So…you’re looking to write a grade 9 English Literature essay?
Writing top mark essays is hard but it’s absolutely NOT IMPOSSIBLE and every year thousands of students do it!
I know how stressful and overwhelming it can all feel. You’re trying your best, you’re putting in so much time and effort but your grades just don’t seem to be moving in the right direction! Are you stuck at a grade and can’t seem to get past it?
I know exactly how that feels! It wasn’t all that long ago when I was taking my GCSE English exams and I was stuck at a grade C for a very long time (yes, I’m old and took my GCSEs before the 1-9 system). Yet…regardless what my class marks were, I believed I was going to get an A* because guess what
HARD WORK AND ENERGY CAN OUTWORK NATURAL ABILITY EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK!
Sometimes a little part of my brain would think: how on earth are you going to pull this out the bag and get those top grades you want? But…belief, hard work and dedication can take you to magical places and I truly believe we are all made for more than we believe we are! I got the A* and I then went on to get full marks in my AS English Literature exam the following year!
Go and watch this YouTube clip from ‘Facing the Giants’ to get some insane motivation if you need it right now!
My success at school was what inspired me to pursue a career in teaching and I want to help as many people as possible realise their full potential, push through their limiting beliefs and barriers and get those top grades. Throughout my time working as an English teacher and GCSE examiner I have come up with a list of key features which make grade 9 essays stand out from the crowd and I am excited to share these with you!
By the end of this, you will know what to include to get a top grade essay and how to implement that into your work to start seeing results!
1. Start with a killer introduction
Introductions are so important, especially when it comes to getting grade 9 English Literature essays!
This is going to set the tone for the rest of your essay. It is the first impression the examiner is going to get of you!
The best way to write an introduction is to think of it more as a mini thesis statement (a type of introduction used for university essays, go check out this blog post to learn more).
Your introduction/thesis statement needs to summarise your entire essay in the shortest way possible, ideally in one to three sentences. It can be tricky and it definitely takes practise to do this well. Learning to do this well, completely changed my grades in all essay writing subjects!
Writing a good thesis statement is a lot easier when you have an overall interpretation that frames your essay. Picking out lots of different unrelated points about the character or theme in your essay might get you a strong pass but is unlikely to get you the top grades you’re dreaming of!
Top level students have a clear, sophisticated interpretation running through their entire essay and this is established in a clear, concise and impressive way in their introduction.
For example, let’s imagine you’re writing an essay about how Macbeth is presented throughout the play. A low-mid level student might write three paragraphs. One looking at how Macbeth is presented as violent at the start, another looking at how he is presented as unsure and uncertain when deciding whether to kill King Duncan and a final one looking at how he is presented as paranoid in the second half of the play. Their introduction might typically look something like this:
Example 1
“Macbeth is presented in many interesting ways throughout the play. At first he is presented as violent and aggressive when fighting in war. When he returns home, he is presented as more of a coward who worries about killing King Duncan and has to be persuaded by Lady Macbeth. Finally in the second half, he becomes very paranoid and mentally unstable.”
Now, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with this and it answers the question but it is very low-mid level. The reason for this is because they are taking the character of Macbeth literally as just a character in a play and by doing so they completely misunderstand the point of literature.
Literature is not just created to present us with an entertaining story…ok maybe sometimes it might be. Characters are not real. They are puppets being controlled by the writer in order to achieve a particular purpose. They are symbols.
Literature is an exploration of the world. It is a critique of society. It is a call to action. It is an exploration of the human condition, the human psyche and what it means to exist. Yep…pretty deep, right?
The biggest difference between a low-mid level student and a top level student is whether they understand the purpose of literature.
So…let’s take a look at the question from before. Yes, Macbeth is being presented in all these different ways but why? What is the overall interpretation it may be pointing to?
Example 2
“Macbeth is an exploration of the interplay between empathy and ambition within humanity. By feeding his ambition, Macbeth allows his animalistic nature of survival and greed to take over, destroying his humanity and capacity for empathy and ultimately destroying his life.”
In this answer, we can see that it is an overall exploration of the character of Macbeth and what he represents within the play and society at large. It looks at all the versions and presentations of Macbeth throughout the play and draws them together into one holistic interpretation.
2. Analyse
The most important aspect of your grade 9 English Literature essay is going to be your analysis. Analysis is where you zoom in on individual features of the quote you are looking at. It really makes or breaks your essay and if you want a top band essay…you need to NAIL this!
This is important because it’s where you show the examiner that you understand HOW language works.
It’s great to look at what the writer is showing you and what effect they are creating but the real skill is explaining HOW they are doing that!
Think of it this way, you might look at a beautiful house and think ‘wow that’s a great house!’…bear with me here!
However, you are just looking at the house as a whole. If you really took some time to study and analyse the house you might come to realise that actually it’s the innovative design shape that catches your attention. It’s the window design and colour that gives it a modern edge. The door and the symmetry of the structure makes it appealing to the eye and the flowers and trees in the garden add a homely and welcoming feel.
Ok…you get what I mean! It’s not the WHAT, it’s the HOW.
So…how do you do that when analysing words and sentences?
Well…a sentence in the extract might create tension or present the setting in a threatening way but your job is to look at the word, phrases, devices, sentences, punctuation and features which contribute to making that overall impression.
Let’s check out an example!
Example
This is a quote from the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley:
“Frown, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command”
Overall, this quote suggests Ozymandias was an unpleasant ruler and perhaps abused his position of power. However, we can zoom in and really analyse the language to look at how that impression is created.
“First of all, the nouns ‘frown’ and ‘sneer’ create a strong sense of imagery by suggesting what Ozymandias may have looked like and using show not tell to imply that he was an unpleasant ruler who expressed anger, aggression and a sense of superiority over his subjects. Similarly, the noun phrase ‘wrinkled lip’ intensifies this by suggesting that he had his lips pursed into an obnoxious look. The quote itself is also a rule of three which may have been consciously used by the poet to create a strong sense of rhythm. In this way, the rhythm further exacerbates the iambic pentameter creating a strong lilt in the poem. This perhaps creates the feel that this poem is a tale that has been told many times by the traveller. It is almost a narrative poem that tells the story of this heartless ruler. Finally, the poet uses a harsh alliterative plosive ‘c’ sound in ‘cold command’. This draws attention to the phrase but arguably mirrors the harshness of Ozymandias himself as a ruler.”
We can see here how there is so much to talk about. Zooming in on the how is so important!
For more help with analysis, check out my free eBook here!
3. Use synonyms for ‘show’
When you’re exploring what the text could show and analysing words and phrases, you might be tempted to repeat the word ‘show’.
First of all, I don’t particularly like using this word as literature rarely ever ‘shows’ anything, instead it ‘suggests’. If you’re looking at what it ‘shows’, you’re probably looking at the obvious meanings and we want to explore the hidden meanings and inferences.
So…the task is to work on finding a range of synonyms to help you. Here are some ideas:
‘This device could show…’
‘It could imply…..’
‘The text might be suggesting…’
‘It might demonstrate…’
‘From this, we could deduce…’
‘In many ways, this could display…’
‘As a reader, we might infer…’
Ok…so you’re starting to get the picture! It’s so important to think about the language you’re using and to make sure you’re using a variety. Two students could write about the exact same interpretation but could get completely different grades depending on how they explain it!
4. Write about context
Context is the situation out of which the text arose. Basically…the life of the writer and the world in which they were living.
Many students KNOW they need to write about context but make the mistake of adding it on to the end of their essay as a ‘bolt on’ just to make sure they’ve included it. And…don’t worry, I’ve been there too!
The key to writing a grade 9 English Literature essay is to think very carefully about what you include. Everything you add into your essay should strengthen and support your overall interpretation. It should be seamlessly linked and added into your essay FOR A REASON…not just because your teacher told you!
So…why is context so important then?
Well…think back to the purpose of literature. One of the purposes of literature was to critique society or even to create a call to action and incite change. How can we possibly begin to even understand what the writer might be critiquing if we don’t know anything about the writer or the world in which they were living?
Context should be seamlessly linked into your essay…not a bolt on at the end! It should underpin your entire understanding of the text and the intention behind its creation.
Example
Let’s take a look at A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
A Christmas Carol is not just a little Christmas story written to entertain us all and so Disney could eventually create The Muppets Christmas Carol…although it is a good film! There are actually arguably some deep intentions and purposes behind the novel and we can begin to explore them once we know about context.
A Christmas Carol was written and set in the middle of the Industrial Revolution, a time when there was a significant amount of poverty and injustice. The lower classes tended to work long hours in factories for little pay and lived incredibly difficult lives. Meanwhile, the middle class factory owners tended to reap the benefits of profits without sharing their successes with those less fortunate. Charles Dickens himself experienced quite a few hardships as a child growing up. His parents were sent to prison for debt and he was pulled out of school and forced to work in poor conditions in a factory.
Now…after learning just a slither of context we can begin to see the novel slightly differently. Perhaps Scrooge is not just a made up person who makes a good Disney character but is actually a symbol and a representation of the middle class factory owners who were abusing and exploiting their workers at the time. Perhaps Bob Cratchit and his family are also symbols for the mistreated lower classes who work hard and show love and kindness only to be under paid and over worked. What’s more…perhaps the entire book was created by Charles Dickens, who we know experienced poverty as a child, in order to create positive changes in society!
If you’re studying A Christmas Carol and want some more help, check out my ultimate guide here!
5. Look at the effect on you as a reader
So…we’ve looked at the context and why the author may have written the text. Now it’s time to look at your opinion and the effect on you as a reader.
A low level candidate might say:
“It makes me feel tense and like I want to read on. It makes me feel excited and interested.”
Whilst those are valid points, again the student is missing the purpose of literature.
There are two main ways you can explore the the effect on you a reader.
Example 1
If the book, like A Christmas Carol, is aiming to create positive changes in society, you could look at those issues in today’s world. Has society changed and everything is better now or can we still learn important lessons from this text?
Perhaps you could write something like this:
“Personally, I find the presentation of exploitation in A Christmas Carol extremely fascinating. It makes me feel grateful that the UK has progressed in many ways introducing minimum wages, fair working condition laws and a range of other legislation that protect workers such as Bob Cratchit from being exploited. I am grateful to live in a country where we have now introduced free healthcare, education and a welfare system that pays people an allowance to get by if they are out of work and seeking a new job.
However, I think there are still so many things we can learn from this novel. In a world of social media, selfies and lockdowns, we are arguably more isolated, self-interested and self-obsessed than ever before. Perhaps learning to care for others and be of service is still just as relevant as it was in the nineteenth century.
Additionally, whilst we may not see this level of exploitation taking place in front of us any more, arguably it still exists and we have simply exported it. Nowadays, our world economy largely relies on the mass exploitation of third world labour in order to keep the world moving. One could argue we are still living in the same world as Dickens and people are still facing the same level of exploitation, we just aren’t seeing it in front of us anymore.”
Example 2
However, sometimes the text might not be trying to create positive changes, it might simply be exploring the human condition and the human psyche.
Let’s have a look at what you could say about Romeo & Juliet:
When looking at Romeo and Juliet, you could say something like:
“Arguably, Romeo and Juliet explores the hedonistic recklessness of youth and passion and the desire to push back against boundaries and overbearing parental figures. In this way, perhaps Shakespeare captures what it means to be young and exploring the world for the first time, coming up against resistance, rebelling against it and pursuing hedonistic desires. Despite being written over 400 years ago, we can see so many adaptations of this play whether it be in real life examples, in Hollywood or in our books. This age old classic therefore continues to provide us with an intense and tragic symbol of the process of coming of age in a world of boundaries.”
And…there we go! Now you have explored five key skills and strategies you can implement today to start levelling up to a grade 9. If you found this post useful, please comment below and share it on your social media to help other students like you!