English Literature at AS and A2 level

Find out more about the course, the texts you will be studying and the kinds of approaches you might use when studying literature at OSFC.

The AS is divided into three modules. These are described below, along with details of the texts studied.

The Modern Novel
This unit requires you to (wait for it) study a modern novel. In practical terms this means that you get to read work by modern writers which deal with modern themes and ideas. You will be studying one of the following novels - use the links below to find out more:

Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love
Find out more about McEwan through his official website:http://www.ianmcewan.com -

You can also learn more about the author and his novels by reading the following BBC profile: http://news.bbc.co.uk -

Learn more about the novel ‘Enduring Love’ by reading the following interview with McEwan http://www.randomhouse.com -

Angela Carter’s Wise Children
The unofficial Angela Carter website http://perso.wanadoo.fr -

Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale
Listen to an audio interview with Atwood, including a discussion on how Handmaid’s Tale is based on real events. http://www.bbc.co.uk -

A study guide on ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ http://www.wsu.edu -

This unit is assessed by a one hour exam, and is worth 90 marks of the total 300 marks for the AS course.

Texts in Context
For this module, you will study a play and a collection of poems. One of the texts will have been written before the twentieth century, so you might be studying pre-twentieth century poetry and a modern play, or modern poetry and pre-twentieth century drama.

This module requires you to develop your skills further. For the modern text that you study, you are expected to consider different opinions and interpretations in your essays. For the pre twentieth century text, you are expected to show how the context in which the text was written might influence how the text was written and interpreted.

Drama
Christopher Marlowe: Dr. Faustus (pre-twentieth century)
Tennessee Williams: The Glass Menagerie

Poetry
Carol Ann Duffy The World’s Wife
Philip Larkin The Whitsun Weddings
U. A. Fanthorpe
The Victorian Poets (pre-twentieth century)

This module is assessed by a two hour exam, with one hour for each text. It is worth 120 of the total 300 marks.

Coursework
As part of your AS course you will write an essay on a Shakespeare play. This might be:

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Tempest

See the Shakespeare resources on the main English Literature homepage.
This assignment is worth 90 marks of the total 300 marks.