English Literature

Assessment

The A-level specification aims to encourage candidates to: • read widely, ambitiously and independently, exploring ways in which different texts relate to each other and the literary tradition; • develop and effectively apply their skills of analysis and criticism; • explore the historical, social and cultural contexts of the texts they are studying, considering their implications for how we read and understand those; and • respond to and engage with others’ interpretations of texts, reading a wide range of literary theory and criticism. Candidates will be required to show knowledge and understanding of a minimum of eight literary texts, including at least two examples of prose, poetry and drama, across the course as a whole. They will have the opportunity to focus on areas of individual interest. Component One: Shakespeare and Pre-1900 Poetry and Drama (2 hours, 40% of mark) • Shakespeare's plays include Hamlet, Measure for Measure, Coriolanus, Twelfth Night, Richard III, and The Tempest. • Poetry includes Chaucer’s Merchant’s Prologue and Tale, Milton’s Paradise Lost Books 9 and 10, Tennyson’s Maud, Coleridge’s Selected Poems, Rossetti’s Selected Poems. • Drama includes Edward II (Marlowe), She Stoops to Conquer (Goldsmith), The Duchess of Malfi (Webster), A Doll’s House (Ibsen), and An Ideal Husband (Wilde). • The exam will consist of two writing tasks on Shakespeare's play, one of which will involve close reading and a comparative essay on poetry and drama. Component Two: Comparative and Contextual Study (2 hours, 40% of mark) • Candidates will be examined on at least two texts in a specific topic area. Topics include American Literature from 1880–1940, The Gothic, Dystopia, Women in Literature, The Immigrant Experience. • The exam will consist of a close-reading task looking at an unseen passage and a comparative essay on two set texts from the chosen topic. Component Three: Literature Post-1900 (3000-word coursework folder, 20% of mark) • Candidates will study three texts for two essays; the texts will include one prose text, one poetry text and one drama text. All texts will be post-1900 and at least one will have been published or performed after 2000. • One essay will be a close reading of a passage and the other comparative.