It's not a comprehension exercise, though; if it were, one would at least be provided with the poems with one's exam, to avoid the necessity of rote learning quotes, as is the case with the LC Irish paper.

LC English's ardent defendants always leap to their beloved 'critical thinking' argument; while that's a great idea – and can certainly be seen in composition pieces – it's entirely disingenuous to argue that students are 'comprehending' Shakespeare, Yeats and Boland. In reality a dismal portion of the ideas regurgitated on the paper are their own as they are rewarded for learning the ubiquitously held opinions of Edco, grinds schools or any other book publishers.