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Course details
Full Year
Poetry and Northern Ireland (ENLI10340)
Subject Area
English Literature
Pre-requisites
A MINIMUM of 4 college/university level literature courses at grade B or above (should include no more than one introductory level literature course). Related courses such as civilisation or other interdisciplinary classes, Freshman Year Seminars or composition/creative writing classes/workshops are not considered for admission to this course. Applicants should also note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission. In making admissions decisions preference will be given to students who achieve above the minimum requirement with the typical visiting student admitted to this course having 4 literature classes at grade A. ** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course **
Credits
20
Course level
SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate)
Course description
This course appraises poetry in the North of Ireland from the 1930s to the present. It includes the Troubles period and its aftermath but also takes a look at how earlier poets dealt with the ongoing upheaval of the twentieth-century more broadly. So while political violence in Northern Ireland since the 1960s is one key concern of the course, there is also an examination of how the pressures of war, the rise of Fascism and Stalinism, urbanisation and modernity impact upon poetry and its role in society. In terms of form, the course appraises the pressure put upon the lyric "I" in times of social convulsion and change, the use or appropriation of traditional forms such as the sonnet in poetry from the North of Ireland, the search for appropriate models by which to express or understand the context in which poems are written, and the transnational influences upon the poets covered. The role of the poet is discussed in relation to whether this is a private or public concern, as well as the capacity of poetry to stray from conventional wisdom. Attention is given to how poetry and politics may or may not approach one another. Thematically the course also focuses on issues such as pastoral and urban aesthetics, identity and pluralism, gendered subjectivities, and history and myth.
Timetable
View the timetable and assessment information for this course
Course delivered by
College of Humanities and Social Science
School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
This article was published on Feb 24, 2012