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WELCOME TO A2 LITERATURE Shakespeare study & Love through the Ages Congratulations! You have successfully completed AS English Literature. This overview of the A2 Literature course is to help you prepare for next year. The course consists of two units: Unit 4: Coursework Below is a list of titles from which you will choose three for your 3,000 word comparative essay. We will study these texts in class before you decide on your coursework title. Shakespeare ‘Othello’ Prose fiction ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne Du Maurier Drama ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams Planning ahead. We will begin our study of the core texts immediately in order for you to make sound choices before negotiating your coursework focus. These titles can all be used as examples of wider reading for the exam in Unit 3, (see below), but your essay does not have to be about love. By the end of September you will have decided on your texts and title and can get on with your essay independently. We will, of course, give you a selection of titles from which to choose and support you with regular consultations. This term you will be reading ‘Othello’ and ‘Rebecca’ in lessons and preparing to write an essay in the holidays. The skills you will acquire in going through this process should prepare you for the much more demanding challenge of writing your A2 coursework essay next year. Unit 3: Love through the Ages This part of the course will be assessed by an exam in June. It is similar in some ways to your AS wider reading exam, but this time the focus will be on love in literature and cover a wide range of texts from a variety of genres across time. You will be allowed to use any of the texts you studied at AS as examples of wider reading. You should use your summer holidays to read as much as possible and record your responses in your reading log. The emphasis of the exam will be on comparing literary extracts, drawing attention to writers’ use of language, form and structure, and making reference to wider reading. There are no set texts as such, but we will give you a reading list, an anthology of poetry and focus on analysing short extracts in class. There are two questions which will always be worded in the same way, but the unseen material and aspect of love identified will be different every series. There is also a text book to support this part of the course which you will be issued with next year. It is essential that you keep a reading log for this part of the course. The template offered overleaf will help you to consider the key aspects of each text you read. Get into the habit of recording your responses from now on. Look back over the texts you studied for the AS course and use them to begin a new, improved A2 reading log. Personal Reading Log Title: ‘Othello’ Author: Shakespeare Genre: Drama (Tragedy) Date of composition: 1603 Brief summary: Significant characters: Key themes/aspects of love: Use of language, form and structure. Personal response: Aspects of Love Unlike the AS course, where we were assigned four specific topic areas related to wider reading in war literature, it is not possible to identify every aspect of love that might be chosen for the A2 exam. Examples are: Romantic love- between boys and girls, men and women, men and men, women and women Married love Love between parents and children Love between siblings Falling in love Love at first sight True love Unrequited love Secret love Obsession Jealousy Patriotism Love of nature During the Induction period you will have some time to explore this theme and add to the list above. Unit 4 – LITA4 Extended Essay & Shakespeare Study The extended essay will provide opportunities for you to write at length (about 3000 words) and to develop your research skills, drafting and re-drafting your work as appropriate. The texts will be chosen by both you and your teacher to reflect a shared theme. You will be studying both ‘Othello’ and ‘Rebecca’ during your lessons and expected to use them in your coursework. You will eventually choose a third text to compare to ‘Othello’ and ‘Rebecca’. You will be expected to make clear links between your texts so it is vital that you choose appropriate texts that enable you to discuss plot, characters and themes as well as provide opportunities to explore and comment on: the writer’s styles and techniques choices of genre narrative techniques individual choices of language and their effects the different ways writers structure ideas and develop similar themes The tasks must reflect the relevant Assessment Objectives and will focus on: • comparison • appreciation of writers’ choices of form, structure and language • exploration of their own and other readers’ interpretations • some understanding of the significance of context. You need to remember that you are writing a literary essay, and will show through the comparative task that you: o understand the content of all three texts o analyse the different ways the writers present their subject matter and ideas o hold informed independent views about the texts, and can consider and use other readers’ views to develop your own o are aware of the usefulness of relevant contextual information to your interpretations Read a variety of texts during the holidays and choose ONE text that you could use for your coursework. The following list has been put together to guide your reading: Texts Thematic Links The Awakening by Kate Chopin Female independence Identity Conflicts of love, desire and society Enduring Love by Ian McEwan Conflict Isolation Enduring love Obsessive love Rationality v Spirituality Atonement by Ian McEwan Female independence Class conflict Overcoming obstacles in love Charlotte Grey by Sebastian Faulks Independence of women Obstacles in love Power of love Female independence Conflicts of love, desire and society Love Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Rational versus the Spiritual Obsessive love Obstacles in love Passion The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger Love in Adversity The Book of Loss by Julith Jedamus Hierarchy Society Jealousy/love/loss and sacrifice The God of Small Things Class/race/caste prejudice Illicit love Power and passion Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson Forbidden/taboo love Identity Female experience On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan Misconceptions of love A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini Female experience Society v the individual Obstacles in love Tess of the D ‘Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy Female experience Society v the individual Obstacles in love Obsessive love The Collector by John Fowles It is very important that you choose an appropriate title that will allow you to meet the criteria for the assessment objectives. The usual wording for tasks is as follow: Compare and contrast the writer’s presentation of………………….. (theme) in ……………………………………………………………………(titles of text/authors) Here are some examples of questions that have been used successfully in the past: Thomas Hobbes contends that mankind is inherently evil. To what extent do the men in ………………………………………. support his philosophy? “Passion is a positive obsession. Obsession is a negative passion.” (Paul Carvel). Explore this statement with reference to ……………………………………………… Compare and contrast the writer’s use of setting in …………………………………. The central protagonists of ……………………………………….. are presented as outsiders. To what extent does this affect their relationships with other characters? Author Mary Wollstonecraft said, “I do not wish [women] to have power over men, but over themselves”. In light of this statement consider presentation of women in …………………………………………………………………………………… Explore the presentation of women in ……………………………………………….. ‘There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness’ (Nietzsche) Compare and contrast …………………………………………. in light of this statement. “Perfect love cannot be without equality.” How does (in)equality between genders alter the power of love in ………………………………………………………………………….? Unit 3 – LITA3 Reading for Meaning In order to ensure that you have sufficient material for your wider reading try to read some titles from a range of genres and periods. We will study a selection of poetry together in class next year to ensure we have considered a variety of traditions and forms (ballads, odes, sonnets, lyrics etc.) Drama ‘’Tis Pity she’s a Whore’ by Ford ‘The White Devil’ by Webster ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ by Goldsmith ‘A Doll’s House’ by Ibsen ‘A Woman of no Importance’ by Wilde ‘Betrayal’ by Pinter ‘Translations’ by Brian Friel ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ by Edward Albee ‘A View from the Bridge’ by Arthur Miller ‘The Crucible’ by Arthur Miller ‘A Voyage Round my Father’ by John Mortimer ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ by J.M. Synge Relevant Shakespeare plays: ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, Much Ado about Nothing’, ‘As You Like It’, Measure for Measure’, ‘Antony and Cleopatra’. Poetry ‘The New Faber Book of Love Poetry’ James Fenton (ed.) ‘101 Sonnets’ Don Paterson (ed.) ‘The New Penguin Book of Love Poetry’ Jon Stallworthy (ed.) ‘Rapture’ by Carol Anne Duffy ‘The Canterbury Tales’ by Chaucer ‘Birthday Letters’ by Ted Hughes Novels ‘Moll Flanders’ by Daniel Defoe Jane Austen novels: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ ‘Sense and Sensibility’ etc. ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Bronte ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte ‘Middlemarch’ by George Eliot ‘North and South’ by Mrs Gaskell Thomas Hardy novels: ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’ etc. ‘Madame Bovary’ by Gustave Flaubert ‘A Room with a View’ by E. M. Forster ‘Maurice’ by E.M. Forster ‘Sons and Lovers’ by D.H. Lawrence ‘Tender is the Night’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald ‘1984’ by George Orwell ‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley ‘Beloved’ by Toni Morrison ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ by John Fowles ‘The Remains of the Day’ by Kazuo Ishiguro ‘Never Let me Go’ by Kazuo Ishiguro ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Margaret Atwood ‘Birdsong’ by Sebastian Faulkes ‘Enduring Love’ by Ian Mc Ewan ‘Oranges are not the Only Fruit’ by Jeannette Winterson Short stories: ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’ by D.H. Lawrence ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and other stories by Annie Proulx Collections by Raymond Carver, Katherine Mansfield, Ali Smith, Alice Munro Clearly this list is not exhaustive. Read reviews, ask your friends and family for recommended favourites and use the library. ENJOY! Literary Glossary Allegory – extended metaphor that veils a moral or political underlying meaning Alliteration – repetition of the initial letter or sound in adjacent words to create an atmospheric or onomatopoeic effect Allusion – passing reference to another literary work. Anachronism – chronological misplacing of person, event or object Analogy – perception of similarity between two things Ambiguity – capacity of works to have two simultaneous meanings, in the context as a device for enriching meaning. Antithesis – contrasting of ideas by balancing words or phrases of opposite meaning. Assonance – repetition of a vowel sound in words in close proximity Ballad – narrative poem in short, rhymed verses, usually telling of love, the supernatural and travel Bathos – sudden change of register from the sublime to the ridiculous Bildungsroman – a literary work that features the physical and spiritual journey of a youthful character Blank verse – unrhymed iambic pentameter, the staple form of Shakespeare plays Burlesque – an absurd or comically exaggerated imitation of a literary or dramatic work; a parody. Caesura – deliberate break or pause in a line of poetry, signified by punctuation Canon – approved traditional literary works to be found on academic syllabuses. Colloquial – informal language of conversational speech Conceit – an extended simile Connotations – associations evoked by a word Context – historical, social and cultural background of a text Couplet – two consecutive lines of poetry that are paired in rhyme Courtly Love – a literary convention going back to the Middle Ages; a knight serves his lady according to a well-defined ritual and code of conduct Dramatic irony – when the audience knows something the character speaking does not, which creates humour or tension. Elegy – lament for the death or permanent loss of someone or something Euphemism – tactful word or phrase to refer to something unpleasant or offensive Free-verse – poetry without a regular metrical pattern or rhyme Hyperbole – deliberate exaggeration for effect Intertextuality – relationship between one text and another Irony – language intended to mean the opposite of the words expressed; or amusing or cruel reversal of an outcome expected, intended or deserved. Magic realism – 20th Century description of a work that interweaves realistic details with supernatural and dream-like mythical elements in an everyday setting. Metaphor – suppressed comparison, implied not stated ‘the bishop was a pillar of the church’ ( a comparison that says something is something else) Ode – lengthy lyrical and reflective poem addressed to the subject Onomatopoeia – word that imitate the sound being described eg bang, smash Oxymoron – two contradictory terms united in a single phrase eg bitter sweet Parody – imitation and exaggeration of style for the purpose of humour and ridicule Pathetic fallacy – attributing emotions to inanimate objects, usually elements of nature, to represent the persona’s feelings, eg. Describing the weather as stormy when a character is distressed. Personification – attributing human qualities to inanimate objects Picaresque – narrative dealing with criminal and/or low-life characters on a journey of some kind Protagonist – principal characters in a drama or literary work Quatrain – four- lined stanza or group of four lines distinguished by a rhyme scheme Rhyme – repetition of a vowel sound in words at the end of lines Rhythm – pace and sound pattern of writing, created by metre, vowel length, syntax and punctuation Satire – exposing of vice of foolishness of a person or institution to ridicule Simile – comparison introduced by ‘as’ or ‘like’ Sonnet – lyrical poem of 14 lines of rhymed iambic pentameter, either an octet and sestet (Petrarchan) or three quatrains and a couplet (Shakespearean) or 14 lines ending with a couplet (Miltonic) Stream of consciousness – a method used by some modern novelists to relate the innermost thoughts and feelings of characters without logical sequence, syntax or sometimes punctuation Thesis - a short, debatable claim around which you write an essay. A thesis is a pithy statement of your main argument. It's what you're going to prove. Verisimilitude - refers to the resemblance a work bears to reality. If a work of literature has verisimilitude, it has a certain likeness to actual life. Vignette – a short literary piece/scene/drawing that conveys atmosphere or character