Literature in English – Upper Sixth

This course delivers Upper Sixth Literature in English content built around the Cameroon GCE Board's Advanced Level Literature in English Syllabus (Subject 735), and reflects the actual genres and prescribed texts confirmed in real past GCE Advanced Level examination papers.

The course develops close literary analysis across the three core genres the exam tests. In Poetry, students study African poetry — drawn from prescribed anthologies such as Poems of Black Africa edited by Wole Soyinka — exploring recurring themes past papers confirm are central: negritude, disillusionment with post-independence African leadership, the African personality, injustice, and the portrayal of women. Alongside African poetry, the syllabus includes selected non-African poets, with past papers featuring writers like John Keats, William Blake, and Alexander Pope, examined for technique, imagery, and thematic concerns. In Prose, the course covers prescribed novels confirmed in past exams, including George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Cameroonian fiction such as Across the Mongolo, developing students' ability to discuss theme, irony, characterization, and how a text mirrors its society. The course also covers classic and dramatic texts, with past papers referencing Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (including the General Prologue and individual Tales), building skills in close textual commentary.

Throughout, the course trains the specific essay-writing skills the GCE Advanced Level Literature exam demands: building an argument with textual evidence across "any three" prescribed texts, comparing how different writers treat a shared theme, and writing with the clarity, structure, and critical depth examiners look for. This course is built for Upper Sixth students preparing for the GCE Advanced Level Literature in English examination.