A-level English Literature at Kings

Component 1: Drama

30% of the total qualification
Students will study aspects of the form of drama via two plays, including one by Shakespeare and a second drama text.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE — A choice of one text from the following: Tragedy Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, King Lear, Othello Comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night
OTHER DRAMA — A choice of one text from the following: Tragedy (Pre-1900) Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster (Post-1900) The Home Place, Brian Friel A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams Comedy (Pre-1900) The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde, The Rover, Aphra Behn (Post-1900) The Pitmen Painters, Lee Hall, Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett

Component 2: Prose

20% of the total qualification
Students will study aspects of prose via two thematically linked texts, at least one of which must be pre-1900.
Literary study of both texts selected for this component should incorporate the links and connections between them, and the contexts in which they were written and received.
Texts are listed below.

Component 3: Poetry

30% of the total qualification
Students study aspects of a range of poetry, from the established literary canon through to the present day.
Students are required to study two selections of poetry; one specified post-2000 poetry text and either one specified selection of poems from one pre- or post-1900 text. This will be either a single named poet or a literary movement.
Post-2000 poetry specified text: Poems of the Decade: An Anthology of the Forward Books of Poetry 2002–2011
Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900: Choice of either selected poems from the named text or the single named poet from the following periods:
Pre-1900 choices: The Medieval Period (Medieval Poetic Drama OR Medieval Poet: Geoffrey Chaucer), Metaphysical Poetry: (The Metaphysical Poets OR Metaphysical Poet: John Donne), The Romantic Period (The Romantics OR Romantic Poet: John Keats), The Victorian Period (The Victorians OR Victorian Poet: Christina Rossetti)
Post-1900 choices :The Modernist Period (Modernism OR Modernist Poet: T S Eliot)

Texts

Childhood (Pre-1900) What Maisie Knew, Henry James/Hard Times, Charles Dickens (Post-1900) Atonement, Ian McEwan/ The Color Purple, Alice Walker
Colonisation and its Aftermath (Pre-1900) Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad /The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain (ost-1900) A Passage to India, E M Forster/ The Lonely Londoners, Sam Selvon
Crime and Detection (Pre-1900) Lady Audley’s Secret, Mary Elizabeth Braddon /The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins (Post-1900) In Cold Blood, Truman Capote/ The Murder Room, P D James
Science and Society (Pre-1900) Frankenstein, Mary Shelley /The War of the Worlds, H G Wells (Post-1900) Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro /The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
The Supernatural (Pre-1900) The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde /Dracula, Bram Stoker (Post-1900) The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters /Beloved, Toni Morrison
Women and Society (Pre-1900) Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë /Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy (Post-1900) Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf /A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini \

Non-examination assessment

Students will apply their literary reading skills to two chosen texts, which must be different from those studied in Components 1, 2 and 3, and complete texts (they may be linked by theme, movement, author or period)
They may be selected from poetry, drama, prose or literary non-fiction.
One extended comparative essay referring to two texts. Total advisory word count: 2500–3000.
Example 1 – Conflict Texts: Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks and The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Example 2 – Relationships Texts: The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan and Brick Lane, Monica Ali

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A-level English Literature factsheet

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Learning outcomes

Course content and structure

Content

Typical A-level subject combinations with English Literature

Sample enrichment activities

Sample academic calendar (2023-2024 and 2024-2025)

Year 1

Year 2

Degree progression

Sample alumni progression

University Progression

Elite Preparation

Other programmes

Core Pre-university Programmes

Elite University Pathways

Specialist University Pathways

Summer Academy

Other programmes

Progression to the UK's Top Universities

Hear from our students

Progression agreements

Subject/Career Guides

Step inside Kings.Read our blog

The Kings Difference

Learning at Kings

Life at Kings

Support at Kings

A-level English Literature factsheet

Overview

Key Facts

Learning outcomes

Course content and structure

Content

Typical A-level subject combinations with English Literature

Sample enrichment activities

Sample academic calendar (2023-2024 and 2024-2025)

Year 1

Year 2

Degree progression

Sample alumni progression

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