Join English Literature IGCSE: Unseen poetry
A self-paced one-week pre-recorded class for IGCSE/GCSE students
Printable resources
Worksheets and activity sheets to print for every lesson.
6 video lessons
Pre-recorded lessons to watch whenever suits — as many times as you like.
Watch any time
Instant access on any device — pause, rewind and rewatch at your own pace.
The book we’re reading
Helen Dunmore's "Next Door" is a wry, observant poem about the strange closeness of living wall-to-wall with people you barely know. The speaker registers the neighbours through the shared house — the bass thudding through the walls year after year, the way they go quiet during the speaker's parties even though they're no strangers to fighting themselves — and reflects on how two adjoining, mirror-image homes can hold two lives that never really meet. In plain, level-headed language it asks a quietly unsettling question: how well do we actually know the people just on the other side of the wall? As an unseen text, it's a great choice — accessible on first read, but with plenty beneath the surface to reward closer analysis.
Class contents
"Next Door" by Helen Dunmore — analysis and discussion
Developing a personal response to unseen poetry
