English Literature A Level

What will I study?

Over the 2 years of this course you will study a variety of texts, including poetry, prose and drama.

Component 1 Section A: Poetry – pre-1900 open book

You will study:

Christina Rossetti: Selected Poems (Penguin Classics)

Component 1 Section B: Poetry – Post 1900 open book

You will study:

Carol Ann Duffy:  Mean Time (Picador)

Philip Larkin: The Whitsun Weddings (Faber)

Assessment:      Written exam, 2 hours                                  (30% of total marks)

Component 2:  Drama (closed book)

You will study the genre of tragedy:

Section A:  Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare

Section B:  Connections between one pre-1900 play and one post-1900:

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (Penguin Modern Classics)

Duchess of Malfi by John webster (Methuen)

Assessment:      Written exam, 2 hours                                  30% of total qualification.

Component 3: Unseen texts

Section A: Unseen prose requires candidates to respond to one question from a choice of two. Each question will offer an unseen prose passage for analysis.

Question 1 will take a prose passage from the period 1880-1910.

Question 2 will take a prose passage from the period 1918-1939.

Section B: Unseen poetry requires candidates to respond to one question from a choice of two. Each question will offer an unseen poem or poetry extract from any period.

Assessment:       Written examination: 2 hours                   20% of total qualification

Component 4:  Prose Study

Based on the reading of two prose texts from different periods:

One pre-2000 and one post2000 nominated by the centre.  This is currently:

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, (Virago)

Non-exam assessment:  2500-3500 words                            20% of total qualification

What skills do I need?

You will be assessed on your ability to: