A Level English Literature

A Level English Literature

Dates Available

• Week 1: Monday 25 March – Friday 29 March
• Week 2: Monday 1 April – Friday 5 April
• Week 3: Monday 8 April – Friday 12 April

Boards

All boards

Length of Course

8 hour seminars or 4 hour seminars (where advertised)

Times

9am to 6pm daily

The texts offered are selected on the basis of popularity and difficulty from those set by all three examination boards. Text seminars will be one day in length. Such intense immersion over the course of the day encourages full ownership of the texts studied. The morning session will be devoted to developing an understanding of the respective text’s key themes, putting the text in its historical context and providing character studies. The afternoon session will include the careful analysis of exam papers, their formats and their rubric. Attention will be paid to the context options, where appropriate, and the seminars will conclude with the planning out of answers to past and future examination questions.

The timetable will be as follows:

Week One

• Monday 25 March: The Tempest
• Tuesday 26 March: The Duchess of Malfi in relation to The Merchant’s Tale
• Wednesday 27 March: The Gothic Genre: Dracula in relation to The Bloody Chamber
• Thursday 28 March: Hamlet
• Friday 29 March: Measure for Measure

Week Two

• Monday 1 April Coriolanus
• Tuesday 2 April Twelfth Night
• Wednesday 3 April Edward II in relation to Paradise Lost books IX and X
• Thursday 4 April American Literature: The Great Gatsby in relation to The Grapes of Wrath
• Friday 5 April Dystopia: 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale

Weeks 1,2 and 3

The new A level specifications are no longer text specific across all boards and the options are quite broad. We will therefore be offering bespoke four hour courses during this period for anyone sitting the following options:

OCR · Drama and Poetry pre-1800
As well as the options listed above, we are offering: Volpone, The Rivals; The Rover; The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale and The Songs of Innocence and Experience.

Edexcel (Pearson) · Interpretations of Prose and Poetry
Relationships; Identifying Self; Journeys and War.

AQA · Reading for Meaning
Love Through the Ages.

AQA · Texts and Genres
Elements of the Gothic; Elements of the Pastoral.

Other texts may well be available on request so please do not hestitate to contact the Course Director to discuss your requirements.