spring 2019 ENG-3195 Poetry: Innovations in Genre - 10 ECTS

Application deadline

Applicants from Nordic countries: 1 June for the autumn semester and 1 December for the spring semester.

Exchange students and Fulbright students: 15 April for the autumn semester and 1 October for the spring semester.

Application code: 9371 - Enkeltemner på masternivå (Nordic applicants).


Type of course

This course is intended for students in the master's programme in English literature and students in the the master's programme in education year 8-13 (lektorutdanning, studieretning engelsk). It may be taken as a single course by students who meet the admission requirements for the master's programme in English literature.

This course fulfils the Studies in genre requirement for the MA in English literature.


Admission requirements

Bachelor's degree (180 ECTS), or equivalent qualification, in English literature, or a degree combining English literature and a closely-related discipline (minimum 80 ECTS in English). An average grade equivalent to C or better (in the Norwegian grading system) in the English coursework (80 ECTS) is required.

Course content

As poets have developed and adapted their medium in recent years, they have at times embraced traditional poetic forms as productive constraints, and at others initiated formal experiments that have differed markedly from more traditional understandings of the poetic. Focusing on poetry and poetics as evolving practices in dialogue with contemporary culture, this advanced course covers major developments in Anglo-American poetry and experimental writing from the post-World War II period to the present. The course will emphasize both breadth and depth in its coverage as it surveys changes in traditional modes such as the lyric, the pastoral, and the prose poem, as well as the advent of novel forms such as found/concrete poetry, language-centered writing, and conceptualism, with particular attention to individual writers.

Objectives of the course

The students have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

Students will have:

  • Advanced knowledge of recent and contemporary developments in the history of Anglo-American poetry
  • An understanding of contemporary poetic theory and related concepts
  • An ability to combine sustained close reading skills with concepts learned in the course in reading the work of individual poets

Skills

Students will be able to:

  • Analyse and deal critically with challenging and demanding literary texts
  • Apply critical theories and methodologies in generating scholarly arguments concerning literary texts
  • Formulate original arguments to build upon existing critical discussions through oral and written communication
  • Arrive at independent understandings of demanding literary texts
  • Apply and build upon knowledge gained in the course for future work carried out at the master level


Language of instruction and examination

Language of instruction and examination: English.

Teaching methods

The course takes place for one 13-week term and meets once (a two-hour session) per week. Teaching methods will include lectures, class discussions, and independent study.

Quality assurance: All courses will be evaluated once during the period of the study program. The board of the program decides which courses will be evaluated by students and teacher each year.


Assessment

Coursework requirements: The course will include the following assignments:

Each student will give two presentations during the semester. The first will consist of a 15-minute introduction to a concept covered in the course or the work of one of the writers on the syllabus. These presentations will occur throughout the semester.

The second is to be a 10-minute oral presentation of students' final paper topics. These presentations will occur on a designated day (or days) toward the end of the semester, and will allow each student to present their topic and working thesis for group feedback and discussion.

In addition, each student will write a mid-term paper (up to 8 pages, double line spacing, submission after approximately nine weeks). This paper will consist of an edited introduction to a poem from the syllabus. Instructions to come.

The presentations and mid-term paper must be approved by the teacher before the student can submit the end-of-term paper.

Assessment method: End-of-term paper (12-15 pages, 1,5 line spacing, submission at the end of the semester). This paper is to be based on independent research concerning the work of a poet or poets from the course syllabus. Topic TBA

Performance in the course will be assessed with the grades A-F. Grades are A-E for passed and F for failed. A re-sit exam is offered in in the beginning of the following semester in cases of grade F /Fail. A postponed exam is offered in the beginning of the following semester if the student is unable to take the final exam due to illness or other exceptional circumstances. The registration deadline for re-sit/postponed examination is January 15 for autumn semester exams and August 15 for spring semester exams.


Recommended reading/syllabus

Poems, experimental texts, and essays to be announced.

Error rendering component

  • About the course
  • Campus: Tromsø |
  • ECTS: 10
  • Course code: ENG-3195