How do I Revise for Literature?

English English Language Paper 1 English Literature Paper Unseen Extract from a Fiction text 4 comprehension questions Creative writing: Narrative or Description Romeo and Juliet (Essay question with extract) Poetry (Comparative essay based on 10 poems studied in class)

1. Revision Guide It’s in the title: it will guide you, it won’t give you all the answers. It’s a starting point. The basics: plot, characters, themes, language, structure = ALL VERY BRIEF

2. KNOW YOUR TEXT Use coloured post-it notes to label key sections based on a theme or character

Theme focus: Love Hate/Conflict Fate/Destiny Death Contrasts/Doubles/ Ambiguity

Theme focus: Love - what are the different types? Which characters symbolise this? Which key quotations help to exemplify this? How are ideas about love developed through the text?

3. Create Mind Maps for Characters or Themes

LOVE ‘You baggage’ COURTLY LOVE ‘She is the hopeful lady of my Earth’ They speak in sonnet form: abab (hand, this, stand, kiss) cdcd (much, this, touch, kiss) efef (too, prayer, do despair) gg (sake, take) ‘Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out.’ Romeo’s love for Juliet Romeo’s love for Rosaline COURTLY LOVE LOVE ‘O brawling love! O loving hate!... O heavy lightness! serious vanity!... Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!’ Capulet’s love for his daughter (or not) ‘She is the hopeful lady of my Earth’ ‘You baggage’ Powerful Elizabethan Patriarch

Character Focus: Romeo Juliet Lord Capulet Lady Capulet Tybalt Friar Lawrence Nurse

Trace the development of a character… First impression: Where and when do they appear? What are our first impressions?  What do you notice about this character?  What language typifies this character?   Second impression: Second time you meet this character: What do they say or do? Is your impression of this character changing?  Has their language changed? AND REPEAT: THIRD IMPRESSION… FOURTH IMPRESSION…

Patriarchal Society/ treatment of women DOES THE CHARACTER DEVELOP? OR DO THEY STAY THE SAME? WHAT DOES THIS TELL YOU ABOUT THE WRITER'S INTENTIONS? WHAT DO YOU LEARN ABOUT THE WIDER CONTEXT? Capulet: First impression = loving father Second impression = welcoming host + furious patriarch Third impression = domineering tyrant Patriarchal Society/ treatment of women

4. Create Flash Cards Put key ideas onto a flash card Have a different card for each key theme and character

Juliet Characteristics: deeply thoughtful, practical, level headed UNTIL Romeo Relationships: Lady Capulet – distant, Nurse – affectionate until Nurse betrays her, Lord Capulet – dutiful daughter, ‘disobedient wretch’, Romeo – deeply in love – becomes reckless Compare to others: Romeo’s courtly love vs Juliet’s more practical approach(What’s in a name?’) Language – ‘Oh swear not by the moon’, ‘Too rash, too sudden’, Imagery of light, Imagery of heavenly bodies, ‘Dove trooping among crows’ Key Scenes/moments: Act 1 Scene 3 – Juliet and her mother, Act 1 Scene 5 – She meets Romeo, Act 2 Scene 2 – Balcony Scene etc

5. Practice Essays: Plan first Part 1 Annotate extract with ideas that help you to respond to the question Part 2 Link ideas to other parts of the text

Read the following extract from Act 2 Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet, and then answer the question that follows. At this point in the play, Romeo is in the orchard, watching Juliet on her balcony.  But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she: Be not her maid, since she is envious; Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it; cast it off. It is my lady, O, it is my love! O, that she knew she were! She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that? Her eye discourses; I will answer it. Starting with this soliloquy, explain how far you think Shakespeare presents love as rash and unrealistic.   Write about: how Shakespeare presents love in this extract; how Shakespeare presents love in the play as a whole.

Create a paragraph plan: Use two quotations per paragraph: ‘She is a stranger in the world’ ‘Let two more summers wither in their pride yet we think her ripe to be a bride’ How is Capulet presented? P1 – Intro P2 – First impressions of Capulet as a father P3 – Welcoming guests – compare to Altercation with Tybalt – foreshadows future conflict P4 – Enraged with Juliet – patriarchal society P5 – Capulet’s treatment of women in his family; and Tybalt P6 – Capulet is a typical Elizabethan husband, father and master

WRITE Practice Essays School Website: There are packs for each key text There is one for Romeo and Juliet with a string of questions in the new style.