Key facts

Type	Weekly Classes
Location	Oxford
Address	Rewley House 1 Wellington Square Oxford
Dates	Mon 14 Jan to Mon 18 Mar 2013 Day: Monday Time of meeting: 7.30-9.30pm Number of meetings: 10
Subject area(s)	Literature
CATS points	10
Fees	From £165.00
Application status	Course ended
Course code	O12P684LTW
Course contact	If you have any questions about this course, please email ppweekly@conted.ox.ac.uk.

Overview

A close study of T.S. Eliot's major poems and plays.

Description

T.S. Eliot was one of the most interesting and important poets of the twentieth century. Born and brought up in America, he moved ot England and became a British citizen. Much of his earlypoetry is cynical and ironic. It culminates in The Waste Land, written soon after the First World War and pervaded with a sense of loss, disillusion and pessimism. However, after Eliot's conversion or return to Christianity and membership of the Church of England, most of his poetry and plays are about religious experience. Perhaps his greatest work is Four Quartets, poems which interrogate faith as well as affirming it. He also wrote critical essays and comic verse, most notably Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, the basis for the musical Cats.

Programme details

Week 1: Introduction, Preludes, The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock
Week 2: The Waste Land
Week 3: The Waste Land
Week 4: Murder in the Cathedral
Week 5: The Family Reunion
Week 6: Introduction to the Quartets. Burnt Norton
Week 7: Burnt Norton
Week 8: East Coker
Week 9: The Dry Salvages
Week 10: Little Gidding

Background Reading:

Moody A.D, The Cambridge Companion to T.S. Eliot (CUP, 1994)
Moody A.D, Thomas Stearns Eliot, Poet (OUP)
Ackroyd P, T.S. Eliot: A Life (N.Y. Simon and Schuster, 1984)

Staff

Course aims

Course Aim:

To increase understanding and enjoyment of Eliot's work.

Course Objectives:

1. A close reading of the texts
2. Attention to Eliot's literary and cultural contexts
3. Consideration of such topics as Modernism, Imagism, free verse and poetic drama

Assessment methods

You are expected to write about 1000 words, which may be in the form of an essay, two short essays, a portfolio of up to five concise pieces (e.g analysis of short passages from the texts) or a class presentation.

Teaching methods

A discussion class with some short informal lectures on background material. You should read the relevant text before each meeting. Contribution to discussion is desirable and encouraged.

Teaching outcomes

By the end of the course students should
1. have a general knowledge of Eliot's writing career, theories and practice
2. have a detailed knowledge and appreciation of Eliot's major poems and plays
3. have develpoed their skills in reading, discussing and writing about poetry.

Fee options

Programme Fee

EU Fee: £165.00

Non-EU Fee: £165.00

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