Accessibility statement

Poetry & Poetics - ENG00085M

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  • Department: English and Related Literature
  • Module co-ordinator: Prof. Matthew Campbell
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: M
  • Academic year of delivery: 2024-25

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 1 2024-25

Module aims

  • To give students the opportunity to develop their aesthetic discrimination in, and enjoyment of, poetry;
  • To provide a research-led basis for the postgraduate study of poetry and poetics;
  • To offer a sophisticated approach to concepts of genre, periodicity and poetic language;
  • To enable students to develop advanced skills of formal analysis;
  • To provide an introduction to key concepts in poetics from classical to post-modern poetry;
  • To enable students to recognise issues of translation and cross-cultural poetic influence;
  • To introduce students to advanced theoretical issues in contemporary international poetics.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students will be able to

  • Undertake a research-led essay project addressing the aims of the module;
  • Have considerable knowledge of issues of genre, periodicity and language;
  • Undertake with confidence the advanced formal analysis of poetry;
  • Grasp significant issues in poetics in English and languages other than English;
  • Be aware of the theoretical and aesthetic implications when poetry crosses different linguistic and poetic traditions;
  • Write and speak with confidence about a variety of advanced contemporary theories of poetry.

In addition

  • Students will demonstrate advanced skills of writing appropriate for a post-graduate degree;
  • Demonstrate the ability to progress to sustained independent study;
  • Gain a set of skills which will provide a grounding for other modules in poetry or in the MA programmes offered by the Department of English and Related Literature.

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
4,500 word essay		 N/A 100

Special assessment rules

None

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
4,500 word essay		 N/A 100

Module feedback

For more information about the feedback you will receive for your work, see section 12 of the department's Guide to Assessment (PDF , 1,244kb).

Indicative reading

Poetry: emphasis will be on the reading of poetic texts from a number of periods and authors as offered by contributors to the course.

Poetics may allude to one of a number of possible texts: Plato, The Republic; Aristotle, Poetics; Sidney, Defence of Poesy; Kant, Critique of Judgement; Wordsworth, Preface to Lyrical Ballads; Coleridge, Biographia Literaria; Eliot, Essays; Empson, Seven Types of Ambiguity; Stevens, The Necessary Angel; Olson, The Human Universe; Bloom, The Anxiety of Influence; Kristeva, Revolution in Poetic Language; De Man, Blindness and Insight; Culler, Structuralist Poetics; Perloff, The Poetics of Indeterminacy; Longenbach, The Resistance to Poetry; Stewart, Poetry and the Fate of the Senses; Muldoon, The End of the Poem; Leighton, On Form; Attridge, Moving Words.


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.