English Language and Literature

Course summary

The English Language and Literature specification offers students the chance to perform textual analysis in relation to both literary and non-literary texts as well as develop their own creative writing skills. The course includes a focus on poetry and drama, through Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience and Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire. It also offers a chance to develop more contextually focused responses and creative readings using Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby as a central text. Alongside the more literary elements students will also study a range of spoken and non-fiction texts, through the set anthology which aims to take in changing stylistic features over time. The coursework element allows students to explore an aspect of narrative through a comparative analysis of Jeanette Winterson's Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal and a post-2000 text of their own choice. It also allows them a chance to develop their own creative writing through writing on a topic of their choice in a non-fictional format.