Contextual Knowledge

The nature of current A-Levels with their focus on synoptic assessment and unseen extracts can often reward students who have a widespread general knowledge. This is because writers continually make references to historical events and political debates, use intertextual allusions to mythological and biblical stories and infer comparisons with the experiences of different cultures and different times.

Without a good general knowledge base, such contextual and intertextual references can be hard to spot and if you can't spot them, you can't analyse their effect and so may miss out on valuable marks. So, whether you are doing English Literature, English Language or English Combined, you should ensure that over your two years of study you work continually to improve your general knowledge and to apply what you've learned to a wide range of literary and non-literary texts.

You improve your understanding of a subject, be it a time period, a location or a story by immersing yourself within it. You can use contemporary novels, including those written for children, films and even computer games to bring the material to life in a way that makes you engage with it and remember it. Each of the topics on the left contains a brief overview of the subject but much more valuable are the links to related texts and sources. Texts are listed chronologically with historical sources, where available, listed first and the most modern last. A good technique is to begin with the most modern texts, familiarising yourself with the subject first, and then work backwards until you feel comfortable reading the historical sources. As always, the link is to the cheapest version unless there is a good reason for doing otherwise, and you should always check local libraries before ordering.

Timeline

It is important to be able set literary and non-literary texts within a historical timeframe and to know what developments, conflicts and issues are likely to be reflected in the text given when it was set. Significant events such as wars and revolutions, whether political or technological, have a huge influence not only on day-to-day life but on literary texts, giving rise to certain themes and even new forms. This section is intended to give a brief overview of key periods that have characterised English history; literature students in particular may require a more detailed exploration of literary movements.

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Mythology

 

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For more detailed insight into literary periods see A2 literature

For students wanting more detailed insight into the literary periods that have flourished in England during the past, should explore link - texts in contexts - link which describes each movement, the aims? and themes that characterised, the something writers and its influence.

 

Location use this area to explore geographical areas, garnering something knowledge about key events that have shaped global history, as well links to the key writers from around the world.

Mythology

 

 

Biblical stories - whether you believe or not, the Bible has had a huge influence - rephrase - on western culture as a whole and English literature in particular. As Christian worship declines in schools, students can be disadvantaged when contemporary and historical writers, missing the wealth of intertextual references. For this reason it is important that learn not just the key biblical stories but also the wording of key passages. The main books or stories

The Bible is divided into two testaments [from the Latin - 'testes' meaning testimonies or witness statements] The old testament is The New Testament concerns the coming of Christ, his life and death and his resurrection. It is comprised mainly of the Gospels.

The books of the old testament are:

 

The first five books of the Bible comprise the Torah, the holy book of the Jewish religion.

The New