Clayesmore

Sixth Form A-level Courses English Literature

English Literature

Board: WJEC

Syllabus: AS – 2171; A2 – 3171

Modules

1. AS Poetry and Drama 1 (post 1900 – open text examination): – you will probably study Sylvia Plath and also read poems by Ted Hughes; or study TS Eliot and also read poems by WB Yeats. For the Drama section, you will study a modern play by one of the following: Tom Stoppard, David Mamet, Brian Friel, David Hare or Arthur Miller.
2. Prose Study and Creative Writing (coursework) – You will write one essay comparing two thought-provoking novels from a long list of interesting authors. You will also produce two short pieces of creative writing.
3. A2 Period and Genre Study (coursework) – In this module you produce a short coursework folder on three texts, either of your own choosing or on a course taught to the whole class.
4. Poetry and Drama 2 (closed text examination) – You will study three texts. ONE set of poetry from the following list: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale; John Donne’s Selected Poems; Milton: Paradise Lost IX; Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience; Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge. ONE of the following plays by Shakespeare: King Lear, or Hamlet, or Measure for Measure, or The Tempest, or Richard II; and ONE play not by Shakespeare.

Method of Assessment

AS 1 exam (30%) and 1 folder of coursework (20%)

A2 1 exam (30%) and 1 folder of coursework (20%)

Further information

The English AS and A2 courses are designed to offer you a broad
and exciting experience of English Literature from the Renaissance
to the modern day. You will be studying drama, poetry and prose
texts in addition to producing your own creative writing for the AS
coursework (a new addition to this course). There is quite a lot of
reading required for the course, but anyone with a love of books
and reading will find this easily manageable.

The A level course consists of coursework and examination
preparation and the ability to work in class as well as
independently is important. Many of the skills you will learn
are useful in other subjects too.

Essay writing is a major part of the course and you will be taught
how to write essays and structure your arguments, as well as
learning to appreciate and evaluate the opinions and views of
others. Learning to write and speak logically and developing the
confidence to express yourself are of clear benefit to whatever
career or university course you choose in the future, but English
is so much more than that!

As Barbara Tuchman, an American writer once said, “Books are
the carriers of civilisation. Without books, history is silent, literature
dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.
They are engines of change, windows on the world, lighthouses
erected in the sea of time.” Come and let us prove this to you!