English Literature

Thinking about doing English Literature?

At the heart of studying Literature A-level is the idea that a poem, novel or play is shaped by when it was written. This includes not only the writers’ ideas (think Priestley having fought in World War One wanting a more equal society) but also how it is written (think John Agard using phonetics to convey dialect).

WATCH

Novels that Changed the World (BBC iplayer)

1. A Woman’s Place

2. The Empire Written Back

3. The Class Ceiling

WRITE

Create a Timeline of Literature: literary movements, most important writers, most influential books. You will need to do lots of research for this. Use the internet, but make sure that all of the work is in your own words.

READ:

Choose any text that is featured in one of the BBC programmes above and read it!

Dorian Grey, Oscar Wilde

Paper 1: Love through the ages

WATCH

Films: Brideshead Revisited, 2008; Atonement, 2007

WRITE

Make notes on the following article so that you have an overview of the genre of Tragedy: https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/an-introduction-to-shakespearean-tragedy

READ

Paper 2: Modern times - literature from 1945 to the present day

WATCH

Sylvia (2003) - a film about Sylvia Plath's relationship with Ted Hughes.

WRITE

Create a context leaflet for each core text. Include socio/historical context and any critics' points of view that you can find as well as a few notes on the author.

READ