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English Literature
A-Level English Literature is the disciplined, argued study of literary texts as made things. It is not the retelling of plots or the collecting of quotations, but the analysis of how meaning is shaped by a writer's methods of genre, form, structure and language; the weighing of the contexts in which texts are written and received; the exploration of connections across texts; and the informed engagement with the different ways texts have been interpreted. Delivered here through the AQA English Literature A specification (7712), against the Department for Education GCE AS and A level subject content, the course is organised around two lenses: Love through the ages (Paper 1, examining representations of love in a Shakespeare play, unseen poetry and a comparison of poetry and prose across time) and Texts in shared contexts (Paper 2, studying a body of literature within one historical period, either World War One and its aftermath or Modern times since 1945), completed by an independently researched comparative Non-exam Assessment. Throughout, one analytical discipline is at work: every response, whether on a set passage, an unseen text or a comparison, is a coherent argument that moves from a noticed method to its effect and so to a substantiated interpretation, informed by context and by the readings of others.
0/73 Texts14 Chapters~291 min total
DfE GCE English Literature subject content (AO2)AQA 7712 assessment objectivesDfE GCE English Literature subject content (AO5)DfE GCE English Literature subject content (AO3)DfE GCE English Literature subject content (AO4)AQA 7712 Paper 1 Section A (Shakespeare, 25 marks)+31 moreFoundationStandardAdvanced
Table of contents · 14 ChaptersT·14
- AO2: how meaning is shaped by method - the discriminatorText L·01 · Recommended start4 min
- Genre: the three kinds and their subgenresText L·024 min
- Form and structure: how shape makes meaningText L·034 min
- The methods of poetry: metre, form, imagery, soundText L·044 min
- The methods of prose and drama: narration and stagecraftText L·054 min
- The method-effect-meaning move: a worked close analysisText L·064 min
- What AO5 asks: texts informed by different interpretationsText L·074 min
- The idea of interpretation: meaning as debated, not fixedText L·084 min
- Critical lenses: feminist, Marxist, psychoanalytic, postcolonial and moreText L·094 min
- Using a critical view well: engage the idea, not the nameText L·104 min
- A worked critical-lens applicationText L·114 min
- Weaving AO5 into an argument: balance and personal judgementText L·124 min
- What AO3 asks: the significance of contextText L·134 min
- Kinds of context: biographical, historical, social, cultural, literaryText L·144 min
- Production versus reception: meaning shaped at both endsText L·154 min
- Integrating context into argument, not bolting it onText L·164 min
- A worked example: how context reshapes a readingText L·174 min
- What AO4 asks: connection, not two separate essaysText L·184 min
- Kinds of connection: theme, method, genre, context, attitudeText L·193 min
- The comparative argument: connectives and integrated structureText L·204 min
- Balance and the comparative judgementText L·214 min
- A worked comparative paragraphText L·224 min
- The Shakespeare question: what it asks and how it is markedText L·234 min
- Dramatic method: verse, prose, soliloquy, aside and stagecraftText L·244 min
- Genre and the shaping of love: comedy, tragedy and the problem playText L·254 min
- From the set passage to the whole playText L·264 min
- Context (AO3) and interpretations (AO5) of loveText L·274 min
- Planning and writing the Shakespeare essayText L·284 min
- The comparative task: poetry and prose, at least one pre-1900Text L·344 min
- Comparing across genres: poetic versus prose methodText L·354 min
- Building a comparative argument: connective structureText L·364 min
- Integrating context across time (AO3)Text L·374 min
- A worked comparative essay planText L·384 min
- The shared context: WW1 and its aftermath as an organising frameText L·444 min
- From idealism to disillusion: the arc of war writingText L·454 min
- Combatant and non-combatant voices; the home frontText L·464 min
- Method in war literature: how form and language shape the warText L·474 min
- The aftermath and memory: writing back to the warText L·484 min
- Studying set texts within a shared context: the Section A taskText L·544 min
- The three genres in one context: prose, poetry, dramaText L·554 min
- Building a shared interpretive framework for the periodText L·564 min
- Integrating context without bolting it onText L·574 min
- Writing the Section A set-text essayText L·584 min
- What the unseen-prose question asks: method plus contextText L·594 min
- The apparatus of prose: narrative voice, point of view, free indirect discourseText L·604 min
- Characterisation, setting, structure, dialogue and toneText L·614 min
- Locating the extract in the period's contextText L·624 min
- A worked unseen-prose analysisText L·634 min
- Synchronic comparison: connecting texts within a periodText L·644 min
- Points of connection: theme, method and contextText L·654 min
- The connective essay structure: avoiding two halvesText L·664 min
- Weaving context and interpretation into a comparisonText L·674 min
- A worked within-period comparisonText L·684 min
- What the NEA is: the independent critical studyText L·694 min
- Choosing two texts and framing a comparative questionText L·704 min
- Reading critically: incorporating different interpretations (AO5)Text L·714 min
- Structuring the extended essay; referencing and academic honestyText L·724 min
- Reaching an independent, substantiated judgementText L·734 min
- Literary Genre, Form and Method
- Critical Interpretations and Different Readings
- Contexts of Production and Reception
- Connections Across Literary Texts
- Love Through the Ages: Shakespeare
- Love Through the Ages: Unseen Poetry
- Love Through the Ages: Comparative Poetry and Prose
- The Theme of Love Across Time and Genre
- Texts in Shared Contexts: Option A - WW1 and Its Aftermath
- Texts in Shared Contexts: Option B - Modern Times (1945 to the Present)
- Set Texts in a Shared Context
- Unseen Prose in Context
- Comparative Study Within a Period
- Independent Critical Study: Texts Across Time (NEA)
- Paper 1 - Love through the ages (AQA 7712/1)
- Written exam, 3 hours, open book (clean copies of set texts permitted), 75 marks, 40% of the A-Level. Three sections. Section A: Shakespeare - one passage-based question on the set Shakespeare play, requiring close analysis of the extract and a response to the play as a whole (25 marks; foregrounds AO1, AO2, AO3 and AO5). Section B: Unseen poetry - one compulsory question comparing the ways two previously unseen poems present an aspect of love (25 marks; foregrounds AO1, AO2 and the connective skill of AO4). Section C: Comparing texts - one essay comparing the representation of love in one poetry text and one prose text, at least one written before 1900 (25 marks; foregrounds AO1, AO2, AO3 and AO4). Consult the current AQA specification for the exact assessment-objective grid for each question.
- Paper 2 - Texts in shared contexts (AQA 7712/2)
- Written exam, 2 hours 30 minutes, open book, 75 marks, 40% of the A-Level. Students study three texts (prose, poetry and drama) within ONE chosen option and answer on that option only: Option 2A - WW1 and its aftermath, or Option 2B - Modern times: literature from 1945 to the present day. Section A: Set texts - one essay on a set text within its shared context (25 marks; AO1, AO2, AO3, AO5). Section B: Contextual linking - one compulsory question on an unseen extract locating its meaning in the period (25 marks; foregrounds AO2 and AO3), and one essay comparing/linking two set texts within the period (25 marks; foregrounds AO3 and AO4). Context (AO3) is the organising objective of this paper.
- Non-exam assessment - Independent critical study: Texts across time (AQA 7712/C)
- 50 marks, 20% of the A-Level, internally assessed and externally moderated. A comparative critical study of two texts, at least one written before 1900, compared either across periods or within a period. A single extended essay of approximately 2,500 words that must be informed by wider critical reading and different interpretations (a strong AO5 and AO4 emphasis) and reach an independent, substantiated judgement. The two texts must differ from those assessed in the examined components.
- Assessment objectives and grading
- Five assessment objectives are weighted across the qualification. AO1: articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression. AO2: analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts. AO3: demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received. AO4: explore connections across literary texts. AO5: explore literary texts informed by different interpretations. AO1, AO2 and AO3 carry the largest shares of the marks (each roughly a quarter), and AO4 and AO5 the lighter shares (each roughly an eighth); consult the current AQA specification for exact percentages. The full A-Level is linear, sat at the end of the course alongside the coursework, and graded A*-E (U below E).