English Literature

Course summary

Covering a selection of poetry, prose and drama texts from at least five hundred years of English Literature, this course will provide students with the opportunity to enjoy and gain an understanding of the writing and the social contexts that produced it, as well as appreciating the nuanced differences in the ways they might be received by different groups over time. Students will complete 3 units entitled ‘Love Through the Ages’, ‘Textsin Shared Contexts – Modern Times: Literature from 1945 to the Present Day’ and an Independent Study unit (a non- examination assessment or coursework).‘Love Through the Ages’ introduces students to the ways in which literary texts explore the theme of love over a broad time period. Students study: A Shakespeare play, a novel and poetry which all contribute to the examination at the end of year 13.‘Texts in Shared Contexts’ forms the second exam component of the course and requires students to respond to three set texts and one unseen extract of prose, analysing the presentation of a theme in each, as well as drawing links between the use of language, form and structure. Students will be required to consider how different writers explore similar themes through different genres. In the non-exam assessment, ‘Independent Critical Study: Texts Across Time’, students read and analyse two texts from one or a combination of the genres of prose, poetry and drama (one of which must have been written pre-1900). The basis of the NEA is again the analysis of the presentation of a theme which is informed by the students’ extensive wider reading and the application of critical ideas.