From Talking Horses to Romantic Revolutionaries: Literature 1700-1830
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| ENGL2007 | English | 2 | 20 | Autumn UK |
- Code
- ENGL2007
- School
- English
- Level
- 2
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Autumn UK
Summary
The years 1700-1830 are some of the most crucial and transformative in British literary history. They witnessed the rise of the novel; revolutions in culture, politics and society; and ferocious debates about the rights of men and women. Writers responded to the challenges of a society in ferment, producing an unpredecented number of novels, poems, satires, and polemics and experimenting with a huge range of genres. They imagined worlds in which horses could talk and men were irrational and animalistic; in which poets were prophets, and novelists respectable commentators on sexual and social morals. They wrote about contemporary issues such as class, poverty, sexuality, slavery, and the city, but also had their eyes firmly on the past. They composed gothic romances set in Italy and Spain and in some cases forged the nation’s heritage, faking examples of ancient British poetry. Novelists and poets of the long C18th were, above all, enthusiastic participants in public disputes. They took every available opportunity to promote their own agendas and to savage and ridicule those of their political and literary opponents. By studying a wide range of authors some, like Austen and Keats, already familiar to you, others, like Richardson and Macpherson, less so this module will introduce you to a period that is rich, exciting, and above all absolutely unmissable.
Target Students
Only available to second-year students on SH and JH English programmes, including 2+2 programmes; students participating in exchanges from the School partner institutions; and second or third-year students on the Liberal Arts programme.
Classes
- One 1-hour seminar each week for 11 weeks
- One 2-hour lecture each week for 11 weeks
Assessment
- Coursework 1: Formative 1000-word essay (no further formative work read after submission)
- 100% Coursework 2: 3000-word essay, submitted at the end of the semester
Assessed by end of autumn semester
Educational Aims
This module aims to provide students with:An introduction to a range of literature written between c. 1700-1830.An introduction to the cultural, political and critical contexts of literature c. 1700-1830.The skills to identify and debate key themes of the period and to relate these to the authors and texts studied.Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
knowledge and understanding of the literary, political and cultural contexts for selected literature from the period c. 1700 to 1830 (A2)
some knowledge and understanding of different literary genres from the period and their relationship to one another (A5)
Intellectual skills
the ability to think independently while giving due weight to the arguments of others (B2)
the ability to understand complex ideas, and relate them to specific problems or questions (B3)
Professional practical skills
the ability to write accurately and grammatically and present written work according to the conventions appropriate to literary study (C1)
the ability to construct and communicate a sustained analysis of texts in writing (C4)
the ability to place individual research alongside the work of previous scholars (C5)
Transferable (key) skills
the ability to communicate effectively in written work (D2)