Universidad de Jaén

Estudio histórico y filológico de las principales etapas, movimientos, autores y obras de la literatura inglesa.

Since Literatura Inglesa I must have offered the students sufficient background information concerning English literary history, the main objective of this course is to promote the critical appreciation of some relevant texts written in England until 1660, and to produce a more sophisticated approach to those texts. Therefore the distinction between «theoretical» and «practical sessions» is by no means clear: after a relevant-to-the-text introduction on the authors and works that will focus on the dialectics text-context, cultural materialist close-reading of the texts in the form of thematic and stylistic discussions will be the basic approach. This will be complemented by the inclusion of selected literary criticism on the chosen works. This type of approach obviously requires attentive reading on the part of the student as a previous step. Another central aim of this course is the promotion of actual production by the students of critical texts in English. These essays are the best indicator of students' progress.

<sub>1. ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE.
1.1. Religious poetry.
1.1.1. The Dream of the Rood.
1.2. Epic and elegiac poetry.
1.2.1. The Wanderer.
2. MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE.
2.1. Geoffrey Chaucer.
2.1.1. The Canterbury Tales: «The General Prologue».
2.2. Women writers.
2.2.1. The Book of Margery Kempe, [The Birth of Her First Child and Her First Vision]
3. THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
3.1. Prose.
3.1.1. Robert Burton. The Anatomy of Melancholy: from «Love Melancholy»
3.2. Poetry.
3.2.1. Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Elder: «The Long Love that in My Thought Doth Harbor».
3.2.2. Sir Philip Sidney. Astrophel and Stella: Sonnets 18 & 41.
3.2.3. Edmund Spenser. The Faerie Queene: Book I, Canto I.
3.3. Drama.
3.3.1. William Shakespeare: Othello.
4. EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
4.1. Poetry.
4.1.1. John Donne: «The Canonization», Holy Sonnets: 7.
4.2. Drama.
4.3. Prose.
4.3.1. Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan, part 1, chapter 13.
5. JOHN MILTON.
5.1. Paradise Lost: Book I, ll. 1-49; Book III, ll. 1-54.</sub>

This class is intended to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of English literary writing of the period, and with the ability to produce and engage in coherent and learned dialogue with the texts. Consequently, oral discussion on the texts, previously prepared by students, will be conducted on a daily basis almost: this will constitute the core of the class. Students are expected to provide their insights on the texts, and to assimilate information and produce moderately advanced pieces of scholarly writing on relevant topics .

Those students who do not come to class will be examined 100% in the final exam. The exam will consist of four essays.

Those who come to class will be evaluated in the following way:

• Class attendance and participation: 15%, although I must reiterate here that participation is essential to be able to obtain these marks. Somebody who comes to class but spends their time talking or doing other things will not be evaluated positively here. Students must show they have read the texts, try to follow the class discussions, ask relevant questions and show  interest.
• During the term time each student who comes to class will be allocated with an obligatory essay which they must do and which will count as 20% of their final mark.
• The final exam will constitute 65% of the final mark. Here the student will have to write essays on three topics (a choice will be given), excluding the topic that he or she has done their obligatory essay on.

All aspects will be taken into account here: preparation before and after classes, reading the set texts in due time, participation in class discussions (which is not easy if the student has not done the preliminary reading), essay writing, etc. All essay writing that is done must be original work. Anything copied from any source, whether from the Internet or elsewhere will automatically be granted a 0. Students must endeavour to learn to write essays by themselves and this effort will be rewarded accordingly, especially if a student shows a strong progress in this skill.