ENH2170

Old English

C Stevenson

8 points - 3 hours per week - First semester - Clayton - Pre- or corequisite: ENH2020 - Exemption with permission of the head of department.

Objectives Students taking this subject should develop skills in reading and analysing the language of Old English at a basic level, with a consequent capacity to read in their original language the literary texts prescribed for study; a broad knowledge of the historical and cultural background of these texts; knowledge and understanding of Anglo-Saxon literary genres and in particular the nature of and conventions used in hagiography, heroic poetry (both secular and religious), and the Old English elegy.

Synopsis A study of the language and literature of Anglo-Saxon England. After an intensive introduction to the Old English language, the subject will cover a number of prose texts with cultural and historical significance (selections from The Anglo-Saxon chronicles, Alfredian texts, Aelfric's Life of St Edmund). The second half of the subject concentrates on Old English poetry, both secular and religious ('The Battle of Maldon', 'The Dream of the Rood', 'The Wanderer', 'The Seafarer', and the shorter elegies).

Assessment Two exercises (1500 words each): 25% each - Essay (2500 words): 40% - Seminar assessment (500 words): 10% - An optional examination (3 hours) may replace up to 40% of the written work.

Prescribed texts

Crossley-Holland K The Anglo-Saxon world OUP, 1984
Noble J and Moore B Old English texts Monash U, 1990

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