Atonement as a Crime Text
English Lit: AQA A Level Atonement - Specification B, topic 1.2.1
Atonement as a Crime Text
As you are sitting the AQA A-level English Literature B examination, you will study Atonement as a crime text.
Common elements in crime texts
- This course will look at elements common to all crime texts, such as:
- The representations of criminals and victims;
- The significance of settings;
- The inclusion of violence, murder and death;
- The importance of key themes such as guilt, forgiveness, punishment and justice.
Pre-1900 poetry texts in the exam
- For this specification, you must study Atonement alongside two other crime texts. You school/teacher will choose which two texts you study. These will be:
- One pre-1900 poetry text, out of:
- The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge;
- OR selected poems from Crabbe, Browning and Wilde. These poems include Peter Grimes, Porphyria’s Lover, The Laboratory, My Last Duchess and The Ballad of Reading Gaol.
Other texts in the exam
- One text from the following:
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
- Brighton Rock by Graham Greene.
Test yourself on Atonement as a Crime Text
What are some common themes in crime texts?
Which of these is NOT one of the pre-1900 poems on the AQA B specification?
What are some common features of crime texts?