Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) English Literature Syllabus

What does the term 'social context' (or social setting) mean when analysing a text?

The social, cultural, historical and political conditions in which a text is set or written, which shape characters' behaviour and the author's concerns.

Define 'setting' and name its three main aspects.

Setting is the time and place of a text; its aspects are physical location, time period, and social/cultural environment.

What is 'pathetic fallacy' and how does it link to setting?

A device in which the weather or environment reflects a character's mood or the emotional tone of a scene, for example storms during turmoil.

Why is knowing the historical context of a play like a Shakespeare drama useful?

It explains period beliefs, values and references (e.g. the divine right of kings or attitudes to gender) that shape characters' actions and the audience's likely response.

What is 'atmosphere' (or mood) created by setting?

The emotional feeling a setting evokes in the reader, such as menace, calm or tension, produced through description, imagery and detail.

What is 'stagecraft'?

The practical techniques of staging a play, including the use of stage directions, lighting, sound, props, set design, costume, entrances and exits.

What is the difference between 'tragedy' and 'comedy' as dramatic forms?

A tragedy follows a protagonist's downfall, usually ending in death or ruin; a comedy involves obstacles overcome, often ending happily, typically in marriage or reconciliation.

What is 'dramatic irony'?

When the audience knows something a character on stage does not, creating tension, humour or poignancy.

Define an 'aside' in drama and contrast it with a soliloquy.

An aside is a brief remark spoken directly to the audience (or one character) and unheard by others on stage; unlike a soliloquy, the speaker is not alone.

What is the function of 'stage directions'?

Instructions in the script (often in italics) that guide actors' movements, gestures, tone, and the staging of set, lighting and sound.

What are the three classical unities associated with traditional drama?

Unity of action (one main plot), unity of time (events within roughly a single day), and unity of place (a single location).

In a tragedy, what is 'hamartia'?

The tragic flaw or error of judgement in the protagonist that leads to their downfall.

What is 'catharsis' in the context of tragedy?

The emotional release or purging of pity and fear that an audience experiences through watching a tragic outcome.

What features distinguish a 'modern play' from a Shakespearean one?

Modern plays often use prose and everyday speech, contemporary or realistic settings, smaller casts, and may abandon classical structure, exploring social issues directly.

What is 'naturalism' in modern drama?

A style aiming to depict everyday reality faithfully, with believable dialogue, ordinary settings and characters shaped by their environment and heredity.

What is the difference between a 'simile' and a 'metaphor'?

A simile compares two things using 'like' or 'as'; a metaphor states that one thing is another directly, without 'like' or 'as'.

Define 'personification'.

A figure of speech that gives human qualities, feelings or actions to non-human things or abstract ideas.

What is an 'extended metaphor'?

A metaphor developed and sustained over several lines, an entire stanza or a whole poem.

What is 'imagery' in poetry?

Descriptive language that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell) to create vivid mental pictures.

What is 'symbolism' as opposed to a single metaphor?

Symbolism uses a concrete image to represent a larger or recurring abstract idea throughout a text, whereas a metaphor is a localised comparison.

Define 'alliteration' and 'sibilance'.

Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in nearby words; sibilance is the specific repetition of 's' or soft 'sh' sounds.

What is the difference between 'assonance' and 'consonance'?

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within words; consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds, often at the ends of words.

What is 'onomatopoeia'?

A word whose sound imitates the noise it describes, such as 'buzz', 'crash' or 'hiss'.

Define 'rhythm' and 'metre' in poetry.

Rhythm is the pattern of stressed and unstressed beats in a line; metre is the regular, measured form of that rhythm (e.g. iambic pentameter).

What is 'iambic pentameter'?

A line of five iambs (ten syllables), each iamb being an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, giving a da-DUM da-DUM rhythm.

What is 'enjambment' and how does it differ from an 'end-stopped' line?

Enjambment is when a sentence or phrase runs over the line break without pause; an end-stopped line finishes with a grammatical pause or punctuation.

What is the difference between a 'stanza' and a 'verse'?

A stanza is a grouped set of lines in a poem (its 'paragraph'); 'verse' loosely means poetry in general or a single metrical line.

What is a 'sonnet' and how many lines does it have?

A 14-line poem, usually in iambic pentameter, with a set rhyme scheme; the Shakespearean form is three quatrains and a closing rhyming couplet.

What is 'free verse'?

Poetry without a regular metre or rhyme scheme, relying on natural speech rhythms and line breaks for effect.

What is a 'rhyme scheme' and how is it notated?

The pattern of end rhymes in a poem, labelled with letters where each new rhyme sound gets a new letter, e.g. ABAB CDCD.

What is the difference between 'mood' and 'tone' in a text?

Tone is the writer's or speaker's attitude towards the subject; mood is the emotional atmosphere the text creates in the reader.

What is a 'volta' in a poem?

A turn or shift in thought, argument or emotion, often signalled by words like 'but' or 'yet', frequently between octave and sestet in a sonnet.

When 'forming a personal response' to a text, what is expected of you?

To give your own informed interpretation, explaining how the text affects you and why, supported by reasons and evidence from the text.

What does it mean to 'support a view with textual evidence'?

To back up an interpretation by quoting or closely referencing specific words, lines or details from the text.

What does the analytical technique 'embedding a quotation' involve?

Integrating a short quotation smoothly within your own sentence rather than dropping it in separately, so it reads fluently and stays focused.

Outline the P-E-E (or PEEL) structure for a literature essay paragraph.

Point: state your idea; Evidence: give a quotation or reference; Explanation: analyse how the evidence proves the point (Link: connect back to the question or next point).

What should a literature essay introduction do?

Address the question directly, set out your main argument or thesis, and briefly signal the points you will develop.

Why should you analyse a writer's methods rather than just retell the plot?

Because higher marks reward explaining how and why the writer uses specific language, structure and form to create meaning and effect, not summarising events.