After Homer: Poetry, Fiction, Film
| Module title | After Homer: Poetry, Fiction, Film |
|---|---|
| Module code | EAS3183 |
| Academic year | 2019/0 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Professor Henry Power (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 15 |
|---|
Module description
The two epic poems attributed to Homer – the Iliad and Odyssey – are fundamental to the Western imagination. For centuries they have been at the centre of the literary canon, and have frequently been rewritten or reimagined by authors reflecting on various contemporary issues, including politics, empire, warfare, sexuality, and gender. This module will look at the many ways in which poets, novelists, and film-makers have responded to these poems. The texts studied will be drawn from roughly 1700 to the present day, though the emphasis will be on the literature and film of the past 50 years. No prior knowledge of classical literature is required.
Module aims - intentions of the module
One aim of the module is to develop a good knowledge of the Homeric poems, and of various works written in homage or response to them. A broader aim is to develop an understanding of the dynamics of reception. That is to say, we will think about the way in which subsequent readers and imitators of a text help to shape its meaning.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. demonstrate an informed appreciation of the Homeric poems in English translation.
- 2. demonstrate an informed awareness of the influence of the Homeric poems on English (and Anglophone) literature.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 3. demonstrate an advanced ability to analyse the literature and film of different cultures and periods and to relate its concerns and its modes of expression to its historical context;
- 4. demonstrate an advanced ability to interrelate texts and discourses specific to their own discipline with issues in the wider context of cultural and intellectual history;
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 5. through seminar work and presentations, demonstrate advanced communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups
- 6. through essay-writing, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, an advanced capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument, and a capacity to write clear and correct prose
Syllabus plan
The following week-by-week plan should be regarded as indicative only.
Week 1. Introduction: The Search for Homer: extracts from Chapman’s Homer, Pope’s Homer, Keats, ‘On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer’
Part 1: The Iliad
Week 2. Matthew Arnold, Sohrab and Rustum (1853)
Week 3. Christopher Logue, War Music (1959-2005)
Week 4. Alice Oswald, Memorial (2011)
Week 5. Michael Longley, poems from The Ghost Orchid (1996)
Week 6. Elizabeth Cook, Achilles (2001)
Part 2: The Odyssey
Week 7. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, ‘Ulysses’ (1842)
Week 8. Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad (2005)
Week 9. Zachary Mason, The Lost Books of the Odyssey (2007)
Week 10. Thom Gunn, ‘Moly’ (1971)
Week 11. Jon Amiel (dir.), Sommersby (1993); Joel and Ethan Coen (dir.), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 37 | 263 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled | 33 | Seminars |
| Scheduled | 4 | Film Screenings |
| Guided independent | 33 | study group meetings and preparation |
| Guided independent | 60 | seminar preparation (individual) |
| Guided Independant | 170 | Reading, research and assessment preperation. |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creative Response to Homers Iliad | 25 | 500 words of prose OR 50 lines of poetry | 1,2,3,4,6 | Written, with possibility for tutorial feedback |
| Critical Commentary | 25 | 1500 words | 1,2,3,4,6 | Written, with possibility for tutorial feedback |
| Essay | 50 | 3000 words | 1,2,3,4,6 | Written, with possibility for tutorial feedback |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creative Response | Creative Response | 1,2,3,4,6 | Referral/deferral period |
| Critical Commentary | Critical Commentary | 1,2,3,4,6 | Referral/deferral period |
| Essay | Essay | 1,2,3,4,6 | Referral/deferral period |
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Basic reading:
Robert Fowler (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Homer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Barbara Graziosi and Emily Greenwood (eds.), Homer in the Twentieth Century: Between World Literature and the Western Canon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
Jasper Griffin, Homer on Life and Death (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980)
Edith Hall, The Return of Ulysses: a Cultural History of Homer’s Odyssey (London: I.B. Tauris, 2008).
George Steiner (ed.), Homer in English (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2007).
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Available as distance learning? | Yes |
