Postgraduate Course: Songs of Experience (ENLI11088)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | English Literature |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course, will explore a range of poetry from the first half of the seventeenth century, focusing particularly on lyric, epigrammatic and epistolary poetry by John Donne, Ben Jonson, Thomas Carew, Richard Lovelace and Andrew Marvell, though we will also study poems by other poets whose work has been classified as 'metaphysical' or 'cavalier'. The thematic continuity of the course will be provided by a focus on this poetry's worldliness. The late Renaissance in England saw new or renewed attention to secular ways of comprehending the world, ways that troubled but did not displace a theological approach to the comprehension of earthly experience - Bacon's reformed epistemology, the seductions of Epicureanism and Donne's anxious handling of 'new philosophy' are all prominent landmarks in this terrain. Having established an outline of this intellectual framework, the course will examine how it is invoked by the poetics underpinning 'metaphysical' and 'cavalier' poetry. Questions of voice and address, genre, figuration and style will all be explored in this light. The course will also pay particular attention to the thematic handling of erotic love, friendship and nature. Throughout, it will explore the tensions in this worldly poetics between a concern with immanence and the demands of Christian theological doctrine.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- demonstrate a good knowledge of the poetry studied;
- understand and use appropriately the critical vocabulary for analysing lyric, epigrammatic and epistolary poetry from this period;
- explicate and critically assess the notion of ' worldliness' around which the course is organised;
- show an awareness of relevant intellectual and historical contexts;
- critically assess the categories ('metaphysical', 'cavalier') often used to classify the poetry studied;
- demonstrate a familiarity with important critical work on the poetry studied. |
Assessment Information
| One 4,000 word essay to be submitted as specified in the Programme Handbook or by the supervisor |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof James Loxley
Tel: (0131 6)50 3610
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Natalie Carthy
Tel: (0131 6)50 3030
Email: |
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