Topic 6: Literature — prose, narrative, or epic

In this topic students study one or more of the following:

• Homer, The Odyssey or The Iliad
• Virgil, The Aeneid
• Wu Cheng’en, Journey to the West (Monkey)
• The Egyptian Book of the Dead
• Valmiki, Ramayana
• Vyasa, Mahabharata
• The Epic of Gilgamesh.

In studying the text or an extract from the text as a literary genre, students analyse literary features to develop an understanding of the construction of characters, including the exploration of gender and power relationships. They consider features specific to the text, such as the use of physical and social settings, narrative and stylistic features, and the themes or issues explored. Students complete a reading from a literary and/or historical perspective, considering the origins of the text, the purpose of the writer, how the text was understood and received at the time it was written, and how this differs from contemporary readings.