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