AS/A Level English Literature

Love reading?

Then the study of English Literature at A Level is the course for you.

You will study and analyse a diverse selection of literary texts, taken from a wide range of historical periods.

There are set texts, which cover poetry, plays and novels, including Shakespeare, as well as modern writers and poets.

In addition, you will be able to demonstrate your wider reading, both in the examination and part of the coursework component. 

You will have the opportunity to develop your literary expertise by engaging in close text analysis and considering the ways writers shape meaning through their choice of words, literary techniques and the influence of context.

Research and analysis will also enable you to appraise and evaluate alternative critical interpretations.

A Level English Literature is a course that inspires imaginative and thoughtful contemplation together with analytical discernment and is a challenging and rewarding subject. 

AS course content includes:

• Shakespeare (Othello)
• Poetry (Anthology of Love poetry through the ages (pre-1900)
• Unseen Prose
• A Room With a View (E. M Forster)
• Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)

A2 course content includes:

• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Feminine Gospels by Carol Ann Duffy
• A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
• Unseen Poetry

The course allows you to study a wide range of literary texts through the lens of historicism. 

There are a variety of assessment styles, such as passage-based questions, unseen material, single-text questions, multiple-text questions, open and closed-book approaches.

All of which allow you to read critically, analyse, evaluate and undertake independent research which is valuable for both further study and future employment.