ENGL2140 English Literature: Evolutions and Revolutions

The topic will give students a firm grasp of the story of English literature, providing a crucial background for the study of literature in English and for students' wider cultural literacy. This story will be told through some of the most famous poems in the English language, which will be read alongside historical and cultural contexts from the major periods of literary history. Evolutions in poetic subject, form and style over the centuries will be mapped alongside major historical and cultural developments, allowing students an opportunity to develop an understanding of the connections between the two. As a central topic in the English major, it will thereby focus on two core elements of literary interpretation: close reading and the ability to historicise texts.

This topic aims to:

• Provide an account of the major periods of English Literature
• Impart students with the principal skills and techniques of reading poetry
• Demonstrate the connections between examples of canonical poetry and their historical and cultural contexts

1. Compare the major characteristics of literary periods as they impinge on canonical English poetry
2. Apply the principal skills and techniques of reading poetry to produce interpretations
3. Examine the relation between examples of canonical poetry and appropriate historical/cultural contexts