- Overview
- Module description
Beginnings: English Literature before 1800 (EAS1035)
Staff | Dr Jo Esra - Convenor |
---|---|
Credit Value | 30 |
ECTS Value | 15 |
NQF Level | 4 |
Pre-requisites | None |
Co-requisites | None |
Duration of Module | Term 1: 11 weeks; |
Module aims
The module aims to
- introduce you to these major literary texts. In doing so, we aim to cultivate modes of reading and critical analysis broadly informed by an attention to history and context. Such analysis will include ideas of subjectivity, identity, conflict, community, myth, the transmission of stories, storytelling, translation, transformation, and influence. This module will emphasise essay-writing skills that are fundamental to research and communication in English literature.
ILO: Module-specific skills
- 1. Demonstrate an informed appreciation of specific texts, written from ancient times through to the end of the eighteenth century
- 2. Demonstrate a knowledge of the early development of English literary history
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
- 3. Demonstrate a capacity to identify and analyse the relationships between specific texts and their cultural and historical contexts
- 4. Demonstrate a basic ability to analyse pre-modern literature and to relate its concerns and its modes of expression to its historical context
- 5. Demonstrate a basic ability to interrelate texts and discourses specific to their own discipline with wider issues of cultural and intellectual history
- 6. Demonstrate a basic ability to understand and analyse relevant theoretical ideas and to apply these ideas to literary texts
ILO: Personal and key skills
- 7. Through module work, demonstrate basic communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups
- 8. Through essay-writing and exam, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, a basic capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument, and a capacity to write clear and correct prose
- 9. Through research for module work, essays and exam, demonstrate basic proficiency in information retrieval and analysis
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
- Stories of origin: extracts from Genesis and Gilgamesh.
- Homer, The Odyssey.
- Beowulf, tr. Seamus Heaney.
- Marie de France, Lays, tr. Glyn S. Burgess, and Keith Busby.
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, tr. Bernard O'Donoghue.
- Christopher Marlowe, Hero and Leander.
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet ed. Rene Weis.
- John Milton, Paradise Lost, books I, II, IV and IX.
- Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock.
- Aphra Behn, Oroonoko.
- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein ed. Nick Groom.
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
44 | 256 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 22 | Lectures |
Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 22 | Seminars |
Guided independent study | 33 | Study group preparation and meetings |
Guided independent study | 70 | Seminar preparation (individual) |
Guided independent study | 153 | Reading, research and essay preparation |
Formative assessment
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Essay plan | 750 words | 1-6, 8-9 | Peer feedback and seminar discussion |
Close analysis | 750 words | 1, 3-9 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for office hours follow-up |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
25 | 65 | 10 |
Details of summative assessment
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Examination | 65 | 24 hours | 1-6, 8-9 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for office hours follow-up |
Essay | 25 | 1000 words | 1-6, 8-9 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for office hours follow-up |
Module participation | 10 | Continuous | 1-7, 9 | Oral feedback with opportunity for office hours follow-up |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Examination | 24 hours | 1-6, 8-9 | Referral/deferral period |
Essay | 1000 word essay | 1-6, 8-9 | Referral/deferral period |
Module participation | Repeat study or Mitigation | 1-7, 9 | Referral/deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Core reading:
- Stories of origin: extracts from Genesis and Gilgamesh.
- The Odyssey of Homer, trans. Emily Wilson (Norton, 2018).
- Beowulf, trans. Seamus Heaney, ed. Daniel Donoghue (Norton Critical Editions, 2000).
- The Lais of Marie de France, ed and tr. Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby, 2nd edn (Penguin, 1999).
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trans. Bernard O’Donoghue (Penguin, 2006).
- Christopher Marlowe, Hero and Leander.
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet ed. Rene Weis.
- John Milton, Paradise Lost, books I, II, IV and IX.
- Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock.
- Aphra Behn, Oroonoko ed. Joanna Lipking (Norton Critical Editions, 1997).
- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein ed. Nick Groom
The excerpts from Genesis and Gilgamesh, and the poem by Marlowe, will be supplied via ELE.
Module has an active ELE page?
Yes
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
The module description, module reading pack, lecture lists, lecture materials, additional reading materials, useful web links and a discussion forum will be available via the Exeter Learning Environment.
Available as distance learning?
No
Origin date
2011
Last revision date
15/07/2021
Key words search
Beginnings, literature, English