Literature: Prose, Poetry and Drama
This domain tests literary study across prose, poetry and drama. You must analyse plot, character, setting, theme, conflict, style and dramatic or poetic technique, using evidence from the text.
Prose
Track plot, setting, characterisation, conflict, theme and narrative voice. Ask how the narrator knows what he or she knows; do not confuse author and narrator.
Poetry
The speaker is not automatically the poet. Identify line, stanza, imagery, metaphor, simile, personification, repetition and tone, then explain the effect.
Drama
Read stage directions, dialogue, dramatic irony and soliloquy. Conflict is often carried by what characters do not say as much as by what they say.
Worked example
Line: ‘Omutima gwandje oshikuni.’ Identify the figure and explain it. Answer: metaphor; the heart is compared to firewood without ngaashi (like), suggesting it is dry, hard or easily consumed. Reasoning: the absence of a comparison word makes it a metaphor, not a simile; the explanation must link the image to meaning.
Traps that cost marks
- Retelling the plot instead of analysing.
- Naming a figure but not explaining its effect.
- Treating the poet as the speaker.
- Ignoring stage directions in drama.
- Quoting without integrating the quotation into your point.