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2015/16 Undergraduate Module Catalogue
ENGL32105 Byron and the Shelleys
20 creditsClass Size: 20
School of English
Module manager: Dr David Higgins
Email: d.higgins@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2015/16
Pre-requisite qualifications
Grade B at 'A' Level in English Language or Literature or equivalent or an achieved mark of 56 or above in a Level 1 module in English.Please note: This module is restricted to Level 2 and 3 students. Enrolment priority will be given to Level 2 students for a restricted period (as detailed in the School’s Module Handbook).
This module is approved as a discovery module
Module summary
Lord Byron and Percy and Mary Shelley were associates who had many intellectual and cultural interests in common. These interests are central to understanding the complex cultural phenomenon that we now call Romanticism, and all three writers were extraordinarily sensitive to the political, scientific, and aesthetic innovations of the period. Topics to be discussed in this module include the idea of heroic intellectual and political aspiration; Orientalism; forbidden passion; warfare and revolution; different attitudes to Enlightenment rationality and political optimism; images of the classical world; and the Gothic. You will have an opportunity to read and analyse some of the most important writing in the literary canon, including Mary Shelley’s disturbing Frankenstein, Byron’s comic masterpiece Don Juan, and Percy Shelley’s utopian verse drama Prometheus Unbound.Objectives
On completion of this module, students should have acquired insight into some of the most important images,themes and debates of Romanticism, as well as into a variety of literary forms used in the period.
Among the former are:
- the idea of heroic intellectual and political aspiration;
- different treatments of the myth of Prometheus;
- the Oriental;
- forbidden passion;
- different attitudes to Enlightenment rationality and political optimism
- warfare and revolution
Among the latter are:
- the narrative poem;
- the verse drama;
- the serio-coomic mock epic;
- the Romantic ode;
- and the Gothic romance.
Students will thus have acquired a rounded sense of the period from a study of three significant writers.
Furthermore, since these writers were associates, they will be able to draw insight from each about the others, and at the same time become acquainted with an important and useful piece of literary history.
Learning outcomes
Students will have developed:
- the ability to use written and oral communication effectively;
- the capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse;
- the ability to manage quantities of complex information in a structured and systematic way;
- the capacity for independent thought and judgement;
- critical reasoning;
- research skills, including the retrieval of information, the organisation of material and the evaluation of its importance;
- IT skills;
- efficient time management and organisation skills;
- the ability to learn independently.
Skills outcomes
- Skills for effective communication, oral and written.
- Capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse.
- Ability to acquire quantities of complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way.
- Capacity for independent thought and judgement.
- Critical reasoning.
- Research skills, including information retrieval skills, the organisation of material, and the evaluation of its importance.
- IT skills.
- Time management and organisational skills.
- Independent learning.
Syllabus
Lord Byron and Percy and Mary Shelley were associates who had many intellectual and cultural interests in common. These interests are central to understanding the complex cultural phenomenon that we now call Romanticism, and all three writers were extraordinarily sensitive to the political, scientific, and aesthetic innovations of the period. Topics to be discussed in this module include the idea of heroic intellectual and political aspiration; Orientalism; forbidden passion; warfare and revolution; different attitudes to Enlightenment rationality and political optimism; images of the classical world; and the Gothic. You will have an opportunity to read and analyse some of the most important writing in the literary canon, including Mary Shelley’s disturbing Frankenstein, Byron’s comic masterpiece Don Juan, and Percy Shelley’s utopian verse drama Prometheus Unbound.
Teaching methods
Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
Meetings | 5 | 1.00 | 5.00 |
Seminar | 10 | 1.00 | 10.00 |
Private study hours | 185.00 | ||
Total Contact hours | 15.00 | ||
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200.00 |
Private study
- Teaching will be through weekly seminars (10 x 1 hour) plus up to 5 additional hours (content to be determined by the module tutor).- The 5 additional hours may include lectures, plenary sessions, film showings, or the return of unassessed/assessed essays.
Private Study: Seminar preparation, reading, essay writing.
Opportunities for Formative Feedback
- Seminar contribution.- Unassessed essay of 1700 words (submitted during Week 7). This does not form part of the assessment for this module, but is a requirement and MUST be submitted. Students who fail to submit the unassessed essay will be awarded a maximum mark of 40 for the module (a bare Pass).
Methods of assessment
Coursework
Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
Essay | This module will be assessed by one essay of 4000 words (including quotations and footnotes). One unassessed essay of 1700 words is also required (submitted during Week 7). This does not form part of the assessment for this module, but is a requirement and MUST be submitted. Students who fail to submit the unassessed essay will be awarded a maximum mark of 40 for the module (a bare Pass). | 100.00 |
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100.00 |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
Reading list
The reading list is available from the Library websiteLast updated: 22/04/2015
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- Undergraduate module catalogue
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