Context and Comparison in Literature

Reading a text in its world

A piece of literature is never written in a vacuum. Every novel, play and poem grows out of a particular time and place, and it carries the ideas, worries and beliefs of the world around its writer. Understanding that background is a skill the exam rewards, because it lets you explain why a text says what it says. This module covers two linked skills that run across every set text. The first is working with the background of a text: the social, historical and cultural world it came from, and why it still matters to readers now. The second is comparing two texts: setting them side by side to see the themes they share and the ways they differ. Both are taught here as methods you can carry to any text, using short invented examples rather than long quotations.

Context and comparison words

Learn these terms before the ideas are matched up. They name the ideas used in this topic.

Match each comparison idea to its meaning

Two texts side by side

When you compare two texts, you look in two directions at once: at what they have in common and at how they part ways.

What shaped this text?

A novel written during a war shows its soldiers as heroes. Knowing that a war was raging as the writer worked helps explain that choice. This background knowledge is an example of what?

• Context, the background that shaped the text
• The plot of the novel
• A rhyme scheme
• The title

Use the background, do not bolt it on

Knowing the world a text came from is only useful if you use it to explain the writing, not to show off facts. A weak answer drops in a date or an event and moves on, as though history alone earns marks. A strong answer links the background to a precise choice on the page: because of the world the writer lived in, this character behaves this way, or this idea would have unsettled the first readers. Always aim the background at the text in front of you. Ask what a reader at the time would have felt, and what a reader now feels differently, and let that explain why the writing still carries weight. Background used like this deepens a point instead of interrupting it.

Pick the true facts about context and comparison

Select every statement about context and comparing texts that is true.

• The background of a text shapes what it means
• A good comparison looks at both similarities and differences
• Linking words help move between two texts
• A comparison should only ever list similarities
• Listing dates alone is enough to explain a text

Order how to plan a comparison

Put the steps of planning a comparison between two texts into a sensible order.

• Read both texts closely
• Find a theme they both explore
• Note what each text says about it
• Note how their methods and backgrounds differ
• Plan points that move between the two

Complete the context and comparison facts

The social, historical and cultural background that shaped a text is its _____. Setting two texts side by side to weigh what they share and how they differ is called _____. Pointing out a clear difference between two texts is drawing a _____. A joining word such as similarly or whereas, used to move between two texts, is a _____.

Tap the two pieces of context

Read these four facts about a novel. Tap the TWO that give its context.

• It was written just after the First World War.
• It is set in a strict Victorian household.
• The main character is called Sarah.
• The story is told in five chapters.

Two photos of the same street

Imagine two photographs of one street, taken a hundred years apart. Side by side they teach you far more than either does alone. You spot at once what has stayed: the line of the road, one stubborn old shopfront, the church at the end. And you spot what has changed: horses become cars, gas lamps become bright signs, quiet becomes crowd. But you only truly read each photo once you know when it was taken, because the year explains the clothes, the vehicles and the mood. Comparing two texts works in just this way. You hold them up together to see what they share and how they differ, and you lean on the world each came from to explain why. Side by side, and set in their times, both make more sense than either would apart.

The context and comparison run

Answer each one correctly to keep your lives. Choose the best answer.

Handle each comparison task

Read each situation and choose the best advice.

• An answer lists three dates about the writer and stops. What is missing?
• A comparison only says how the two texts are the same. What should be added?
• A paragraph jumps between two texts with no linking words. What helps a reader follow it?

Build a context and comparison point

Choose the word for each gap to complete one point about context and comparison.

Explain context and comparison

A friend is revising the skills that run across every set text. Using what you have learned, explain how to use context and how to compare two texts.

• Explain what the context of a text is
• Explain how to use background to deepen a point rather than list facts
• Explain what a good comparison weighs up
• Explain how linking words help a comparison
• Explain why a text can still be significant to readers today