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2021/2022

Early English Literature

Code: 100245 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500245 English Studies OB 3 1
2501902 English and Catalan OT 3 0
2501902 English and Catalan OT 4 0
2501907 English and Classics OT 3 0
2501907 English and Classics OT 4 0
2501910 English and Spanish OT 3 0
2501910 English and Spanish OT 4 0
2501913 English and French OT 3 0
2501913 English and French OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Joan Curbet Soler
Email:
Joan.Curbet@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)
Some groups entirely in English:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Teachers

Jordi Coral Escola

Prerequisites

Taking this subject requires having mastered the contents of the first-year subject "Història i Cultura de les Illes Britàniques". There is a further pre-requirement: having between the C1 and the C2 level of English (advanced) of the Common European framework of the Reference for Laguages: Learning, Teaching, and Assessment, on the basis of which the student can express him or hserself with fluidity and spontaneity, and use the language in a pratical and flexible way for social, academic and professional purposes.

Objectives and Contextualisation

This subject offers a comprehensive introduction to the main genres of English literature from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries. As such, it is based on detailed critical and textual analysis of some key texts written in the period. It also seeks to familiarize students with current trends in the critical reception of this literary corpus. In successfully completing the course, students will acquire the following skills:

Read and write about English medieval literature in a sufficiently sophisticated way to do justice to its complexities and subtleties.

Enrich their conception of the main literary genres and their uses in medieval and early modern England.  

Improve their understanding of the intersection between literary text, historical context, and cultural values.  

Learn how to take advantage of the resources of a modern university library to interpret and write about pre- and early-modern literary texts.

Competences

    English Studies
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
    English and Catalan
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
    English and Classics
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
    English and Spanish
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
    English and French
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analysing and interpreting in a basic level literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  2. Analysing and interpreting texts in a medium level about the literary genres and literary criticism in English.
  3. Appropriately place literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era in their corresponding linguistic context.
  4. Appropriately placing literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era in their corresponding historical and cultural context.
  5. Appropriately placing literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era in their corresponding linguistic context.
  6. Carry out oral presentations in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  7. Carrying out oral presentations in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  8. Communicating in the studied language in oral and written form, properly using vocabulary and grammar.
  9. Compare in a medium level the methodologies of literary criticism in English.
  10. Comparing in a medium level the methodologies of literary criticism in English.
  11. Contextualize literary texts in contemporary times before in its corresponding English language environment.
  12. Demonstrating a sound knowledge about the topics related to the study of literature and culture.
  13. Describing the historical and thematic evolution of the literary text in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  14. Distinguish the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of contemporary literary texts in English.
  15. Distinguishing the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of literary texts of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  16. Distinguishing the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of primary and secondary texts related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  17. Draw up brief argumentative essays or text comments in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  18. Drawing up brief argumentative essays or text comments in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  19. Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
  20. Identifying the main currents, authors, genres and texts of the main literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  21. Localise secondary academic sources in the library or on the Internet related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  22. Localising secondary academic sources in the library or on the Internet related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  23. Make judgements of value in relation to the literary criticism in English associated with the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  24. Making judgements of value in relation to the literary criticism in English associated with the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  25. Participating in face-to-face and virtual debates in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  26. Summarise the content of primary and secondary academic sources related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  27. Summarising the content of primary and secondary academic sources related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.

Content

COURSE DESCRIPTION

  1. Orígens de la Literatura Anglesa provides an introduction to the most significant literary genres of the Middle Ages and early modern period in England. It focusses on a reading of literary texts in historical context which takes into account the complex interaction between literature, culture and society.
  2. This subject is indispensable to complete the undergraduate curriculum in the history of English literature.
  3. On successfully completing Orígens de la Literatura Anglesa, students will be able to:

a) show good reading comprehension skills in both poetry and prose of the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period;
b) develop basic literary criticism skills through essays and class presentations;
c) be able to use the library resources as applied to this subject matter.

SYLLABUS

Unit 1: The origins and development of the Arthurian Romance: a reading of Perceval and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Unit 2: Geoffrey Chaucer andnarrative poetry: the Canterbury Tales.

Unit 3: Humanism and Reformation: Thomas More’s Utopia and selected religious writing.

Unit 4: Renaissance Poetry: sonnet sequences (Wyatt, Howard, Sidney and Spenser)

Methodology

This subject seeks to combine conventional methodologies associated with the theoretical dimension of the course (lectures) with more dynamic approaches to the literary text that encourage students to get actively involved with class activities (group discussion and debate). Thus, the principal learning strategies will be as follows:

  • Introducing the background to each of the main units covered in class (lectures)
  • Critical and textual analysis involving the active participation of the students
  • Class debates which reflect and stimulate diverging interpretations of the text
  • Critical writing that synthesises the acquired knowledge and demonstrates the acquired skills

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 30 1.2 2, 10, 13, 16, 24, 20
Practical classes, text analysis and class debates 35 1.4 1, 2, 10, 24
Type: Supervised      
Class discussion and debates 20 0.8 2, 10, 24, 19, 7, 25
Type: Autonomous      
Reading 25 1 1, 15, 20, 27
Revising for exams 15 0.6 13, 20, 22, 27

Assessment

Assessment of this course is based on the following percentages:

  • Exam 1 = 45%
  • Exam 2  = 45%
  • Participation in class discussion, debates and other class activities = 10%

 NB: Group discussion will be normal practice in this subject and students will be expected actively to contribute to class discussions.

Exam 1 will take place during week 7 or 8; exam 2 during the final teaching week of the semester, i.e. 15. 

 PLEASE NOTE:

  • The minimum pass mark is 5 for all exams and activities. Students who have failed one of the two exams but passed the other will have the opportunity of a resit examination ("recuperació"). In this case, the maximum final grade will be 5. Students who fail one of the two exams will have to retake it in order to pass the subject.
  • All the subjects in this degree follow continuous assessment.
  • All the exercises are compulsory.
  • Students who take only one of the exams will fail the subject ('Suspens') and an ‘NA’ (‘no avaluable’ or ‘no evidence’) final grade will not be an option for them.
  • The minimum mark for an exercise or exam to be considered for the average final mark is 3,5, although the minimum pass mark for the whole subject is 5.
  • The student’s command of English will be taken into account when marking all exercises and for the final mark. It will count as 25% of this mark for all the exercises and will be assessed as follows:
    • Grammar (morphology and syntax): 30%
    • Vocabulary (accuracy and variety): 15%
    • Cohesion (among sentences and paragraphs): 15%
    • Organization (sound argumentation of ideas): 20%
    • Style (expression and register): 15%
    • Spelling: 5%
  • Reviewing procedure: Students have a right to review their exercises with the teacher in apersonal tutorial, on the set dates, never later than 2 weeks after the exercise/exam is marked, including re-assessment.The student loses thisright if s/he fails to collect the exercise/exam within the period announced by the teacher.
  • Re-assessment conditions:
    • Only students who pass one of the two exams may take re-assessment.
    • A re-assessment exam is always programmed by the ‘Facultat’ but the teacher may offer other forms of re-assessment for the exercises

  • Procedure for Reviewing Grades Awarded: on carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place. 

     

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Partial or total plagiarising will immediately result in a FAIL (0) for the plagiarised exercise or the WHOLE SUBJECT. if instances of plagiarism are repeated. PLAGIARISING consists of copying text from unacknowledged sources –whether this is part of a sentence or a whole text– with the intention of passing it off as the student’s own production. It includes cutting and pasting from internet sources, presented unmodified in the student’s own text. Plagiarising is a SERIOUS OFFENCE. Students must respect authors’ intellectual property, always identifying the sources they may use; they must also be responsible for the originality and authenticity of their own texts.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

ONLINE TOOLS: In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

IMPORTANT: Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment ítems.

In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Exam 1 45% 2 0.08 1, 2, 10, 9, 4, 5, 3, 12, 13, 15, 14, 24, 8, 7, 20, 21, 25, 17, 26
Exam 2 45% 2 0.08 1, 2, 10, 11, 4, 3, 5, 12, 13, 15, 16, 14, 24, 23, 8, 7, 20, 22, 21, 25, 18, 17, 27, 26
Practicipation in debates 10% 21 0.84 19, 7, 6, 25

Bibliography

 

The following editions of the primary texts are recommended and will be used in class:

Helen Cooper (ed.), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trans. by Keith Harrison, Oxford World's Classics, OUP, 2008.

Thomas More, Utopia, ed. by Dominic Baker-Smith, Penguin Classics, Penguin Books, 2012.

 

UNIT 1  Chivalric romance: The Story of the Grail and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Optional further reading:  Lancelot du Lac, Queste du Graal, La Morte D´Arthur by Thomas Malory (1485).

UNIT 2 The poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales (in particular, General Prologue,and The Miller´s Tales. Optional further reading: Troilus and Criseyde, The Parlyament of Fowles.

UNIT 3 Humanism and the Reformation.  Utopia by Thomas More (1516); Selected texts from “Faith in Conflict”, Norton Anthology I. Optional further reading:  A Dialogue of Comfort by Thomas More (1534).

UNIT 4 Renaissance poetry. Selected sonnets by Thomas Wyatt, Isabella Whitney, Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser. Optional further reading: A Defence of Poetry by Sir Philip Sidney (1595);  Amoretti and Epithalamion by Edmund Spenser (1595)

Websites

The Internet Medieval Sourcebook: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html

English Literature on the Web: http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/EngLit.html - The Norton Online: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/ 

Other recommended texts:

Aers, David (ed.), Medieval Literature: Criticism, Ideology and History, ed. David Aers, (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986).
Boitani, Piero and Jill Mann, (eds), The Cambridge Chaucer Companion, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986).
Glasscoe, Marion, English Medieval Mystics,  (London: Longman, 1993).
Jost, Jean A., Middle English Arthurian Romances: A Reference Guide, (Boston, 1986).
Krueger, Roberta L., (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance, (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000).
Easting, Robert, Visions of the Other World in Middle English, (Rochester, NY, 1997).
Levi, Anthony. Renaissance and Reformation: Intellectual Genesis, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002).
Mahoney, Dhira, (ed.), The Grail:A Casebook, ed. Dhira Mahoney (New York and London: Garland, 2000).
Mann, Jill. Feminizing Chaucer, (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer, 2002).
Norbrook, David (ed.) The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse, (London: Penguin, 2005).
Wallace, David, The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature, (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999).

Software

No specific software will be used.