A Level Literature

When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature.  If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense ofmyself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.~ Maya Angelou ~

What does it mean to be human?

Literature addresses the existential questions of life.

Studying literature gives us the chance to examine the human condition through the stories we share.

Studying literature allows us to have a range of experiences as readers which we wouldn’t normally have access to.In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived

more than people who cannot or will not read. - S. I. Hayakawa -

How do we tell our stories?

Pupils will study different styles of writing, for example novels, plays and poems.

Pupils will learn how to critically analyse the way language, imagery, literary techniques and aspects of structure are manipulated by the author to have an impact on the reader.

Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss:

in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden

from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear.  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson  ~

From what point of view do we read?

Pupils will read other literary critics to inform your own analysis.

Pupils will learn about different literary critical perspectives, for example feminism.

Pupilswill also learn how texts are affected by the contexts in which they are written and received

I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.  ~ E. M. Forster ~

What the course covers – AS Level CIE – Examinations to be written in June 2018

Paper 3: Poetry and Prose Likely texts include Songs of Ourselves Poetry

Anthology and The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Paper 4: Drama Likely texts include Twelfth Night by William

Shakespeare and Death and the Kings Horseman by Wole Soyinka.

What the course covers – A2 Level – CIE – Examinations to be written in June 2019

Paper 5: Shakespeare and other pre-20th Century Texts Likely texts include Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure and

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

Paper 6: 1900 to the present Likely texts include Americanah by Chimamanda Adichie

(also the matric set novel for 2018) and selected poems of WB Yeats.

Outside of class In addition to class and homework

pupils must be avid readers from a range of genres.

An extended reading list will be provided and at least one book from it should be read each half term.

Pupils are expected to take the initiative to read widely around the set texts. This could include other works by the same author or literary criticism of the text.

To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful, readyalways to apprehend in the flow of language the sudden flash of poetry.

~ Gaston Bachelard ~

Criteria:

love reading and already be avid readers.

have a strong work ethic and time to devote to the extra work

have analytic reading ability (their literature and comprehension marks should provide some indication of this). Pupils will, effectively be jumping two years forward to grade 12 level work.

Pupils who are process driven will find this jump easier

The end of reading is not more books but more life. - Holbrook Jackson -

The next chapter? A study of Literature prepares you for a

range of options at university and beyond.

An A level in English Literature develops the analytic skills to help pupils thrive at university.

An English Literature A Level is highly respected. It is on the list of Russell Group (top 24 UK Universities) facilitating (preferred) subjects

.

A good book is the purest essence of a human soul. ~ Thomas Carlyle ~

A great book should leave you with many experiences and slightly exhausted at the end. You should live several lives while reading it. ~

William Styron ~

The more that you read, the more things you will

know.The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.

         - Dr. Seuss