Note: the links will take you to a ‘view only’ copy of the resource. If you wish to create your own editable copy, go to ‘file’ and ‘make a copy’ or ‘download as’. This will generate a separate version which you can adapt as you see fit, although I would appreciate it if you credited the original author somewhere on your adapted resource.
GCSE Literature Study Guides
These contain the core knowledge about literary texts which pupils should memorise: plot, characters, setting, context, themes and key quotations.
Guides for AQA or Edexcel Specifications
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
An Inspector Calls by J B Priestley
Poetry Study Guides
These are necessarily different for the different exam boards. They contain the poems themselves, and a more detailed focus on the language, form and structure than is found in the study guides for the longer texts.
AQA Poetry
‘Love and Relationships’ Poetry Anthology
Edexcel Poetry
‘Time and Place’ Poetry Anthology
GCSE Literature Textbooks
These contain the full literary texts and guided writing tasks.
AQA ‘Power and Conflict’ Poetry Anthology
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
GCSE Literature Homework Booklets and Tests
These are based on the study guides. The statements are very concise and designed to be memorised for homework. I include below an example of a homework memory statements booklet and tests based upon it.
Tests based on the homework statements booklet above.
AQA GCSE Literature Essay Questions with Exemplar Answers
These are designed to be used for guided writing practice over three lessons. The teacher goes through the essay framework in the first lesson. In the second lesson, the teacher briefly recaps the essay framework and the pupils write the essay. In the third lesson, the teacher gives feedback and goes through the exemplar with the class.
AQA Poetry: ‘Love and Relationships’
Desire in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘Love’s Philosophy’
Separation in ‘When We Two Parted’ and ‘Neutral Tones’
Marriage in ‘The Farmer’s Bride’ and ‘Singh Song’
AQA Poetry: ‘Power and Conflict’
The Power of Nature in ‘Exposure’ and ‘Storm on the Island’
The Power of Memory in ‘Tissue’ and ‘Remains’
Pride in ‘Checking Out Me History’ and ‘Kamikaze’
Power and Pride in The Prelude and ‘My Last Duchess’
Effects of Conflict in ‘War Photographer’ and ‘The émigrée’
Conflict in ‘Exposure’ and ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’
Power in ‘Ozymandias’ and ‘London’
An Inspector Calls by J B Priestley
How does Priestley use the character of Mr Birling to present ideas about capitalism?
How does Priestley explore inequality?
How does Priestley prepare the audience for the arrival of the Inspector?
How far does Priestley present Gerald Croft as a sympathetic character?
How does Priestley explore the importance of social class?
How does Priestley use the character of Eva Smith to present ideas about responsibility?
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
How does Stevenson present the theme of friendship?
Explore how Stevenson presents the theme of responsibility.
Explore how Stevenson presents the effects of Jekyll’s scientific ambitions (AQA Specimen 3)
‘Gabriel Utterson is the real hero of the novel’. Explore how far you agree with this statement.
How does Stevenson present the idea of duality?
How does Stevenson present the struggle between good and evil?
How does Stevenson present Mr Hyde as a frightening outsider?
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Explore how Shakespeare presents ideas about romantic love.
Explore how Shakespeare presents attitudes towards honour and revenge.
Explore how Shakespeare presents ideas about authority.
Explore how Shakespeare presents the change in Juliet’s character.
Explain how far you think Shakespeare presents Friar Laurence as a wise character.
How does Shakespeare present Romeo’s attitudes to love?
Unseen Poetry
AQA SAM2: ‘How to Leave the World that Worships Should’ and ‘The Rich Eat Three Full Meals’
AQA GCSE Language Resources and Exemplars
Paper 2 questions 1-4: non-fiction on Jekyll and Hyde: source booklet
Paper 2 questions 1-4: non-fiction on Jekyll and Hyde: question and exemplar booklet
Paper 2 question 5: speech on what makes a good education (November 2017 paper).
Paper 2 question 5: article on corruption in sport (June 2018 paper).
Paper 2 question 5: letter on banning cars in urban centres (November 2018 paper).
Paper 1 questions 1-4 (AQA past paper from November 2018 – ‘A Sound of Thunder’)
Literature Guides for Primary or Key Stage Three
These guides were written as an aid to primary school teachers for teaching classic literature. They include core knowledge about plot, character, theme and context, as well as extended writing tasks for pupils. They could also be used at Key Stage Three, in which case, the guides could be given to the pupils as a reference point for their study of the works of literature.
Guide to ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’
Guide to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Guide to King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green
Guide to Much Ado About Nothing
Guide to ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’
Guide to ‘The Dog and His Reflection’
Guide to ‘The Frog-King’ or ‘The Frog-Prince’
Guide to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Guide to ‘Theseus and the Minotaur’
Guide to Tom’s Midnight Garden
Primary or Key Stage Three Literature Exemplar Essays
How does Tolkien develop the character of Bilbo in Chapters One to Eight of The Hobbit?
Poetry Anthology: From Homer to Duffy
This anthology is a collection of all of the poetry I have memorised. It’s a rather mixed bag, mostly derived from what I have required my pupils to memorise, either because it is on the GCSE syllabus, or because I have selected it for study in earlier years.
