You must know key themes for each topic. Themes are not what happens in the narrative of a text but the topics or ideas that relate to a text. For example in pastoral literature one theme is nature.

You must be able to talk about how the themes are portrayed or explored. For example you must be able to talk about whether something is portrayed in a positive or negative way. You must say how you know it is positive of negative by using relevant parts of he text to support your reading. In most texts it is much more complex that simply positive or negative.

Some texts are part of a particular genre, or their themes are very specific and you must show that you understand terminology relating to the themes. For example you might need to know what a bildungsroman is if you are writing about Great Expectations, or you might need to know what sin means in Christianity when studying Paradise Lost.

It might sound obvious but remember to say the audience when referring to a play and the reader when referring to poems or novels. You must also remember that it isn’t the character in the book using devices or exploring themes, it is the writer!

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A Top Tip!

Make a copy of this section and put in a place that you often look at. i.e. front of a journal, next to a mirror, on a kitchen cupboard door, etc. That way you can do some cheeky revision whilst doing those things you have to do!

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