English Literature

What will I study in Year 12?

You will embark on your comparative and contextual study based on our chosen topic area of Dystopia.  The two core texts you will be studying will be George Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Attwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. In addition you will be required to read widely and extensively in the chosen topic area.  This is to prepare you for the other examination question for this part of the course, which is to write a critical appreciation of an unseen text from the chosen topic of Dystopia. You will be required to demonstrate close reading skills in analysing unseen extracts. 

You will also write your coursework.  This will be based on a variety of Literature post 1900 : 1 play, 1 novel and 1 collection of poetry.  Again the texts are grouped by theme. Currently we are studying the theme East-West which looks at colonial and post colonial relationships between the UK and its former colonies as expressed in the following texts: E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India, Daljit Nagra’s Look We Have Coming to Dover and Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink. 

What will I study in Year 13?

You will study Drama and Poetry pre 1900, which consists of two parts.  The first part is a detailed study of Shakespeare’s The Tempest where you will learn to analyse ways in which Shakespeare shapes meanings in the chosen play including the function and effects of structure, form and language. You will articulate informed, personal and creative responses to the chosen Shakespeare play, using associated concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression. Finally you will  explore the play informed by different interpretations and consider different interpretations across time.

The second part of your pre 1900 study consists of a comparative study of two texts: one poem - Chaucer’s The Merchant’s Tale and one play - Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband.

Through this detailed, comparative study students will learn to: demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of contexts in which the chosen texts were written and received, explore connections across the texts, articulate informed, personal and creative responses to the chosen texts, using associated concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression and explore the texts informed by different interpretations.

How will I be assessed?

You will be assessed by means of terminal examination and coursework. The A Level examination is made up of two components:

Component 1 comprises two questions on  a Shakespeare play: one critical appreciation of an extract and one thematic question which considers the whole play.  For the Drama and Poetry texts pre-1900 there is a choice of six questions and candidates must consider a statement and evaluate it in the light of the study of their two chosen texts.  For example, 'Literature often celebrates the strong bonds between human beings.’

Component 2 comprises an unseen prose extract  from the topic area of Dystopia for close literary analysis. 

There is then a comparative question on the prose texts studied in the topic area of Dystopia. There is a choice of three questions based on a statement which students must evaluate in the light of their reading of the two set texts for the topic.  For example; ‘Dystopian writing is usually deeply pessimistic.’

For the coursework candidates are required to produce a folder of coursework of around 3000 words with two tasks. Task 1: Close reading OR re-creative writing with commentary.  Candidates can select to do: Either – a close, critical analysis of a section of their chosen text or poem. Candidates are recommended to select a small section of text, three to four pages of prose or drama or up to 45 lines of poetry. Candidates are required to include a copy of their chosen passage when they submit their folder.

Or – an item of re-creative writing based on a selected passage of their chosen text or of their chosen poem, with a commentary explaining the links between the candidate’s own writing and the original passage selected. Candidates are required to include a copy of their chosen passage or poem when they submit their folder. This task must be based on one literary text. 

Task 2: Comparative Essay Candidates submit an essay considering two texts exploring contrasts and comparisons between them, informed by different interpretations and an understanding of contexts. They should reference recognised critics, different theatrical interpretations of drama and develop a theoretical approach to the study of their texts (feminism or Marxism, for example). This task must be based on two literary texts. 

The examination board is OCR. Here is a link to the full specification.