ENG6532 - Literary Period: Classicism and Romanticism

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
demonstrate detailed knowledge of a range of specified literary texts from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries;
analyse and discuss selected texts in terms of their relation to particular social/cultural debates of the period;
analyse and discuss texts from the period in terms of the opposition Classicism/ Romanticism;
write critically and sensitively on topics of their choice, drawing on a wide range of reading and showing awareness of critical debate.

Content:

Students will study a range of literary texts from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In the first part of the module the focus will be on the period 1700-1750 and texts representing four different genres will be studied. In the second part the focus will be on the main period of British ‘Romanticism’ and a representative range of texts and authors will be studied. Students will analyse these texts in relation to their relevant personal, intellectual, cultural and political contexts; and in terms of the opposition Classicism / Romanticism. They will be encouraged to apply this opposition in their own further reading and critically assess its relevance as an analytical framework.

Learning and Teaching Information:

Each week during the 12-week semester there will be a two-hour scheduled seminar, introducing the texts and their contexts; encouraging students to engage in close reading to ensure they have a good basic understanding of them; and helping students to develop their ideas and use their further reading for assessment. These seminars will be supported by structured preparation tasks, some feeding into the seminars and others available online; recommended sources in the Library; and further digital resources accessible via Moodle and the Library Web.

Weekly two-hour seminars
Hours: 24
Intended Group size: 20

Guided independent study
Hours: 176

Further details relating to assessment
The first essay will assess the module objectives in relation to texts from the period 1700-1750; the second in relation to texts from the period of ‘Romanticism’. Feedback on the first assessment will include specific guidance for the second.

Assessment: