Return of Literature Home Page
The 'A' Level English Literature Assessment Objectives.
Main text used for illustration:
Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.
Read it!
Now, you may think that the syllabus and its assessment criteria are strictly for teachers. You may not even know what 'assessment criteria' are. You maybe just want to read some good books. But since you are out to pass some exams as well you might as well know how its done. If you can master this bit you'll be in control, and you may actually become better at reading novels, poems and plays too. Or at least that's what the people who set the objectives would want me to tell you.
On this page we'll look at the criteria and use some actual texts to see how they work. If you also do the exercises you'll be doing something that comes under Assessment Objective V. Wow!
The assessment objectives are what the examination boards and a well paid government quango have decided are skills that all good students of literature should have. Here we go:
i) An ability to respond with understanding to texts of different types and periods. If you want to learn more and play with this idea, press me right HERE.
ii) An understanding of the ways writers' use of form, structure and language shapes meanings. Ouch! That's difficult to get your head around, so let's play with the idea. PRESS ME!
iii) Show knowledge of the contexts in which literary works are written and understood. Teacher-speak again, but if you'd like a translation, PRESS ME.
iv) Show an ability to discuss your own and other peoples' interpretations of texts. O.K. That's clearer, but if you'd like to know how to actually do it, PRESS ME.
v) Show an ability to produce informed, independent opinions and judgments. That's thinking for yourself. Sounds O.K. To know what the exam board actually wants, PRESS ME.
vi) Show an ability to communicate clearly the knowledge, understanding and insight appropriate to literary study. You'll need help here. So, PRESS ME.
By the way, if you can't do any of this, and the whole idea scares you, you're still just reading books. But, hey, that's O.K! If you are a GCSE student and I've just put you off 'A' level literature, let me just tell you about the 'A' level History assessment criteria.......
ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES: the details and exercises.
Return to Literature Home Page
Assessment Objective ii. An understanding of the ways writers' use of form, structure and language shape meanings.
The basic principle here is that writers are experts at constructing stories and poems. At 'A' level, you will be expected to be able to comment on the writer's craft, and probably for good reasons. Naturally you will mainly want to just get on with the story, or the poem and its experiences or thoughts. As students of literature, however, the study of the craft of fiction can offer a fascinating new understanding of texts and will make you into more sensitive readers too. If you intend to study literature at university you also cannot do without these skills, and if you intend to be a writer yourself you'll find all this invaluable. So lets go!
a) The writer's use of language. In many ways this is the easiest of these concepts to grasp. All 'A' level students will have been encouraged, at GCSE level, to explore writers' use of FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE and be sensitive to the meaning embodied in METAPHORS, SIMILES, IMAGERY and SYMBOLS.
You will also have been come across the writer's use of RHYME, RHYTHM, REPETITION, METRICAL PATTERNS, etc, as part of the exploration of the feeling and ideas in texts.
Concepts like CONNOTATION and AMBIGUITY are, perhaps, more advanced and if you haven't come across them before, they should become a part of your steadily developing understanding of how writers exploit language and its possibilities.
You will also have been encouraged to consider the use of DIALOGUE and DESCRIPTION in stories and how they contribute to our understanding and to the meanings of the story.
IF YOU HAVEN'T been introduced to these aspects of the writer's craft, then put this right by getting a 'How to Read Poetry/Prose' Study Guide from your school or college library, or from a local bookshop. For the moment, let's try applying some of these ideas to an actual text. Once again I will use 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' by Thomas Hardy.
Figurative Language in 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles'.
O.K. When I read Hardy I see a writer who uses a lot of figurative language, in particular symbolic language, symbols, metaphors, etc. He is also a master in his exploitation of the connotative possibilities of language. Above all else, he takes great pleasure in connecting all these symbols, metaphors, and connotations together in order to create a text that resonates with meanings, and with emotions. From 'Tess' here are one or two clear examples.
a) The use of colour. It's hard to miss the use of white and red in this text. When we first meet Tess she is dressed in white - for a May Day celebration - with a vivid red ribbon in her hair.
Task: play around with these colours as symbols; explore the connotations of the words. How might we interpret them or respond?
Once you become sensitive to this use of language you can see patterns of figurative language develop. The white can refer to something virginal, innocent; it can refer to something without form - Tess is referred to elsewhere as a "white shape" - it can establish a conflict, particularly if black is also used in the text; it can, in association with other things, speak of optimism, of the ethereal, the naive. The combination of SYMBOL and CONNOTATION is a powerful one, and one that Hardy exploits with developing complexity as the text progresses. Red is even more important in the text, though. That touch of red in Tess's hair can speak to us as a hint of developing sexual maturity as it also speaks of her individuality in a group of girls otherwise uniformly white in dress. As the story develops, however, the colour red begins to resonate across events, situations and characters.
Reflect on how Hardy, as the narrator, speaks of Alec d'Urberville as the "blood-red ray" in Tess's "young life"; note how Alec d'Urberville's house is made of red brick and how the side of the house "rose like a geranium bloom"; note how Tess is still wearing her red ribbon and how Alec dresses her in roses and insists on her eating strawberries. Red! Red! Red! Reread this passage ( P.44 on Penguin ed.) and explore the emotional, connotative and symbolic possibilities of the scene. 'Unpack' the possibilities of the text.
Now, if you know the text, explore it and note the other uses of red, from the spilling of blood to the description of skies; note the description of Alec's cigar butt when we first meet him and the references to the red machinery of Flintcombe-Ash - why tie these two together in this way?; note how the fanatically religious 'writer of texts' uses red paint, and how Tess in the wild garden scene at Talbothays is described with "madder stains on her skin"; remember the blood-red, heart-shaped stain on the boarding house ceiling at the end of the novel when Tess kills Alec. What IS the connection between that initial ribbon and this final red stain, one at the beginning, the other at the end of their relationship?
So; in Hardy the exploration of the use of figurative language is crucial to a full, conscious appreciation of the complexity of the text and the writer's skill. Get it? Now DO it as you read; it should become second-nature to see all this almost without deliberate reflection.
If you would like to explore some examples of words and phrases from 'Tess', PRESS ME.
b) Form and structure in a novel. When discussing the use of figurative language in 'Tess' we have already been exploring one aspect of the 'structure' of the novel. Imagine the structure as the PATTERNS in the text that bind it into a meaningful whole. As we have seen, the use of the symbolism of colours is one structure in the novel, a pattern that 'binds together'. However, there are other structures in novels, the following being prominent examples.
i) The Narrative. The narrative is the plot sequence, and it can take many forms. It may be a 'straightforward' chronological narrative, beginning at a particular point in time and moving more or less evenly towards another point in time. On the other hand, there are narratives that move back and forth in time or are told from the point of view of someone looking back at the past. In fact, there are a million different ways to construct narratives, but each one offers a structure.
In 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' Hardy has used a chronological narrative structure, divided into a sequence of 'phases', each one emphasised by the section titles:
1) The Maiden
2) Maiden No More
3) The Rally
4) The Consequence
5) The Woman Pays
6) The Convert
7) Fulfilment
It is a clear chronological sequence, beginning with a 'maiden' and ending with 'fulfilment', suggestive of beginnings and endings (or conclusions). The narrative form is clear, and even makes clear to us as readers what will happen, however vaguely, and intrigues us - what will the 'fulfilment' be? The structure offered here also makes various other things clear: for instance, this tale structure suggests that the novel may be a tale of innocence and experience; it may also have a moral perspective ('The Woman Pays').
Task: Make another list, this time of the movement of Tess from maiden to woman to 'fulfilment'. List the EVENTS that contribute to her development. Then add any quotations that outline the movement of Tess's attitudes and feelings.
b) Narratives and point of view. ALL narratives have a point of view. Most commonly it may be a 'third person narrative' or a 'first person narrative'. Point of view is intricately bound up with the structure of the novel. For instance, the first person narrator of J D Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye' - Holden - rambles along and the narrative follows the psychological meanderings of the narrator as he tells the story as only he would. This type of narrator is often referred to as a SUBJECTIVE narrator, a character who often cannot be trusted to offer the reader an unbiased account of events (instead we get a picture of the mind, perhaps, of that individual). A third person narrator, not involved directly in the drama, is often seen as an OBJECTIVE narrator by comparison, someone proposing to stand outside the story and able thereby to narrate it without bias. To complicate things, however, some writers are themselves the third person narrators. Thomas Hardy is, arguably, himself the narrator of 'Tess' and we can argue this by the persistent intervention of the views of the narrator, views that we are expected as readers to accept as truth. The sequence of interventions by the author is called authorial intervention and it can be a part of the structure of the novel as his views can be a PATTERN that helps to structure - or make obvious - the perspective of the novel. Remember: Hardy's views on life are what the novel teaches; that is a part of the author's intentions in writing the story. If you don't look closely at the narrative point of view you may miss the author's voice, his 'patterning' of the meaning of the story, his manipulations!
Task: List the most important examples of authorial intervention in the novel. Is there a pattern to the views offered?
If you still aren't sure what 'authorial intervention' is, then PRESS ME and you can see some examples from 'Tess'.
To add to all this, the events of some novels seem to be seen from the point of view of a particular character AS WELL as being a third person narrative. This is the case with 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles'. Hardy offers us a third person narrative BUT the reader is invited to follow Tess's thoughts and feeling throughout the novel. We are invited to empathise with her by this identification of the narrative line with her and the events of her life. We follow her through the narrative, and we have her thoughts described to us more than any other character in the novel.This dual perspective is a very common feature of novels. Of course, Hardy and Tess are perhaps very close in many ways. She shows a youthful pessimism that is reflected in the more mature pessimism of Hardy as narrator. There is evidence that Hardy identifies with Tess's dilemma in the novel and even uses her to establish his views on life - she is, in this sense, a pawn in his literary game. SO: these structures or patterns illuminate the text and its meanings. By taking an interest in the narrator and the point of view we can develop a sense of the author's intentions and purposes in writing the text.
Task: Choose three instances that show how Hardy makes us follow Tess and her dilemma
b) Narratives and events. Stories, as they develop in time, will be intricately bound to events, actions and situations. These actions and events can impel the story forward, and situations can reinforce the movement. In 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' there are two interesting structures of movement that may be explored. The first is Tess's journeying. It is arguable that the whole novel is structured around Tess's movements once her youthful family life is cast off when she feels impelled to go to The Slopes at Trantridge. This journeying can be outlined concretely as follows:
1) Marlott, Blakemoor vale: Home.
2) The Slopes, Trantridge: Alec's home.
3) The Chase.
4) Marlott again.
5) Talbothays.
6) Wellbridge, home of the d'Urbervilles.
7) Talbothays again.
8) Flintcombe-Ash.
9) Emminster.
10) Flintcombe-Ash again.
12) Marlott again.
13) Kingsbere.
14) Sandbourne, where Alec dies.
15) Bramhurst, Tess and angel together.
16) Stonehenge, where Tess is apprehended.
17) Wintoncaster, Tess is executed.
Now, this journey establishes PATTERNS (remember?). In turn these patterns illuminate the dilemma of Tess as the character at the heart of the narrative and the journeying process. As an elaborate extended metaphor this journeying demonstrates the movements in Tess's ultimately hopeless seeking. She is to search but never find what she needs in any permanent situation or place. She is an agricultural worker of the lowest social rank - her journeying demonstrates her subservience as she travels from one temporary, seasonal job to another. In fact the journeying of Tess can be related to her role as victim. Journeying, then, in the narrative, reinforces themes in the text.
Task: Note the returning and returning that goes on in the narrative. What does this invite us to feel or think?
c) Nature and the seasons. Anyone reading the narrative thoughtfully will have noticed the movement of the seasons in the novel. The story begins in the Spring (and Tess is in the 'spring' of her life); when Tess arrives at Talbothays - the 'summer ' of her short life - it is summer and she enters perhaps the happiest time of her life when she approaches, and momentarily foresees, sexual and personal fulfilment; when Angel rejects her it is winter, just as it is winter when she arrives at Flintcombe-Ash; a tragical new hope - and new Spring - is experienced at Sandbourne, and at the end, Tess is executed with the summer "sun's rays smiling on piteously".
Nature is one of the most powerful structuring themes in 'Tess'. Here at the level of events we see her dilemmas merge with the seasons, with Hardy offering us, in the end, a bleak portrait of the outcome of her journeying as her life culminates in the false hopes of the new year, followed by her execution at the peak of the year's symbolic plenitude. We are offered a vision of nature's ultimate indifference to Tess's personal life, and we can reflect back, because of this use of the seasons, to the earlier lost opportunities, errors and misjudgements. Without this structure many of the nuances of Tess's dilemma would not register with such impact on the reader.
Task: consider the 'false spring' of Tess's release from Alec and her reunion with Angel. What makes this section particularly poignant in the context of the novel as a whole?
Finally, watch out for patterns on a lesser scale. For instance: the development of the relationship between Tess and Angel, i) beginning at Talbothays and ending at Wellbridge; ii) Angel's return and his new relationship to Tess. These lesser patterns and movements are as important to the structure of the novel as the larger patterns. You will be expected to be able to trace such patterns in texts.
Task: trace the developing relationship between Tess and Angel at Talbothays.
Good! If you have completed the tasks, you now know how to explore the form, structure and language of the novels you read. Now, do this as you read: look for the PATTERNS.
Other aspects of Form: tragedy. For information. PRESS ME.
Assessment Objective iii. Knowledge of the contexts in which literary works are written and understood.
The main point here is this: texts are written by particular people in a particular society and at a particular time in history. So: we can't fully understand texts unless we have some sense of the 'contexts' in which they are written. Here's what the examiners said about last year's texts in the 19th and 20th Century Literature paper:
" In five of the seven works of prose fiction currently on the syllabus, a central concern of the writers is to present the world through the consciousness of a young aspiring woman who, to some degree at least, feels herself to be at odds with the world and the role it has carefully formulated for her, particularly in the key area of romantic/sexual relations. Without some awareness of the contemporary context in which such novels as Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot and Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy were written, candidates would be at a loss to understand Elizabeth Bennet's feelings about the sexual adventurism of her younger sister, the nature of the advice given to Tess by her mother or the reaction of the community to Maggie Tulliver on her return alone from the escapade with Stephen Guest."
Of course, you may have thought that the reason why Elizabeth Bennett reacts as she does is because she is in the presence of a spoiled brat with no brain - bit like her mother - and you wouldn't be wrong either, but you would have missed the historical context. However, were you to deal with the norms of behaviour that govern the actions- or not, as the case may be - of the characters of the story you would have then been dealing with the 'historical context'. By exploring Elizabeth's criticisms of her sister's behaviour, and the possible consequences, you would be dealing with the pragmatic behaviour that must accompany the actions of any 'sensible' member of this particular social world. As for Tess's mother's advice about remaining silent about her illegitimate baby, its equally easy to see the social context that shapes the mother's advice. The novel itself makes it clear how young women of Tess's class could be used and abused by those with the power and position to do so. The story outlines the fate of the young woman with illegitimate children - dead or alive - in late 19th century England - when the novel was written. Tess's fear of telling even the tender Angel reminds us of this, just as his reaction when he is eventually told informs the reader of his prejudices and the inherited prejudices of the class he was born into. (There is a strong theme of social class and social position in 'Tess', set in the context of the relationship between the various types of rich and poor, the labourer, the professional classes and the idle nouveau rich).What can a poor body do to get a life in such a world? Isn't it an aspect of Tess's dilemma that young country 'lasses' - the agricultural poor - were sexual fodder for the privileged classes? There are various moments in the early part of the novel which establish exactly this point.
RECALL THEM FOR A MOMENT.
See - you are thinking historically. Well done!
Inheritance is also an historical theme in Tess of the d'Urbervilles. We have already seen Angel fall victim to the values of his inherited class, to the prejudices that were hidden in his make-up even as he considered himself a 'modern' man in many respects (his desire to 'reconstruct' religion in a new form; his proposed stepping outside the expectations of his class as he moves into farming life, etc). Throughout the novel we see inheritance and its terrible power at work. Example: just as Alec d'Urberville inherits wealth from his family, his power for mischief develops in proportion to the freedom this gives him. His family adopts the name of the d'Urbervilles, 'adopting' a social superiority not otherwise available to a family whose fortune was born of work and toil. They take on the 'inheritance' of a name and its socially superior history, a new class and a respectability that speaks to society of their legitimacy (but speaks to us of the power of the concept of class, its falsity and its potential for evil).When Alec employs Tess he does what any morally lax member of his class might do, he uses his power to pursue his desires, and, armed with his inherited class-based perception of Tess, he goes on to override all moral scruple. Hardy's portrayal of him offers a picture of a figure from history, this particular England at this particular time, with its institutionalised, inherited 'rights', in this case to 'country lasses'.
LIST the moments in the novel where inheritance is at issue.
What do we learn about inheritance, about inherited traditions and about 'old' values? Do they help? Who do they help? What do they add to the lives of the characters of the novel?
That was more difficult, but you are now thinking historically. NOTE ALSO how you didn't have to KNOW anything about the historical period to do all this. IT'S ALL IN THE TEXT. Don't forget this important lesson.
Historical context: the author's influences.
Another aspect of the 'context' of the work of fiction is the views and ideas that have influenced the author and the ideas that were current at the time and are explored in the text. For us, a 100 years on, it may be hard to see this aspect of the text, or care!
Take the following statement by the narrator/Hardy in 'Tess':
"The sun, on account of the mist, had a curious sentient, personal look, demanding the personal pronoun for its adequate expression.......One could feel that a saner religion had never prevailed under the sky. The luminary was a golden-haired, beaming, mild-eyed, God-like creature, gazing down in the vigour and intentness of youth upon an earth that was brimmimg with interest for him."
Now, this may not mean very much to you. However, this statement about - and personification of - the sun tells us a lot about Hardy's feelings about conventional Christian belief. Here he aligns himself with a kind of paganism, with his belief in the sun as the 'sanest' of gods. In fact, this is a direct attack on Christianity and its god. Throughout the novel we are invited to witness Hardy's belief in nature as a source, the origins of our basest instincts (Alec) and our highest spiritual yearnings (Angel). Both men are driven by Nature, one's actions governed by the power of his instinctive desires, the other by an ethereal joy that is located in the dream-life he envisages for himself as a gentleman farmer in union with his idealised county maiden/wife, Tess.
Task: read again the sections at Talbothays: isn't it often described as a kind of earthly paradise? Who needs a Christian, other-worldly paradise when faced with this earthly beauty and goodness?
We can, therefore, see a couple of contemporary influences on Hardy: the challenge to orthodox Christian belief that was developing at the time (in part the influence of the Romantics) and the influence of Darwinism (our origins are not in a magical act at some point in the distant past, but in our ancestors, here on earth as part of nature's own intrinsic potential). We are all creatures of nature, subject to nature's laws:
Task: look up the reaping machine incident at the beginning of chapter XIV. If I said this incident offers us a picture of 'the survival of the fittest', and of the cruelty that resides in nature's processes, what would you think?
Task: now look up all the 'bird' incidents in the novel. What do we learn about the processes of nature here?
Task: now look up some of the wonderful descriptions of nature's beauty and fecundity elsewhere. Note, for instance, the wild garden scene at Talbothays where Tess is described as she listens to Angel play the harp.
All of these references to nature, then, offer us a picture of a changing world, and to the new influences that are a part of that changing world. These influences also act on Hardy himself, shaping his views just as they are reshaping the world he belongs to.
Remember, though: this background material is all in the text and if you intend to write about these influences you should always work out from the text rather than from your knowledge of the times as such.
For more information on the 'context' of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, PRESS ME.