‘Twice’ – Rossetti – A Level Poetry Bundle: Teaching PowerPoint, Revision Sheet and Teaching Pack
Everything you need to teach and revise Christina Rossetti’s ‘Twice’, written by Andy Hurley, former Principal Examiner, HMI Inspector and Headteacher. The resources are built around the Assessment Objectives rather than a single specification, so they work for any A Level English Literature course. Please check the requirements of the specification you are teaching.
The bundle traces the poem’s two acts of offering. The speaker’s heart is first scanned with a critical eye by a man, then given to God for refinement. Students explore how Rossetti’s parallel structures, refrains and language of judgement chart a woman’s journey from silenced disappointment to a recovered, though qualified, voice. They weigh whether the ending is a recovery of agency through faith or a renewed submission. Activities are pitched from C grade to undergraduate standard.
What’s included
1. Teaching PowerPoint
Phase-coded slides built around the four-phase learning continuum: Connect, Activate, Demonstrate and Consolidate. There is no lesson framing, so you can sequence the material over one, two or three lessons to suit your timetable. The deck moves from context and pre-reading activities, through modelled close reading of the poem, to independent analysis, critical discussion and essay planning. Bridge slides mark natural pauses between phases. The deck is fully self-contained: every instruction, question, answer and piece of teacher guidance sits in the presenter notes, with suggested timings for each activity.
2. Student Revision Sheet
Seven sections: Overview, Form and Structure, Close Analysis, Key Themes, Context (AO3), Critical Perspectives (AO5), and Study Questions and Extension Activities. It finishes with a Quote Quilt, a one-page grid of key quotations with brief analysis, coded for voices, themes and contexts. Ideal for independent study, homework or exam revision.
3. Teaching Pack
A detailed planning document for teachers, offering a choice of activities in each of the four phases, with full implementation notes and timings. It covers:
Context: voice and silence, Victorian restrictions on women’s speech, and Rossetti’s faith.
Close reading: the opening stanza, the structural turn where “O my love” becomes “O my God”, the verbs of judgement, the shift from brown corn to refined gold, and the soft “w” alliteration of “woman’s words”.
Debates and writing: mapping voice and silence, an investigation into whether the ending is recovery or renewed submission, synthesis essay planning, a critical perspective debate, and self-assessment against the Assessment Objectives.
Creative work: a creative response set in the years between the third and fourth stanzas.
The pack also includes a full suite of Wordwall activities (matching, anagrams, missing words, group sorts, Open the Box and Random Wheel), graded from C grade to undergraduate standard. Five student handouts cover annotation, essay planning, creative writing, comparative analysis and research. Alternative activities and essay challenges complete the pack.
Who it’s for
This bundle is for teachers planning a first teaching of the poem and for departments building a shared scheme. It also suits students revising on their own.
A free seminar on this poem is available on the A Level AHEAD YouTube channel and works well as pre-teaching or revision alongside this bundle.
