A Level English Literature Essential skills

Essential Skill 1 Reading

Essential Skill 2 To know something about the history of English Literature And Literary movements

History of English Literature You do need to have a rough idea of when texts were written, what movement they belong to and what was happening in history at the time. See a brief overview of English LiteratureSee a brief overview of English Literature Research projects

Some Key Literary Movements Romanticism The Metaphysical Poets Victorian Literature The Gothic Modernism World War One Poets Post-Modernism

Quiz: how much do you know? 1.Who wrote: The Merchant’s Tale? 2.Who wrote: Romeo and Juliet? 3.Who wrote: Wuthering Heights? 4.Who wrote: The Great Gatsby? 5.Who wrote: Oliver Twist? 6.Who wrote: Frankenstein? 7.Who wrote: To the Lighthouse? 8.Who wrote the poem: Dulce et Decorum Est? 9.Who wrote: Treasure Island? 10.Who wrote: Sons and Lovers?

‘When’ and ‘What’ are they? 1.When was Charles Dickens writing? 2.When was the epic poem: Beowulf written? 3.What literary movement did the poet Lord Byron belong to? 4.When was the poet Wilfred Owen writing? 5.What literary movement did the novel Frankenstein belong to? 6.What literary movement did James Joyce belong to? 7.Who was the King when Shakespeare’s Macbeth was first performed?

Essential skill 3 To know the difference between Fiction/non-fiction And To know the difference between Prose/Drama/Poetry

Essential skill 4 To know the conventions of Prose Drama Poetry

Prose When analysing a prose text you must focus on the following: Character Theme Plot Language Narrative Syntax and structure Context and the writer + literary movement Rhythm Meaning and themes

Poetry When analysing poetry you must focus on the following: Narrative Structure Rhyme/rhythm Language Meanings and themes Poet, Literary movement and context

Drama When studying drama you should focus on: Character Plot Stage directions and dialogue Structure Dramatic irony Tragedy, Comedy, History – the form The playwright, the context, the literary movement The meaning and the themes

Non-fiction You need to know the purpose of the text, its bias, the audience for the text, the theme and the message of the text. Non-fiction texts can also use specific language techniques and structures to effectively convey their messages…

Essential Skill 5 You need to know and use the correct terminology. See the list of Key terms

Essential skill 6 You will need to know some of the key ‘types’ of criticism which can be applied to a literary text. See criticisms and feminism: information and activity on Class/Feminism and a polysemic textcriticismsfeminism

Essential Skills 7 You will need to know The Rules See feminism for the rulesfeminism

Essential Skill 8 Analysing Prose, Poetry, Drama See ‘feminism’ and ‘class’ for prose analysis practicefeminism See ‘criticisms’ for poetry analysis‘criticisms

Additional support materials How to write comparatively Literary movements Research projects Practice Prose Analysis Brief overview of American Literature