| Text Type | Example Texts | Key Focus for Notes | |-----------|---------------|----------------------| | Prose | Things Fall Apart (Achebe), To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee), Jane Eyre (Brontë) | Colonialism, justice, gender, narrative voice | | Drama | The Crucible (Miller), A Raisin in the Sun (Hansberry), Julius Caesar (Shakespeare) | Tragedy, power, stagecraft, dramatic irony | | Poetry | Songs of Ourselves (CIE anthology) – poems by Owen, Plath, Duffy, Blake, etc. | Imagery, tone, rhythm, theme clusters |
Most students make the fatal mistake of treating Literature like History. They write pages of summaries: "Chapter 1: Okonkwo throws the Cat." or "Stanza 2: The wind blows."
Many students make the mistake of treating Literature notes like History notes—simply copying out summaries of chapters or stanzas. This is a trap. Examiners do not reward plot recounting; they reward . literature o level notes
To study effectively for your O-Level Literature in English exam (such as Cambridge 2010 or similar national syllabuses), you need to move beyond simply memorizing the plot
Examiners look for "characterization"—the methods an author uses to create a persona. In your notes, create a profile for each major character including: Direct Description: What the narrator tells us explicitly. | Text Type | Example Texts | Key
Metaphor and Simile: Why compare a character to an animal or a storm? What specific quality is being emphasized?
Why does a character enter when they do? Why do they leave? This is a trap
“The Tyger” by William Blake Theme: Creation, innocence vs. experience, awe and fear.
: Use this for your essay practice and notes: P oint: State your main argument. E vidence: Quote from the text. E xplain: Analyze how the quote supports your point. L ink: Connect it back to the question or the overall theme.
The way you take notes for a Shakespearean play differs vastly from how you should approach a modern novel or an anthology of poetry.