English Literature

Course summary

Over two years, students will analyse the way social and political protest has influenced a range of writers’ works, including Hosseini, Blake and Atwood, developing skills of language analysis, the application of social and literary context and the formulation of argument. They will also explore English literature through the genre focus of tragedy. Aristotelian definitions of tragedy will be the starting point, before tracing the way that this genre has evolved and changed over time in Shakespeare, Miller and Keats’ writing. For their coursework, students will explore a range of prose and verse texts from a Feminist, Marxist and Post-Colonial perspective, culminating in two 1500-word coursework essays. WHAT UNITS/TOPICS WILL BE STUDIED? Component 1: Literary Genres: Aspects of Tragedy - 40% of A Level William Shakespeare’s Othello Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman Selected poetry of John Keats Component 2: Elements of Social and Political Protest Writing - 40% of A Level Khalid Hosseini’s The Kite Runner Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale William Blake’s The Songs of Innocence & Experience Component 3: Non-Examined Assessment: Theory and Independence – 20% of A Level 2 x coursework essays on critical reading (i.e. Feminist and Marxist) of prose and verse.