The human condition
What The human condition means in English Literature A-Level, as defined for AQA, Pearson Edexcel.
Definitions of The human condition
Exam boards and our study guides word this term in slightly different ways. Learn the version your board uses.
Check what you remember
Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain The human condition in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.
Reference: Pearson Edexcel
Larkin critiques the active choice to live in the future, using collective pronouns to establish a universal human experience of false anticipation.
What humans are like, grasped with a clearer, sadder understanding as the audience leaves.
Topics that use The human condition
- Aspects of tragedy (AQA A-Level)
- Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Post-1900 – The Movement – Philip Larkin: The Less Deceived (Faber, 2011) (Pearson Edexcel A-Level)
Related terms
- Ambiguity and unresolved endings
- Art versus Life
- Audience expectation and response
- Catharsis
- Childhood innocence
- Classical tragedy
- Complication, climax and catastrophe
- Determinism and free will
Using The human condition in the exam
Check the command word and mark scheme for your exact question. After comparing your explanation with the reference, use the term in an answer on the linked topic. This practice does not predict an exam mark.
Practise English Literature questions
Create a free account to answer exam-style questions on this topic and get feedback on your answers.
A week of Premium from your first lesson · Then the free plan continues · No card, no charge