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EnglandEnglish Language & Literature

Component 02: The language of poetry and plays

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you analyse dramatic method (dialogue, structure, character construction, dramatic irony, stagecraft) with linguistic precision, reading a play as language in performance?

Analysing dramatic method: reading dialogue through pragmatics and discourse, character construction through the language of speech, and structure, dramatic irony and stagecraft, sharpened by the language levels, in an integrated reading of a play (AO1, AO2).
How to analyse dramatic method (dialogue, structure, character construction, dramatic irony, stagecraft) with linguistic precision for OCR A-Level English Language and Literature Component 02: reading a play as language in performance, sharpened by pragmatics and discourse, in an integrated reading (AO1, AO2).
14 min answer →

How do you read a play as a text for performance, analysing stagecraft, the audience's experience and theatrical convention, rather than treating it as a story on the page?

Staging, performance and the reader (H474/02): reading a play as a text for performance, analysing stagecraft (space, props, silence, stage directions), the audience's constructed experience, and the theatrical conventions of genre and period (AO2, AO3).
How to read a play as a text for performance in OCR A-Level English Language and Literature Component 02: analysing stagecraft (space, props, silence, stage directions), the audience's constructed experience, and the theatrical conventions of genre and period, rather than treating the play as a story on the page (AO2, AO3).
13 min answer →

How do you answer the OCR Component 02 Section B drama essay on a set play, and what does the mark scheme reward in an integrated reading of dramatic language and method?

The Component 02 Section B drama essay (H474/02): an essay on a set play (32 marks), assessing AO1, AO2 and AO3 through an integrated reading of dramatic language, method and context, balancing an extract with whole-play knowledge from memory.
How to answer the OCR A-Level English Language and Literature Component 02 Section B drama essay (H474/02): an essay on a set play worth 32 marks, assessing AO1, AO2 and AO3 through an integrated reading of dramatic language, method and context, balancing an extract with whole-play knowledge from memory.
13 min answer →

How do you command a set play as a whole for a closed-text exam, knowing its structure, characters, themes and key moments so you can analyse an extract and reach across the play?

Commanding the set play (H474/02): knowing a play as a whole for closed-text assessment, mapping its structure, characters and themes, building a quotation bank, and preparing to anchor close analysis in an extract while reaching across the play (AO1).
How to command a set play as a whole for the closed-text OCR A-Level English Language and Literature Component 02 exam: mapping its structure, characters and themes, building a quotation bank, and preparing to anchor close analysis in an extract while reaching across the play from memory (AO1).
13 min answer →