Practice Poems with authentic IB English Lit (Old) exam questions for both SL and HL students. This question bank mirrors Paper 1, 2, 3 structure, covering key topics like textual analysis, language and identity, and perspectives and contexts. Get instant solutions, detailed explanations, and build exam confidence with questions in the style of IB examiners.
Title: Barbecue Shakespeare
Text Type: Drama Script
Setting: A small flat in London. Evening. Books are scattered on the floor and a mug is perched precariously on the arm of a sofa.
Characters: MEG (early 30s, sharp, self-conscious), EDWIN (mid-30s, calm, observant)
(MEG sits cross-legged on the floor, sipping wine from a chipped glass. EDWIN stands by a bookshelf, leafing through a book. A comfortable silence—just barely—hangs in the air.)
MEG:
(sipping)
Hilary’s decided she’s going to “do” English literature now. Chaucer, no less.
EDWIN:
(looking up)
Middle English Hilary? That’s bold.
MEG:
She says she “always felt a connection” with medieval texts. Probably because Mum made us wear sackcloth once for a school pageant. She played a beggar. Very formative.
EDWIN:
(half-smiling)
You’re not being generous.
MEG:
Why should I be? She thinks if she reads The Canterbury Tales and puts on some glasses-without-a-prescription, she’ll suddenly be ‘cultured’ — with quote marks.
EDWIN:
(gently)
You sound... a bit snobbish.
MEG:
(mocking tone)
Oh Edwin. It’s not snobbery. It’s observation. You should hear her when she starts on Shakespeare. (putting on an exaggerated voice)
“Don’t you think King Lear really captures the emotional fragility of retirement?” Over sausages. At a barbecue. Next to the dog.
EDWIN:
(raises eyebrow)
Ah, the Royal Shakespeare Company... in thongs and aprons.
MEG:
Exactly. It’s the whole middle class back home. They’ve replaced wine with ‘relevance’ and think quoting Hamlet gives them depth.
EDWIN:
(sitting now, amused)
You once cried during a Globe performance of Twelfth Night.
MEG:
That was different. That was real. Not over a scorched snag with plastic chairs and “Would you like another chop, Polonius?”
(Pause.)
EDWIN:
Why does it bother you so much?
MEG:
(with forced brightness)
It doesn’t. It’s just... overwritten. All of it. You know? The whole literary canon. Should be more honest.
EDWIN:
(not letting her off)
Your tone says otherwise.
MEG:
(snaps, then softer)
I just wish she’d say something about my book. I sent it three months ago. Not even a “well done.”
(pause)
I just want a reaction.
(EDWIN watches her. There is a long silence. The mood shifts.)
EDWIN:
Have you asked her?
MEG:
(sighs)
No. That would be... needy. And if there's one thing she can't stand, it's need.
(She sets her glass down. For a moment, her performative tone slips.)
EDWIN:
Maybe it's not about Shakespeare. Or Chaucer. Or sausage-fuelled soliloquies.
MEG:
(small smile)
Maybe not. Maybe I just wanted her to say it mattered. That I mattered.
(Pause.)
EDWIN:
Well, I read it. Twice. And it mattered.
(They sit in the quiet. The tension has dissolved, replaced by something gentler.)
End Scene
How does the playwright use dialogue and tone to explore themes of cultural identity in this extract?
The Forgotten Path
By Victor Graves
A winding path beneath the trees, Where shadows creep and footsteps fall, The leaves, they whisper in the breeze, A secret song, too faint to call. The air is thick with history, A thousand tales of days gone by, The echoes faint, the mystery, A world that’s lost and yet still high. The stones are old, the path is long, It curves and winds into the night, The wind, it howls a mournful song, That wraps the soul, without a light. I walk alone, yet not in vain, For every step I leave behind, The path is lost, but still remains, A trace within my restless mind. And though I know the end is near, I take another step, yet slow, For in the loss, there lies a fear, That I, too, may be lost, you know. But in this journey, I find peace, The path may fade, yet still I stay, For in the steps, my heart’s release, The lost becomes the found, today.
In what ways does the poet explore the speaker’s relationship with the past in the poem?
The Long Night
By Eleanor St. James
The night is long, but stars fade, As morning waits, soft and slow, The shadows stretch, the world unsaid, A quiet breath beneath the glow. The sky turns deeper, and time slips by, Each hour a fleeting, silent thread, A soft wind whispers, then passes by, A call for all things left unsaid. A lone bird calls in the hollow dark, Its wings a whisper in the night, The wind spins softly, leaves depart, Then returns with the first light. The moon begins its slow descent, Its pale face caught between two worlds, It speaks no words, yet still its presence Guides the lost thoughts of men and girls. And as the dawn begins to break, A single ray climbs in the sky, The night has gone for morning’s sake, But leaves the dream behind, to lie. In silence deep, the sky turns bright, The shadows flee, the world awakes, But still, the heart knows in the night, A memory of the past it takes.
How does the poet’s use of language shape your understanding of the speaker’s emotional journey in the poem?
The Distant Echo
By Amelia Hayes
An echo calls from far away, It trembles in the fading night, A voice that once was bright and gay, Now whispers soft in pale moonlight. The mountains hear, the valley sighs, The air is thick with words unsaid, A thousand thoughts beneath the skies, Of dreams that lived and hopes that bled. The echo calls again, it sings, Yet distant now, so far and deep, A memory’s shadow at my feet, A silence in which I still weep. It calls again with growing strength, A song of love, a song of loss, Yet it recedes with endless length, As day begins, the night is tossed. But when the dawn begins to rise, The echo fades, the voice is gone, And in its place, a new disguise, The sun that calls me to move on. And though the voice may never stay, The echo lingers deep inside, A silent prayer, a wordless sway, A call I cannot run from, wide.
How does the poet convey the speaker’s emotional experience in the poem?
The Empty Sky
By Isabel Grey
The sky is wide, yet all is still, No clouds, no wind, no sun, no light, A barren canvas, void of will, A lonely stretch of endless night. The stars have gone, the moon is dead, The sky, an empty, silent sea, Where once they lived, now lies instead, A hollow space where none can be. I call to them, but none reply, The void is cold, the silence deep, The wind, it howls, but passes by, A ghost that wakes but cannot sleep. Yet still I stand, beneath the void, A speck, a shadow on the ground, And though I ache, and I avoid, I find my heart, in silence, found. The emptiness becomes my guide, A stillness that will never break, In its embrace, I turn inside, And leave behind the world I wake.
In what ways does the poet present the speaker’s response to emptiness in the poem?
The Silent River
By Jacob Merritt
A river runs, but stillness too, The water’s flow a whispered song, It catches light as if it knew The journey where it does not belong. It moves through valleys, silent, slow, Reflecting all the stars above, The moon, the trees, the winds that blow, A mirror for the night’s lost love. The trees along its banks stand still, Their shadows bent to kiss the stream, Each ripple bends with quiet will, A dream, a wish, a fading gleam. The rocks below, they do not speak, They wait in silence, cold and old, While above, the willows weep, In stories never to be told. The river flows, it does not rest, Yet in its current lies the past, A murmur from the soul’s request, A plea for peace, to make it last. And as the river moves, it sighs, For though it moves, it cannot stay, The stillness lingers in its eyes, Where time, unspoken, slips away.
In what ways does the imagery in the poem contribute to the mood and tone of the piece?