Occurrence | Teaching cycle |
---|---|
A | Semester 1 2023-24 |
This module looks at the literary culture (especially poetry and history-writing) of England from King Alfred the Great (d. 899) to Ælfric of Eynsham (d. c.1010) and Wulfstan (d. c 1023): the period when the West Saxon dynasty forged a single English kingdom, from previously separate English kingdoms, and from areas of Britain which had been controlled by Scandinavian settlers (Vikings) and the British (Welsh).
The module situates the writing of the vernacular within the context of the dynamic exchange between monastic, clerical and lay elites, all of whom moved in social networks that were distinctly multilingual, with strong ties to Francia, the wider insular world and Scandinavia and a keen interest in Europe, Asia and North Africa. Focusing on literary form (poetics, history-writing, manuscript layout, codicology), we look at both the theory and practice of vernacular writing. Throughout, texts from England are studied in their European context – this includes an emphasis on the Latin matrix of vernacular writing, on the distinctive insular (English, Irish and Welsh) experience of using the vernacular, and on England’s engagement with the wide-ranging and diverse literary cultures of Northwest Afro-Eurasia (a space extending from Ireland to India and from Scandinavia to North Africa).
The module is organized in 4 clusters, each with two seminars: 1) King Alfred: The Power of the Written Word; 2) The Exeter Book: Building in Time and Space; 3) Beowulf; 4) Ælfric: Using English for the Sacred. Works to be read include: Alfred’s Preface to the Pastoral Care, Asser’s Life of Alfred, the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Chronicles, the Exeter Book, Beowulf, The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, the writings of Ælfric and Wulfstan and Apollonius of Tyre.
All texts studied will be available in translation as well as the original, and the module can be taken by students with no prior knowledge of Old English or Latin. Seminars will be structured around close reading and general discussion.
Subject content
Academic and graduate skills
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework 4,500 word essay |
N/A | 100 |
None
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework 4,500 word essay |
N/A | 100 |
Written and/or verbal feedback on draft essay; written report on final assessment within 6 weeks of submission and within two weeks of submission for re-assessed work.
Works to be read may include: Beowulf, The Letter of Alexander, The Exeter Book, Apollonius of Tyre, The Encomium Emmae Reginae, The Life of King Edward, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, The Song of Roland, Gaimars Estoire des Engleis, William of Malmesburys History of the Kings of England, Geoffrey of Monmouths History of the Kings of Britain and the Roman dEneas.