Literature and Text Study
The Literature and Text Study domain tests your study of poems, short stories, novels and plays. You need to know plot, character, setting, conflict, theme, point of view, style and literary devices, and to explain how they create meaning. The exam rewards analysis of effect, not retelling.
Core terms
- Plot: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution.
- Characterisation: direct (told) and indirect (shown through action, speech, thought); protagonist and antagonist.
- Setting: time, place and social context.
- Theme: the central idea, expressed as a statement, not a topic word.
- Devices: simile, metaphor, personification, imagery, alliteration, symbolism and irony.
- Point of view: first or third person; omniscient or limited.
Worked example
Poem line: "The river wears a coat of brown mud." Reasoning: A river cannot wear, so the verb is personification; "coat of brown mud" is a metaphor for the mud covering the water. The effect is to make the flooded river seem dressed and burdened, suggesting pollution or damage. A full answer names the device and explains the effect; labelling it "personification" alone earns only part marks.
Traps that cost marks
- Retelling the plot instead of analysing.
- Confusing simile (like/as) with metaphor (direct comparison).
- Naming a device without explaining its effect.
- Confusing theme with topic, e.g., "love" instead of "love can survive hardship".
- Quoting without embedding the quotation in a sentence.
Key points
- Learn definitions with examples from your set texts.
- Link device to effect and theme.
- Use short, embedded quotations.
- Distinguish direct and indirect characterisation.
- State theme as a full idea, not one word.