Pearson Edexcel Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (9–1)
Tuesday 19 May 2026
Morning (Time: 2 hours 15 minutes)
Paper
reference 1ET0/02
English Literature
PAPER 2: 19th-century Novel and Poetry since 1789
Questions and Extracts Booklet
Do not return this booklet with your Answer Booklet.
Turn over
P81990A
©2026 Pearson Education Ltd.
P:1/1/1/1/
*P81990A*
, BLANK PAGE
2 P81990A
, Answer THREE questions:
ONE question from Section A
ONE question from Section B, Part 1
AND Question 12 in Section B, Part 2.
The extracts and poems for use with Sections A and B are in this paper.
SECTION A – 19th-century Novel Page
1 Jane Eyre: Charlotte Brontë 4
2 Great Expectations: Charles Dickens 6
3 Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: R L Stevenson 8
4 A Christmas Carol: Charles Dickens 10
5 Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austen 12
6 Silas Marner: George Eliot 14
7 Frankenstein: Mary Shelley 16
SECTION B – Part 1 Poetry Anthology Page
8 Relationships 18
9 Conflict 20
10 Time and Place 22
11 Belonging 24
SECTION B – Part 2 Page
12 Unseen Poetry 26
P81990A 3
Turn over
, SECTION A
19th‑century Novel
Answer ONE question in Section A.
You should spend about 55 minutes on this section.
You should divide your time equally between parts (a) and (b) of the question.
Use this extract to answer Question 1.
Jane Eyre: Charlotte Brontë
In Chapter 19, a gipsy woman visits Thornfield Hall and says she will not leave until
she has seen every single lady in the house. Jane Eyre says she will happily go and
see her.
The library looked tranquil enough as I entered it, and the sibyl – if sibyl she were – was
seated snugly enough in an easy‑chair at the chimney corner. She had on a red cloak
and a black bonnet: or rather, a broad‑brimmed gipsy hat, tied down with a striped
handkerchief under the chin. An extinguished candle stood on the table; she was
bending over the fire, and seemed reading in a little black book, like a Prayer Book, by
the light of the blaze: she muttered the words to herself, as most old women do, while
she read; she did not desist immediately on my entrance: it appeared she wished to finish
a paragraph.
I stood on the rug and warmed my hands, which were rather cold with sitting at a
distance from the drawing‑room fire. I felt now as composed as ever I did in my life: there
was nothing indeed in the gipsy’s appearance to trouble one’s calm. She shut her book
and slowly looked up; her hat‑brim partially shaded her face, yet I could see, as she raised
it, that it was a strange one. It looked all brown and black: elf‑locks bristled out from
beneath a white band which passed under her chin, and came half over her cheeks, or
rather jaws: her eye confronted me at once, with a bold and direct gaze.
‘Well, and you want your fortune told?’ she said, in a voice as decided as her glance, as
harsh as her features.
‘I don’t care about it, mother; you may please yourself: but I ought to warn you, I have
no faith.’
‘It’s like your impudence to say so: I expected it of you: I heard it in your step as you
crossed the threshold.’
‘Did you? You’ve a quick ear.’
‘I have; and a quick eye, and a quick brain.’
‘You need them all in your trade.’
‘I do: especially when I’ve customers like you to deal with. Why don’t you tremble?’
‘I’m not cold.’
‘Why don’t you turn pale?’
‘I am not sick.’
‘Why don’t you consult my art?’
‘I’m not silly.’
The old crone ‘nichered’ a laugh under her bonnet and bandage; she then drew out a
short black pipe, and lighting it, began to smoke.
Having indulged a while in this sedative, she raised her bent body, took the pipe from her
lips, and while gazing steadily at the fire, said very deliberately –
‘You are cold; you are sick; you are silly.’
‘Prove it,’ I rejoined.
4 P81990A
Tuesday 19 May 2026
Morning (Time: 2 hours 15 minutes)
Paper
reference 1ET0/02
English Literature
PAPER 2: 19th-century Novel and Poetry since 1789
Questions and Extracts Booklet
Do not return this booklet with your Answer Booklet.
Turn over
P81990A
©2026 Pearson Education Ltd.
P:1/1/1/1/
*P81990A*
, BLANK PAGE
2 P81990A
, Answer THREE questions:
ONE question from Section A
ONE question from Section B, Part 1
AND Question 12 in Section B, Part 2.
The extracts and poems for use with Sections A and B are in this paper.
SECTION A – 19th-century Novel Page
1 Jane Eyre: Charlotte Brontë 4
2 Great Expectations: Charles Dickens 6
3 Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: R L Stevenson 8
4 A Christmas Carol: Charles Dickens 10
5 Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austen 12
6 Silas Marner: George Eliot 14
7 Frankenstein: Mary Shelley 16
SECTION B – Part 1 Poetry Anthology Page
8 Relationships 18
9 Conflict 20
10 Time and Place 22
11 Belonging 24
SECTION B – Part 2 Page
12 Unseen Poetry 26
P81990A 3
Turn over
, SECTION A
19th‑century Novel
Answer ONE question in Section A.
You should spend about 55 minutes on this section.
You should divide your time equally between parts (a) and (b) of the question.
Use this extract to answer Question 1.
Jane Eyre: Charlotte Brontë
In Chapter 19, a gipsy woman visits Thornfield Hall and says she will not leave until
she has seen every single lady in the house. Jane Eyre says she will happily go and
see her.
The library looked tranquil enough as I entered it, and the sibyl – if sibyl she were – was
seated snugly enough in an easy‑chair at the chimney corner. She had on a red cloak
and a black bonnet: or rather, a broad‑brimmed gipsy hat, tied down with a striped
handkerchief under the chin. An extinguished candle stood on the table; she was
bending over the fire, and seemed reading in a little black book, like a Prayer Book, by
the light of the blaze: she muttered the words to herself, as most old women do, while
she read; she did not desist immediately on my entrance: it appeared she wished to finish
a paragraph.
I stood on the rug and warmed my hands, which were rather cold with sitting at a
distance from the drawing‑room fire. I felt now as composed as ever I did in my life: there
was nothing indeed in the gipsy’s appearance to trouble one’s calm. She shut her book
and slowly looked up; her hat‑brim partially shaded her face, yet I could see, as she raised
it, that it was a strange one. It looked all brown and black: elf‑locks bristled out from
beneath a white band which passed under her chin, and came half over her cheeks, or
rather jaws: her eye confronted me at once, with a bold and direct gaze.
‘Well, and you want your fortune told?’ she said, in a voice as decided as her glance, as
harsh as her features.
‘I don’t care about it, mother; you may please yourself: but I ought to warn you, I have
no faith.’
‘It’s like your impudence to say so: I expected it of you: I heard it in your step as you
crossed the threshold.’
‘Did you? You’ve a quick ear.’
‘I have; and a quick eye, and a quick brain.’
‘You need them all in your trade.’
‘I do: especially when I’ve customers like you to deal with. Why don’t you tremble?’
‘I’m not cold.’
‘Why don’t you turn pale?’
‘I am not sick.’
‘Why don’t you consult my art?’
‘I’m not silly.’
The old crone ‘nichered’ a laugh under her bonnet and bandage; she then drew out a
short black pipe, and lighting it, began to smoke.
Having indulged a while in this sedative, she raised her bent body, took the pipe from her
lips, and while gazing steadily at the fire, said very deliberately –
‘You are cold; you are sick; you are silly.’
‘Prove it,’ I rejoined.
4 P81990A
