Teaching delivery: This module is taught in 20 weekly lectures

Content: This module, focusing this year on poetry, introduces students to characteristic features of classical (Greek and Latin) poetry and their creative adaptation in English literature as well as the methodologies and approaches to study these literatures in comparison. The influence of classical poetry upon English poetry, stretching from Chaucer through the modernist verse, has for many years been a focus of scholarship, especially in relation to poets such as Milton. This module, though, is more than just an introduction to the most ‘classical’ parts of English literature: it will go beyond the ‘obvious’ points of contact – such as Milton’s use of Virgil or Pope’s imitations of Horace – to think broadly and deeply about larger-scale questions, such as the connection between the development of the rhyming couplet in English and the elegiac couplet in Latin; the influence of quantitative classical metre on English poetry; and the links between the ‘fragmentary’ nature of our knowledge of ancient literature and the aesthetics of the fragment in modernist poetry. The module will also offer an introduction in the first five-week block to the methodologies for comparative study of this kind, including the study of literary translation, intertextuality and ‘reception’.

The module aims to recruit as equally as possible from the departments of English and Greek & Latin to facilitate balanced discussion and the sharing of expertise. The course will begin with an introduction to both bodies of poetry and their characteristic forms and genres, so students from neither department will be disadvantaged. No knowledge of Latin and Greek is required, though all students are expected to enjoy and be interested in poetry in general. As well as students reading formally for a joint degree, the module will be of interest to any students with comparative literary interests. Any questions may be directed to Dr Victoria Moul (v.moul@ucl.ac.uk).

The module will be team-taught by staff from the Department of Greek and Latin and the Department of English, so that the discussion of each topic will be led by a subject expert. 

Assessment will be in the form of two 4,000 word essays, one in each term. Students will have the opportunity to submit essay plans for feedback before finalizing their coursework essays and to discuss essay titles and related issues with module tutors.

NB: For students on the BA programmes Latin with English or Greek with English, this module counts as an English Department module, and does not count towards the compulsory modules to be taken at the Department of Greek and Latin

*NB: Classical Poetry and its Reception in English Literature is run biennially (2022, 2024, 2026 etc). 

Skills: At the end of this module, students should:
- have a good understanding of the main features of classical as well as English poetry
- have read a substantial selection of classical and English poetry as well as relevant secondary literature
- have an understanding of the processes of reception and the relationship between classical and English poetry as well as typological features
- be aware of the methods of reception and comparative literature appropriate for looking at classical and English literature in comparison
- be aware of the major studies and reference works in this field
- be able to express their ideas about classical and English poetry orally and in writing