Cambridge International AS & A Level

LITERATURE IN ENGLISH 9695/12

Paper 1 Drama and Poetry October/November 2023

2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

* 8 6 1 2 7 9 0 4 6 1 *

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

INSTRUCTIONS
● Answer two questions in total:
Section A: answer one question.
Section B: answer one question.
● Follow the instructions on the front cover of the answer booklet. If you need additional answer paper,
ask the invigilator for a continuation booklet.
● Dictionaries are not allowed.

INFORMATION
● The total mark for this paper is 50.
● All questions are worth equal marks.

This document has 16 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

DC (CE) 333137
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
 2

Section A: Drama

Answer one question from this section.

THOMAS MIDDLETON and WILLIAM ROWLEY: The Changeling

1 Either (a) ‘De Flores: I am so charitable, I think none

Worse than myself.’

Discuss Middleton and Rowley’s presentation of De Flores in the light of his

comment about himself.

Or (b) Discuss the presentation of the relationship between Alsemero and Beatrice in the
following extract. In your answer you should pay close attention to dramatic methods
and their effects.

[Enter DIAPHANTA and ALSEMERO.]

Diaphanta: The place is my charge, you have kept your hour,
And the reward of a just meeting bless you.
I hear my lady coming; complete gentleman,
I dare not be too busy with my praises, 5
Th’are dangerous things to deal with.
[Exit.]
Alsemero: This goes well;
These women are the ladies’ cabinets,
Things of most precious trust are lock’d into ’em. 10
[Enter BEATRICE.]
Beatrice: I have within mine eye all my desires;
Requests that holy prayers ascend heaven for,
And brings ’em down to furnish our defects,
Come not more sweet to our necessities 15
Than thou unto my wishes.
Alsemero: W’are so like
In our expressions, lady, that unless I borrow
The same words, I shall never find their equals.
[Kisses her.] 20
Beatrice: How happy were this meeting, this embrace,
If it were free from envy! This poor kiss,
It has an enemy, a hateful one,
That wishes poison to’t: how well were I now
If there were none such name known as Piracquo, 25
Nor no such tie as the command of parents!
I should be but too much blessed.
Alsemero: One good service
Would strike off both your fears, and I’ll go near it too,
Since you are so distress’d; remove the cause, 30
The command ceases, so there’s two fears blown out
With one and the same blast.
Beatrice: Pray let me find you, sir.
What might that service be so strangely happy?
Alsemero: The honourablest piece ’bout man, valour. 35
I’ll send a challenge to Piracquo instantly.
© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23
 3

Beatrice: How? Call you that extinguishing of fear,

When ’tis the only way to keep it flaming?
Are not you ventured in the action,
That’s all my joys and comforts? Pray, no more, sir. 40
Say you prevail’d, y’are danger’s and not mine then;
The law would claim you from me, or obscurity
Be made the grave to bury you alive.
I’m glad these thoughts come forth; oh keep not one
Of this condition, sir; here was a course 45
Found to bring sorrow on her way to death:
The tears would ne’er ha’ dried, till dust had chok’d ’em.
Blood-guiltiness becomes a fouler visage,
[Aside.] – And now I think on one: I was to blame,
I ha’ marr’d so good a market with my scorn; 50
’T had been done questionless; the ugliest creature
Creation fram’d for some use, yet to see
I could not mark so much where it should be!
Alsemero: Lady –
Beatrice [aside.]: Why, men of art make much of poison, 55
Keep one to expel another; where was my art?
Alsemero: Lady, you hear not me.
Beatrice: I do especially, sir;
The present times are not so sure of our side
As those hereafter may be; we must use ’em then, 60
As thrifty folks their wealth, sparingly now,
Till the time opens.
Alsemero: You teach wisdom, lady.
Beatrice: Within there; Diaphanta!
[Enter DIAPHANTA.] 65
Diaphanta: Do you call, madam?
Beatrice: Perfect your service, and conduct this gentleman
The private way you brought him.

(from Act 2, Scene 2)

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23 [Turn over

 4

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Measure for Measure

2 Either (a) In what ways, and with what dramatic effects, does Shakespeare present men’s
attitudes to women in Measure for Measure?

Or (b) How might an audience react as the following scene unfolds? In your answer you
should pay close attention to dramatic methods and their effects.

Angelo: What can you vouch against him, Signior Lucio?

Is this the man that you did tell us of?
Lucio: ’Tis he, my lord. Come hither, good-man bald-pate. Do you
know me?
Duke: I remember you, sir, by the sound of your voice. I met you at 5
the prison, in the absence of the Duke.
Lucio: O did you so? And do you remember what you said of the
Duke?
Duke: Most notedly, sir.
Lucio: Do you so, sir? And was the Duke a fleshmonger, a fool, and a 10
coward, as you then reported him to be?
Duke: You must, sir, change persons with me ere you make that my
report: you, indeed, spoke so of him; and much more, much
worse.
Lucio: O thou damnable fellow! Did not I pluck thee by the nose for 15
thy speeches?
Duke: I protest I love the Duke as I love myself.
Angelo: Hark how the villain would close now, after his treasonable
abuses!
Escalus: Such a fellow is not to be talk’d withal. Away with him to prison! 20
Where is the Provost? Away with him to prison! Lay bolts
enough upon him; let him speak no more. Away with those
giglets too, and with the other confederate companion!
[The PROVOST lays hands on the DUKE.]
Duke: Stay, sir; stay awhile. 25
Angelo: What, resists he? Help him, Lucio.
Lucio: Come, sir; come, sir; come, sir; foh, sir! Why, you bald-pated
lying rascal, you must be hooded, must you? Show your
knave’s visage, with a pox to you! show your sheep-biting face,
and be hang’d an hour! Will’t not off? 30
[Pulls off the friar’s hood, and discovers the DUKE.]
Duke: Thou art the first knave that e’er mad’st a duke.
First, Provost, let me bail these gentle three.
[To LUCIO] Sneak not away, sir, for the friar and you
Must have a word anon. Lay hold on him. 35
Lucio: This may prove worse than hanging.
Duke [To ESCALUS]: What you have spoke I pardon; sit you down.
We’ll borrow place of him. [To ANGELO] Sir, by your leave.
Hast thou or word, or wit, or impudence,
That yet can do thee office? If thou hast, 40

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23

 5

Rely upon it till my tale be heard,

And hold no longer out.
Angelo: O my dread lord,
I should be guiltier than my guiltiness,
To think I can be undiscernible, 45
When I perceive your Grace, like pow’r divine,
Hath look’d upon my passes. Then, good Prince,
No longer session hold upon my shame,
But let my trial be mine own confession;
Immediate sentence then, and sequent death, 50
Is all the grace I beg.
Duke: Come hither, Mariana.
Say, wast thou e’er contracted to this woman?
Angelo: I was, my lord.
Duke: Go, take her hence and marry her instantly. 55
Do you the office, friar; which consummate,
Return him here again. Go with him, Provost.
[Exeunt ANGELO, MARIANA, FRIAR PETER, and
PROVOST.]
Escalus: My lord, I am more amaz’d at his dishonour 60
Than at the strangeness of it.
Duke: Come hither, Isabel.
Your friar is now your prince. As I was then
Advertising and holy to your business,
Not changing heart with habit, I am still 65
Attorney’d at your service.
Isabella: O, give me pardon,
That I, your vassal, have employ’d and pain’d
Your unknown sovereignty.
Duke: You are pardon’d Isabel. 70
And now, dear maid, be you as free to us.

(from Act 5, Scene 1)

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23 [Turn over

 6

WOLE SOYINKA: The Trials of Brother Jero and Jero’s Metamorphosis

3 Either (a) What, in your view, does Soyinka’s use of different settings add to the meaning and
effects of the two plays?

Or (b) Discuss Soyinka’s presentation of the relationship between Jero and Chume in the
following extract from The Trials of Brother Jero. In your answer you should pay
close attention to dramatic methods and their effects.

[CHUME is silent for a while, then bursts out suddenly.]

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23

 7

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

Chume: All she gave me was abuse, abuse, abuse …

(from The Trials of Brother Jero, Scene 3)

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23 [Turn over

 8

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

4 Either (a) Discuss some of the dramatic ways Williams shapes an audience’s response to
Brick in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Or (b) Discuss the presentation of Big Mama in the following extract. In your answer you
should pay close attention to dramatic methods and their effects.

[BIG MAMA calls through closed door.]

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23

 9

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

Took both doctors to

haul me back on my feet!

(from Act 1)

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23 [Turn over

 10

Section B: Poetry

Answer one question from this section.

SIMON ARMITAGE: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

5 Either (a) In what ways, and with what effects, does Armitage present different kinds of conflict
in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight?

Or (b) Analyse ways Armitage presents the Green Knight in the following extract from Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight.

Now, on the subject of supper I’ll say no more

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

and adorning the saddle, stitched onto silk.

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23

 11

TURN OVER FOR QUESTION 6.

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23 [Turn over

 12

ROBERT BROWNING: Selected Poems

6 Either (a) ‘Browning’s poetry often presents a sense of longing for something lost or
unreachable.’

In the light of this comment, discuss Browning’s presentation of longing. You should
refer to two poems in your answer.

Or (b) Discuss some of the ways Browning creates a sense of excitement in the following
poem.

‘How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix’

(16–)

I
I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;
I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;
‘Good speed!’ cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;
‘Speed!’ echoed the wall to us galloping through; 5
Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,
And into the midnight we galloped abreast.

II
Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace
Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place; 10
I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight,
Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique right,
Rebuckled the cheek-strap, chained slacker the bit,
Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit.

III 15
’T was moonset at starting; but while we drew near
Lokeren, the cocks crew and twilight dawned clear;
At Boom, a great yellow star came out to see;
At Düffeld, ’t was morning as plain as could be;
And from Mecheln church-steeple we heard the half-chime, 20
So, Joris broke silence with, ‘Yet there is time!’

IV
At Aershot, up leaped of a sudden the sun,
And against him the cattle stood black every one,
To stare thro’ the mist at us galloping past, 25
And I saw my stout galloper Roland at last,
With resolute shoulders, each butting away
The haze, as some bluff river headland its spray:

V
And his low head and crest, just one sharp ear bent back 30
For my voice, and the other pricked out on his track;
And one eye’s black intelligence, – ever that glance
O’er its white edge at me, his own master, askance!
And the thick heavy spume-flakes which aye and anon
His fierce lips shook upwards in galloping on. 35

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23

 13

VI
By Hasselt, Dirck groaned; and cried Joris, ‘Stay spur!
Your Roos galloped bravely, the fault’s not in her,
We’ll remember at Aix’ – for one heard the quick wheeze
Of her chest, saw the stretched neck and staggering knees, 40
And sunk tail, and horrible heave of the flank,
As down on her haunches she shuddered and sank.

VII
So, we were left galloping, Joris and I,
Past Looz and past Tongres, no cloud in the sky; 45
The broad sun above laughed a pitiless laugh,
’Neath our feet broke the brittle bright stubble like chaff;
Till over by Dalhem a dome-spire sprang white,
And ‘Gallop,’ gasped Joris, ‘for Aix is in sight!’

VIII 50
‘How they’ll greet us!’ – and all in a moment his roan
Rolled neck and croup over, lay dead as a stone;
And there was my Roland to bear the whole weight
Of the news which alone could save Aix from her fate,
With his nostrils like pits full of blood to the brim, 55
And with circles of red for his eye-sockets’ rim.

IX
Then I cast loose my buffcoat, each holster let fall,
Shook off both my jack-boots, let go belt and all,
Stood up in the stirrup, leaned, patted his ear, 60
Called my Roland his pet-name, my horse without peer;
Clapped my hands, laughed and sang, any noise, bad or good,
Till at length into Aix Roland galloped and stood.

X
And all I remember is – friends flocking round 65
As I sat with his head ’twixt my knees on the ground;
And no voice but was praising this Roland of mine,
As I poured down his throat our last measure of wine,
Which (the burgesses voted by common consent)
Was no more than his due who brought good news from Ghent. 70

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23 [Turn over

 14

GILLIAN CLARKE: Selected Poems

7 Either (a) Discuss the writing and effects of two poems in which Clarke explores the power of
nature.

Or (b) Paying close attention to Clarke’s poetic methods, discuss the presentation of the
box and its significance in the following poem.

My Box

My box is made of golden oak,

my lover’s gift to me.
He fitted hinges and a lock
of brass and a bright key.
He made it out of winter nights, 5
sanded and oiled and planed,
engraved inside the heavy lid
in brass, a golden tree.

In my box are twelve black books

where I have written down 10
how we have sanded, oiled and planed,
planted a garden, built a wall,
seen jays and goldcrests, rare red kites,
found the wild heartsease, drilled a well,
harvested apples and words and days 15
and planted a golden tree.

On an open shelf I keep my box.

Its key is in the lock.
I leave it there for you to read,
or them, when we are dead, 20
how everything is slowly made,
how slowly things made me,
a tree, a lover, words, a box,
books and a golden tree.

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23

 15

Songs of Ourselves, Volume 2

8 Either (a) Compare some of the ways in which two poems present growing old and its effects.

Or (b) Discuss the writing and effects of the following poem, analysing ways in which
Imtiaz Dharker presents water.

Blessing

The skin cracks like a pod.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

over their small bones.

(Imtiaz Dharker)

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23

 16

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every
reasonable effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the
publisher will be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge
Assessment International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download
at www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge
Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2023 9695/12/O/N/23