A2BP_SALI Old and Middle English Literature

Faculty of Education
Autumn 2009
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Hana Waisserová, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Irena Přibylová, Ph.D.
Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Jana Popelková
Prerequisites
A2BP_SOZK Complex Exam || A2BK_SOZK Complex Exam || AJ2BP_SOZK Qualifying Exam || AJ2BP_SZKO Qualifying Exam
A reading proficiency adequate to university level. Introduction to Literature course.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course is the first in the series of the so-called survey courses, and aims to map out the period of the British literature from the beginnings till the end of the 18th century. The seminar is based on reading and analysis of selected extracts, and activities and discussions related to them. The goal of the course is that the students are acquainted with chief works, authors and topics of the relevant periods,will achieve an in-depth understanding of the British life and culture and will exercise their reading and other competences.
Syllabus
  • British literature from the beginnings till the end of the 18th century
  • Week One: Introductory: practicalities and work required. Mapping the territory.
  • Week Two: Old English Period: riddles. The Battle of Maldon. Beowulf. Alliteration and kennings. The Seafarer. Film: Alfred the Great (extract)
  • Week Three: Middle English period: The Arthurian legend: Morte dArthur. Film: Excalibur (extract) vs. Monty Pythons Holy Grail (extract). Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
  • Week Four: ME period continued: poetry (popular, religious, secular)
  • Week Five: William Langland, Geoffrey Chaucer. The origins of drama.
  • Week Six: Renaissance: the sonnet. Elizabethan theatre. Shakespeare. Film: Romeo and Juliet (extract) Henry V (extract)
  • Week Seven: Doctor Faustus vs. Richard II. Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet.
  • Week Eight: King Lear. Ben Jonson.
  • Week Nine: The Seventeenth century: The Metaphysics (John Donne) and the Cavaliers (Lovelace). Samuel Pepys.
  • Week Ten Thomas Hobbes, John Milton.
  • Week Eleven The Eighteen century: pamphlets (Jonathan Swift: A Modest Proposal).
  • Week Twelve: The novel: Defoe, Swift, Richardson, Fielding, Sterne, Burney.
  • Week Thirteen: Graveyard poets: Thomas Gray. Comedy of manners: Sheridan. Summary and conclusion.
Literature
  • PODROUŽKOVÁ, Lucie. A Reader in British Literature: Part I. 2nd ed. Brno: PdF MU, 2005, 132 pp. 2. vydání. ISBN 80-210-3638-9. info
  • BARNARD, Robert. Stručné dějiny anglické literatury. Translated by Zdeněk Beran. Vyd. 1. Praha: Brána, 1997, 251 s. ISBN 8071767050. info
Teaching methods
The seminar expects from students to read the texts assigned, and actively participate in in-class debates, and to bring one-page response papers to each session.
Assessment methods
Assessment:
Attendance (80%), class participation, set reading, response papers, credit test
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
Teacher's information
http://moodlinka.ped.muni.cz/course/view.php?id=1312
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2007, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2008, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019, autumn 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2009, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/ped/autumn2009/A2BP_SALI