GCE Advanced Level (A-Levels) English Literature Syllabus

English Literature syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for English Literature in GCE Advanced Level (A-Levels), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Drama

   3 topics

   • Shakespearean Tragedy
     • Genre conventions of tragedy
     • The tragic hero, hamartia and catharsis
     • Dramatic structure and stagecraft
   • Other Drama Texts
     • Comedy and tragicomedy conventions
     • Political and social drama
   • Critical Approaches to Drama
     • Performance versus text on the page
     • Audience response and dramatic irony
2. 2

   Poetry

   3 topics

   • Poetic Form and Structure
     • Metre, rhyme and rhythm
     • Fixed forms: sonnet, ode, ballad
     • Free verse and enjambment
   • Poetic Language and Imagery
     • Metaphor, simile and symbolism
     • Tone, voice and the persona
   • Comparative Poetry Analysis
     • Comparing poets' methods and concerns
     • Movements and literary periods
3. 3

   Prose

   3 topics

   • The Novel and Narrative
     • Narrative voice and point of view
     • Characterisation and structure
     • Setting and the unreliable narrator
   • Comparative Prose Study
     • Linking texts by theme or genre
     • Comparing authorial methods
   • Prose Across Time
     • Pre-1900 and post-2000 fiction
     • Changing literary conventions
4. 4

   Critical and Contextual Study

   4 topics

   • Literary Context
     • Historical, social and biographical context
     • Context of reception over time
   • Critical Theory and Interpretation
     • Feminist and Marxist readings
     • Post-colonial and ecocritical readings
     • Reader-response and multiple interpretations
   • Unseen Textual Analysis
     • Close reading techniques
     • Constructing an argument under timed conditions
   • Non-Examination Assessment (Coursework)
     • Independent comparative essay
     • Referencing and academic integrity

English Literature flashcards for GCE Advanced Level (A-Levels)

21 of 52 cards from the English Literature deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. In Aristotelian terms, what is 'hamartia' in Shakespearean tragedy?

   The tragic flaw or error of judgement in the protagonist that brings about their downfall (e.g. Macbeth's ambition, Othello's jealousy).

2. Define 'peripeteia' and 'anagnorisis' as elements of tragic structure.

   Peripeteia is the reversal of fortune (the protagonist's situation turns from good to bad); anagnorisis is the moment of critical recognition or discovery, often a shift from ignorance to knowledge.

3. What is 'catharsis' in the context of tragedy, according to Aristotle?

   The purging or purification of the emotions of pity and fear in the audience, evoked by the tragic action.

4. What is dramatic irony, and give a Shakespearean tragic example.

   When the audience knows something a character does not. Example: in Othello the audience knows Desdemona is faithful while Othello believes Iago's lies.

5. What is the function of a soliloquy in Shakespearean tragedy?

   A speech delivered by a character alone on stage revealing their inner thoughts and motives directly to the audience (e.g. Hamlet's 'To be, or not to be').

6. Distinguish 'soliloquy' from 'aside'.

   A soliloquy is a longer speech given when a character is alone, voicing private thought; an aside is a brief remark heard by the audience (or one character) but not by others on stage.

7. What is the 'tragic hero' typically required to be in classical tragedy?

   A character of high or noble status, fundamentally good but flawed, whose fall arises from hamartia and evokes pity and fear, usually ending in death.

8. What did A.C. Bradley argue about Shakespearean tragedy in 'Shakespearean Tragedy' (1904)?

   That tragedy centres on the character of an exceptional individual whose suffering and fall result chiefly from a defect or flaw in that character ('character is destiny').

9. What are the conventional five stages of dramatic structure (Freytag's pyramid)?

   Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement (resolution/catastrophe).

10. Define a 'revenge tragedy' and name a defining early modern example.

    A genre in which a protagonist seeks vengeance for a real or imagined wrong, often involving a ghost, madness and bloody multiple deaths; e.g. Kyd's 'The Spanish Tragedy' (and Shakespeare's 'Hamlet').

11. What is a comedy of manners in drama?

    A comic genre satirising the behaviour, social conventions and affectations of a particular class, often through witty dialogue (e.g. Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest').

12. What is the difference between a tragedy and a tragicomedy?

    A tragedy ends in catastrophe (typically death of the protagonist); a tragicomedy blends serious, potentially tragic action with a comic or reconciliatory ending.

13. What is 'naturalism' in modern drama?

    A late-19th-century movement portraying ordinary characters shaped by environment and heredity with detailed realism, often examining social problems (e.g. Ibsen, the 'fourth wall' realist stage).

14. Define Brecht's 'Verfremdungseffekt' (alienation/distancing effect).

    Techniques that remind the audience they are watching a play, preventing emotional immersion so they think critically about the social and political content.

15. What is the 'fourth wall' in drama?

    The imaginary invisible wall at the front of the stage through which the audience observes; 'breaking the fourth wall' means a character directly addresses the audience.

16. In a stage drama, what is the difference between a 'protagonist' and an 'antagonist'?

    The protagonist is the central character driving the action; the antagonist is the character or force in conflict with and opposing the protagonist.

17. What is meant by a 'foil' character?

    A character who contrasts with another (usually the protagonist) to highlight particular qualities, e.g. Laertes as a foil to Hamlet.

18. What is iambic pentameter?

    A line of five iambic feet (ten syllables), each foot an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable, the dominant metre of Shakespeare's verse and much English poetry.

19. What is the metrical foot called an 'iamb', and how is it scanned?

    An iamb is a two-syllable foot with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one: da-DUM (×/).

20. Name and define the four common metrical feet: iamb, trochee, anapaest, dactyl.

    Iamb = unstressed-stressed (×/); trochee = stressed-unstressed (/×); anapaest = unstressed-unstressed-stressed (××/); dactyl = stressed-unstressed-unstressed (/××).

21. What is a Shakespearean (English) sonnet's form?

    14 lines in iambic pentameter, rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG: three quatrains plus a final rhyming couplet.

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