GCSE English Literature qualification. The anthology includes poems under the title "Poems Past and Present", and prose under the title "Telling Tales".

The poetry anthology is divided into two clusters - "Love and Relationships" and "Power and Conflict".

Love and Relationships

Power and Conflict
  • 'Ozymandias' by Percy Bysshe Shelley
  • 'London' by William Blake
  • 'The Prelude' extract by William Wordsworth
  • 'My Last Duchess' by Robert Browning
  • 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' by Alfred Lord Tennyson
  • 'Exposure' by Wilfred Owen
  • 'Storm on the Island' by Seamus Heaney
  • 'Bayonet Charge' by Ted Hughes
  • 'Remains' by Simon Armitage
  • 'Poppies' by Jane Weir
  • 'War Photographer' by Carol Ann Duffy
  • 'Tissue' by Imtiaz Dharker
  • 'The Emigrée' by Carol Rumens
  • 'Checking Out Me History' by John Agard
  • 'Kamikaze' by Beatrice Garland

Telling Tales
  • 'Chemistry' by Graham Swift
  • 'Odour of Chrysanthemums' by DH Lawrence
  • 'My Polish Teacher's Tie' by Helen Dunmore
  • 'Korea' by John McGahern
  • 'A Family Supper' by Kazuo Ishiguro
  • 'Invisible Mass of the Back Row' by Claudette Williams
  • 'The Darkness Out There' by Penelope Lively

See also
  • Poetry Live, events where poets perform their poetry for school children

References
  1. ASIN 0435101315, NEAB Anthology: English and English Literature 2000/2001 GCSE (2000)
  2. Moore, Andrew; Justice, Sue (2000). "The NEAB/AQA English Anthology". Universal Teacher. Archived from the original on 2020-11-05. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  3. Moore, Andrew (2001). "Teachers' Virtual English Department". Universal Teacher. Archived from the original on 2020-01-13. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  4. "Teachit.co.uk". Archived from the original on 2011-08-18. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
  5. Cunningham, Andrew (2005-12-17). "No prayers nor bells for the finest". ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2019-12-22.
  6. The Guardian (4 September 2008). "Top exam board asks schools to destroy book containing knife poem". Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  7. Curtis, Polly; editor, education (2008-09-03). "Top exam board asks schools to destroy book containing knife poem". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2013-01-18. Retrieved 2019-12-22. {{cite news}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  8. "AQA - Anthology Zone - Home page". 2010-03-30. Archived from the original on 30 March 2010. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  9. AQA, https://anthology.aqa.org.uk/ Archived 2017-06-03 at the Wayback Machine
  10. "AQA - Anthology Zone - Character and voice". 2010-03-31. Archived from the original on 31 March 2010. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  11. "AQA - Anthology Zone - Place". 2010-03-31. Archived from the original on 31 March 2010. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  12. "AQA - Anthology Zone - Conflict". 2010-03-31. Archived from the original on 31 March 2010. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  13. "AQA - Anthology Zone - Relationships". 2010-03-31. Archived from the original on 31 March 2010. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  14. "Anthology: AQA Anthology of Poetry - poems past and present". www.aqa.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  15. "Anthology: AQA Anthology - telling tales". www.aqa.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
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