English

Welcome to KAA English Department

Here at KAA, English literature is one of our most popular subjects, with many students securing places at top universities, including Oxford, Edinburgh and York. You can discover a range of inspiring texts and develop invaluable analytical skills to take forward in your life.

To prepare for the demands of A-level English literature, you should complete the tasks below. Engaging with these will make the step up to A-level much easier and foster the creativity and love of literature essential for any student.

Bridging Work

2025 English Bridging Work.pdf

Progression Work

_The Yellow Wallpaper_ by Charlottes Perkins Gilman.docx

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

One of the key skills in English literature is to read and analyse a range of texts. What’s great about the subject is that, unlike GCSE, it is all about coming up with your opinions and interpretations. Try practising this skill now by reading the short story, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and then have a go at answering the questions below.

Questions:

How would you describe the tone of the first-person narrator? What does she seem to be like as a person? What impression do you get of her mental stability?
In what ways does the narrator disagree with her husband and brother regarding her “treatment”?
How does John feel about her writing? Why might he feel that way? How does he treat the narrator? What might this symbolise in wider society?
What symptoms of modern-day “depression” does the narrator exhibit? How would the condition have been looked at differently in the late 19th century?
In what way or ways is the pattern of the wallpaper like the pattern of her life? Do you think it is significant that Gilman presents the female narrator becoming obsessed with a domestic item like wallpaper?
What does the “woman inside the paper” represent?
How does the author represent the gradual deterioration of the narrator’s state of mind? Mention the stages of this woman’s destruction. How does Gilman use the text’s structure to reflect the narrator’s changing mental state?
Why do you think Gilman briefly changes the point of view from the first person singular to the second person as the narrator describes the pattern of the wallpaper?
How would you interpret the ending of the story? What has happened? What is the author trying to say?
What is the story’s central irony?
Read this short extract from Gilman’s biography. How does it affect your reading of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’?
- Gilman explained that the idea for the story originated in her own experience as a patient. She had suffered years of depression and consulted a well-known specialist physician who prescribed a "rest cure" which required her to "live as domestic a life as possible". She was forbidden to touch pen, pencil, or brush, and was allowed only two hours of mental stimulation a day. After three months and almost desperate, Gilman decided to contravene her diagnosis, along with the treatment methods, and started to work again. Aware of how close she had come to a complete mental breakdown, the author wrote ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ with additions and exaggerations to illustrate her criticism of the medical field. Gilman was ultimately proven right in her disdain for the "rest cure" when she sought a second opinion from Mary Putnam Jacobi, one of the first female doctors and a strong opponent of this theory, who prescribed a regimen of physical and mental activity that proved a much more successful treatment

Modern Poetry

Another core part of the English Literature A-level is modern poetry. We study an exciting range of modern poems by several famous poets, some of whom you may even be familiar with from GCSE. To give you a taste of the varied themes and poetry styles we look at, read the poems below and try answering the corresponding questions.

_The Diet_ by Carol Ann Duffy.docx

‘The Diet’ by Carol Ann Duffy

This poem deals with the fraught battle that some women have with their appearance and the damage that can be done by poor body image. The self-imposed pressure to diet and achieve slimness can have terrible consequences — anorexia, personality change and spiritual diminution.

Questions:

Why does the poet use 3rd person and only ever describe the woman as ‘she’? Consider how she might symbolise others.
How might the poem’s structure and rhyme scheme (or lack of rhyme scheme) reflect the subject’s emotions and state of mind?
Why does the poet use repeated listing? How does it affect the poem’s pace? How might it reflect the woman’s actions?
How does the poet highlight the woman’s diminishing shape? How does she suggest the danger the woman is in?
How does the poet show the woman’s increasing despair? How does this affect the readers?
How does Duffy highlight the woman’s loss of identity?
What does the final line suggest about the woman? How does it affect readers?

_A Vision_ by Simon Armitage.docx

‘A Vision’ by Simon Armitage

In this poem, the speaker describes finding an old plan for a town. When considering building or extending a town, planners were asked to draw plans for their future ideas. These plans, with small wooden models of their ideas, were then displayed in the town halls for the public to see. The speaker describes those models complete with miniature detail and imagined inhabitants.

Questions:

What is a ‘vision’? What predictions can you make about the poem from its title?
How does the poet initially create a sense of hope for the future? Consider the positive descriptions of the models.
How does Armitage subvert this idea and create a sense of hopelessness or failure?
How does the poet suggest we are not doing enough to save the environment? Consider the contrast of the pictures on the plans with the location where the speaker finds them at the end.
How does the poet show the passing of time? What mood or tone does this create?
How does Armitage suggest the initial vision for the town was unrealistic? Consider the extended metaphor of the children’s toys and references to unsupported or temporary structures.

_Thetis_, by Carol Ann Duffy_.docx

‘Thetis’ by Carol Ann Duffy

In Greek mythology, Thetis is a sea nymph with the power of metamorphosis — she can change herself into another form. She is pursued by several men, including Zeus, the King of the gods, and Poseidon, the sea god, but neither will marry her once they discover The Fates‘ prediction that she will give birth to a child who will be greater than his father. Instead, she is forced, against her will, to marry a mortal, Peleus. He forces himself on her and she has his baby, Achilles.

Questions:

What animals or forms is Thetis shown to take?
What might this metamorphosis represent about women in general?
How does Duffy make the presence of the man pursuing Thetis (we presume, Peleus) felt? Is his presence presented as something positive or negative?
How does Duffy use the poem’s pace and irregular rhyme scheme to reflect the action and themes of the poem?
Does Duffy suggest at any point that Thetis is successfully seduced by her male pursuer? How does she show this?
How does Duffy present Thetis’ power and independence?
How is this contrasted in the final stanza?
What is the final transformation that Duffy describes happening in the poem’s last line?

_Song_ by George Szirtes_.docx

‘Song, for Helen Suzman’ by George Szirtes

This poem celebrates the small political actions, which cumulatively, can make a difference. This is dedicated to Helen Suzman, a white South African liberal activist who campaigned against the apartheid system, honouring the collective power of protest.

Questions:

What does the poem’s title make you think of? Why do you think the poet might have chosen this title?

How does the poem’s structure reflect the idea of a ‘song’?
Where can you see images of lightness? Where can you see images of heaviness? How does the poet use the contrast between these images?
What other opposites does the poet use in the poem? How are these opposites effective?
The poet uses the image of the walls vibrating and shaking and plates breaking. What might these images be a metaphor for?
How does the poet create images of oppression?
How does the poet create an image of empowerment?
Look at the stanzas in italics. How do they subtly change? What is the effect of these changes? Consider the words and the punctuation.

_The Fox in the National Museum of Wales_ by Robert Minhinnick.docx

‘The Fox in the National Museum of Wales’ by Robert Mincinnick

This extraordinarily imaginative poem is set in the National Museum of Wales. The anthropomorphised ‘fox’ takes the reader through the history of civilisation. He seems to represent the future, which is why the speaker can never catch up with him. But what is the future?

Questions:

This poem is set in a museum. It contains a lot of unusual references. Before analysing the poem, look up the definition of any unfamiliar words and jot down their meanings.
What connotations do foxes have? Why might the poet choose to characterise the future as a fox?
Why do you think the poem is set in a national museum displaying artefacts throughout history?
How does the poet create a sense of danger, fragility or transience (the sense that things will not last long)? Why would he do this?
How is the human in the poem presented? Who/what might they represent? Why does the poet present them in this way?
How does the poet hint at environmental issues and the destruction humans are doing to the planet?
How does the poet suggest that the future may be dangerous?
What do you think is the significance of the poem’s final line? What do you think the poet’s message is?

Reading

You are probably aware there is a direct correlation between success at A-level and students who read regularly. Those who read widely have a greater vocabulary; write more fluently; and show a far better understanding of world issues. As such, we think there is no better way to spend your spare time than getting stuck into a great book. In case you need inspiration, have a look at the list below and see if there is anything that takes your fancy. (Top tip: many of the novels below are available to read for free online - try searching the novel’s title followed by pdf to find out) .