School of English
Module manager: Dr Alaric Hall
Email: a.t.p.hall@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2012/13
Grade B at 'A' Level in English Language or Literature or equivalent or an achieved mark of 56 or above in a Level 1 module in English. Please note: This module is restricted to Level 2 and 3 students.
This module is approved as an Elective
The module aims to encourage students to develop close reading and analytic skills in relation to works by the three most famous poets of late fourteenth-century England: Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland, and the anonymous author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Guided study of the set texts will enable students to comment in detail on passages written in the late medieval Englishes of London, and of the north-west and south-west Midlands; and to explore a wide variety of medieval literary genres - comic tale, beast fable, romance, dream vision, satire, debate. Students will be encouraged to reflect on fundamental medieval literary topics, including the status of poetry and the poet, narrative transformations, the medieval sense of humour, gender questions, orality and literacy, the representation of chivalry, and the relationship of books to life. The module seeks to equip students to engage actively with some of the best literature in Middle English. The principal texts for study will include the General Prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and three selected Tales; the Prologue and Passus 1-7 of Langland's visionary epic Piers Plowman, and the Arthurian romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Selected portions of these texts will be studied in the original.
The module aims to encourage students to develop close reading and analytic skills in relation to a representative range of works by the three most famous poets in late fourteenth-century England: Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland, and the anonymous author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Guided study of the set texts will enable students to comment in detail on passages written in the late medieval Englishes of London, and of the north-west and south-west Midlands; and to explore an appropriate variety of medieval literary genres--fabliau, beast fable, romance, dream vision, satire, debate. Students will be encouraged to reflect on fundamental medieval literary issues, including the status of poetry, and the nature of narrative transformations, gender issues, orality and literacy, the representation of piety and spirituality, and the relationship of books to life. By the end of the module, students will have been equipped to engage actively with some of the best literature in Middle English and to understand the nature of its linguistic and literary challenges.
Skills outcomes and Graduate Attributes
In terms of Academic Excellence this module develops critical thinking, flexibility of thought and analytical skills. It supports and develops the ability to work autonomously, initiative, planning and organisational skills. Students will learn to analyse information, synthesise views and make connections; students will be critically aware of, and be informed by, current knowledge; and will develop research skills. In short:
- Skills for effective communication, oral and written.
- Capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse.
- Ability to acquire quantities of complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way.
- Capacity for independent thought and judgement.
- Critical reasoning.
- Research skills, including information retrieval skills, the organisation of material, and the evaluation of its importance.
- IT skills.
- Time management and organisational skills.
- Independent learning.
Skills for effective communication, oral and written.
Capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse.
Ability to acquire quantities of complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way.
Capacity for independent thought and judgement.
Critical reasoning.
Research skills, including information retrieval skills, the organisation of material, and the evaluation of its importance.
IT skills.
Time management and organisational skills.
Independent learning.
The principal Geoffrey Chaucer texts for study are all drawn from 'The Canterbury Tales': The General Prologue, The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Merchant's Tale, The Nonnes Prestes Tale. We will also study the Prologue and Passus 1-7 of Langland's kaleidoscopic visionary epic 'Piers Plowman', and the anonymous Arthurian romance 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'. Passages for close study from four of the texts will be identified in the module documents issued at the start of the semester.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 22 | 1 | 22 |
| Seminar | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Private study hours | 168 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 32 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Seminar preparation, reading, essay writing.
Contribution to seminars.
Unassessed assignment.
| Exam type | Exam duration | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc) | 3.0 Hrs Mins | 100 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Exams) | 100 | |
One unassessed essay of approximately 1700 words (including quotations and footnotes) is required, for which the deadline is given in the Undergraduate Student Handbook. This does not form part of the examination for this module, but is a module requirement and MUST be submitted. Students who fail to submit the unassessed essay will be awarded a maximum mark of 40 for the module (a bare Pass).
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 2/15/2013
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team