Appreciation of English Literary Texts GCE(O/L) 2025

Support Seminar organized and conducted by the Sri Jayawardenapura Education Zone

PROSE
Prose Themes Techniques Background
Fictional ▪ Main theme is love- love *Personification All work of literature are productions of time in which they are written.
The Nightingale in its many aspects: a) *Symbolism Likewise The Nightingale and the Rose is a critique and satire of its time,
and the Rose true ,sincere ,pure *Visual imagery the Victorian era. This era can be defined as a period of global dominance
by Oscar Wilde ,romantic, passionate *Auditory imagery of the British empire in trade ,politics and rigid moral values. The belief
,selfless, unconditional, *Monologue form was the elite was inherently more moral than their inferior social groups.
sacrificial love of the *Similes Wilde uses his story to satirize this attitude.
Nightingale. *Metaphorical language Nightingale willing to sacrifice her life on behalf of love is an anti-Victorian
b)Ungrateful ,selfish, *Alliteration attitude. He harshly criticizes the Victorian society as superficial and
materialistic, conditional, *Repetition materialistic.
infatuated love of the *Onomatopoeia
student and the girl. *Assonance
▪ Theme of reason Vs *Use of Adjectives,
passion. Comparative and
▪ Theoretical education Superlative forms
produces unbalanced *Irony and sarcasm
individuals.
▪ Human hypocrisy, deceit
and pretension.
▪ Materialism Vs
romanticism.

The Lumber Room ◦ Generation gap *Chronologic *Rhetorical The whole story can be divided into two parts: The child’s world and the adult’s world. The
By Saki ◦ Nature of children al order of questions author seems to be suggesting that
*Humour Adulthood causes one to lose all sense of fun and imagination while childhood is full of fun,
◦ Imaginative, exploratory events *Sarcasm and play, innovation and imagination. Saki lived and wrote during the Victorian times. It was a
and creative mind of *Third person irony time of strict narrow morality and religion where the adult world was ‘law’ and children
children point of view *Conversation had to obey. Saki was brought up by his typical Victorian grandma and aunt. Punishments
◦ Hypocrisy of adults *Contrast al form of were mostly in the form of depriving them of what the adult decided the child would love
language to have. This experience of the author in his childhood would have been the result of his
 ◦ Adults, children and *Symbolism *Monologue key characters in his stories like Nicholas.
power *Epithets form
◦ Moral deterioration: *Metaphor
Negative impact of
punishment

*Spirit of cricket and true *Features of *visual The Lahore Attack” is an extract taken from the speech delivered by
Non-fictional imagery Kumar Sangakkara on the 5th of July 2011. Being a multilingual and fluent peaker of
The Lahore Attack sportsmanship. oracy: English, it was a very eloquent speech packed with emotionally charged expressions. At the
By Kumar Sangakkara *Sangakkara as a team member *Elocutionary *auditory end of his speech he received a standing ovation at the Home of Cricket, as he stunned the
and exemplary leader with force,emotio imagery audience by his speech.In his speech, he focused on our history, culture and opportunities
remarkable leadership qualities. nally charged *idiomatic for Sri Lankan cricket and also the tragic encounter of the terrorist attack on Sri Lankan
expressions cricket team, in a bus, in Lahore-Pakistan. The team was lucky to escape from the attack
*Sangakkara as a patriot- He emotions. *tactile without having fatal injuries.As he said, despite the turbulence in Sri Lanka, violence and
empathizes with the people of Sri *flashback imagery war, it had never affected directly on Sangakkara’s life until terrorists fired on the bus
Lanka. *coincidence *use of taking his team to a stadium in Lahore in March 2009. So he experienced the terrorism out
*He is a great human being with Predictive adjectives and of the motherland. He shared the horrified moment he thought he would be killed.His
noble human qualities. Eg and ominous adverbs speech was full of love and regard for his motherland, Sri Lanka and its people. He has
given his ideas about his role as a cricketer, his relationship with team members and other
humbleness, genuineness, *flash people. It is a unique and genuine expression of Kumar about the responsibility as a leader,
*humanity ,sympathy and forward a leader in cricket. He shared the great love and regard the Sri Lankans have for the cricket
empathy extended. *paradox and cricketers with the whole world.
*His elocutionary force of *metaphor
language, rich, powerful *simile
language in his expression proves *sarcasm
that he’s a renowned orator.

Wave by Sonali *Human behaviour in an *elegy *first The extract takes the reader for a sudden, unexpected, awesome sighting
Deraniyagala unexpected, tragic situations *flashback person of The Tsunami to the moment of her consciousness after the vehicle in
-instinctive behaviour, selfless, *element of narration which she and others were trying to flee overturned and she was left
selfish, prioritizing roles, self being *irony battered and alone. The narrative is a second by second observation and
centeredness, urge for survival, gruesome *horror and report of the horror created by an under sea quake. “Wave “ is her
 spontaneous reactions *poignancy terror memoir, recording the events of the fateful December 26th.It brings back
*Aspects of love *suspense her pain and agony. It is a living testimony of the horror of the tsunami and
-mother’s love, family bonds, *emotional of human suffering and endurance.
enduring love, prioritizing love, *visual
power of love even at jaws of death imagery
*Nature with its different *tactile
aspects. Unpredictability, imagery
disastrous, horrifying, destructive *interrogativ
etc e form
*The bravery, courage, self- *narrative
knowledge and self control the language
human being is capable of
achieving.
*Impermanency of life,
inevitability of death.
*Unpredictability of human fate
and destiny.

Drama

*humour of farcical element The Bear is a highly humorous play which falls into the category of
The Bear by *Money;the effect of money on *metaphor comedy or a farce. This is based on the social background of
Anton Chekhov human behavior *incongruity and contrast Russian in the pre revolutionary era. Even though it seems that
*Infedelity *suspense this drama provides good entertainment to the audience creating
*Emanicipation of women *repetition amusing instances which gives a good laugh but it enlightens the
*Inconsistency of humanbehaviour *soliloquy form reader or the audience and provides much to think over. This is a
*Condition of women in Russian *exaggeration social satire which highlights certain social weaknesses that needs
society *irony to create humour attention.
*Male chauvinism *juxtaposition
*auditory and visual imagery
 *absurdity
Twilight of a *Love as the fundamental *Features of a folktale This drama belongs to modern Japanese dramatic
Crane by Yu happiness and peace *Symbolism tradition. It is a play adapted from a Japanese folk- tale.
zuwa Junji *Money-greed *Metaphors The writer emphasizes “the play represents my attempts
Kinoshita *Lack of mutual understanding *Anthropomorphism to elicit, in my own way, beauties and delights implied in
*Femininity Vs male chauvinism *Dramatic irony the themes of Japan- simple, benign and minute”
*Innocence Vs corruption *Suspense Therefore the characters in the play represent the human
*Nature vs human *Flashback society and they elicit some common human qualities.
*Identity *Flash forward The concept of a crane bring light to the plot so that the
*Verbal irony whole play is converted into a more interesting one.
*Monologue form
*Soliloquy form
*Incongruity or contrast

Prepared by Priyadarshinee Pigera