📖 Model Essay Bank
Fully worked PETEL essays per text — read one, imitate the next. Every one of the 48 topics below has a full worked model essay live — each shows the PETEL skeleton and techniques in inline markup.
✍️ Poetry
The Eagle
- Theme The portrayal of power and majesty LIVE
- Technique Visual imagery and the eagle's isolation LIVE
- Structure The contrast between stillness and sudden action LIVE
Breakfast
- Theme The portrayal of emotional distance and silence LIVE
- Symbolism How everyday actions become symbols of pain LIVE
Once Upon a Time
- Theme The loss of innocence and authentic feeling LIVE
- Tone The father's plea and the poem's confessional tone LIVE
- Imagery Imagery of masks, faces and laughter LIVE
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- Theme Freedom and oppression as opposing forces LIVE
- Symbolism The symbolism of the caged bird and the free bird LIVE
- Technique How sound and silence are used to convey longing LIVE
Richard Cory
- Theme The illusion of wealth and outward appearance LIVE
- Technique Dramatic irony and the shock ending LIVE
- Character The gap between Cory and the townspeople LIVE
Big Match, 1983
- Theme How sport is set against communal violence LIVE
- Technique Juxtaposition as the poem's central technique LIVE
- Context The Sri Lankan historical context and its weight LIVE
The Clown's Wife
- Theme The duality of laughter and sorrow LIVE
- Tone Humour, pathos and love in the clown household LIVE
- Character The clown's wife as both witness and partner LIVE
Two's Company
- Atmosphere Atmosphere and the supernatural in the poem LIVE
- Structure Dramatic structure and the build-up of tension LIVE
📖 Prose
The Nightingale and the Rose
- Theme True love as sacrifice in the story LIVE
- Character The contrast between the Nightingale and the Student LIVE
- Theme How materialism is criticised LIVE
The Lahore Attack (Cowdrey Lecture)
- Theme Loyalty, identity and the captain's leadership LIVE
- Technique How Sangakkara uses the speech form to persuade LIVE
The Lumber Room
- Theme The imagination of the child versus the adult world LIVE
- Technique Irony and humour as weapons against authority LIVE
- Character The characterisation of Nicholas and the Aunt LIVE
Wave (A Memoir extract)
- Theme Unexpected tragic incidents and the family's response LIVE
- Theme Human reaction and instinct under disaster LIVE
- Technique The first-person memoir voice and its effect LIVE
🎭 Drama
Twilight of a Crane
- Theme Greed and innocence as the play's central conflict LIVE
- Character The characterisation of Tsu and Yohyo LIVE
- Technique How folk-tale form shapes the play's message LIVE
The Bear
- Theme The duality of human nature in the play LIVE
- Context Smirnov and Popova in 19th-century Russian society LIVE
- Technique Humour, exaggeration and the appropriateness of the title LIVE
- Character The characterisation of Smirnov LIVE
- Character The characterisation of Popova LIVE
- Character The role of Luka in the play LIVE
📚 Novels (study one)
The Vendor of Sweets
- Theme Tradition versus modernity in the novel LIVE
- Character The characterisation of Jagan LIVE
- Character The characterisation of Mali LIVE
- Character Jagan's weaknesses and his self-deception LIVE
- Character The role of the cousin LIVE
- Character How Ambika is portrayed LIVE