English Literature

Course summary

Books, books, and more books! English Literature is the study of prose, plays, and poetry, spanning centuries and involving plenty of reading and analysis. It’s an incredibly varied and diverse subject and one which overlaps with history, language, and the social sciences to create a picture of how literature influences, and is influenced by, major changes in society and the world as we know it. Although reading is obviously a big part of the course, you’ll also find yourself discussing, analyzing, and exploring the texts you read, as well as linking them to related works and drawing a deeper meaning from them. Unit 1: Love Through the Ages. Here, you will study three texts: one poetry; one prose, and one Shakespeare play. In addition to the core texts, you are also encouraged to read widely in the topic area, reading texts from a range of authors and times. Some of the areas that could be explored are romantic love; love and loss; lust; social conventions and taboos; jealousy and guilt and truth and deception. Unit 2: Texts in Shared Contexts. This is the close study of three texts, each linked to World War One and its aftermath. The unit considers the impact on combatants, non-combatants, and subsequent generations as well as its social, political, personal, and literary legacies. Unit 3: Texts Across Time. A non-exam unit that focuses on the comparative critical study of two texts. It is a challenging but wide-ranging opportunity for independent study. Possible themes for your extended essay include Identity; Crime and Punishment; The Gothic; Minds under Stress; and Representations of Social Class and Culture.