ENG-10034 - Texts and Contexts

Coordinator: Rebecca Yearling Room: CBB2.061 Tel: +44 1782 7 34282

Lecture Time: See Timetable...

Level: Level 4

Credits: 30

Study Hours:

School Office: 01782 733147

Programme/Approved Electives for 2020/21

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Yes

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2020/21

This core year-long module is designed to develop your understanding of how literature interacts with the wider contexts within which it is written and read. Over the course of two semesters, and through the study of a range of poetry, drama and prose, we will explore how English literature has developed from the Renaissance period to the present day, and the influences that have shaped it along the way. You will also be introduced to a variety of critical approaches and methods, such as gender studies, New Historicism, and postcolonial criticism, and you will learn how these approaches can be used to develop your understanding and appreciation of literature and how it works.

Aims

To give students a greater understanding of how literature has developed from the Renaissance to the present day
To give students a greater sense of the relationship between literature and its historical contexts
To familiarise students with some of the most important critical and theoretical approaches to literary works
To develop studentsż ability to analyse texts in detail, using a variety of approaches
To develop studentsż ability to formulate arguments both orally and on paper

Intended Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate the ability to formulate arguments in both written and verbal form: 1,2,3
Demonstrate the ability to analyse texts in detail, using a variety of approaches: 1,2,3
Show an understanding of the role played by historical context in literary analysis: 1
Show an understanding of how literary theory can illuminate literary texts: 2,3
Articulate some of the key concepts in a range of literary theory: 2,3
Work constructively with others, weighing up differing or opposing critical positions and articulating a clear assessment of them: 2

Study hours

24 hours: Lectures
24 hours: Small group classes
182 hours: Seminar preparation and private study
10 hours: Group presentation reading and preparation
60 hours: Essay research and writing (30 per essay)

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Essay weighted 30%
1500-word essay
A 1500-word essay on texts studied in semester 1, showing awareness of the significance of historical context. Students will choose from a list of c. 10 essay questions.

2: Group Presentation weighted 20%
Group presentation
In groups of two or three, students will give a 15-minute presentation designed to introduce a specific literary theory, explaining the theory's key ideas and debates and showing how it might be applied to a literary text or texts. The group will receive a single mark.

3: Essay weighted 50%
Essay
Students will write a 2000-word essay, analysing one or two of the module's set texts in the light of a chosen literary theory. This assessment will take place at the end of semester 2. A list of c. 10 questions to choose from will be supplied.

ENG-10034 - Module Specification School of Humanities Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

ENG-10034 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences