Pearson Edexcel International GCSE English Literature · specification 4ET1 · Component 1 | Section B: Anthology Poetry · Free · no account needed
Hide and Seek — Vernon Scannell (4ET1 specification)
A boy hides so well that the game ends without him — and the poem's second person makes the reader do the hiding.
Specification coverage
Component 1, Section B — Anthology Poetry (Part 3 of the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE English Anthology)
Assessment objectives: AO2, AO3. Suggested learning time: 60 minutes.
Required knowledge
- The poem is addressed as 'you' — the reader is placed inside the hiding place
- The sensory detail of the toolshed is deliberately uncomfortable: salt, damp, cold
- The ending is the abandonment: the seekers have gone
Required skills
- Analyse how language, form and structure create meanings and effects (AO2)
- Compare this poem with another from Part 3, including language, structure and form (AO3)
- Use appropriate literary terminology accurately
- Select relevant, short examples from the poem — it is printed in the paper, so precision is expected
How it is examined
- One 30-mark comparative essay, from a choice of two, comparing this poem with one other from Part 3
Common mistakes
- Reading it only as a children's poem. The final desolation is adult in weight.
- Missing the second person. It is the reason the ending lands on the reader.
This page maps the specification. To learn the content, open the set-text notes and guides — completely free.