ENGLISH LITERATURE

WHY STUDY ENGLISH LITERATURE?

A level English Literature studies how great writing enables the exploration of many of life's fundamental themes: love, loneliness, prejudice, bravery and perseverance to name but a few. The study of English Literature enhances skills of written and spoken communication, both of which are vital in every professional field and on every undergraduate course. You will develop your understanding of society, history and human behaviour by studying the contexts in which literary works are written and understood. You will become more sensitive to writers’ choices of form and language to express meanings.

​

​

COURSE CONTENT

Paper 1

Hamlet, A Doll’s House by Ibsen, Paradise Lost by Milton and the poetry of Rossetti are some of the texts we have taught for this unit in the past – exploring the relationships, emotions and what drives us as humans. Context focus is on the Elizabethan/Jacobite and Victorian periods.

​

Paper 2

The eerily prophetic worlds of dystopian literature is the focus for this unit. We study Nineteen Eighty-Four by Orwell and The Handmaid’s Tale by Atwood, alongside as many other sub-genres we can squeeze in, such as ‘Speculative Fiction’, ‘Sci-Fi’ and ‘Afrofuturism’, in preparation for the unseen element of the exam.

 

Coursework

Independence is the key word for this unit. We will support and guide you through choosing your own texts (one of each form - prose, drama and poetry) which interest and excite you and building your coursework folder of two essays.

​

​

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

• Children of Men – P.D. James

• Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

• Kindred – Octavia E. Butler

• Hamnet – Maggie O’Farrell

• Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie

• The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy

• Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood

• Shakespeare is Hard, but So is Life – Fintan O’Toole

• The Art of Writing English Literature Essays: for A-level & Beyond – Michael Mealy and Neil Bowen

• www.guardian.co.uk/books

• www.themanbookerprize.com

• www.bl.uk/

​

​

​

​