What the exam asks
At Higher Level you study six literary works, and no literary work can be used in more than one assessment component. A poetry work is a selection of the poet’s poems (the IB’s definition is 15 to 20 shorter poems); the nine poems in these lessons are the heart of your Duffy selection, and you treat them together as one work. You must decide early which single component Duffy’s poems will serve:
- Paper 2 (comparative essay, 1 hour 45 minutes, 25 marks, closed book): You answer one of four general literary questions by comparing and/or contrasting two literary works studied in class. Criterion B is split into B1 (5 marks for analysing and evaluating textual features and broader authorial choices) and B2 (5 marks for comparative analysis). If you use Duffy for the individual oral or the HL essay, you cannot use her in Paper 2.
- Individual oral (15 minutes: 10 minutes prepared, 5 minutes of teacher questions, 40 marks): You examine how a global issue is presented in one literary work and one non-literary body of work, using one continuous extract of up to 40 lines from each alongside knowledge of the wider work.
- HL essay (1,200–1,500 words, 20 marks): You investigate a broad line of inquiry across one literary work or non-literary body of work. For a poetry collection, your essay must explore several poems rather than offering a commentary on one.
Core ideas
Question types Duffy’s poems answer well
Every Paper 2 question asks how two works present or use a literary feature or concern. In Criterion B1, your argument must rest on Duffy’s authorial choices:
| Paper 2 question focus | Duffy poems to use | Core authorial choice (Criterion B1) |
|---|---|---|
| Concealing the truth (from others or oneself) | “Havisham”, “Mrs Midas”, “Medusa” | Dramatic monologue with an implied listener, letting the reader see what the speaker refuses to admit. |
| Public role vs private cost | “Standing Female Nude”, “Warming Her Pearls” | Giving the voice to the looked-at figure, ending with a final line that answers the observer back. |
| The outsider | “Originally”, “Medusa”, “War Photographer” | Positioning the speaker between two worlds (two countries, or the darkroom and the conflict zone). |
| Loss and its lasting effects | “Havisham”, “Mrs Midas”, “War Photographer” | Present-tense narration that refuses to let loss end; splitting compounds across line breaks (“Love’s / hate”). |
| The limits of love | “Valentine”, “Mrs Midas”, “Warming Her Pearls” | Extended conceits (onion, gold, pearls) that carry unspoken desire or estrangement. |
| Words that wound or heal / speaking out | “Standing Female Nude”, “Medusa”, “Little Red-Cap” | The short final line acting as the speaker’s decisive verbal act. |
| Power held and resisted | “Standing Female Nude”, “Warming Her Pearls”, “Little Red-Cap” | Reversing the gaze so the objectified subject claims authority. |
| A recurring image, object or motif | “Valentine”, “Warming Her Pearls”, “Mrs Midas”, “Havisham”, “War Photographer” | Using a concrete object (onion, pearls, gold, wedding cake, spools) as the spine of the poem’s structure. |
| Endings that change the meaning | “Originally”, “Standing Female Nude”, “Medusa” | Placing the volta (turn) in the very last line to unsettle everything before it. |
| Titles | “Valentine”, “Havisham”, “Mrs Midas”, “Originally” | Titles that set up a convention the poem refuses, or strip away a polite form of address. |
| Shifts in time, place or point of view | “Originally”, “Little Red-Cap”, “War Photographer”, “Mrs Midas” | Stanza breaks that jump across years or cut between domestic safety and memory. |
| A central place; or guilt and ambition | “War Photographer”, “Standing Female Nude”, “Mrs Midas” | Enclosing the speaker in a single room (darkroom, studio, kitchen) where guilt or greed is confronted. |