| Unit name | 'Making it New': Classical Poetry in English, from Chaucer to Ted Hughes |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL30061 |
| Credit points | 30 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Emeritus Professor. Hopkins |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
Normally, the successful completion of appropriate Level 2 English units |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit explores the ways in which English (and some Scots, Irish and American) poets over the last five centuries have turned to the Greek and Roman classics as a means of self-expression, self-transcendence and self-rebuke. The unit will concentrate on the diverse and unpredictable ways in which classical poetry has been 'made new' in English, rather than attempt to delineate a continuous, homogeneous 'classical tradition' or 'classical heritage'. Poets considered will include Chaucer, Gavin Douglas, Marlowe, Chapman, Jonson, Cowley Dryden, Pope, Swift, Cowper, Shelley, Tennyson, Pound, Lowell, Logue, Harrison. No knowledge of Greek or Latin will be required. The unit will be based on The Oxford Book of Classical Verse in Translation (ed. Adrian Poole and Jeremy Maule), supplemented where necessary by other anthologies and handouts.
