The English Epic and its Background 3301-LB2026
A comprehensive study of the development of the English epic viewed in the context of the Western epic tradition. The course starts with an extensive introductory part comprising of the analysis of the epics of Homer and Virgil read in significant translations by Chapman, Dryden, Pope, Cowper and C.Day Lewis and excerpts from Italian epic (Orlando Furioso, Jerusalem Delivered). The English epic poems discussed in the main part of the course include large sections of Spenser's The Fairy Queen abd full texts of Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained.
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
Students will be able to:
- Identify and characterize on an advanced level the place and status of the epic studies within the humanities
- Describe on an advanced level the current trends in the research of the English epic and its background
- Characterize on an advanced level the principles of research design in literary and culture studies with special focus on the application of methods and tools in formulating research problems in the field of the English epic and its background
- Identify the notions and principles pertinent to intellectual property and copyright
Abilities
Students will be able to:
- Apply advanced terminology and notions pertinent to the discipline of literary studies in the context of the study of epic and its background
- Apply advanced research methodology within epic studies, respecting ethical norms and copyright law
- Apply knowledge obtained during the course of studies to account for and solve a problem, thereby completing a research task related to the studies of the English epic and its background
- Analyze the examples of the English epic and draw generalizations on their basis in the context of societal, historical and economic factors on an advanced level
- Discern alternative methodological paradigms within the epic studies
- Find information in various sources and critically assess its usefulness for research related to the topic of the MA project
Social competences
Students will be ready to:
- Apply knowledge and skills obtained during the course to undertake lifelong learning, as well as personal and professional development
- Take responsibility for performing one’s professional duties, with due respect for the work of others during the course, obey and develop the ethical norms in professional and academic settings related to the studies of the English epic and its background
- Assess critically one’s own knowledge and skills related to the epic studies
- Value cultural heritage and cultural diversity as well as individual opinions
Education at language level B2+.
Assessment criteria
Oral exam (re-sit also in oral form).
Bibliography
Bednarek, Bogusław (2001) Epos europejski (European Epic). Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego.
Bela, Teresa (1994) The Image of the Queen in Elizabethan Poetry. Kraków: Uniwersytet Jagielloński.
Bell, Clair Hayden (1922) The Sister's Son in the Medieval German Epic. A study in the survival of matriliny. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Ben-Amos, D. (ed.) (1976) Folklore Genres. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Beye, Charles Rowan (1993) Ancient Epic Poetry, Homer, Apollonius Virgil. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Bowra, C. M. (1952) Heroic Poetry. London: Macmillan.
Burns, N. T., and Reagan Christopher, (ed.) (1976) Concepts of the Hero in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
Bystydzienska, Grażyna(1982) The English Mock-Heroic Poem of the 18th century. Warsaw: PWN.
Draper, R. P. (ed.) (1990) The Epic: Developments in Criticism. London: Macmillan.
Haber, Tom Burns (1931) A Comparative Study of the Beowulf and the Aeneid. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Hunter, G. K. (1980) Paradise Lost, London: George Allen and Unwin.
Levy, G. R. (1953) The Sword from the Rock, An Investigation into the Origins of Epic Literature and the Development of the Hero. London: Faber and Faber.
Lewis, C. S. (1942) A Preface to Paradise Lost. London: Oxford University Press.
Miller, Dean A. (2000) The Epic Hero. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Nicholson, Lewis E. (ed.) (1963) An Anthology of Beowulf Criticism. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Revard, Stella Purce (1980) The War in Heaven, Paradise Lost and the Tradition of Satan's Rebellion. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Steadman, John M. (1968) Milton's Epic Characters. Image and Idol. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
Steadman, John M. (1987) Milton and the Paradoxes of Renaissance Heroism. Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press.
Tillyard, E. M. W. (1966) The English Epic and its Background. New York: Oxford University Press.
Additional information
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