Aims and Fit of Module

This module introduces students to the study of English literature in context, from around 1600 to the present. The module will provide students with contextual frames for reading texts that are key cultural reference points, and will enable students to become aware of the ways literary texts – and literary features including form, character, plot and genre – reflect and interact with the social and historical conditions of their production.

Learning outcomes

A. read and analyze various kinds of literary text in English, including historic (pre-1900) texts

B. combine skills of close reading with a relevant theoretical and contextual approaches

C. structure coherent, researched, and theoretically-informed essays relating literary texts to contexts.

D. deploy and critique the methodologies of historicist criticism


E. structure coherent, researched, and theoretically-informed analyses of literary texts in context

Method of teaching and learning

The teaching sessions divide into Lectures and Seminars. Lectures offer content on texts and contexts, and provide examples of how texts can be read and understood contextually. Seminars require students to present and interrogate ideas, to develop critical positions in detail, and to explore literary, contextual, and secondary/critical reading materials in depth.