English Literature - 20th Century Poetry
Instance: 2011/2012 - 1S
Cycles of Study/Courses
Teaching language
English
Objectives
Contemporary Poetry of the British Isles:
some poets and their contexts
This course aims to offer students a perspective on the poetry of the British Isles over the past fifty years. The programme will focus on the work of three poets – Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney –, but other influential voices in the definition of major currents of twentieth-century poetry in English will also be duly acknowledged. Students will be prompted to consider the programme’s primary texts in some of their defining formal and thematic features, as much as in their relation to the the traditions they integrate and inflect. Their study will be framed both by a theoretical consideration of the lyric and a review of the historical contexts for the textual output with which the programme is centrally concerned.
Program
Programme:
1. Introduction
1.1. The lyric: some forms and traditions
1.2. Contemporary Poetry of the British Isles: a brief overview
2. British and Irish Poetry since the 1950s: some enabling voices
2.1. Philip Larkin: the poet and his circumstance; the “Movement” and beyond;
2.2. Ted Hughes: from mythmaking to “green” poetry – and the autobiographical register
2.3. Seamus Heaney: ground, polis and vision; contexts for an Irish poet;
3. Legacies and continuities
Mandatory literature
HEANEY, Seamus; Opened Ground: Poems 1966-1996, Faber, 1998. ISBN: 978-0571194933
HUGHES, Ted; Collected Poems, Faber, 2005. ISBN: 978-0571227907
LARKIN, Philip; Collected Poems, Faber, 2003. ISBN: 978-0571216543
Complementary Bibliography
CORCORAN, Neil; English Poetry Since 1940, Longman, 1993
CORCORAN, Neil; Seamus Heaney, Faber, 1986
CORCORAN, Neil; Poets of Modern Ireland: Text, Context, Intertext, Univ of Wales Press, 1999
DAY, Gary (ed.). ; British Poetry 1900-1950: aspects of tradition, St Martin's Press, 1995
DRAPER, R.P; An Introduction to Twentieth Century Poetry in English, Macmillan, 1999
EVERETT, Barbara; Poets in their Time: Essays on English Poetry from Donne to Larkin., O.U.P, 1992
HAMILTON, Ian; The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English, O.U.P, 1994
HEANEY, Seamus; The Government of the Tongue: The 1986 T.S. Eliot Memorial Lectures and Other Critical Writings, Faber, 1988
HEANEY, Seamus; Preoccupations: Selected Prose 1968-1978, Faber, 1980
MORRISON, Blake; The Movement: English Poetry and Fiction of the 1950s, Methuen, 1986
NICHOLLS, Peter; Modernisms: A Literary Guide, Macmillan, 1995
O’DONOGHUE, Bernard; Seamus Heaney and the Language of Poetry, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1994
OUSBY, Ian (ed.); The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. 2nd edn. , C.U.P., 1993
PERKINS, David; A History of Modern Poetry: Modernism and After, Harvard U.P., 1987
ROSSEN, Janice; Philip Larkin: his life’s work, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989
SAGAR, Keith (ed); The Achievement of Ted Hughes, Manchester U.P, 1983
SAGAR, Keith; Ted Hughes, Longman, 1972
SINFIELD, Alan. ; Literature, Politics and Culture in Postwar Britain, Blackwell, 1989
SINFIELD, Alan (ed); Society and Literature 1945-1970, Methuen, 1983
THWAITE, Anthony; Twentieth-Century English Poetry: an Introduction, Heinemann, 1979
WARD, John Powell; The English Line: from Wordsworth to Larkin, Macmillan, 1991
WHALEN, Terry; Philip Larkin and English Poetry, Macmillan, 1990
WELCH, Robert (ed.); The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature, O.U.P., 1996
Teaching methods and learning activities
In accordance with decisions made with regard to all initial degrees in this Faculty, the course will be run on the basis of lectures, seminars, and tutorials. Students will be expected to adopt a productive and committed attitude towards their study, regularly submitting short essays and giving brief presentations in class. Other specificities of the course will be directly described to students at the beginning of the semester.
Relevant workload and elements for assessment:
Description No. of estimated hours
Lectures/seminars 56
Written examination 2
Preparation of essay or study report 31
Preparation for exam 73
Total: 162
keywords
Humanities > Literature > European literature > Germanic literature > English literature
Humanities > Literature > Literary criticism
Humanities
Evaluation Type
Distributed evaluation with final exam
Assessment Components
Description |
Type |
Time (hours) |
Weight (%) |
End date |
Attendance (estimated) |
Participação presencial |
56,00 |
|
|
|
Exame |
2,00 |
|
2012-02-11 |
|
Trabalho escrito |
31,00 |
|
2012-02-11 |
|
Total: |
- |
0,00 |
|
Amount of time allocated to each course unit
Description |
Type |
Time (hours) |
End date |
|
Estudo autónomo |
73 |
2012-02-11 |
|
Total: |
73,00 |
|
Eligibility for exams
Students will have to attend a minimum 75% of all lessons, except in those cases where special legal provisions apply.
Calculation formula of final grade
The model of assessment chosen for this course relies on three different components:
a) a 2-hour written examination on topics connected with the work of the poets included in the programme; this test will be taken at the end of the semester;
b) a paper (ranging in length from a minimum of 2500 to a maximum of 4000 words, submitted on A4 pages, in Times New Roman 12, 1.5-spaced) on a well-defined topic. The topic should be chosen under the guidance and with the agreement of the course lecturer; deadline for choice of topics: 28 October. It should be sharply focused, addressing its chosen theme without lengthy introductions on contexts, etc. This should be delivered preferably before Christmas; or, at the latest, by 4 January 2012;
c) an oral presentation and discussion of a poem - to be selected with the agreement of the course lecturer; deadline for choice of topics: 28 October. Such presentations should be timed for a maximum of 20 minutes and will be scheduled for the aulas práticas. Such presentations should begin in early November and continue through December. Marks given for these will integrate the student’s overall participation in class in the course of the semester.
Formula for assessment:
(a x 3) + (b x 2) + c
6
Examinations or Special Assignments
not applicable
Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)
not applicable
Classification improvement
Please see the Feculty's current "Normas de Avaliação" [Guidelines for Assessment], "Art. 12.º – Melhoria de classificação"
Observations
All classes and other activities will be conducted in English.