Prescribed Texts
Each text has its own page, arranged in the same fifteen sections, so that everything belonging to that poem, story, play or novel stays in one place.
The prescribed anthology
The prescribed texts are collected in the anthology issued for this subject. We do not host a copy of it, and we will not.
This is not caution for its own sake. The anthology reproduces the set works in full, and about half of them are still in copyright — among them Szymborska, Prévert in Reggie Siriwardena's translation, Yasmine Gooneratne, Kumar Sangakkara, Sonali Deraniyagala, Junji Kinoshita, Maya Angelou and John Agard. Several of those writers, or their estates, are still earning from this work. Putting the scan online would take that from them.
Use the copy issued by your school, or buy the authorised edition. The complete prescribed list is set out below so that you know exactly what you need, and a text list is a fact rather than someone's property.
The prescribed texts, in syllabus order
| Section | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| Poetry — Nature | To the Nile | John Keats |
| Poetry — Nature | A Bird Came Down the Walk | Emily Dickinson |
| Poetry — Nature | The Eagle | Alfred, Lord Tennyson |
| Poetry — Nature | To the Evening Star | William Blake |
| Poetry — Conflict | War is Kind | Stephen Crane |
| Poetry — Conflict | The Terrorist, He's Watching | Wisława Szymborska |
| Poetry — Conflict | Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree | A. E. Housman |
| Poetry — Conflict | Breakfast | Jacques Prévert, translated by Reggie Siriwardena |
| Poetry — Society | Once Upon a Time | Gabriel Okara |
| Poetry — Society | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Maya Angelou |
| Poetry — Society | Richard Cory | Edwin Arlington Robinson |
| Poetry — Society | Big Match, 1983 | Yasmine Gooneratne |
| Poetry — Life | The Earthen Goblet | Harindranath Chattopadhyaya |
| Poetry — Life | Father and Son | Cat Stevens |
| Poetry — Life | Fear | Gabriela Mistral |
| Poetry — Life | Clown's Wife | John Agard |
| Poetry — Humour | The Camel's Hump | Rudyard Kipling |
| Poetry — Humour | Upside Down | Alexander Kushner |
| Poetry — Humour | The Huntsman | Edward Lowbury |
| Poetry — Humour | Two's Company | Raymond Wilson |
| Prose | The Nightingale and the Rose | Oscar Wilde |
| Prose | The Lahore Attack | Kumar Sangakkara |
| Prose | The Lumber Room | Saki (H. H. Munro) |
| Prose | An extract from Wave | Sonali Deraniyagala |
| Drama | Twilight of a Crane | Junji Kinoshita |
| Drama | The Bear | Anton Chekhov |
| Novel | The Prince and the Pauper | Mark Twain |
| Novel | Bringing Tony Home | Tissa Abeysekara |
| Novel | The Vendor of Sweets | R. K. Narayan |
Official O/L Literature documents
Grade 11 Appreciation of English Literary Texts, Self Study Pack 2020
Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka
Linked from Google Drive
Appreciation of English Literary Texts, Teacher's Guide
National Institute of Education, Sri Lanka
NIE publication, linked not rehosted
G.C.E. O/L 2019 Appreciation of English Literary Texts (Subject 46)
Department of Examinations, Sri Lanka
Department of Examinations paper, linked not rehosted
G.C.E. O/L 2019 Appreciation of English Literary Texts, Marking Scheme
Department of Examinations, Sri Lanka
Department of Examinations document, linked not rehosted
G.C.E. O/L 2018 Appreciation of English Literary Texts (Subject 46)
Department of Examinations, Sri Lanka
Department of Examinations paper, linked not rehosted
G.C.E. O/L 2018 Appreciation of English Literary Texts, Marking Scheme
Department of Examinations, Sri Lanka
Department of Examinations document, linked not rehosted
G.C.E. O/L 2017 Appreciation of English Literary Texts (Subject 46)
Department of Examinations, Sri Lanka
Department of Examinations paper, linked not rehosted
G.C.E. O/L 2016 Appreciation of English Literary Texts, Marking Scheme
Department of Examinations, Sri Lanka
Department of Examinations document, linked not rehosted
O/L English and English Literature Support Papers, with Answers
English and Foreign Languages Branch, Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka
Ministry of Education publication, distributed free to schools. Linked, not rehosted.
O/L Literature: Five Sample School Based Assessment Plans
RCF English
RCF English material, free to use
Prescribed texts change
The list of prescribed texts is set by the examination authority and is revised from time to time. Always check the current official syllabus for your own examination year. Do not prepare a text simply because a website, a guide or an older sibling's notes include it.
Texts appear here as their pages are written and checked. Each one follows the fifteen-section structure described below.
Texts are added here as they are prepared. Each text is set out in the same fifteen sections described above, so you always know where to look. Nothing is published for a text until the material has been written and checked, and no copyrighted text is reproduced in full.
What every text page contains
Introduction
What kind of text this is and what to watch for as you read.
Author or playwright
Who wrote it. Only what is known and verifiable — nothing is invented.
Background
When and where it was written, and any context a reader needs in order to make sense of it.
Summary or plot
What happens, in order, without interpretation mixed in.
Characters
Who each character is, what they want, how they change, and how they relate to the others.
Themes
The ideas about life the text explores, each with the moments in the text that carry it.
Literary or dramatic techniques
Imagery, symbolism, irony, structure, stagecraft — each named, explained, and tied to its effect.
Important quotations
Short and accurate, each with a note on which questions it can be used for.
Context questions
Short questions on printed extracts, of the kind the paper asks.
Concise context answers
Model answers of the right length — short, because context answers should be short.
Essay questions
Full questions on the text, of the kind the paper asks.
Developed model answers
Full essay answers with notes explaining how each is built.
Common student mistakes
The errors students actually make on this particular text.
Revision exercises
Activities to check what has stayed, rather than what was merely read.
Related past-paper questions
Where this text has been examined, so you can see the range of questions asked.
What is and is not reproduced
- Not reproduced: complete copyrighted poems, stories, plays or novels, or large parts of them. You will need your prescribed book.
- Reproduced: short quotations, used for study and criticism, with the author and work named.
- Original work by RCF English: summaries, character notes, themes, analysis, questions, model answers and revision exercises.
- Nothing on a text page is invented. Where a fact about an author or a text is not certain, it is not stated. See the Copyright and Resource Policy.