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Edexcel A level English Literature set texts 2027

The texts students choose from for Pearson Edexcel 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.

9ET0/01Drama

Shakespeare: tragedy (study one Shakespeare play (tragedy or comedy))

  • Antony and Cleopatra, William Shakespeare
  • Hamlet, William Shakespeare
  • King Lear, William Shakespeare
  • Othello, William Shakespeare

Shakespeare: comedy (study one Shakespeare play (tragedy or comedy))

  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare
  • Measure for Measure, William Shakespeare
  • The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare
  • Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare

Other drama: pre-1900 (study one other drama (pre-1900 or post-1900))

  • Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe
  • The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster
  • The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde
  • The Rover, Aphra Behn

Other drama: post-1900 (study one other drama (pre-1900 or post-1900))

  • Les Blancs, Lorraine Hansberry
  • A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams
  • Sweat, Lynn Nottage
  • Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett

9ET0/02Prose

Childhood (study one theme; two texts, at least one pre-1900)

  • Hard Times, Charles DickensPre-1900
  • What Maisie Knew, Henry JamesPre-1900
  • Atonement, Ian McEwanPost-1900
  • The Color Purple, Alice WalkerPost-1900

Colonisation and its Aftermath (study one theme; two texts, at least one pre-1900)

  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark TwainPre-1900
  • Heart of Darkness, Joseph ConradPre-1900
  • Home Fire, Kamila ShamsiePost-1900
  • The Lonely Londoners, Sam SelvonPost-1900

Crime and Detection (study one theme; two texts, at least one pre-1900)

  • Lady Audley’s Secret, Mary Elizabeth BraddonPre-1900
  • The Moonstone, Wilkie CollinsPre-1900
  • The Cutting Season, Attica LockePost-1900
  • In Cold Blood, Truman CapotePost-1900

Science and Society (study one theme; two texts, at least one pre-1900)

  • Frankenstein, Mary ShelleyPre-1900
  • The War of the Worlds, H G WellsPre-1900
  • The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret AtwoodPost-1900
  • Never Let Me Go, Kazuo IshiguroPost-1900

The Supernatural (study one theme; two texts, at least one pre-1900)

  • Dracula, Bram StokerPre-1900
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar WildePre-1900
  • Beloved, Toni MorrisonPost-1900
  • The Little Stranger, Sarah WatersPost-1900

Women and Society (study one theme; two texts, at least one pre-1900)

  • Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Thomas HardyPre-1900
  • Wuthering Heights, Emily BrontëPre-1900
  • Mrs Dalloway, Virginia WoolfPost-1900
  • A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled HosseiniPost-1900

9ET0/03Poetry

Post-2000 specified poetry (study compulsory)

  • Poems of the Decade: An Anthology of the Forward Books of Poetry 2002-2011

Specified poetry: pre-1900 choices (study one text from the pre-1900 or post-1900 choices)

  • Everyman and Medieval Miracle PlaysMedieval Poetic Drama; editor A C Cawley (Everyman, 1993), or English Mystery Plays: A Selection, editor Peter Happe (Penguin Classics, 1975)
  • The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, Geoffrey ChaucerMedieval Poet; editor James Winny (Cambridge, 1994)
  • Metaphysical PoetryThe Metaphysical Poets; editor Colin Burrow (Penguin, 2006)
  • Selected Poems, John DonneMetaphysical Poet; Penguin Classics, 2006
  • English Romantic VerseThe Romantics; editor David Wright (Penguin Classics, 1973)
  • Selected Poems, John KeatsRomantic Poet; editor John Barnard (Penguin Classics, 2007)
  • The New Oxford Book of Victorian VerseThe Victorians; editor Christopher Ricks (OUP, 2008)
  • Selected Poems, Christina RossettiVictorian Poet; editor Dinah Roe (Penguin, 2008)

Specified poetry: post-1900 choices (study one text from the pre-1900 or post-1900 choices)

  • The Great Modern PoetsModernist Period; editor Michael Schmidt (Quercus, 2014)
  • Selected Poems, T S EliotModernist Poet; Faber, 2009
  • The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English VerseThe Movement; editor Philip Larkin (OUP, 1973)
  • The Less Deceived, Philip LarkinThe Movement Poet; Faber, 2011

Across the three papers at least one pre-1900 text must be chosen. Pearson's "Texts by global majority writers" page says Les Blancs, Sweat, Home Fire and The Cutting Season were added for first teaching in September 2022; the spec gives no first exam year for them. The coursework has no set list. Read from the specification (Issue 11, August 2025), pp. 8-9, 12, 15, 18-19, on Saturday 26 September 2026.

Also: past papers, grade calculator, 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.