Module: ENG5112-20 Subject & Structure

Level: 5

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Jenni Lewis

Module Tutor Contact Details: j.lewis@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

Between them, ‘Structure and Subject’ and ‘Equivocal Matter’ will consider the genres of poetry, drama, the novel, and prose non-fiction.

This module will focus specifically on the ode and biography in order to exploring the key literary concepts of genre, periodicity, canon-formation, and subjectivity. The ode is one of the oldest poetic forms—and also one of the most enduring. We will consider its history, from the Greek odes of Pindar and Sappho and the Latin odes of Horace to the reinterpretations of contemporary poets, and its generic characteristics, particularly its preoccupation with poetic voice and authority. Biography, on the other hand, may seem a populist and non-literary form and yet it too has a literary history that stretches back to the classical world. Its development since then has reflected changing attitudes to the self and subjectivity, not least in the impact of Freudian psychoanalysis. Moreover, literary critics often draw on biography, but does biography inform or limit one’s reading of a literary work?

The module’s aims and objectives are:

• to challenge your existing literary and critical preconceptions

• to develop your close reading skills when analysing poetry and prose non-fiction

• to understand how literature and criticism are shaped by periodicity

• to think more critically about the changing nature of literature, genre, canon-formation, and subjectivity

• to explore a variety of critical approaches and assumptions about literature

• to enable you to make confident and informed comparisons of different literary genres

• to improve your research skills, especially in using appropriate library and online resources

2. Outline syllabus:

Rather than studying the genre of the ode and biography in sequence, we will look at how they speak to one another. Themes would include: how changes in cultural attitudes to selfhood or ‘character’ have been reflected in both odes and biography; how poets and biographers have often been preoccupied with the same powerful psychological states, such as desire, grief, or depression; how odes and biographies have become cultural markers for canonicity; the issues that surround giving voice to those marginalised in earlier traditions.

We will read a selection of odes and biographies, clustered around key themes, such as the hero, the voice, the self, authority, tradition, and history.

The module will include research skills workshops, in collaboration with the library, and will conclude with a Careers workshop that will prepare you for the employability strand of Equivocal Matter.

3. Teaching and learning activities:

Teaching and learning methods include: lectures, seminars, feedback tutorials, research skills workshop, and independent study.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Close-reading portfolio (2,000 words)

• % Weighting: 40%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Comparative essay (3,000 words)

• % Weighting: 60%