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English Literature
8 sections available · 51 chapters available
Free English Literature study notes for Pearson Edexcel IGCSE students. Each chapter breaks down a key concept with examples and practice prompts you can turn into AI drills in the thinka app.
Unseen Poetry (Component 1, Section A)
Reading an unseen poem: subject, situation and meaning
Imagery, diction and descriptive detail
Form, structure and rhythm in an unseen poem
Tone, mood and speaker’s voice
The 20-mark unseen poetry essay (AO2)
Anthology Poetry, Part 3 (poems 1–8)
If– - Rudyard Kipling
Prayer Before Birth - Louis MacNeice
Blessing - Imtiaz Dharker
Search For My Tongue - Sujata Bhatt
Half-past Two - U A Fanthorpe
Piano - D H Lawrence
Hide and Seek - Vernon Scannell
Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds - William Shakespeare
Anthology Poetry, Part 3 (poems 9–16)
La Belle Dame sans Merci - John Keats
Poem at Thirty-Nine - Alice Walker
War Photographer - Carol Ann Duffy
The Tyger - William Blake
My Last Duchess - Robert Browning
Half-caste - John Agard
Do not go gentle into that good night - Dylan Thomas
Remember - Christina Rossetti
Comparing Anthology Poems (Component 1, Section B)
Comparing poems by theme and subject
Comparing language and imagery across poems
Comparing form and structure across poems
Comparing attitudes, tone and voice
Structuring the 30-mark comparison essay (AO2, AO3)
Modern Prose set texts (Component 1, Section C)
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
The Whale Rider - Witi Ihimaera
The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro
Western Lane - Chetna Maroo
Modern Drama set texts (Component 2/3, Section A)
A View from the Bridge - Arthur Miller
An Inspector Calls - J B Priestley
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon (adapted by Simon Stephens)
Kindertransport - Diane Samuels
Death and the King’s Horseman - Wole Soyinka
Literary Heritage set texts (Component 2/3, Section B)
Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice - William Shakespeare
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Essay and assessment-objective skills
Close knowledge, critical style and personal engagement (AO1)
Analysing language, form and structure (AO2)
Links and connections between texts (AO3)
Text and context: writer, history, society, genre, reception (AO4)
Using quotation and evidence: closed-book and open-book
Planning and timing the 30- and 40-mark essays
Literary terminology for poetry, prose and drama
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