Of Mice and Men and Unseen Poetry

The Unit 1 Literature examination requires you to write 3 answers:

• Of Mice and Men Extract (10 marks)
• Of Mice and Men Theme/Character (20 marks)
• Unseen Poetry comparison (20 Marks)

You need to spend one hour on the Of Mice and Men section and one hour on the Unseen Poetry section.

Mother, Diving by Andrew Forster

MOTHER, DIVING
The high diving board at the open-air pool
taunted my Mother like a tongue. While young boys
leapt from the first board, clenched like stones,
she held herself in by the pool-rail.
Then one day she just shrugged off the shallows,
strode like Johnny Weissmuller* to the deep end.
I had no idea what she was climbing towards
but she reached the top, balanced above
the craning necks, and stretched. A short run
and she sprang into the charged air,
making new shapes for herself: twisting
and turning like a dolphin, plunging into water -
a guillemot**, sending out relentless waves
that will keep on nudging me off balance.


Glossary
* Johnny Weissmuller was a famous Olympic swimmer who became a film star playing Tarzan
** Guillemots are diving seabirds