3.2 Modern texts and poetry
Modern texts
Students will study one from a choice of 12 set texts, which include post-1914 prose fiction and drama. Students should study the whole text.
Choose one of:
Drama
Author | Title |
|---|---|
JB Priestley | An Inspector Calls |
Willy Russell | Blood Brothers (musical version) |
Alan Bennett | The History Boys Last exam 2024 |
Dennis Kelly | DNA |
Simon Stephens | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play script) Last exam 2024 |
Shelagh Delaney | A Taste of Honey |
| Chinonyerem Odimba | Princess & The Hustler First teaching 2023 |
| Winsome Pinnock | Leave Taking First teaching 2023 |
Prose
Author | Title |
|---|---|
William Golding | Lord of the Flies |
AQA Anthology | Telling Tales |
George Orwell | Animal Farm |
Kazuo Ishiguro | Never Let Me Go Last exam 2024 |
Meera Syal | Anita and Me |
Stephen Kelman | Pigeon English |
| Kit de Waal | My Name is Leon First teaching 2023 |
Poetry
Students will study one cluster of poems taken from the AQA poetry anthology, Poems Past and Present. There is a choice of three clusters, each containing 15 poems. The poems in each cluster are thematically linked and were written between 1789 and the present day.
The titles of the three clusters are:
- Love and Relationships
- Power and Conflict
- Worlds and Lives First teaching 2023
Students should study all 15 poems in their chosen cluster and be prepared to write about any of them in the examination.
Unseen poetry
In preparing for the unseen poetry section of the examination students should experience a wide range of poetry in order to develop their ability to closely analyse unseen poems. They should be able to analyse and compare key features such as their content, theme, structure and use of language.
