Spotlight on English Literature

Here are some suggestions of books to read and programmes to watch to help you prepare for this

course.

This course is comprised of 3 components in which students will study a minimum of 8 texts across the genres of prose, poetry and

drama

Spotlight on English Literature

Component 1 Drama and Poetry Pre-1900

Students study one Shakespeare play – Twelfth Night (Arden Edition)

Read in advance or watch a production, as this is the first text you will study

Spotlight on English Literature

Component 1 Drama and Poetry Pre-1900 continuedStudents study one pre-1900 drama text and one pre-1900 poetry text

Neither books is studied until Year 2, but don’t let that stop you reading ahead!

Spotlight on English Literature

Component 2 Comparative and Contextual Study – Dystopia

Students are provided with copies of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale and ‘1984’, but need to know them inside out, so feel free to read ahead. Wider reading of other Dystopian novels is hugely beneficial too.

Kurt VonnegutSlaughterhouse 5

Cormac McCarthyThe Road

Anthony BurgessA Clockwork Orange

Spotlight on English Literature

Component 3 Literature post-1900 NEA (or coursework)

There are two tasks:Close reading with commentary 1000 words. We study poetry of conflict and provide you with an anthology. Best preparation here is to revise all of the poetic terminology you learned for GCSE.

Comparative essay 2000 words. Here we compare two texts, a play and a novel. Oranges are not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson & After Mrs Rochester by Polly Teale. We will start this NEA towards the end of the first year.

Students are provided with both of these

texts

Spotlight on English Literature

We have copies of all the texts you study, plus guides and

criticisms. You can see a full list in the library catalogue via

the QE website.

Spotlight on English Literature

Journals ‘English Review’ and

‘E-Magazine’ are important resources for this A-Level. We have print copies in the library, and back copies can be borrowed. We also

subscribe to eMag online, and link to the online material from

English Review.

Spotlight on English Literature

We stock a selection of DVDs to support the

texts you are studying.

You can borrow DVDs for a week at a time.