English Literature

Course summary

What will I learn? Paper 1: Literary genres: Aspects of tragedy - You will study three texts: one Shakespeare (e.g. King Lear), one further drama (e.g. Death of a Salesman), and one other text (e.g. Keats’ poetry). You will explore the conventions of tragedy and the way in which it is conveyed and interpreted in different ways by authors, playwrights, and poets. Paper 2: Texts and genres: Elements of political and social protest writing - You will study three texts: one post-2000 prose (e.g. The Kite Runner); one poetry (e.g. Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience) and one further text (e.g. Hard Times). You will study the ways in which they explore issues of power and powerlessness, oppression and domination, the cultures that we live and have lived in as well as how this genre is exploited by writers. Non-Examined Assessment: Theory and Independence - You will write about two different literary texts: one poetry and one prose. You are encouraged to approach this assessment independently and will be given some freedom in your choice of prose and poetry. You will link each text to a different section of the Critical Anthology that covers literary theories ranging from narrative theory to Marxist theory. One response must be in the form of a conventional essay.