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CCEA A level English Literature set texts 2027

The texts students choose from for CCEA A level English Literature exams in 2027, paper by paper, read from the board's specification. The school picks which ones its students study, so ask the English department which your child has.

SEL1AS 1: The Study of Poetry 1900-Present and Drama 1900-Present

Poetry 1900-present (two poets) (study one pair)

  • Robert Frost and Seamus HeaneyPrescribed poems in Appendix 1
  • Ted Hughes and Sylvia PlathPrescribed poems in Appendix 1
  • Elizabeth Jennings and Philip LarkinPrescribed poems in Appendix 1
  • Eavan Boland and Jean BleakneyPrescribed poems in Appendix 1

Drama 1900-present (study one)

  • Translations, Brian Friel
  • Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett
  • A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams
  • The Crucible, Arthur Miller
  • Men Should Weep, Ena Lamont Stewart1982 version
  • A Man for All Seasons, Robert Bolt

SEL2AS 2: The Study of Prose Pre 1900

Novel pre-1900 (study one)

  • The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
  • Silas Marner, George Eliot
  • Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
  • Emma, Jane Austen
  • Dracula, Bram Stoker

AEL1A2 1: Shakespearean Genres

Shakespeare (study one)

  • Othello, William Shakespeare
  • King Lear, William Shakespeare
  • The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare
  • As You Like It, William Shakespeare
  • Measure for Measure, William Shakespeare
  • The Winter’s Tale, William Shakespeare

AEL2A2 2: The Study of Poetry Pre 1900 and Unseen Poetry

Poetry pre-1900 (one poet) (study one)

  • The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer
  • John DonnePrescribed poems in Appendix 2
  • William BlakePrescribed poems in Appendix 2
  • John KeatsPrescribed poems in Appendix 2
  • Emily DickinsonPrescribed poems in Appendix 2
  • Elizabeth Barrett BrowningPrescribed poems in Appendix 2

CCEA's subject pages answer a Cloudflare challenge, so a newer issue or text change could not be looked for; this is the file the catalogue's link serves on 2026-09-26. The A level includes the two AS units. Poets are set by name; the spec's appendices list the prescribed poems. A2 3 (internal assessment) has no set list. Unit codes are the catalogue's. Read from the specification (Version 2, 16 August 2018), pp. 7-11, on Saturday 26 September 2026.

Also: past papers, and other boards' A level set texts.

cookie is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any exam board. The lists are facts read from each board's own specification, last checked on Saturday 26 September 2026; the specification is the final word.