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LITA3 AQA A A2 English Literature exam 15th June 2010

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alecangeltess

Bear in mind how character-driven drama is!
Look at the audience involvement - do they know something the characters don't (dram irony). Are the audience recognised by the characters/actors?
Set - if there are stage directions how does imagery work there - metaphorical, literal or both?
etc

thank you, that's really helpful :smile:

Reply 141

Helenaaa123

Heya, just wondering if anyone could list me the themes that they have put their quotes etc into.. im not sure on how much detail to go into xxx

Reply 142

Helenaaa123

what themes is everyone narrowing their quotes down into?! xx

Reply 143

A.J.A.

Helenaaa123

what themes is everyone narrowing their quotes down into?! xx

Young love
Loss and grief
Marriage
Adultery/Forbidden love/ illicit love
Sibling love/Paternal love/ Familial love
Destructive nature of love
Romantic love
Sexual
Love Unrequited
Homosexual

Reply 144

A.J.A.

So how many texts in total (prose, poems & dramas) are people going to revise? I just looked and had 50 :redface:

so now I'm trying to cut it down... but I don't want to cut it down too far to the point a theme comes up and I don't have enough :s-smilie:

Reply 145

seagulled

my word. I'm bricking it now! I have done so litle in comparison to all you. And quotes? Do we need them? We've been told no but our teacher is usless ...

Reply 146

Narna396

seagulled

my word. I'm bricking it now! I have done so litle in comparison to all you. And quotes? Do we need them? We've been told no but our teacher is usless ...

Don't worry, you've still got time. You're gonna need some quotes in order to fulfil A03 (making connections and comparisons between the unseen extracts and stuff you've already read)) and access the higher grade Bands. Best to have quotes from prose, poetry and drama on several different themes of love e.g romantic, jeaolusy, passion, unreciprocal etc. - lots of people have listed their themes in this thread.
Hope that's some help :smile:

Reply 147

Narna396

A.J.A.

So how many texts in total (prose, poems & dramas) are people going to revise? I just looked and had 50 :redface:

so now I'm trying to cut it down... but I don't want to cut it down too far to the point a theme comes up and I don't have enough :s-smilie:

I've got exactly the same problem! Knowing my luck i'll miss out something that will come up so i'm just gonna do my best to learn all of them. I guess it doesn't matter if you can't remember all of the quotes assigned to one theme, just so long as there's a few :biggrin:

Reply 148

seagulled

Narna396

Cheeeers :d I've got truth about love anthology which has some predesigned categories about 5 relevant ones so 2 quotes from each?

Does anyone have January 2010 or candidate example work? I will love you forever if you send me it!

Reply 149

Narna396

seagulled

no problem :smile:

yeah sounds good, just make sure you have quotes from all three genres as question 1 could be on any of them!

sorry, i haven't got any either. if i can get hold of some, i'll post!

has anyone been given the jan 2010 paper at school?

Reply 150

HeavyMulti

Helenaaa123

what themes is everyone narrowing their quotes down into?! xx

Unrequited love
Congreve's 'The Way of The World' - Mrs. Marwood talks about Mirabell 'I never loved him. He always was, and still is, insufferably proud.' She does however still love him and is jealous of Mirabell's new lover. Y.B. Yeats' 'Song of a Wandering Aengus' - the fish turned into a beautiful 'glimmering girl who called my name and ran' and 'though I am old with wandering ... I will find out where she has gone'.

Adulterous love
Williams' - 'Streetcar Named Desire', Iris Murdoch's 'The Sunflower'...

Obsessive love
Hamlet's love for his father... (also 'Familial love' obviously and death/loss)

Familial love
Ben Johnson's 'On My First Son' (or Daughter for that matter), Armitage's 'Mother', C. Bronte's 'Jane Eyre' - 'It seems I had found a brother, one I could be proud of, one I could love...'

'Impossible' love
or generally 'against convention' - such as 'Eloisa to Abelard', or the way in which Desdemona elopes with Othello in 'Othello', 'Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit'...
Atwood's 'A Handmaid's Tale' fits in perfectly here.

Destructive love
Tenneyson's - 'Lady of Shalott' - innocent girl is swept away by a knight, but like a plucked flower, she dies and is carried away by the stream (essentially reclaimed by nature).

Self love
Shelley's 'Ozymandias' - a statue with a plaque reading 'I am Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look at my work, ye mighty, and despair'. Poem ends by describing Ozymandias' statue as a 'colossal wreck.'

Love and loss/death
Wordsworth's "Lucy" (II) - short, easy to remember, very sad.
Duffy's 'Queen Kong' - could also be obsessive/destructive. Seems simple at first, but it's not - think about role reversal and the author's views.
'Wuthering Heights' - Catherine's ghost has been seen at the window, lonely old Heathcliff (who is longing for the dead Cathy) calls out "My heart's darling!"
'Othello' (again) - before killing Desdemona (who is innocent) out of jealousy, Othello says: 'This sorrow's heavenly. It strikes where it doth love.'

Love of nature (I see this as theme as being unlikely, but it could be useful to know)
Keats - 'Ode to a Nightingale - Keats wishes to be immortal, or to live on like the Nightingale's ancient song, so possibly 'Self Love' too.
Blake's poetry...
'Jane Eyre' where Jane (who I see as a pure 'force of nature') observes a 'riven' chestnut tree and shelters from the rain in the orchard. At this point, she is doubting Mr. Rochester and feels the need to escape and return to nature. Storm = her doubts/suspicions, split chestnut tree (damaged by the storm) = her relationship with Mr. Rochester.

Courtly love
Marlowe's 'Passionate Shepard' (based around nature too)

New/Young love
Scene in McEwan's 'Atonement'. Blanche's 'blinding light' description in 'Streetcar'. Byron's 'She Walks in Beauty' - he is so overwhelmed by a certain woman's perfection, that he writes: 'One shade the more, one ray the less, had half impaired the nameless grace.' (as in, change one tiny thing and you would spoil her perfection)

I'm using little cards to memorise this and so far it is working very well. For example, if the front of the card says 'Love of nature - poem', the back could say Keats - 'Ode to a Nightingale' - 'Thou wert not meant for death immortal bird! No hungry generations tread thee down" with some explanation on context, meaning, date/era (a Romantic poet), and so on.

Some people may prefer just to learn whole texts. 'Hamlet' for example contains all kinds of different themes. As the exam is so soon though, I am just cramming the quotes in.

And quotes? Do we need them? We've been told no but our teacher is usless ...

It would be safer to assume that you do need quotes, otherwise you'll just be name dropping. Be prepared to go into detail - explain the quote, link it back to question/theme, discuss social context etc.

Reply 151

Narna396

:O :O ahhh! just read in a post on the english literature applicants thread that.... in the AQA book it says
'For the purposes of this examination , we define love as human love (not love of God or love of a pet).'

We have done loads on religion, patriotism, society and morals etc. Is the above true??!!!

PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!!!!

Reply 152

HeavyMulti

As far as I know, it is true. God will not be part of this exam! I cannot see animals featuring either.
Even some of the themes I posted up above are unlikely to come up.

Reply 153

Narna396

HeavyMulti

As far as I know, it is true. God will not be part of this exam! I cannot see animals featuring either.
Even some of the themes I posted up above are unlikely to come up.

Haha i was doubtful about guinea pigs and rabbits but i can't believe it about religion, nature, patriotism etc!! This is not cool at all!!!
I can understand it perhaps not coming up in Q2 but could you tie them into Q1? thanks!

Reply 154

xoxoluv

Has anyone got a generic sort of plan?

Reply 155

Patienceistheword

Hellloo people! Just wondering how far we should
go into context knowing that it is a04? and do you reckon it's alright to just grasp a background knowledge of each era?

ThanksSSS! in advance(that's if I get a reply lol)

Reply 156

beautifulbubble

I was told we only need brief knowledge of each period, main issues etc yeah :smile:

Reply 157

Narna396

For context, we've looked at the role of the genders in society, courtly love, the changing role of religion, the suffragette movement, the french revolution, the world wars... is this stuff relevant?

I'm just really confused now as to what this exam is about! Are we just supposed to be referring to human love between each other? Or can we link in the idea of wanting to uphold the social classes in society, and feeling isolated in one's own time.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! 4 hours a go I was really calm about this exam. Now i'm freaking out!! Thank you x a million in advance x

Reply 158

claudia92

are you guys just going to give context about the unseen texts we are given in both questions? or for your wider reading also?

Reply 159

A.J.A.

Narna396

We're supposed to look at how the bolded factors have changed relationships... for example social class is very important in 'Wuthering Heights', it's basically the reason Cathy and Heathcliff's relationship is restricted. However in more modern texts social class is less relevant to the relationships because society has loosened the restrictions of class.