OCR AS Level English Literature Past Papers

For the Shakespeare essay, avoid the common error of narrating the plot. Examiners assume full knowledge of the text — your essay should open with a clear argument about the question and immediately begin substantiating it with textual evidence and literary analysis. Every quotation should be followed by analysis of the specific language choices made: explain why Shakespeare chose that particular word, image, or syntactic structure, and what dramatic effect it creates in context. Context in AS English Literature means more than adding a biographical fact about the author at the start of an essay. Contextual knowledge earns marks when it is used to interpret the literary choices in the text. For example, noting that Hamlet was written during a period of political anxiety about succession (James I had just taken the English throne following Elizabeth I's death) and then using this to interpret the play's preoccupation with legitimate authority and the corruption of kingship is strong contextualisation. Stating that 'Shakespeare lived in Elizabethan England' is not. For the pre-1900 poetry comparison, practise reading unseen poems quickly and identifying: (1) the voice or persona speaking, (2) the central subject and the poet's attitude toward it, (3) the dominant form and structure (sonnet, ode, ballad; regular or irregular), and (4) the most significant two or three language choices. These observations form the basis of your comparison. When connecting the unseen poem to your studied poem, look for both thematic parallels (do both poems address loss, nature, time, desire?) and formal contrasts (one uses regular rhyme scheme where the other is free verse — what does this formal difference suggest about the poets' attitudes?). For modern drama, learn the specific terminology for dramatic techniques: dramatic irony (the audience knows something a character does not), in medias res openings, tableau staging, soliloquy versus aside, and Brechtian alienation effects. Applying these terms precisely in your analysis demonstrates the critical vocabulary that distinguishes higher-band responses.