A level English Literature

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone had any tips or advice for incorporating wider reading into an essay. If anyone has any examples of this for prose or poetry I would appreciate it!

Reply 1

lilith402

Original post

by ElizabethB!

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone had any tips or advice for incorporating wider reading into an essay. If anyone has any examples of this for prose or poetry I would appreciate it!

Hey, although I tend to just gather a list of all the wider reading texts I can remember and hope for the best, I am somehow predicted an A* in English lit :smile:

I usually organise my paragraphs thematically, so my wider reading links tend to be thematic in nature too
I do Women in Literature, so for example, if I were writing a paragraph on a character's frustration with the patriarchy and wanting freedom from it, I would mention Maggie from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot, who cuts her hair in order to be perceived as 'smart' instead of 'pretty'. This act cements in the mind of the reader her frustration with the patriarchal systems in place in her society, similar to *character xyz* in this extract. Character xyz shows this by doing.... etc
I hope this helps! :smile:

Reply 2

ElizabethB!

Original post

by lilith402

Hey, although I tend to just gather a list of all the wider reading texts I can remember and hope for the best, I am somehow predicted an A* in English lit :smile:

Hey, this is so helpful!
Do you by any chance have a finished essay so that I can see it more visually?
Thank you again for the help.

Reply 3

lilith402

Original post

by ElizabethB!

Hey, this is so helpful!
Do you by any chance have a finished essay so that I can see it more visually?
Thank you again for the help.

Hey, this is the paragraph from an essay on an extract from Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, incidentally the one that uses Mill on the Floss as wider reading :smile:

"Moreover, by isolating her from her identity and roots, the narrator is easier to manipulate and subdue as she is left frustrated and reeling by this loss. The narrator’s refusal to accept that “this is England” suggests that she is not familiar with the country, perhaps because she is not from there- she is in a foreign land, surrounded by unfamiliar terrain and severed from her homeland. Her unfamiliarity with British weather and frequent stating of how cold she is reinforces the fact that she is not from England, and this coldness permeating her most likely serves to further isolate and frighten her. This would explain her adamance of what she believes England to be; perhaps she has an idealised image of England in her mind which she has envisioned since childhood, and refuses to let go of these familiar thoughts when in a strange place. She searches fervently for the red dress, which could symbolise her search for something familiar that she has grown up with- the dress could symbolise her identity. Her frustration at Grace Poole blocking her from this dress, and consequently from her identity, is similar to Maggie’s frustration at the constraints of society in The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot: the narrator here searches for the dress with the same vehemence and determination that causes Maggie to cut her hair, both searching for themselves under the societal expectations heaped on them. The smells that come from the dress, smells of ”vetiver and frangipani, of cinnamon and dust and lime trees”, along with the polysyndetic lists they are compiled in, emit exoticism and and overwhelming brightness that is not often sensed in the gloom of English moors. Furthermore, the vivid red colour of the dress also stands out, its hues of “fire and sunset” like a “flamboyant [flower]” in the English countryside. Images of dancing flames and blooming flora convey the narrator’s passion towards the dress and, by extension, display the strength of her identity and character. The crimson of the dress stands out in the “grass and olive green water and tall trees” of the England she knows; the monochrome natural landscape blends together into one continuous green blur- again, polysyndetic listing is used to signify the overwhelm of the sight, but also to contrast this monotony with the focal point of the dress. In this new country, so unfamiliar and yet unvarying in its landscape, the only thing to latch onto for the narrator in order to keep her sanity is the dress, the one remainder of her roots and identity: however, this too she believes to be “hidden” from her."
hope this helps! :smile: