Time and Memory
What Time and Memory means in English Literature A-Level, as defined for OCR, Pearson Edexcel.
Definitions of Time and Memory
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Reference: OCR
A theme examined through the four distinct voices, with Benjy's non-linear perception of time requiring readers to piece together Caddy's tragedy.
A constrained three-stanza structure with a relentless alternating rhyme scheme mirrors the inescapable, ticking progression of time.
The narrative spans multiple decades, from 1935 to 1999, allowing analysis of how time shapes memory, guilt, and narrative truth.
The sequence explores time through grief and memory, juxtaposing remembered courtship in Cornwall with the desolate present.
The poem meditates on photography, time and memory, showing a frozen, idealised past that the speaker can never access.
Topics that use Time and Memory
- 5d. Component 02 – Comparative and contextual study core and suggested set texts - Suggested set texts for Comparative and contextual study: American Literature 1880–1940 (OCR A-Level)
- 5e. Literature post-1900 (Non-exam assessment component) suggested texts - TIME (OCR 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)
- Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Pre-1900 – The Victorian Period – The New Oxford Book of Victorian Verse, editor Christopher Ricks (OUP, 2008) (Pearson Edexcel A-Level)
Related terms
- Grief and Loss
- Ageing and mortality
- Alienation and isolation
- Art and objectification
- Art versus Life
- Authorship and constructed identity
- Childhood innocence
- Disillusionment and the Lost Generation
Using Time and Memory in the exam
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