Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Lecture | 20 x 1 hour |
| Seminars / Tutorials | 10 x 1 hour weekly seminars |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | 1 X 2000 WORD ESSAY | 33% |
| Semester Exam | 3 Hours Two questions | 67% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit or resit failed elements and/or make good any missing elements | |
| Supplementary Exam | 3 Hours Resit exam Resit examination | 100% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
demonstrate knowledge of a representative range of literary texts from the period 1350-1650
locate these texts in appropriate cultural and historical contexts
articulate a detailed critical analysis of individual texts from the period that shows an understanding of their distinctive qualities
relate texts from the period either to each other or to a common theme
Brief description
The module seeks to introduce students to a representative range of texts from the period 1350-1650. The texts have been selected in order to illustrate the rich variety within the dominant literary genres of the period, and to raise and question conflicting versions of cultural and literary history. The module is structured around a recurrent set of themes: travel, identity and social concerns, religious belief and experience, love and sexuality, power, politics and authority. In Section A, all the texts use the device of a journey, with greater or lesser reference to pilgrimage. Through this they each in differing ways explore the concept of travel and its relation to society, religious experience, and identity. In Section B, the texts also explore issues of society and identity which enables a comparison with those issues in Section A. The poetry texts (Shakespeare's sonnets to Andrew Marvell) deal in particular with issues of love and sexuality while the drama texts (Edwards II and Caesar) deal particularly with power and the politics of authority. For each section, space has been made in the lecture programme to address some of these concepts and themes in general (e.g. lectures 5 and 15) although all lectures will deal in broader themes as well as in detailed reference to the particularities of the named text.
Content
Lectures:
1 Introduction to Medieval Literature using 'The General Prologue' of Georffrey Chaucer's The Cantebury Tales.
2 Chaucer, 'The Pardoner's Tale'.
3 Chaucer, 'The Franklin's Tale.
4 Anon: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
5 Anon: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
6 Concepts of travel in the middle ages
7 Pilgrimage narratives: Margery Kempe
8 Pilgrimage narratives: Mandeville's Travels
SECTION B: Society, Identity and the Politics of Authority in renaissance Literature
9&10 Shakespeare's Sonnets
11&12 Selected poetry of John Donne
13&14 Selected poetry of Andrew Marvell
15 Introduction to Elizabethan political theatre
16&17 Christopher Marlowe, Edward II
18&19 William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
20 Relections on Meieval & Renaissance Literatures
Seminars:
1 Introduction (Chaucer's General Prologue to The Canterbury Takes
2. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (The Pardoner's Tale and the Franklin's Tale)
3. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
4. Pilgrimage Narratives: Margery Kempe and John Mandeville
5. Shakepeare's Sonnets
6. Selected Poetry of John Donne
7. Selected Poetry of Andrew Marvell
8. Christopher Marlowe's Edward II
9. William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
10.Reflections on Medieval & Renaissance Literatures
Aims
This module is one of a suite of four modules designed to offer students the chance to study in detail a set of representative texts from each of the major historical periods of English literature.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Communication | (Written) in essays and examination answers students are encouraged to express their ideas articulately and fluently (Oral) seminars are based on group discussion and brief student presentations |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Students are encouraged to take more personal initiative in the planning and conduct of their preparation for assignments than at Level 1, and to make use of a broader range of resources; formal feedback on essays and informal feedback on seminar participation helps students measure their improvement |
| Information Technology | Substantial use is made of electronic text-databases (EEBO, LION), of electronic journals, and of Blackboard, and students are encouraged to familiarise themselves with these |
| Personal Development and Career planning | The module encourages in-depth analytical skills which are transferable and it also covers key areas of literature in which students intending to teach English would need to demonstrate competence and which might be related to future academic research. |
| Problem solving | In essays and examination answers: by formulating an putting into practice a critical approach appropriate to text and topic set |
| Research skills | In preparation for seminars, essays, and exams: by investigation of literary texts, associated critical and scholarly writing, and the relationship of literary texts to historical an cultural contexts |
| Subject Specific Skills | Critical interpretation of literary texts and cultures. |
| Team work | Informal group work in seminars |
Reading List
General Text(1999.) A companion to the Gawain-poetedited by Derek Brewer and Jonathan Gibson. http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=16559 D.S. Brewer (2005.) Chaucer :an Oxford guide /edited by Steve Ellis. Oxford University Press Primo search (2008.) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Armitage (modernisation) Faber & Faber Primo search Brown, Peter (1994.) Chaucer at work :the making of the Canterbury Tales /Peter Brown. Longman Primo search Chaucer, Geoffrey (2008.) The riverside Chaucer /Geoffrey Chaucer ; general editor, Larry D. Benson. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press Primo search Marvell, Andrew (2003.) The Poems of Andrew Marvell /edited by Nigel Smith. Longman Primo search Should Be Purchased
(1998 (various p) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight /edited, with an introduction, prose translation and notes, by W.R.J. Barron. Rev. ed. Manchester University Press Primo search Chaucer (2005) Geoffrey The Canterbury Tales: Fifteen Tales and the General Prologue Kolve, Olson Norton Primo search Donne, John (2000.) John Donne :the major works /edited with an introduction and notes by John Carey. Oxford University Press Primo search Kempe, Margery (1985 (2004 pri) The book of Margery Kempe /translated by B.A. Windeatt. Repr with rev. bibl. Penguin Primo search Mandeville, John (2005.) The travels of Sir John Mandeville /translated with an introduction by C.W.R.D. Moseley. Penguin Primo search Martin (2010) Chritopher Marlowe, Edward II Broadview Primo search Shakespeare, William (2008, c1984.) Julius Caesar /William Shakespeare ; edited by Arthur Humphreys. Oxford University Press Primo search Shakespeare, William (2008.) The complete sonnets and poems /William Shakespeare ; edited by Colin Burrow. Oxford University Press Primo search
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 5