The seven ages of poetry
Time: 12:30 - 14:30
Location: Keeley Street
This course has now finished
- Course Code: HLT161
- Dates: 16/01/24 - 26/03/24
- Time: 12:30 - 14:30
- Taught: Tue, Daytime
- Duration: 10 sessions (over 11 weeks)
- Location: Keeley Street
- Tutor: Julian Birkett
Course Code: HLT161
Duration: 10 sessions (over 11 weeks)
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What is the course about?
This in- college literature course will enable students to engage with texts from the dazzling history of poetry in English, and gain an understanding of how poetry - and the English language - has evolved in style and form and subject matter in the course of 1300 years.
What will we cover?
We’ll be looking at the origins of poetry in the oral (spoken) tradition by looking at the great Anglo Saxon epic, the anonymous Beowulf. Although we will be reading extracts in translation there will also be a chance to savour some of the poem in the original.
We’ll explore the themes of medieval poetry before examining how Elizabethan poets like Shakespeare and Thomas Wyatt brought the sonnet form to perfection. Their Jacobean successors developed the idea of wit in their intriguingly complex and playful work.
We’ll go on to explore the 18thC Augustans, with their classically inspired satires and mock epics, and the Romantics, who put emotion and transcendence at the heart of their writing.
We will end our journey with the poets of the early twentieth century, led by TS Eliot and his fellow Modernists, who had one overriding aim: make it new. Which they did.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
Identify different poetic forms across the ages
Link them to contemporary ideas about the nature and purpose of poetry.
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
No previous knowledge of poetry is needed – just an enthusiasm to explore and to discuss.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
Short tutor lecture, large and small group work, discussion. Students will be asked to read selected texts before each class.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
All texts will be provided by the tutor.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
Other poetry courses include HLT29 An Introduction to Poetry; HLTHLT302 Emily Dickinson; HLT53 Poetry of the 30s; HLT315 'Bowers of Bliss'? Gardens and the poetic imagination. Look for these and other literature courses under History, Culture and Writing/Literature/Poetry at www.citylit.ac.uk.
Julian Birkett is a teacher and writer specialising in modern literature. He previously worked in the Arts department at the BBC as a producer of series such as The Late Show, Modern Poets in their Own Words, The Victorians and The Culture Show. He has taught in London and at the University of Mumbai.He aims to create a friendly but thoughtful atmosphere in his City Lit classes and to provide a stimulating variety of activities from tutor input to discussion to group work and video clips.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.