A Level English Language and Literature AQA

This subject offers 632 topics in 19 modules:

  1. All My Sons (Dramatic Encounters) 15 topics
  2. Dystopia 12 topics
  3. AQA Anthology: Paris (Remembered Places) 151 topics
  4. A Streetcar Named Desire (Dramatic Encounters) 15 topics
  5. Carol Ann Duffy (Poetic Voices) 70 topics
  6. Dracula (Imagined Worlds) 14 topics
  7. Frankenstein (Imagined Worlds) 14 topics
  8. Into the Wild (Writing about Society) 16 topics
  9. John Donne (Poetic Voices) 75 topics
  10. Methods of Language Analysis 14 topics
  11. Othello (Dramatic Encounters) 15 topics
  12. Robert Browning (Poetic Voices) 55 topics
  13. Seamus Heaney (Poetic Voices) 75 topics
  14. The Great Gatsby (Writing about Society) 16 topics
  15. The Handmaid's Tale (Imagined Worlds) 14 topics
  16. The Herd (Dramatic Encounters) 15 topics
  17. The Kite Runner (Writing about Society) 16 topics
  18. The Lovely Bones (Imagined Worlds) 14 topics
  19. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (Writing about Society) 16 topics
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  • 19
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  • 632
    topics
  • 192,608
    words of revision content
  • 24+
    hours of audio lessons

This page was last modified on 28 September 2024.

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English Language and Literature

All My Sons (Dramatic Encounters)

All My Sons: Plot Overview

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All My Sons: Plot Overview

All My Sons - Plot Overview

The Setting

  • The story unfolds in the backyard of the Keller’s home in the suburbs.
  • The year is August 1947, two years after the end of World War II.

The Characters

  • Joe Keller - A self-made businessman tainted by a tragic business scandal.
  • Kate Keller - Joe’s wife, still mourning the loss of her pilot son Larry, who was reported missing during the war.
  • Chris Keller - Larry's brother, he has returned from the war and works in his father's business. He is romantically interested in Ann Deever.
  • Ann Deever - Larry's former girlfriend and the daughter of Joe's business partner, convicted for the business scandal.

Act One

  • Chris invites Ann to visit their home with the intention of proposing to her. Kate is not pleased as she believes Larry is still alive and will return home.
  • Joe appears to have moved on from his scandalous past, where his company supplied defective cylinder heads for military planes resulting in the deaths of 21 pilots including Larry. A fact he denies.

Act Two

  • Suspense builds when Ann's brother, George, arrives and accuses Joe of framing their father for the cylinder heads' fault.
  • Joe maintains his innocence, but it becomes increasingly clear that Joe may have been responsible.

Act Three

  • Ann reveals a letter written by Larry before his last flight, expressing despair over the responsibility of his family's company in the pilots' deaths.
  • In the letter, Larry mentions his intention to commit suicide, which finally forces Kate to accept his death.
  • Unable to bear the guilt and its consequences, Joe kills himself, leaving the family to grapple with the fallout of his actions.

Key Ideas

  • Guilt and blame: The plot revolves around the blame and guilt associated with the cylinder heads scandal.
  • Reality and Illusion: The tension between what characters choose to believe and the reality of their family's actions.
  • The American Dream: Joe’s initial success represents the American Dream, but his ethical and moral failures lead to his downfall, revealing a dark side of this dream.

Course material for English Language and Literature, module All My Sons (Dramatic Encounters), topic All My Sons: Plot Overview

English Language and Literature

John Donne (Poetic Voices)

The Anniversary: Presentation of events (narrative frames, poetic techniques)

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The Anniversary: Presentation of events (narrative frames, poetic techniques)

"The Anniversary: Presentation of events (narrative frames, poetic techniques)"

  • John Donne's "The Anniversary" is a metaphysical poem. Like many of Donne's works, it employs various poetic techniques including conceits (extended metaphors), paradoxes, and an irregular metre.

  • The poem is presented as a monologue or dramatic soliloquy, representing the voice of one lover speaking to another. This narrative frame provides an intimate characterization of the speaker's thoughts and feelings.

  • An overriding element is the concept of time, interpreted through metaphysical conceits. Donne characterizes their love as timeless, immortal, and resistant to decay, contrasting the ephemeral nature of human life and worldly power.

  • There is heavy use of personification, especially of time and “all kings", symbolizing temporal and worldly power. This gives a figurative depth to the emotional weight of the poem and deepens the portrayal of the lovers' bond.

  • The anniversary, typically a measurement of time, has irony in this context since the lovers transcend time, bringing forward the idea of their love being eternal.

  • The theme of spiritual love is emphasized through the recurring conceit of the lovers as 'two better souls'. This is suggestive of a sacred union, elevating their love beyond physicality.

  • Visual imagery is prominent, particularly in the second stanza with the imagery of the "sublunary lovers". It gives a dramatic pictorial effect of the cosmic sphere and links their love to celestial bodies, extending their love metaphorically beyond the earth.

  • The poem comprises two stanzas of varied line length with occasional rhymes. The irregular structure reinforces the unorthodoxy of Donne's metaphysical ideas.

  • Donne's diction is rich and complex. Phrases like "sublunary lovers", "inter-assured of the mind", and "care less eyes" are testament to his intellectual style and augment the cerebral quality of the poem.

  • Best appreciated as a dramatic dialogue, "The Anniversary" showcases Donne's distinctive voice and skilled manipulation of poetic techniques to communicate complex and profound ideas of love and timelessness.

Course material for English Language and Literature, module John Donne (Poetic Voices), topic The Anniversary: Presentation of events (narrative frames, poetic techniques)

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