Pre-requisites:
The students are expected to be proficient in spoken and written English. Correct usage of language is mandatory.

Introduction:

This course provides an in-depth analysis of English poetry during the 17th century. Students will receive a historical overview of the social and cultural turning points that took place in England from the end of the 17th century until the height of the neoclassical age. This will serve as a background to understanding the major developments in English literature and language at the time. The characteristics, literary themes and conventions of this period will be examined and related to English traditions, notions of English identity, ideas of history and of reason, and various forms of cultural production. Students will read, analyze, and develop an informed critical interpretation of the prominent works of poetry in this age. Attention to poetic form and techniques of reading poetry.

Objectives:

The aims of this module are:

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To encourage an informed engagement with Milton’s epic poem and locate links to the classical, biblical, religious, and historical works to which the poem so frequently refers.

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To broadly define the scope and nature of English literature in the 17th century with a focus on the poetry of this time in English literary history.

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To explain the relevant historical and socio-economic forces within this period in English history and show how they can help in the interpretation of its poetry and prose works.

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Provide the literary terminology and, where appropriate, the vocabulary and rhetorical devices necessary for understanding a work of poetry and prose from this historical period.

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Emphasize the philosophical and cultural debates in England in this time, and show how they influenced the genre of poetry in England.

Outcome:

Students will:

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analyze literature through discussion and writing;

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demonstrate an understanding of literary terms, themes, strategies, and issues as are relevant to the works being studied;

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express their understanding of the relationship between literature and the historical/cultural contexts in which it was written;

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demonstrate basic knowledge of the chronology of authors and literary periods/movements;

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interpret literature through the lens of their own experience and through the lenses of various schools of literary criticism ; and

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demonstrate an understanding of the relevance of literature of the period to the broader history of British literature and to contemporary culture.