Why do you need to study Literature in English?

我為什麼需要修讀英語文學?

• Appreciate and enjoy a wide range of literary or creative texts and other related cultural forms

• Develop capacity for critical thinking, creativity, self-expression, personal growth, empathy and cultural understanding

• Enhance awareness of the relationship between literature and society

• Develop a greater sensitivity to the nuances of the English language

• Be adequately prepared for areas of further study/work, where qualities promoted in the study of literature, such as creativity, critical thinking and inter-cultural understanding, are highly valued

What will you learn from Literature in English?

我可以從英語文學中學到甚麼?

Novels: The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald OR Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

Plays: The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare OR Educating Rita, Willy Russell

Films: The Remains of the Day (1993), James Ivory OR Vertigo (1958), Alfred Hitchcock

Short stories:

• Lorrie Moore: How to Become a Writer

• Jhumpa Lahiri: A Temporary Matter

• Tim O’Brien: The Things They Carried

• James Thurber: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

• Anita Desai: Games at Twilight

• Ray Bradbury: The Veldt

• Roald Dahl: Parson’s Pleasure

• Kate Chopin: The Story of an Hour

Poetry: From The Rattle Bag ed. S. Heaney & T. Hughes, Faber and Faber

• William Carlos Williams: ‘Flowers by the Sea’, ‘The Last Words of My English Grandmother’, ‘Raleigh Was Right’

• William Blake: ‘The Chimney Sweeper’, ‘A Poison Tree’, ‘The Tyger’

• Thomas Hardy: ‘Afterwards’, ‘Bags of Meat’, ‘Weathers’

• E. E. Cummings: ‘Buffalo Bill’s’, ‘maggie and millie and mollie and may’, ‘nobody loses all the time’

• Emily Dickinson: ‘Like Rain it sounded till it curved’, ‘There came a Wind like a Bugle’, ‘There’s a certain Slant of light’

How will you be assessed in Literature in English?

英語文學的評核模式

Paper 1 (50%) : Essay Writing

Part I (30%) will comprise four sections, A – D. Candidates may choose to answer a question on one of two novels in Section A, one of two plays in Section B, and one of two films in Section C. Section D will cover short stories. In Part I there will be two questions on each text. Part II (20%) will comprise eight questions requiring comparisons of two or more of the set texts from Part I. All questions will require essay-type answers, with some inviting imaginative expansion of texts.

Paper 2 (30%) : Appreciation

This paper will be divided into 3 sections. Candidates must choose one question from a choice of four in Section A, one question from a choice of two in Section B and one question from a choice of two in Section C. Multi-part questions will invite critical analyses of a single passage from either of the prescribed novels or the prescribed plays in Section A (10%), two or three set poems either by the same or different poets in Section B (12%), and one or two unseen poems in Section C (8%). Candidates will be expected to show an ability to understand the thought and feeling in the poetry, and the ways in which these are conveyed.

School- based Assessment (20%) :

It involves the preparation of an extended essay on a theme/work/writer connected to the students' study in the subject or an analytical study/review of a film/play/performance, or (a) piece(s) of creative writing, of around 2000 to 2500 words.

How can Literature in English help you to prepare for the future?

英語文學可以如何幫助我為未來做好準備？

• Develop your Intellectual Curiosity 求知欲

• Strengthen your Writing Abilities 寫作能力

• Mental Stimulation 精神刺激

• Improve your Memory and Focus 記憶力和專注力

• Stretch your Imagination 想像力

Refer to Liberal Arts 文科 for English-related University Program