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The Official OCR A level English Literature 2017

Who out here is studying:

Drama and poetry pre-1900
1.a/b. Richard III
2. A Doll's House & Rossetti Selected Poems

Comparative and contextual study
1. Gothic Critical Appreciation
2. Frankenstein/ The Bloody Chamber

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Hey, well I'm doing Richard III and Bloody Chamber but Dracula not Frankenstein, and for drama and poetry I'm doing The Merchant's Tale and She Stoops to Conquer :smile:
Original post by Nomes24
Hey, well I'm doing Richard III and Bloody Chamber but Dracula not Frankenstein, and for drama and poetry I'm doing The Merchant's Tale and She Stoops to Conquer :smile:


Hi! It's great to hear from you!
What are your thoughts on Richard III?
I aren't too much of a fan of The Bloody Chamber to be honest.
I'm familiar with Dracula as well.
Hey guys!

I'm not doing most of those texts but I am doing this paper. How do you guys revise?

The only similar text I'm doing is A Doll's House like the OP.
Original post by SteamboatMickey
Hey guys!

I'm not doing most of those texts but I am doing this paper. How do you guys revise?

The only similar text I'm doing is A Doll's House like the OP.


Hey, thanks for commenting! I find a really useful way to revise is by learning what you DON'T need to know! Below is the list of the relevant AOs for each question!

Paper 1: Drama and poetry pre-1900
A. (Seen passage): AO1/AO2
B. (Argument) AO1/AO3/AO5
C. (Comparative essay) AO1/AO3/AO4/AO5

Paper 2: Comparative and contextual study
A. (Unseen passage- Critical Appreciation) AO1/AO2
B. Comparative essay AO1/AO3/AO4/AO5

I think!
Original post by professor2307
Hey, thanks for commenting! I find a really useful way to revise is by learning what you DON'T need to know! Below is the list of the relevant AOs for each question!

Paper 1: Drama and poetry pre-1900
A. (Seen passage): AO1/AO2
B. (Argument) AO1/AO3/AO5
C. (Comparative essay) AO1/AO3/AO4/AO5

Paper 2: Comparative and contextual study
A. (Unseen passage- Critical Appreciation) AO1/AO2
B. Comparative essay AO1/AO3/AO4/AO5

I think!


Woah thanks so much!

Does anyone know any exam techniques/structures for top grade answers? Aiming for A/A* overall!
Reply 6
Avatar for jr2408
jr2408
6
Hey guys

Im doing Duchess of Malfi, Merchants Tale as well as Hamlet.
The other paper is Frankenstein and BC.

Im quite nervous as this year too much to prepare in order to do well. Any ways we need to write or revise to get a/ a*?
Original post by SteamboatMickey
Woah thanks so much!

Does anyone know any exam techniques/structures for top grade answers? Aiming for A/A* overall!


Yes there's a lot to learn but I'd suggest:
- Know your quotes and practice 'exploding' them on mind maps with AO2 (obviously only for the texts that you need AO2 for)
- Know your critics and their ideas
- Watch a film/ theatre piece of all your texts
- Perhaps do a little wider reading
- Understand your contexts and how it influenced the writer. Also consider how we receive the literature now, in comparison to how it will have been received back then.
E.g. Think of Frankenstein...
What Shelley writes about was actually happening at the time (they trie dot bring the dead back to life!) Comoare that to now, and look at what stem cells, genetic modification and cloning is doing now!

Anybody fancy sharing some essay questions to discuss?
Original post by jr2408
Hey guys

Im doing Duchess of Malfi, Merchants Tale as well as Hamlet.
The other paper is Frankenstein and BC.

Im quite nervous as this year too much to prepare in order to do well. Any ways we need to write or revise to get a/ a*?


Hi, thanks for joining!
As I mentioned earlier...
I'd suggest:
- Know your quotes and practice 'exploding' them on mind maps with AO2 (obviously only for the texts that you need AO2 for)
- Know your critics and their ideas - Watch a film/ theatre piece of all your texts
- Perhaps do a little wider reading
- Understand your contexts and how it influenced the writer. Also consider how we receive the literature now, in comparison to how it will have been received back then. E.g. Think of Frankenstein... What Shelley writes about was actually happening at the time (they trie dot bring the dead back to life!) Comoare that to now, and look at what stem cells, genetic modification and cloning is doing now!

We are doing the same gothic texts! What are your ideas about Frankenstein and T.B.C?
For whose who are doing Gothic genre:

Let's perhaps share our quick-fire essay plans for one of the questions below:


A.) To what extent do you agree with the view that writers in the gothic tradition present the boundaries between good and evil as blurred?

or

B.) “Gothic protagonists are victims of no-one but themselves.”
Consider the ways in which writers present gothic protagonists in the light of this comment.
Reply 10
Avatar for rxbmvc
rxbmvc
2
Hi! I'm doing The Duchess of Malfi/Books 9 and 10 of Paradise Lost for the first of the two components, and Dracula/The Bloody Chamber for the second. I tend to revise Paradise Lost by reading it aloud or listening to an audiobook I found on Youtube because of the density of Milton's writing. Does anyone else do something similar with any of their texts?
Original post by rxbmvc
Hi! I'm doing The Duchess of Malfi/Books 9 and 10 of Paradise Lost for the first of the two components, and Dracula/The Bloody Chamber for the second. I tend to revise Paradise Lost by reading it aloud or listening to an audiobook I found on Youtube because of the density of Milton's writing. Does anyone else do something similar with any of their texts?


Hi, welcome to the forum!
I can completely understand that as a technique for Milton, some heavy stuff indeed! With regards to TBC, with it being relatively more recent, I feel there's a lot less. I've currently been revising from the York notes guides. But just listing potential argument points for exam questions helps me (I found some past questions (from a different board) and dropped them in a reply to somebody else!^).
Quotes are obviously another big thing...
I ought to give YouTube a try though!
Thanks!
Been told by my teacher my AO2 is the only thing dragging my grade down. Anyone have any tips for close reading?
I'm studying The Tempest for section A and B
Section C- The Duchess of Malfi and Coleridge

For Paper 2 I'm doing American Literature which involves a comparative essay between The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath :3
(Oh and Section 1 is the Appreciation of American Literature between 1880 and 1940)

Oh btw.. how would you structure your comparative paragraphs to pick up as many marks as possible?

I try to use text to talk about the context (lots of context needed... I not entirely sure what I can write about without 'leaving the text too much' to quote my vague teacher)
So for example...saying what the text implies about the time it was written (like I can talk about spread of communism in relation to Tom Joad's character slowly believing ideals of collectivism.. etc..) It works well since I can also write about the literacy context- Modernism for TGG and Realism for TGOW in introduction to the historical context.
But... I need a set structure to follow.. I'm getting my quotations together and some kind of essay plans (to manipulate the question to my knowledge)

I really need at least a B in English Literature to get to my firm choice (that I honestly am desperate to go to) so any help is highly appreciated
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 14
Avatar for Flohigs
Flohigs
4
Original post by professor2307
Who out here is studying:

Drama and poetry pre-1900
1.a/b. Richard III
2. A Doll's House & Rossetti Selected Poems

Comparative and contextual study
1. Gothic Critical Appreciation
2. Frankenstein/ The Bloody Chamber

I am doing for drama and poetry pre - 1900
1. The tempest
2. Christina Rossetti and Ibsen

And for comparative and contextual study :
1. Dystopian critical appreciation
2. The handmaid tale and 1984
Hi, thanks for dropping by!
I'm also really really desperate to get into Uni this year so fingers crossed for the both of us!

I don't think you should follow a set structure to start with. You're absolutely right that you need context but you're forgetting a major part for that comparative essay: AO5- other literary interpretations (critics, films, theatre, reviews, your opinion, writer's opinion.) Also, with your context (which by the sounds of it you know well), integrate it into your response, never just throw in at end...(same with AO5.) Context can also cover things like comparing the response of the reader then to now.

It's a comparative essay, compare between the two, get both your texts in one paragraph if you can and just make those one sentence quick comparisons.

E.g (I am not studying American).
Say the question was about pursuing dreams is pointless or something.

Blah blah blah...BOTH TGG and Joad in TGOW clearly demonstrate that the pursuit of dreams is futile: Gatsby never wins Daisy back and Joad realises his failure upon his discovery of the other families making the same journey as him. (Develop, or move on to your new paragraph and new point).

I've also been told adding the tiniest bits of AO2 will help you, straight after the quote...it's good for AO1 apparently.

Let me know if this is of any use. With regards to structure, just make a point, give your evidence and explain how that supports your point and how that compares to the other text. Within your explanation you'll include AO3 and AO5.

Thanks again and good luck!


Original post by CuriousShinigami
I'm studying The Tempest for section A and B
Section C- The Duchess of Malfi and Coleridge

For Paper 2 I'm doing American Literature which involves a comparative essay between The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath :3
(Oh and Section 1 is the Appreciation of American Literature between 1880 and 1940)

Oh btw.. how would you structure your comparative paragraphs to pick up as many marks as possible?

I try to use text to talk about the context (lots of context needed... I not entirely sure what I can write about without 'leaving the text too much' to quote my vague teacher)
So for example...saying what the text implies about the time it was written (like I can talk about spread of communism in relation to Tom Joad's character slowly believing ideals of collectivism.. etc..) It works well since I can also write about the literacy context- Modernism for TGG and Realism for TGOW in introduction to the historical context.
But... I need a set structure to follow.. I'm getting my quotations together and some kind of essay plans (to manipulate the question to my knowledge)

I really need at least a B in English Literature to get to my firm choice (that I honestly am desperate to go to) so any help is highly appreciated
Original post by professor2307
Hi, thanks for dropping by!
I'm also really really desperate to get into Uni this year so fingers crossed for the both of us!

I don't think you should follow a set structure to start with. You're absolutely right that you need context but you're forgetting a major part for that comparative essay: AO5- other literary interpretations (critics, films, theatre, reviews, your opinion, writer's opinion.) Also, with your context (which by the sounds of it you know well), integrate it into your response, never just throw in at end...(same with AO5.) Context can also cover things like comparing the response of the reader then to now.

It's a comparative essay, compare between the two, get both your texts in one paragraph if you can and just make those one sentence quick comparisons.

E.g (I am not studying American).
Say the question was about pursuing dreams is pointless or something.

Blah blah blah...BOTH TGG and Joad in TGOW clearly demonstrate that the pursuit of dreams is futile: Gatsby never wins Daisy back and Joad realises his failure upon his discovery of the other families making the same journey as him. (Develop, or move on to your new paragraph and new point).

I've also been told adding the tiniest bits of AO2 will help you, straight after the quote...it's good for AO1 apparently.

Let me know if this is of any use. With regards to structure, just make a point, give your evidence and explain how that supports your point and how that compares to the other text. Within your explanation you'll include AO3 and AO5.

Thanks again and good luck!


Thanks.. I'm making sure to try getting some critics in my head.. my class just is so frustrated with integration... I try saying something like 'Gatsby's pursuit of Daisy mirrors the time in which people had an obsession with reaching their dreams, the American Dream being a concept that anyone can achieve regardless of their beginnings. The critic James Adams said ‘that American Dream of a better, richer and happier life for all of our citizens’, which supports the idea that the dream was about equal opportunity but in reality the novel suggests in fact this dream is unobtainable... etc...'

Like to try and get in context I say the book implies something about the history.. and I try explaining differences through history.. but yeah I should start talking about how it is received- like Steinbeck's had some bad reactions due to what it suggested about Communism during a time in which communism membership was increasing..
I try using critics to support myself... though I suppose you could refute them too..

I just feel confused as to how to put in A03 whilst staying in the text.. my teacher is really vague and doesn't really explain how to do it..
But I'll try out them comparative lines.. that would really help me form a 'focus' and show clear evidence of comparison :smile:
Hey guys,

Nice to see an OCR English thread going, good luck to you all!

Drama and poetry pre - 1900
1. Hamlet
2. Christina Rossetti and Ibsen

Comparative and contextual study :
1. Gothic
2. Dracula, Frankenstein and the bloody chamber

They're really pushing for contextual knowledge this year, which is a blessing in some senses as it alleviates the necessity to learn an outrageous amount of quotes, but I'm pretty stuck on the Dracula/Bloody Chamber comparisons and relating it to the gothic, our teachers have really pushed the feminist doom and gloom message but it's difficult to consistently relate that to key features of the genre past innocence and women themselves. Any help would be appreciated :wink:
Hi! It's great to hear from you! (I also can't believe there wasn't an OCR English Literature forum- but tadah! Here it is!

With this spec now being a lot more context and other interpretation orientated, it is great to know that less quotes and finer details are needed.

You're doing the exact same texts to me (except Hamlet).

The Bloody Chamber: think other gothic elements: supernatural, metamorphosis, settings, state of mind, presence of past, unusual narration and such. I would strongly suggest you read all the stories apart from Puss-in-Boots (it isn't gothic).

Fun fact for you: Rossetti's uncle, John Polidori (Byron's physician) wrote 'The Vampyre' whilst Shelley was writing Frankenstein!

How do you feel about the questions overall?

Original post by iamlucy
Hey guys,

Nice to see an OCR English thread going, good luck to you all!
H
Drama and poetry pre - 1900
1. Hamlet
2. Christina Rossetti and Ibsen

Comparative and contextual study :
1. Gothic
2. Dracula, Frankenstein and the bloody chamber

They're really pushing for contextual knowledge this year, which is a blessing in some senses as it alleviates the necessity to learn an outrageous amount of quotes, but I'm pretty stuck on the Dracula/Bloody Chamber comparisons and relating it to the gothic, our teachers have really pushed the feminist doom and gloom message but it's difficult to consistently relate that to key features of the genre past innocence and women themselves. Any help would be appreciated :wink:
Original post by jr2408
Hey guys

Im doing Duchess of Malfi, Merchants Tale as well as Hamlet.
The other paper is Frankenstein and BC.

Im quite nervous as this year too much to prepare in order to do well. Any ways we need to write or revise to get a/ a*?



Hey there, I'm doing Merchant's tale & Hamlet too!

For both of these, I've been told to focus on A02 (language analysis) more than anything else. Also displaying really good context & other interpretations will also help

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