Course learning outcomes and assessment criteria
This course introduces a wide range of works from the literary canon, from ancient Greek texts in translation to the contemporary, covering the major genres, and embodying significant interventions or influences in literary history. The emphasis is on reading primary texts voraciously and discovering – or rediscovering – diverse writers and cultures, so that students can make informed choices from more specialized courses later in their programme. Not being limited to a period, genre or single approach, the course cultivates difference and chronological sweep; it aims to challenge and surprise, as rewarding ‘exploration’ should.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course you should:
- • have read a number of works that have been influential in the literary ‘canon’
- • be aware of the cultural diversity that has informed and continues to inform ‘English’ literature
- • understand how literary genres and forms yield experimentation as well as continuities
- • recognize the historicity as well as continuing accessibility of texts from diverse backgrounds
- • have improved your historical overview of literature by study of primary texts in ways that will help orientate you in relation to other more specialized courses in the programme
- • have improved basic skills in written expression and critical analysis
- • be able to reflect on ‘exploration’ of and within texts.
Mode of assessment
One three-hour unseen examination.
Assessment criteria
You will be assessed according to your ability to:
- • show why course texts have been deemed culturally significant
- • compare ways in which particular concepts are handled in texts from different periods and cultural backgrounds
- • show responsiveness to genre as a factor in creation of meaning
- • show sensitivity to historical contexts and evolutions exemplified by the texts
- • perform basic textual analysis and communicate ideas effectively in the written exam
- • your awareness of ‘exploration’ as a literary device.