ENH3370

Old English literature

C Stevenson

8 points
* 3 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton
* Prerequisites: ENH2170/ENH3170

Objectives Students taking this subject should develop skills in reading and analysing the language of Old English at a more advanced level than that required for ENH2170/ENH3170, with a consequent capacity to read in their original language the complex and substantial literary texts prescribed for study; a broad knowledge of the historical and cultural background of these texts; knowledge and understanding of early medieval literary theory and in particular of the nature and practice of rhetoric in Anglo-Saxon England; a capacity to analyze the complex and unique structure of the long narrative poem Beowulf.

Synopsis A study of Old English lyric and narrative poems and homiletic prose texts beginning with an analysis of rhetorical style in the prose and continuing with an examination of some critical approaches to the study of Old English poetry, applied to the text of Beowulf. Students who wish may specialise in the language of the period.

Assessment Essay (2500 words): 40%
* Essay (2500 words): 40%
* Seminar assessment (1000 words): 20%

Prescribed texts

Noble J and Moore B Old English texts Monash U, 1990
Stevenson C (ed.) Beowulf Monash U, 1994
Wrenn C L (ed.) Beowulf rev. Bolton, U Exeter P, 1988