People have always fallen in love but the ways in which love has been written about have changed dramatically over time. This course will start with an exposition of the most influential concepts of love from the ancient Greeks onwards and the typical external factors that have conditioned love stories. We will then discuss in detail different literary forms of courtship and passion, fidelity and betrayal, from the early modern period to the present. The main texts will be Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd and Gabriel García Márquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera. In addition, we will look closely at Renaissance and Victorian poets, together with modern celebrations of love, both serious and humorous. Poets will include Andrew Marvell, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Dickinson and Philip Larkin. Join us on a course packed with pleasure and ideas to discover how literary representations of love have evolved over the centuries.
Great Love Stories
This is an In-person course which requires your attendance to the weekly meetings which take place in Oxford.
Overview
Programme details
Course starts: 23 Jan 2025
Week 1: Love stories: a brief history / William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing
Week 2: Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing
Week 3: Jane Austen, Persuasion
Week 4: Jane Austen, Persuasion
Week 5: Love Poems: Medieval to Modern (to be circulated in advance: see list below)
Week 6: Love Poems / Tennyson, Enoch Arden
Week 7: Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd
Week 8: Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd
Week 9: Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
Week 10: García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera / Course review and discussion
NB Provisional list of poems (tutor will circulate):
Westron wynde, by Anon, Since there’s no help, by Michael Drayton, My mistress’ eyes, by William Shakespeare (Sonnet 130), To his Coy Mistress, by Andrew Marvell, Meeting at Night, by Robert Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese, XXVII, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Wild nights - Wild nights! by Emily Dickinson, Valentine, by John Fuller, An Arundel Tomb, by Philip Larkin
Recommended reading
All weekly class students may become borrowing members of the Rewley House Continuing Education Library for the duration of their course. Prospective students whose courses have not yet started are welcome to use the Library for reference. More information can be found on the Library website.
There is a Guide for Weekly Class students which will give you further information.
Availability of titles on the reading list (below) can be checked on SOLO, the library catalogue.
Preparatory reading
- The Faber Book of Love Poems / Fenton, James (ed.)
- Love: a History / May, Simon
Certification
To complete the course and receive a certificate, you will be required to attend at least 80% of the classes on the course and pass your final assignment. Upon successful completion, you will receive a link to download a University of Oxford digital certificate. Information on how to access this digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course you attended. You will be able to download your certificate or share it on social media if you choose to do so.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course Fee | £285.00 |
| Take this course for CATS points | £30.00 |
Funding
If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Tutor
Dr David Grylls
Dr David Grylls, Emeritus Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford, was formerly Director of Studies in English Literature and Creative Writing at OUDCE. His publications include books on Charles Dickens, George Gissing and Victorian parent-child relationships, as well as numerous academic articles and reviews for the Sunday Times. He has lectured widely in the USA as well as Britain, and also in France, Sweden, Italy, Greece and Gibraltar.
Course aims
To study an exemplary range of literary treatments of love in fiction, poetry and drama.
Course objectives:
1. To study a historical selection of literary treatments of love, chosen to represent changes and continuities.
2. To suggest ways in which our understanding of these works can be deepened by a combination of critical approaches – literary, historical, ideological and biographical.
3. To equip students with general skills in the analysis of literature, including an appreciation of metaphor, characterisation and narrative strategy.
Teaching methods
• Presentation/exposition by the tutor.
• Guided class discussion.
• Short class presentations from students (approx. 10 minutes).
• Practical criticism of poems and / or prose extracts.
• Small group analysis of particular sections and passages (possibly).
• Comparison of scenes from certain works with film versions on DVD or YouTube.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course students will be expected to:
1. give an account of the main features of the content and form of the literary works studied.
2. demonstrate awareness of the relevant contexts of the works, whether literary, historical, ideological or biographical
3. undertake literary analysis of fiction, drama and poetry by discussing features such as narrative technique, characterisation, irony and the use of figurative language.
Assessment methods
Students will be expected to write an essay amounting to 1500 words. The tutor will circulate assignment topics.
Students may instead offer class presentations lasting about ten minutes along with the text of the presentation, or the notes on which it is based.
Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work to the required standard.
Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form
Application
To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.
Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an Enrolment Form (Word) or Enrolment Form (Pdf)
Level and demands
The Department's Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, i.e. first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.
Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)
To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.
Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.