| Unit name | Classical Receptions in English Poetry: A Masterclass |
|---|---|
| Unit code | CLASM1024 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Martindale |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Classics & Ancient History |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
For many of the great English poets the works of classical antiquity constituted one of the most important aspects of their experience of the world. Homer and Virgil and Horace taught not only how to write but also how to live. In imitating classical poetry English poets were finding out what sort of writers the ancients were, and in the process finding out what sort of writers they themselves were or might be. This unit concentrates on the period 1580-1780, and particularly on the works of its two greatest poets, Shakespeare and Milton; but there will be the opportunity to study works by other poets, including Marlowe, Jonson, Marvell, Dryden, and Pope, as well as poets of later date who looked back to the earlier period, e.g. T. S. Eliot. The aim is a close and sophisticated critical engagement, informed by exploration of current theories of reception and intertextuality, with the complex interactions between Classical and English poetry.
