Insert
The source that follows is:
- Source A: 20th-century prose fiction
- Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf
An extract from a work first published in 1919.
This extract is from Virginia Woolf’s short story Kew Gardens (1919). It juxtaposes vivid, sensory description of a July flowerbed with a couple’s drifting thoughts and dialogue, using impressionistic detail and stream of consciousness to explore memory, desire, and the passage of time.
Source A
1 From the oval-shaped flower-bed there rose perhaps a hundred stalks spreading into heart-shaped or tongue-shaped leaves half way up and unfurling at the tip red or blue or yellow petals marked with spots of
6 colour raised upon the surface; and from the red, blue or yellow gloom of the throat emerged a straight bar, rough with gold dust and slightly clubbed at the end. The petals
11 were voluminous enough to be stirred by the summer breeze, and when they moved, the red, blue and yellow lights passed one over the other, staining an inch of the brown earth beneath
16 with a spot of the most intricate colour. The light fell either upon the smooth, grey back of a pebble, or, the shell of a snail with its brown, circular veins, or falling into a raindrop, it expanded
21 with such intensity of red, blue and yellow the thin walls of water that one expected them to burst and disappear. Instead, the drop was left in a second silver grey once more, and the light now settled upon the flesh
26 of a leaf, revealing the branching thread of fibre beneath the surface, and again it moved on and spread its illumination in the vast green spaces beneath the dome
31 of the heart-shaped and tongue-shaped leaves. Then the breeze stirred rather more briskly overhead and the colour was flashed into the air above, into the eyes of the men and women who walk
36 in Kew Gardens in July. The figures of these men and women straggled past the flower-bed with a curiously irregular movement not unlike that of the white and blue butterflies
41 who crossed the turf in zig-zag flights from bed to bed. The man was about six inches in front of the woman, strolling carelessly, while she bore on with greater purpose, only turning her head now and
46 then to see that the children were not too far behind. The man kept this distance in front of the woman purposely, though perhaps unconsciously, for he wished to go on with his
51 thoughts. "Fifteen years ago I came here with Lily," he thought. "We sat somewhere over there by a lake and I begged her to marry me all through the hot
56 afternoon. How the dragonfly kept circling round us: how clearly I see the dragonfly and her shoe with the square silver buckle at the toe. All the time I spoke I saw
61 her shoe and when it moved impatiently I knew without looking up what she was going to say: the whole of her seemed to be in her shoe. And my love, my desire, were in the dragonfly; for some
66 reason I thought that if it settled there, on that leaf, the broad one with the red flower in the middle of it, if the dragonfly settled on the leaf she would say "Yes" at once. But the
71 dragonfly went round and round: it never settled anywhere--of course not, happily not, or I shouldn't be walking here with Eleanor and the children-- Tell me,
76 Eleanor. D'you ever think of the past?" "Why do you ask, Simon?" "Because I've been thinking of the past. I've been thinking of Lily,
81 the woman I might have married.... Well, why are you silent? Do you mind my thinking of the past?"
86 "Why should I mind, Simon? Doesn't one always think of the past, in a garden with men and women lying under the trees? Aren't they one's past, all that remains of it, those men and women, those ghosts lying under
91 the trees, ... one's happiness, one's reality?" "For me, a square silver shoe buckle and a dragonfly--"
96 "For me, a kiss. Imagine six little girls sitting before their easels twenty years ago, down by the side of a lake, painting the water-lilies, the first red water-lilies I'd ever seen. And suddenly a kiss, there on
101 the back of my neck. And my hand shook all the afternoon so that I couldn't paint. I took out my watch and marked the hour when I would allow myself to think of the kiss
106 for five minutes only--it was so precious--the kiss of an old grey-haired woman with a wart on her nose, the mother of all my kisses all my life. Come, Caroline, come, Hubert."
111 They walked on past the flower-bed, now walking four abreast, and soon diminished in size among the trees and looked half transparent as the sunlight
116 and shade swam over their backs in large trembling irregular patches.
Questions
Instructions
- Answer all questions.
- Use black ink or black ball point pen.
- Fill in the boxes on this page.
- You must answer the questions in the spaces provided.
- Do not write outside the box around each page or on blank pages.
- Do all rough work in this book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked.
- You must refer to the insert booklet provided.
- You must not use a dictionary.
Information
- The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
- Time allowed: 1 hour 45 minutes
- The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
- There are 40 marks for Section A and 40 marks for Section B.
- You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers.
- You will be assessed on the quality of your reading in Section A.
- You will be assessed on the quality of your writing in Section B.
Advice
- You are advised to spend about 15 minutes reading through the source and all five questions you have to answer.
- You should make sure you leave sufficient time to check your answers.
Section A: Reading
Answer all questions in this section. You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this section.
Question 1
Read again the first part of the source, from lines 1 to 5.
Answer all parts of this question.
Choose one answer for each question.
1.1 What shape is the flower-bed?
- oval-shaped
- heart-shaped
- tongue-shaped
[1 mark]
1.2 Where were the leaves on the stalks?
- half way up
- at the tip
- of the throat
[1 mark]
1.3 What emerged from the throat?
- a straight bar
- spots of colour
- the summer breeze
[1 mark]
1.4 When the petals moved, what did the red, blue and yellow lights stain?
- an inch of the brown earth beneath
- the red, blue or yellow gloom of the throat
- a spot of the most intricate colour
[1 mark]
Question 2
Look in detail at this extract, from lines 16 to 30 of the source:
16 with a spot of the most intricate colour. The light fell either upon the smooth, grey back of a pebble, or, the shell of a snail with its brown, circular veins, or falling into a raindrop, it expanded
21 with such intensity of red, blue and yellow the thin walls of water that one expected them to burst and disappear. Instead, the drop was left in a second silver grey once more, and the light now settled upon the flesh
26 of a leaf, revealing the branching thread of fibre beneath the surface, and again it moved on and spread its illumination in the vast green spaces beneath the dome
How does the writer use language here to describe the movement of light across the garden? You could include the writer's choice of:
- words and phrases
- language features and techniques
- sentence forms.
[8 marks]
Question 3
You now need to think about the structure of the source as a whole. This text is from the start of a story.
How has the writer structured the text to create a sense of nostalgia?
You could write about:
- how nostalgia deepens by the end of the source
- how the writer uses structure to create an effect
- the writer's use of any other structural features, such as changes in mood, tone or perspective.
[8 marks]
Question 4
For this question focus on the second part of the source, from line 16 to the end.
In this part of the source, Simon links his whole future to where a dragonfly might land, which makes his memory seem a little foolish. The writer suggests that our most important feelings are often attached to small, random details.
To what extent do you agree and/or disagree with this statement?
In your response, you could:
- consider your impressions of Simon linking his future to the dragonfly
- comment on the methods the writer uses to suggest the importance of small details
- support your response with references to the text.
[20 marks]
Question 5
To celebrate its anniversary, your local theatre will include creative writing in its next show programme.
Choose one of the options below for your entry.
-
Option A: Describe a scene backstage at a theatre from your imagination. You may choose to use the picture provided for ideas:
-
Option B: Write the opening of a story about a performance that does not go to plan.
(24 marks for content and organisation, 16 marks for technical accuracy)
[40 marks]