To study English Literature is to be exposed to some of the best that has been thought and written in our language from the Age of Chaucer to today. The emphasis at A Level is on classic texts, from King Lear to Wuthering Heights, with the hope of coming to appreciate why and how such texts and writers have earned their ‘classic’ status. Through close study of literature, students should learn how to read more closely and ambitiously, to think more deeply about words and life, and to write clear, elegant English: gifts to last a lifetime. You will be studying eight texts in detail: for the language and their literary qualities. The aim of the course, in the new, reformed A Level specifications, is also to set these texts in their historical and literary contexts. Finally, students are also required to engage with the various critical interpretations of a text offered by critics and other readers. As well as studying the set texts, much of the work in the classroom will involve texts not on the syllabus. You will be expected to read widely and ambitiously, including other works by the set authors and major authors not\ set. The library and English Department are well stocked with novels and poetry anthologies and your intensive reading should start in the holidays before the course begins. As part of your coursework essay in Upper Sixth, you will be required to write about a post-2000 novel of your own choice, so independent reading of contemporary fiction is encouraged from the start. Over the two year course, you will be taught by 3 or 4 teachers from the English Department who will divide the course between them. You will explore the chosen texts in a variety of ways and you should expect to participate in discussion and present short talks. Your written work will largely take the form of essays of literary criticism. You will be acquiring a closer knowledge of the text and developing your powers of argument and expression.