English Literature
Ms J Grimes – jgrimes@sackvilleschool.org.uk
Literature allows you to embrace your love for novels, plays and poetry, alongside developing a wider skillset of perceptive analysis, empathy and logic. The course will further the enjoyment you already gain from reading, affording you a chance to engage with texts, critiquing their content and sharing your viewpoints on a range of relevant themes and ideas. You will be able to develop your analytical skills – important in any further education or employment – as you will learn to consider texts through a critical lens and offer up a range of interpretations. Big ideas such as morality and motivation are also explored; concepts that sit well with other subjects offered at A-Level such as law, sociology or psychology.
If you take this subject at A Level, you will cover Elements of Crime Writing, Aspects of Tragedy and Theory and Independence coursework (2 pieces). In the coursework component, students write about two different literary texts: one must be a poetry text and one must be an example of prose.
Who and what you study will in part be determined by your teacher but you will also have opportunities to choose texts for yourself. Students in the past have studied writers such as Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Emily Bronte and Angela Carter. If you enjoy contemplating love, life and the universe you’ll be in good company.
Crime texts include:
When Will There Be Good News – Kate Atkinson
Brighton Rock – Graham Greene
Collection of crime poems
Tragedy texts include:
The Great Gatsby
Richard II
Othello
80% exam (two papers); 20% comparative critical study (coursework)
Literature study provides you with a range of relevant skills that are beneficial to both those who are seeking to engage in further education or enter the world of work. The focus on reading for meaning, critical engagement with texts, and developing an evaluative point of view allows for successful jobs in media, journalism, the arts, and public relations as well as the wider world of literature such as copywriting, editing and publishing.
