2021. M.

12 2021L002A2EL

Coimisiún na Scrúduithe Stáit

State Examinations Commission
LEAVING CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION, 2021

English - Higher Level - Paper 2

Total Marks: 140

Thursday, 10 June – Afternoon, 2.00 – 5.20

Candidates must attempt the required number of questions in any TWO of the
following sections:

• SECTION I – The Single Text

• SECTION II – The Comparative Study
• SECTION III – Poetry, Part A, Unseen Poem and Part B, Prescribed Poetry.
• All sections carry 70 marks.

N.B. Candidates are NOT required to answer on Shakespearean Drama.

INDEX OF SINGLE TEXTS

The Handmaid’s Tale Page - 2

Days Without End Page - 2
Wuthering Heights Page - 2
King Lear Page - 3
The Tempest Page - 3
SECTION I THE SINGLE TEXT (70 marks)
Candidates must answer one question from this section (A – E).

A THE HANDMAID’S TALE – Margaret Atwood

(i) Discuss how your knowledge of Offred’s life before Gilead, and the insights you gained
from her memories and private thoughts, influenced your response to her character.
Develop your answer with reference to Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s
Tale.
OR

(ii) Discuss the reasons why, in your opinion, the dystopian aspects of the novel increase
or diminish the narrative power of Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale.
Develop your response with reference to the text.

B DAYS WITHOUT END – Sebastian Barry

(i) Discuss how your knowledge of the challenges Thomas McNulty faced before he
met John Cole, and the insights you gained from his relationship with Winona,
influenced your response to his character. Develop your answer with reference to
Sebastian Barry’s novel, Days Without End.

OR

(ii) Discuss the reasons why, in your opinion, the historical aspects of the novel increase
or diminish the narrative power of Sebastian Barry’s novel, Days Without End.
Develop your response with reference to the text.

C WUTHERING HEIGHTS – Emily Brontë

(i) Discuss how your knowledge of the difficulties Heathcliff experienced as a child, and
the insights you gained from his obsessive behaviour throughout the novel, influenced
your response to his character. Develop your answer with reference to Emily Brontë’s
novel, Wuthering Heights.
OR

(ii) Discuss the reasons why, in your opinion, the gothic aspects of the novel increase
or diminish the narrative power of Emily Brontë’s novel, Wuthering Heights.
Develop your response with reference to the text.

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English – Higher Level – Paper 2
 D KING LEAR – William Shakespeare
(i) “Chaos and confusion are used to great effect throughout Shakespeare’s play,
King Lear.”

Discuss the above statement, developing your response with reference to the text.

OR

(ii) A production of Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, in which the characters of Kent and
the Fool do not appear has been proposed. Discuss the reasons why, in your opinion,
the removal of each of these characters would or would not diminish Shakespeare’s
play, King Lear. Develop your response with reference to the text.

E THE TEMPEST – William Shakespeare

(i) “Chaos and confusion are used to great effect throughout Shakespeare’s play,
The Tempest.”

Discuss the above statement, developing your response with reference to the text.

OR

(ii) A production of Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, in which the characters of Caliban
and Miranda do not appear has been proposed. Discuss the reasons why, in your
opinion, the removal of each of these characters would or would not diminish
Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest. Develop your response with reference to the text.

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English – Higher Level – Paper 2
SECTION II THE COMPARATIVE STUDY (70 marks)
Candidates must answer one question from either A – Theme or Issue or B – Cultural Context
or C – General Vision and Viewpoint.

Candidates who answer a question in SECTION I – The Single Text, may not refer to the same text
in answer to questions in this section.

All texts used in this section must be prescribed for comparative study for this year’s
examination. Candidates may refer to only one film in the course of their answers.

Please note:
• Questions in this section use the word text to refer to all the different kinds of texts
available for study on this course.
• When used, the word reader includes viewers of films and theatre audiences.
• When used, the term technique is understood to include techniques employed by all
writers and directors of films.
• When used, the word author is understood to include all writers and directors of films.
• When used, the word character is understood to refer to both real people and fictional
characters in texts.

A THEME OR ISSUE

1. (a) Identify a theme or issue you studied on your comparative course. Discuss the
various reasons why you did or did not find the exploration of this theme or issue
emotionally engaging in one text on your comparative course. Support your
response with reference to the text. (30)

(b) Compare the reasons why you found the exploration of the same theme or issue
discussed above, more, less or equally emotionally engaging in each of two other
texts you studied on your comparative course. Develop your response with
reference to your chosen texts. (40)

OR

2. Compare the insights you gained into the same theme or issue through understanding
what influences or motivates one central character, from each of at least two texts on
your comparative course, when making one or more key decisions. Develop your
response with reference to your chosen texts.

The insight or insights you gain into the same theme or issue from different texts may
be similar or different. (70)

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English – Higher Level – Paper 2
 B CULTURAL CONTEXT

1. (a) Discuss the extent to which a significant relationship was influenced by at least
one aspect of the cultural context in one text on your comparative course.
Develop your response with reference to the text. (30)

(b) Compare the extent to which one significant relationship was influenced by
any aspect or aspects of the cultural context in each of two other texts on your
comparative course. Develop your response with reference to your chosen
texts. (40)
OR

2. Compare the reasons why significant social change does or does not occur within
the cultural context established in each of at least two texts on your comparative
course. Develop your response with reference to your chosen texts. (70)

C GENERAL VISION AND VIEWPOINT

1. (a) Discuss the extent to which a character that you found inspiring in one
text on your comparative course influenced your sense of the general vision
and viewpoint of this text. Develop your response with reference to your
chosen text. (30)

(b) In relation to two other texts on your comparative course, compare the extent
to which a character that you found inspiring influenced your sense of the
general vision and viewpoint of each of these texts. Develop your response with
reference to your chosen texts. (40)

OR

2. “The aspects of a text that we find unsettling or disturbing often influence our sense
of the general vision and viewpoint.”

In relation to at least two texts on your comparative course, compare the extent
to which an aspect or aspects of your chosen texts, that you found unsettling or
disturbing, influenced your sense of the general vision and viewpoint of these texts.
Develop your response with refence to your chosen texts. (70)

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English – Higher Level – Paper 2
SECTION III POETRY (70 marks)
Candidates must answer A – Unseen Poem and B – Prescribed Poetry.

A UNSEEN POEM (20 marks)

Read the following poem, in which the poet, Louise Greig, issues instructions for the
construction of an Albatross, a seabird noted for its giant wingspan.

Answer either Question 1 or Question 2 which follow.

How to Construct an Albatross

Begin by setting the instructions aside.

Instead tune the mind to flight.
Attach the huge, clunking wings (treat like hangar doors)
– do this by lantern light; now heave them wide.
Next, place the heart inside – adjust to beating;
You may witness a sudden upwards surge
as the chest swells – this will be fleeting –
resist the urge to release;
now, embed the eyes (still asleep – this matters)
and fasten the beak; carry the slumbering bird
to someplace steep, repeating the word wake,
and – this is key – just as the heart (yours) begins to break
and the slow whales blow –
let go
Louise Greig

1. (a) Do you find the language used by the poet in the above poem appealing?
Explain your response with reference to the poem. (10)

(b) The poet has not placed a punctuation mark at the end of the above poem. In your
opinion, what is the effect of this decision on the poem? Explain your response with
reference to the poem. (10)
OR

2. Based on your reading of the above poem, explain the reasons why you find it to be
serious or amusing or both. Support your response with reference to the poet’s use of
language and the subject matter of the poem. (20)

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B PRESCRIBED POETRY (50 marks)

Candidates must answer one of the following questions (1 – 5).

1. Eavan Boland

Discuss how successfully, in your opinion, Eavan Boland employs a range of narrative
elements in her poetry to communicate a variety of thematic concerns. Develop your
response with reference to the poems by Eavan Boland on your Leaving Certificate
English course.

2. John Keats

“Our enjoyment of the sensuous beauty of the poetry of John Keats may be diminished
by our awareness of the fear or melancholy often evident in his work.”

Based on your experience of the poetry by John Keats you have studied for your
Leaving Certificate, to what extent do you agree or disagree with the above
statement? Develop your response with reference to the poems by John Keats on
the Leaving Certificate English course.

3. Seamus Heaney

“Seamus Heaney transforms the familiar and the mundane through his powerful use of
language, thereby enabling us to learn a range of profound lessons from his poetry.”

Discuss the above statement, developing your response with reference to your
experience of the poems by Seamus Heaney on your Leaving Certificate English course.

4. Sylvia Plath

Discuss how successfully, in your opinion, Sylvia Plath uses stylistic features in an
innovative way to convey both overwhelming wonder and unsettling menace in her
work. Develop your response with reference to the poems by Sylvia Plath on your
Leaving Certificate English course.

5. Paul Durcan

“Durcan makes effective use of tone or mood to express his emotions, thereby
amplifying his various thematic concerns.”

Discuss the above statement, developing your response with reference to your
experience of the poetry by Paul Durcan on your Leaving Certificate English course.

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Leaving Certificate – Higher Level

English
Thursday 10 June
Afternoon 2.00 – 5.20