You will develop your understanding of the language and look at the wide variety of ways the Romans used to express their most important ideas.
Why study this subject at A-Level?
You will be motivated by a love of language and a desire to see how Latin works at a higher level. You will have an interest in Roman civilisation and a love of literature. You may simply love the logic of the language. You will aim to develop the precision required to master this amazing language and can see how Latin helps you to expand your word power and to understand grammar in all languages.
The worlds of industry, commerce, national and local government are always seeking to employ young people of proven intellectual ability, regardless of specific subject background. The skills and qualities required by all these and other employers are, amongst others, the ability to communicate accurately and effectively in writing and verbally and to approach problem-solving in a logical and analytical way. Employers have always recognised that students in possession of an A level in Latin are well trained in exactly these skills and they look very favourably upon such applicants.
Summary of the course
Most lessons will be spent reading and discussing prose and verse authors in Latin. Some of these lessons will centre on the preparation of set texts (similar to set text preparation for GCSE). Other lessons are for more general reading of a wide variety of literary genres (eg. comedy, history, elegy, epic) to prepare for the unseen comprehension and translation papers which form an important element of the course. There is no requirement for translation of English to Latin but we may do work in this area to consolidate your understanding of the language.
For the literature papers we will be studying the Annals of Tacitus, which covers the early days of the Empire after the death of Augustus. The Aeneid of Virgil, shows us the adventures of the Trojan hero Aeneas as he strives to set up a town from which Rome will arise. This is a poet’s vision of what qualities are required to maintain control of an empire with justice and minimal collateral damage. Love Elegy by Ovid, Propertius and Tibullus are intensely personal and modern insights into love in its many guises.
How is the qualification assessed?
There will be four papers:
1. Unseen Translation
3. Prose Literature
4. Verse Literature