About this day
For A-level students of the AQA A specification
This inspirational and enjoyable study day will provide comprehensive support for all students tackling the AQA A A-level option ‘Love Through the Ages’. Outstanding speakers will enthuse, inform and entertain with a diverse and relevant range of talks on poetry, prose and drama and a leading poet will read from and discuss their poetry. This programme will give students vital information, expert insights and new-found confidence to enable them to achieve maximum examination success this year. The day will be chaired by former Chief Examiner Stella Canwell MBE and we are delighted to announce that Dame Carol Ann Duffy will join us in this her final year as Poet Laureate.
Programme & speakers
Carol Ann Duffy Carol Ann Duffy DBE, Poet Laureate
Dame Carol Ann Duffy will provide a lively session consisting of audience questions and readings from her collections of love poetry, including Rapture and Love Poems.
About Carol Ann Duffy DBE
Dame Carol Ann Duffy is Poet Laureate and Professor of Contemporary Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her award-winning poetry collections include ‘Mean Time’, ‘The World’s Wife’, ‘Rapture’ and ‘The Bees’.
Reading narratives of love over time Michael Meeuwis, University of Warwick
In a lively session, Michael Meeuwis will look at a range of literary texts in order to consider how love is shaped by social, political and historical factors, drawing on Tess of the D’Urbervilles, The Great Gatsby and Persuasion.
About Michael Meeuwis
Dr Michael Meeuwis is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Warwick. His research interests include nineteenth-century British literature, Romantic and Victorian poetry and nineteenth-century drama and performance studies.
Choice of genre Jon Rich, A-level examiner and teacher
In this lecture, Jon Rich will explore the opportunities offered by the genres of poetry, prose and drama and suggest ways in which students can exploit their knowledge of the three different genres.
About Jon Rich
Jon Rich taught English and Classical Civilisation for many years. He has been a Senior Examiner for A-level English Literature for over thirty years and is also a Moderator for NEA and Examiner for Classical Civilisation.
An examiner's perspective Jon Rich, A-level examiner and teacher
Jon will discuss how students should read questions, how to extract the guidance given in them and how best to address the Assessment Objectives. There are no ‘right’ answers in English Literature but there are ‘right’ ways to address tasks.
About Jon Rich
Jon Rich taught English and Classical Civilisation for many years. He has been a Senior Examiner for A-level English Literature for over thirty years and is also a Moderator for NEA and Examiner for Classical Civilisation.
Love in Shakespeare Emma Smith, University of Oxford
Emma Smith explores how Shakespeare presents and stages ideas about love and romance across tragedy and comedy using examples from Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure and The Winter’s Tale. There will be an opportunity for questions.
About Emma Smith
Professor Emma Smith is Lecturer in English at the University of Oxford, Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Fellow of Hertford College. Her research focuses on Shakespeare and early modern drama.