English Literature

Course summary

Studying English Literature in the Sixth Form is an enriching experience. As always, our aim is to develop your ability to think critically and to express yourself with confidence and flair. The English Department is central to the vibrant cultural life of the school. Trips to the theatre may take place and debating and public speaking are a regular fixture of Sixth Form life. Students may participate in editing the school magazine or attend a lunchtime LitLunch session held in the Sixth Form library – a great way to broaden horizons and share ideas. The course offers you the chance to explore English Literature in all its diversity. You will encounter a wide range of texts, whether it is the rumbustious chaos of Shakespearean tragedy to the haunting strangeness of some contemporary global fiction. You might explore modern novels such as Khaled Hosseini’s ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’, and Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, a disturbing depiction of a dystopian society. Alongside these modern classics, you will study canonical works such as Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ or Thomas Hardy’s ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’. Drama figures strongly too, with plays such as Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ or ‘King Lear’ as well as works by other authors such as Marlowe’s ‘Doctor Faustus’. At the heart of the course is a superb collection of modern poetry which captures modern life in transgressive and experimental ways. There is also a coursework component which we will tackle in the spring and summer terms of Year 12: you will have the agency to select writers about which you are passionate and compare two texts on a similar theme, exploring your own ideas about characters, language and critical theory. In English, you will develop skills of critical analysis, critical thinking and communication, study the human condition, enhance your cultural awareness, develop a sense of self and understanding of others, gain a qualification highly regarded by universities and employers, exchange ideas in informal groups where your opinions are valued, work with a passionate department, discuss political philosophies, ethics and morality, life, death and everything in between. As teachers, we always seek to elicit your contributions and to hear your views, so try to be brave and speak up. When you express your opinions in class it helps you develop academically too – you are learning to see ideas threedimensionally and to articulate them with precision. Whatever you opt for, if you have an enquiring mind and enjoy reading and discussion, this is the perfect choice for you. Debating Club and Culture Club are some of the most popular societies in the Sixth Form. At Debating Club you can learn the protocols and fundamental skills of British parliamentary debating, opening a window to a competitive community of school debating through the myriad of competitions that we enter. Culture Club is an eclectic discussion group; one week we might explore how Netflix has transformed story-telling across the arts or how jazz music has influenced American identity, the next we may focus on radical scepticism, ancient ethics or social contract theory.