

Exam-ready analysis of Sive (John B. Keane) for the Leaving Cert English Comparative Study, Higher Level, written for students in the form of a textbook.
Sive is eighteen, illegitimate, and kept at school on her uncle’s charity in a north Kerry farmhouse that cannot afford her. When the matchmaker arrives with an offer — two hundred pounds from an old farmer who wants her, and a hundred for himself — her aunt sets about breaking down everyone in the house who might refuse. It is a folk tragedy in two acts, played out in a single kitchen, with a travelling ballad singer and his father arriving at the door to curse, warn and finally lament. For the Comparative Study it offers as concrete a society as the course has: a world that names its prices out loud.
A 31-page PDF covering all four Higher Level modes: Cultural Context, Literary Genre, Theme or Issue, and General Vision and Viewpoint. Every comparison point is partner-agnostic, so the book works whatever texts you pair the play with.
Not sure whether to select Sive as one of your comparative texts? Download the free Text Suitability Guide on its own — it tells you everything you need to decide.
What’s inside:- General Introduction: the author and the play, the world of the play, the story, the main characters, how the play is told, and the major themes.
- Approaching the Comparative Question: how Section II of Paper 2 works, points to note, building comparative sentences, and how to use the grids.
- A full chapter on each mode, opening with a “Reading for this mode” primer and “What the examiners ask”, then working through the play’s ground for that mode: a kitchen that is also an economy, the name you are born with, and who has no standing — the old, and the road (Cultural Context); the title, one room and five scenes, the ballad chorus, and language, irony and the letter (Literary Genre); the match and the worth of consent, money against love, and shame and complicity (Theme or Issue); where the outlook starts and how dark it gets, the counter-lights, and the ending and what it refuses (General Vision and Viewpoint).
- Close readings of two key moments in every chapter, with key-moment tables for fast revision.
- A sample comparative paragraph in every mode, with slots for the student’s second text.
- "Setting this text against others" notes and a comparison grid ending each mode chapter: the Sive column is filled in, and the Text 2 and Text 3 columns are left for the student’s own combination.
- Eight original, SEC-style practice questions, two per mode, in the split (a)/(b) and single 70-mark formats.
Clear enough for students to read independently and rich enough to teach from. Licensed for the purchasing teacher to copy for their own students. Written by a practising teacher. Pairs with the companion Teacher Guide (sold separately); buy both in the Complete Bundle and save.
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