English Literature

Course summary

Exam board – Pearson/Edexcel, Specification 9ET0 Minimum requirements for the course: Grade 6 in English Language and English Literature. Staff contact: Mr Knott, bkn@cheneyschool.org; Mr Stapley est@cheneyschool.org, Ms Choudhury jch@cheneyschool.org What is English Literature all about? This course will allow you to develop your skills to a point where you will appreciate the far-ranging implications of literature across cultures and history. Literature acts as a portal into the past and a lens through which to explore the psychology of what it is to be human. You will engage critically and creatively with a substantial body of texts, developing your own viewpoint, and exploring the viewpoints of others. Course structure: Component 1: Drama. One Shakespeare play and one modern play (30%). Component 2: Prose. Two prose texts interlinked by a chosen theme – one modern and one pre-1900 (20%). Component 3: Poetry. One collection of poems from a poet pre- or post- 1900; one collection of poems from the Modern Era (30%). Coursework: Your choice of two texts which you compare in an essay (20%). Complementary courses: History; Philosophy; Drama; Media; Classical Civilisation. Leads to: Any degree course or profession which requires sophisticated communication skills and critical and creative thought. Resources: A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams; Hamlet, William Shakespeare; Dracula, Bram Stoker; Beloved, Toni Morrison; John Keats Selected Poems (Penguin Classics, 2006); Poems of the Decade: An Anthology of the Forward Books of Poetry (Faber and Faber, 2015). These are all compulsory and it is advised you purchase them before the start of the course. Bursary students can request copies from the Bursary Fund. What students say: 'I love being surrounded by like minded people and the fact that we all love literature. It means we can have great, thought-provoking discussions.'