AS into A2
We’re jumping right in!
Weighting of Units
• AS Unit 1 (exam)
= 30%
• AS Unit 2 (coursework) = 20%
• A2 Unit 3 (exam)
= 30%
• A2 Unit 4 (coursework) = 20%
The exam board say…
• The A2 examination unit (LITA3) requires candidates to read widely and
independently and apply their knowledge and understanding of literature
through time (Chaucer to the present day), and across genre and gender.
• Students need to draw upon a variety of close and wide reading skills as well as
the ability to apply knowledge and understanding of the contexts of literature
to link their wider reading to specific unseen texts on the examination paper.
• These connections will be made through synthesising the insights gained
across a range of texts and through a variety of ways of making meaning.
• Candidates will focus on linguistic and literary techniques, evaluate different
interpretations of texts and explore various cultural contexts.
• Candidates will explore various ways in which literary texts may contain
encoded representations of moral, philosophical, religious, spiritual, political
and other ideas valued at different times by different readers.
• They will explore ways in which texts may be generically linked and labelled,
and the ways in which this process may be questioned.
• They will be expected to express their views and ideas in well structured prose,
using accurate terminology appropriate to the subject at this level and some of
the conventions of academic writing.
Unit 3
Unit 4
AO1: Articulate creative, informed and relevant
responses to literary texts, using appropriate
terminology and concepts, and coherent, accurate
written expression
7.5%
6%
AO2: Demonstrate detailed critical understanding in
analysing the ways in which structure, form and
language shape meanings in literary texts
7.5%
6%
AO3: Explore connections and comparisons between
different literary texts, informed by interpretations of
other readers
7.5%
6%
AO4: Demonstrate understanding of the significance
and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are
written and received
7.5%
2%
Assessment Objective
Core set texts
Love Through the Ages
Ed. Geddes & Ince
OUP, 2009
£9.50 new on Amazon
More Love Through the Ages
Ed. Geddes & Merrick
OUP, 2012
£9.50 new on Amazon
Other recommended texts
Contexts in Literature: The
Literature of Love
Ward
CUP, 2009
£6.50 on Amazon
AQA English Literature A – A2
Camwell & Ogborn
Nelson Thornes, 2008
£12.94 on Amazon
Your presentation will…
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… be authoritative
… be informative
… be knowledgeable
… be well-researched
… be linked to the 4 Assessment Objectives
... feature key quotes from the text which
show how it explores the theme of love
Romeo & Juliet
• Key facts:
– A tragedy
– First performed in 1597 = Elizabethan play
– Set in Verona, Italy (Shakespeare had never
been there)
– Not an original story, as with many other texts,
it was ‘inspired by’ other texts and sources
Sources for ‘Romeo & Juliet’
• Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the story of Pyramus and
Thisbe from c. 8 AD
– the lovers' parents despise each other, and Pyramus
falsely believes his lover Thisbe is dead
• Xenophon’s Ephesiaca, from the 3rd century
– in it the lovers are separated lovers and there is a potion
that induces a deathlike sleep
• Mariotto and Gianozza by Massucio Salernitano
from 1476
– In this story there is a secret marriage, a colluding friar,
the fray where a prominent citizen is killed, Mariotto's
exile, Gianozza's forced marriage, the potion plot, and the
crucial message that goes astray. In this version, Mariotto
is caught and beheaded and Gianozza dies of grief
Shakespeare’s
Romeo & Juliet
• Set in Verona, Italy
during the Renaissance
era (late 14thC to early
15thC), an era which is
best known for the
renewed interest in
the culture of classical
antiquity (ancient
Greek and Roman
culture, history and
literature)
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet
• Understanding the historical context shows
understanding of another level of meaning
and possible interpretations for the play
• An audience in 1597 would be reacting to a
setting in Catholic Italy of over a hundred
years ago, whilst now we look at it as a 21stC
audience and we have to consider the
reactions of audiences in 1597 and all of the
years in between, taking their culture and
views into consideration.
Love in Romeo & Juliet
• Established from the opening Prologue
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
Who is ‘in love’ in Romeo & Juliet?
Who ‘loves’ in Romeo & Juliet?
What is the difference between being ‘in
love’ and ‘loving’
• Different kinds of love in the
text
– Sexual love/lust
– Familial love
– Fraternal love
– Maternal love
– Illicit love
– Unrequited love
– Love of nature/god/country
AO1: Articulate creative, informed and relevant
responses to literary texts, using appropriate
terminology and concepts, and coherent, accurate
written expression
Throughout the play, Shakespeare juxtaposes
the opposite ideals of…
This has the effect of…
The audience is therefore forced to…
AO2: Demonstrate detailed critical understanding in
analysing the ways in which structure, form and
language shape meanings in literary texts
With the tragic events of the play taking place
over the course of just four days, the audience
are aware of…
This adds a further element of peril for the
young lovers as they are forced to…
A the start of the play the audience feel…
However, by the end they feel…
AO3: Explore connections and comparisons between
different literary texts, informed by interpretations of
other readers
To a modern audience, the actions of Lord Capulet
towards his daughter may seem abhorrent as we
view the play with modern ideals and a greater
sense of equality and fairness between children and
parents and men and women. With this view in
mind, a feminst reading of the play would…
However, in the context of the setting of the play,
Lord Capulet is…
Shakespeare’s original audience would have felt…
AO4: Demonstrate understanding of the significance
and influence of the contexts in which literary texts
are written and received
Romeo & Juliet is set in a culture dominated by
Catholic doctrines and beliefs, as such we see…
Shakespeare’s London would have held…
Thus meaning that they would have been…
Key quotes about love
“My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy.”
“These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder
Which, as they kiss, consume”
“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father refuse thy name, thou art thyself thou not a
Montague, what is Montague? tis nor hand nor foot nor any other
part belonging to a man
What is in a name?
That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,
So Romeo would were he not Romeo called retain such dear
perfection to which he owes without that title,
Romeo, Doff thy name!
And for that name which is no part of thee, take all thyself.”
“Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”
Key quotes about love
“These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
“And with a kiss I die”
Which as they kiss consume. The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite.
Therefore love moderately; long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.” “Tell me, daughter Juliet, How stands your
dispositions to be married"
It is an honor that I dream not of”
“Death lies on her like an untimely frost
Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.”
“My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!”
Compare and contrast the writers’ presentation of
maternal love in any three of these texts. You must
write about a play by Shakespeare.
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Coriolanus / The Winter’s Tale / Hamlet
The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
Ruth / North and South Elizabeth Gaskell
Bleak House Charles Dickens
Daniel Deronda George Eliot
A Woman of No Importance Oscar Wilde
Sons and Lovers D.H. Lawrence
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Edward Albee
Poor Cow / Up the Junction Nell Dunn
The Fifth Child Doris Lessing
Waterland Graham Swift
Maps for Lost Lovers Nadeem Aslam
We Need to Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver
Digging to America Anne Tyler
Compare and contrast the writers’ presentation of
the destructive nature of desire in any three of these
texts. You must write about a play by
Shakespeare.
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Measure for Measure / Othello / Antony and Cleopatra
Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë
Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens
Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Selected Poems Sylvia Plath
Birthday Letters Ted Hughes
A View from the Bridge / The Crucible Arthur Miller
Enduring Love Ian McEwan
Compare and contrast the writers’ presentation of
the darker side of love in any three of these texts.
You must write about a play by Shakespeare.
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The Winter’s Tale / Othello
Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë
Selected Dramatic Monologues Robert Browning
Selected Poems Sylvia Plath
Birthday Letters Ted Hughes
A View from the Bridge / The Crucible Arthur
Miller
• Enduring Love Ian McEwan
Compare and contrast the writers’ presentation of
problems between parents and children in three of
these texts. You must write about a play by
Shakespeare.
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King Lear / Hamlet / Romeo and Juliet … among others
Frankenstein Mary Shelley
Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë
The Fifth Child Doris Lessing
Waterland Graham Swift
About A Boy Nick Hornby
White Teeth Zadie Smith
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark
Haddon
• We Need to Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver
• The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
Compare and contrast the writers’ presentation of
conflict between fathers and sons in any three of
these texts. You must write about King Lear.
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King Lear
Oedipus the King Sophocles
Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë
Felix Holt / Romola George Eliot
All My Sons Arthur Miller
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Tennessee Williams
White Teeth Zadie Smith
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark
Haddon
• Waterland Graham Swift
• The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
Compare and contrast the writers’ presentation of
sibling relationships in any three of these texts. You
must write about a play by Shakespeare.
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Twelfth Night / King Lear / The Comedy of Errors
Sense and Sensibility / Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë
Silas Marner George Eliot
Sons and Lovers /The Rainbow /Women in Love D.H. Lawrence
All My Sons Arthur Miller
The Catcher in the Rye / Franny and Zooey J.D. Salinger
A Streetcar Named Desire / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Tennessee
Williams
Waterland Graham Swift
On the Black Hill Bruce Chatwin
Wise Children Angela Carter
The God of Small Things Arundhati