This course is offered in the second term of the second year of the English Studies degree. Its main goal is to give the students a general view, on the one hand of the English Medieval literary texts composed first orally and later in written form from around the 5th Century to the 15th Century, and, on the other hand of the plays by W. Shakespeare in the Renaissance period.

This subject belongs to the ‘Fundamentos de Literatura Inglesa’ Module (M04). Specifically it contributes to the achievement of module competences:

M04CM01- To understand the English language and to use it properly through the reading of different literary texts.

M04CM02- To analyze literature written in English, exploring the interaction of the literary texts with the cultural and historical context in English-speaking countries.

M04CM03- To understand, analyze and interpret critically literature in English, using adequate text analysis techniques and to transmit and discuss it in groups and individually.

M04CM04- To understand the role of literature in the creation of personal and collective ideas related to fields of general interest, such as history, social relations or gender.



Final achievement of the module competences above entails the fulfillment of the degree competences



G001 - To be able to produce and understand any type of oral and written text in English.

G002 - To know the history, civilization and culture of the English-speaking countries.

G004 - To understand, analyse and interpret English literature and to be able to evaluate critically texts and documents in English.

G006 - To be able to understand the main ideas of complex texts in a second language and to express oneself with fluency both orally and in writing in that language.

G007 - To be able to relate the specific knowledge of the degree with other areas and disciplines and to transmit that knowledge in further studies in order to favour conciliatory and tolerant attitudes towards multilingual and multicultural diversity

G008 - To be able to work autonomously and in teams, making use of the techniques and tools acquired.

G009 - To be able to transmit the knowledge acquired in different academic contexts to be used in diverse professional contexts





LEARNING OUTCOMES



In this course, students will be able to:

- listen and read with an open but critical mind literature composed and written in English between the 5th and the 16th Centuries;

- exercise critical judgment and undertake sophisticated synthesis, analysis and evaluation of varying kinds of evidence;

- read closely, analytically, and with understanding, texts from these historical periods and in different styles and genres;

- argue persuasively and with appropriate illustration and evidence, both orally and in writing;

- approach literary texts and critical issues with imagination, sensitivity and creativity;

- develop independence of mind, including an ability to challenge received opinion.

- find information, organise and deploy it;

- work well independently, with a strong sense of self-direction, but with the ability to work constructively in co-operation with others;

- plan and organise the use of time effectively, particularly in relation to the weekly timetable of tutorials and associated essays and projects;

- make appropriate use of language and IT skills.

Our purpose is to become acquainted and recognise the literary conventions of these different periods, together with their different historical, social and cultural background. Literary Analysis of some of the most outstanding texts of these times.



OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD

1. Anglo-Saxon Socio-Cultural Context.

Old Poetry. Its Forms.

2. Anglo-Latin Texts: Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum.

3. Anglo-Saxon Epic: Beowulf.

4. Religious Poetry: Cædmon, Cynewulf and The Dream of the Rood.

5. Popular Verse: “Charms”, “Gnomes”.

6. Secular Poetry: Riddles, Love Poems: Lover’s Message and Wife’s Lament.

7. Scandinavian Invasion.

Literature in King Alfred’s Time. Ælfric and Wulfstan.

8. Didactic Literature



FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO THE END OF THE MEDIEVAL AGE

1. Feudalism.

The Linguistic and Social Situation after the Norman Conquest.

2. Anglo-Norman Literature.

3. Didactic Literature -Wit and Wisdom-: The Owl and the Nightingale; Pearl.

4. Latin Writers: Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae.

5. The Romances.

The Arthurian Cycle. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Orfeo.

6. Alliterative Poetry.

7. John Gower’s Confessio Amantis.

8. Social Changes: the Decadence of the Feudal System.

9. Geoffrey Chaucer: First Works and Troilus and Criseyde, the Canterbury Tales.

10. Chaucer’s Followers. Prose: Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur and William Caxton.

11. Liturgical Origins of the Medieval Drama. Miracle Plays. Morality Plays. Interludes.

12. Other Popular Literary Forms: Ballads.

13. Gender Issues/Female Writing in Medieval English Literature:

The Katherine Group.

The Ancrene Wisse.

Julian of Norwich

The Book of Margery Kempe.



WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

THE TRANSITION STAGE. THE TUDOR RENAISSANCE

1. [Basic Essentials of the English Renaissance. The Beginning of Humanism: Thomas More. The Religious Reform.]

2. Beginning of Tudor Drama: Classic Influence. A National Drama.

THE RENAISSANCE

1. [Elizabethan Drama: Marlowe and Kyd]

2. Elizabethan Drama: Shakespeare: Comedies, 'Problem Plays,' Historical Dramas, Tragedies and Romances.

3. [Contemporaries and Successors of Shakespeare: Ben Jonson, Chapman, Middleton, and John Ford.]

The course classes combine lectures and then practical exercises with students in pairs or small groups discussing questions related to the lectures and the texts of compulsory reading.



The aim is to lead students to find pleasure in discovering and understanding and connecting with the literary texts and enable discussion of issues and values the literary texts offer us.



Thus acquire and appreciate types of communication and learn how to operate them successfully.



Finally there is the creative aspect. It highlights the need of understanding through doing. Students will be asked to write a fictional text following some characteristics seen in class



We will read significant texts from the period, analyse their content, and discuss their possible meanings, both in the context of their historical culture and our own time.



We will also identify and interpret significant thematic emphases of individual works and authors, distinguish the characteristics of each genre, period, and writer, and look for both significant connections and important innovations within and between authors/writers and periods.



As a way of examining the complicated relationship between literature, culture and authorship, we will frame our analysis of each author or text according to its historical context and examine each text through a set of social practices or 'discourses' -the 'cultural codes'- characteristic of that historical context. For the Old English period, we will examine the Heroic code, for the Middle English period, the Chivalric code.



And the new interests such as the building of a character and their psychological insights, the theatre, the ideas with Shakespeare's plays.

• Ebaluazio Jarraituaren Sistema
• Azken Ebaluazioaren Sistema
• Kalifikazioko tresnak eta ehunekoak:
  • Ahozko defentsa (%): 10
  • Praktikak egitea (ariketak, kasuak edo buruketak) (%): 10
  • Banakako lanak (%): 40
  • alde lanak (arazoen ebazpenak, proiektuen diseinuak) (%): 40

The type of assessment is Continuous. Students will be assessed according to their performance in the following testing tasks:

Oral participation in class (20%), written assignments (10%), oral presentation (20%), written partial exams (50%)





Students must bring their D.N.I. to each test/exam and show it, if requested. Those without their D.N.I. will not be allowed to sit for the exam.



The deadline for the written and oral presentation assignments is final and any work submitted later than the appointed deadline will score 0 marks.



The consequence of plagiarism (in the essays or any written work) and/or cheating (during the in-class tasks and the partial exams) is failing the course as a whole. In other words, if you plagiarise any parts of your work, or try to cheat in any way in your assignments, you will immediately score a 0 as your FINAL MARK.





Withdrawal from Continuous or Mixed Assessment: All students have the right to be evaluated according to the final evaluation procedure independently of whether or not they have participated in the continuous or mixed assessment module. In order to do so, they must write the instructor responsible for the course expressing their desire to withdraw from the continuous/mixed assessment. For quadrimestral courses, students can do so within the first 9 weeks of the course, according to the academic calendar of their centre.

Withdrawal from an exam call: Withdrawal from a call will be assessed as “no grade reported” [No Presentado/a].

1. In the case of continuous or mixed assessment, all students can withdraw from a call until at least one month before the date of the end of the teaching schedule of the corresponding course. This withdrawal must be submitted in writing to the instructor responsible for the course.

2. In the case of final assessment, not sitting the exam on the official date of the exam qualifies as an automatic withdrawal from the corresponding call.



Final Evaluation procedure/Final Assessment 100% based on the following marking criteria:

Written essay paper (25%), written exam (50%), oral presentation (25%)

The mark will be based on an exam (100%): Written essay paper (25%), written exam (50%), oral presentation (25%)



The new regulation about assessment can be found at the following link:

http://www.ehu.eus/es/web/estudiosdegrado-gradukoikasketak/ebaluaziorako-arautegia

OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE:
* Charms, Gnomes, Riddles (some of them given by the teacher in eGela)
- Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Norton Anthology.English Literature. Volume I - NAEL)
* Cædmon, Hymn (NAEL; A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse)
* The Dream of the Rood (A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse)
* Beowulf (A verse translation by Seamus Heaney in NAEL; by Michael Alexander in Penguin Books)
* The Wife's Lament (in A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse; Anglo-Saxon Elegiac Verse; Seven Anglo-Saxon Elegies)
* The Husband's Message (in A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse; Anglo-Saxon Elegiac Verse; Seven Anglo-Saxon Elegies)

MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE:
* Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (NAEL; Trans. by J.R.R. Tolkien; in Penguin; in Oxford World’s Classics; in faber&faber by Simon Armitage, )
- Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D'Arthur (excerpts in NAEL)
* Pearl and Sir Orfeo (Trans. by J.R.R. Tolkien)
* Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde (trans. by N. Coghill in Penguin)
* _____________, The Canterbury Tales ( " " " “; in Oxford World’s Classics) Selection: ‘The General Prologue,’ ‘The Miller’s Tale,’ ‘The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale,’
- The Ancrene Wisse (excerpts in NAEL or as chosen by the students from the library)
* Julian of Norwich, A Book of Showings (excerpts in NAEL or as chosen by the students from the library)
* Margery Kempe, The Book of Margery Kempe (excerpts in NAEL or as chosen by the students from the library)

MEDIEVAL ENGLISH DRAMA:
* Interludium de clerico et puella (given by the teacher in eGela)
* Everyman - (NAEL)

RENAISSANCE ENGLISH DRAMA:
William Shakespeare: (two tragedies and two comedies. The following four plays are compulsory):
*Romeo and Juliet
*Much Ado about Nothing
*Hamlet
*The Winter's Tale

Oinarrizko bibliografia

THE COMPULSORY TEXTS IN THE SYLLABUS

* Hamer, Richard (tranlator) A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse (in Faber & Faber)

* Beowulf (a verse translation by Michael Alexander in Penguin Books)

* Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Orfeo and Pearl(Trans. by J.R.R. Tolkien)

* Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (trans. by N. Coghill in Penguin)

* Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde (trans. by N. Coghill in Penguin) or https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/English/Chaucerhome.php

* William Shakespeare:

*Romeo and Juliet

*Much Ado about Nothing

*Hamlet

*The Winter's Tale

Gehiago sakontzeko bibliografia

The students will be given a personalised list of bibliographical references according to their needs and interests in their work for this subject

Aldizkariak

XXX

Web helbideak

Old English Language:
http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_old.html
OED: Old English—an overview
http://public.oed.com/aspects-of-english/english-in-time/old-english-an-overview/

Dictionary of Old English:
http://doe.utoronto.ca/pages/index.html

Old English Translator:
http://www.oldenglishtranslator.co.uk/

Old English Literature:
http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/STELLA/apps/web/readings/old-english/

Middle English Language:
http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/language.html

Middle English Literature:
http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/

The Complete Works of Shakespeare:
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/