English Literature

English Literature explores our identities and emotions; it examines the society we live in now, and the past which created it. It questions the ideas and ideals by which we live. All of this is expressed in language and form, which has been carefully crafted to affect us.

So if you enjoy reading and discussing interesting and challenging texts from a variety of genres, this will be the course for you. As you progress through the two year course, your studies will be extended in breadth and depth, developing and enhancing your techniques of analysis, evaluation and comparison of literary works, in the context of a wider range of texts of cultural and literary significance.

You will explore three different poets, three plays (one Shakespeare) and study poetry and prose within a prescribed period in literary history. These texts will be examined at the end of the course. There is also an independent written assignment on the study of two prose texts. We read, analyse, discuss and write, in order to demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the ways in which writers use and adapt language, form and structure in texts. You will consider interpretations by different readers over time, as well as how culture and context influences readers and writers.