CW321-30 Poetry in English since 1945
Introductory description
EN3E5-30 Poetry in English since 1945
Module aims
The module provides a critical overview of some of the main currents and writers of poetry in English worldwide since the end of the Second World War. It covers a broad range of formal and linguistic approaches, a variety of poetics, and very different understandings of the relation of poetry in the period to belief, to society, to cultural dynamics, to the sense of self, and to thought. Evolving beyond the heyday of Modernism, poetry has used language from the plain to the intellectually dense, from high to demotic or dialect; it has found subject matter in religion and myth, in history and in the contemporary scene, in the nature of self and affect, in the natural and the manmade worlds, and in the paradoxes of the act of writing itself. Poetry has honoured its age-old debts to society but at the same time has insisted more radically than ever before on its autonomy. The module emphasizes that important poetry in English now originates from many places in the English-speaking world, not only in the traditional centres of the UK and the US.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
Autumn term
Week 1
Introduction
Poetry and the speaking voice
Poetry and tradition(s)
Poetry and national identity
Poetry and post-colonial identity
Poetry: the public and the personal
Poetry, religion, myth
Rhythm, image and the anti-rational
Week 2
Post-War US poetry (1): a polarity
Richard Wilbur and Allen Ginsberg
Week 3
Post-War US poetry (2): the speaking voice
Elizabeth Bishop and Frank O’Hara
Week 4
Post-War US poetry (3): the public and the personal
Sylvia Plath and Robert Lowell
Week 5
Post-War US poetry (4): alternative routes
John Ashbery and Charles Simic
Reading Week
Week 7
Poetry and English identity:
Philip Larkin and Geoffrey Hill
Week 8
Poetry and Caribbean identity:
Derek Walcott
Week 9
Poetry and Irish identity:
Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley and Derek Mahon
Week 10
Poetry and urban identity
Ciaran Carson (Belfast) and Tony Harrison (Leeds)
Spring term
Week 1
Poetry and Australian identity (1):
A. D. Hope and Les Murray
Week 2
Poetry and Australian identity (2):
Judith Wright and Robert Gray
Week 3
Poetry and self
Sharon Olds, Michael Hofmann and Hugo Williams
Week 4
Poetry and medicine (1)
A. D. Hope, Julia Darling and Hugo Williams
Week 5
Poetry and medicine (2)
Thom Gunn, Peter Reading and Rebecca Goss
Reading Week
Week 7
Poetry and myth (1)
Allen Curnow and James K. Baxter
Week 8 1 Mar
Poetry and myth (2)
Ted Hughes
Week 9
Poetry, forms and freedoms (1)
Free verse and syllabics
Week 10
Poetry, forms and freedoms (2)
The sonnet from Claude McKay to Tony Barnstone
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- demonstrate a sophisticated conceptual understanding of the field, and a corresponding ability to develop and sustain an argument;
- articulate independent, self-reflective thinking and effectively communicate information, arguments and analysis in a variety of forms, commenting on scholarly debates;
- demonstrate an awareness of the complex aesthetic, societal and cultural issues underpinning different schools of poetics since 1945, and an ability to express their thinking in flexible and effective written English, observing scholarly standards of presentation;
- demonstrate an ability to distinguish and articulate the principal national and international currents in anglophone poetics since 1945, and an awareness of scholarship in the field;
- exhibit an advanced degree of independence in critical thinking and analysis.
Subject specific skills
No subject specific skills defined for this module.
Transferable skills
No transferable skills defined for this module.
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Seminars | 18 sessions of 1 hour 30 minutes (9%) |
| Private study | 273 hours (91%) |
| Total | 300 hours |
Private study description
Reading & research
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
|||
| Written Assignment (4000 words) | 50% | Yes (extension) | |
Reassessment component is the same |
|||
Assessment component |
|||
| Commentary (1500 words) | 50% | Yes (extension) | |
Reassessment component is the same |
|||
Feedback on assessment
Feedback on assessed work on completion of the module course will be given electronically (via Tabula) and, if desired by the student, verbally.
Courses
This module is Optional for:
- Year 3 of UENA-Q300 Undergraduate English Literature
- Year 3 of UENA-QP36 Undergraduate English Literature and Creative Writing
- Year 4 of UENA-QP37 Undergraduate English Literature and Creative Writing with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of UENA-Q301 Undergraduate English Literature with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of UENA-QW35 Undergraduate English and Theatre Studies with Intercalated Year
This module is Option list A for:
- Year 3 of UCXA-QQ37 Undergraduate Classics and English
This module is Option list B for:
- Year 3 of UTHA-QW34 Undergraduate English and Theatre Studies
This module is Option list C for:
- Year 3 of UPHA-VQ72 Undergraduate Philosophy and Literature
- Year 4 of UPHA-VQ73 Undergraduate Philosophy and Literature with Intercalated Year