Making Something Happen: Poetry and Politics
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| ENGL3066 | English | 3 | 20 | Spring UK |
- Code
- ENGL3066
- School
- English
- Level
- 3
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Spring UK
Summary
This module introduces key modern and contemporary poets and considers their responses to the political and ideological upheavals of the twentieth/twenty-first centuries. The module equips students with a detailed understanding of how various poetic forms respond to and are manifested in particular historical moments; unifying the module is an attention to the political dimensions and potentialities of poetry.
The module will include a broad range of poetry of the period, which will be grounded by critical/theoretical readings. Attention to the form and composition of poetry will be prioritised and students will develop their close-reading skills through practical exercises.
Target Students
Only available fro final-year students on SH and JH English programmes; including 2+2 programmes; students participating in exchanges from the School partner institutions; and final-year students on Liberal Arts programmes.
Classes
- One 1-hour seminar each week for 11 weeks
- One 2-hour lecture each week for 11 weeks
Assessment
- 100% Coursework: Coursework - 3000 word essay end-semester
Assessed by end of spring semester
Educational Aims
This module aims to provide students with:Skills in close reading (of poetry in particular, but also of relevant prose forms)An awareness of how poetic forms evolve through time and manifest themselves in different periods.A detailed understanding of theoretical debates around the category of ‘the political’ in literary studies.An ability to think self-reflexively about their own reading and writing practices and understand how these are informed by twentieth-century critical movements.Practise in writing and evaluating critical arguments based on close prosodic analysis.Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and understanding of
- A1 critical and theoretical approaches to the study of texts, including appropriate critical terminologies
- A2 the literary, cultural and historical contexts for literature, language and drama
Intellectual Skills
- B1 engage in close and logical analysis of texts and arguments
- B2 think independently while giving due weight to the arguments of others and to reflect on their own critical practice
Professional Practice Skills
- C3 write accurately and grammatically, demonstrating awareness of the importance of style and register in communication, and present written material using conventions appropriate to literary or language work including bibliographies;
- C4 to construct and communicate a sustained analysis of texts, verbally and in writing
Transferable key skills
- D2 communicate effectively in writing
- D5 to retrieve information from a range of written and electronic sources and present the results in a clear and accurate fashion