Contextualising Old English

Code

ENGL4266

School

English

Level

4

Credits

20

Semesters

Spring UK

Summary

This course follows on from Reading Old English, offering students the opportunity to explore the culture of early medieval England through the surviving literature in Old English. The focus will be on extensive reading of texts in Old English, as well as introduction to select manuscripts. We will cover topics such as history and hagiography, health and healing. Texts to be read include canonical poetry, but also remedies and charms.

This course aims to provide students with:

• an opportunity to consolidate their knowledge of Old English;
• wider and deeper knowledge of the literature of early medieval England;
• an understanding of the earliest writings in the English language in their cultural and historical contexts;
• an understanding of the manuscript contexts;
• an understanding of key concepts of early medieval descriptions of health and illness.

Target Students

Students following the MA in Viking and Early Medieval English Studies. Other MA students by agreement with the course convenor.

Co-requisites

Modules you must take in the same academic year, or have taken in a previous year, to enrol in this module:

• Reading Old English (ENGL4263)

Classes

• One 2-hour seminar each week for 11 weeks

Activities may take place every teaching week of the Semester or only in specified weeks. It is usually specified above if an activity only takes place in some weeks of a Semester

Assessment

• 15% Coursework 1: 500-word book review
• 35% Coursework 2: 1500-word source description
• 50% Coursework 3: 2000-word essay

Assessed by end of spring semester

Educational Aims

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and understanding of

• the literary language of Old English, and the range and content of the earliest corpus of literature in English [A1];
• the cultural and social preoccupations of early medieval England [A1, A2];
• the importance of the manuscript contexts of Old English texts [A3].

Intellectual skills:

• the ability to engage in close and logical analysis of Old English texts [B1];
• the ability to evaluate current research and advanced scholarship in the field of Old English literature [B2];
• the ability to undertake independent research in a variety of different areas, such as critical analysis of texts, genre-study, and lexical analysis [B3].
• the ability to acquire substantial quantities of grammatical information and Old English vocabulary and to use it effectively [B4].

Professional skills:

• the ability to articulate knowledge and understanding of literary, linguistic, and theoretical concepts relating to Old English studies [C1];
• the ability to construct and communicate a sustained analysis of texts to a high standard of accuracy in content and presentation [C2];
• the ability to carry out research, using scholarly resources and databases, and to evaluate and make use of the information so acquired [C3];
• the ability to translate accurately and effectively from Old English into Modern English [C4].

Transferable skills:

• to demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling intricate problems of analysis and evaluation [D1];
• to develop strategies for constructing sustainable arguments from obscure or incomplete evidence [D2];
• to communicate effectively in writing [D3].

Conveners

• Dr Christina Lee
• Dr Rebecca Gregory