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Poetry, Love, and Death (ENGL20032)
Undergraduate level 2Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
Semester 2
Overview
Availability | Semester 2 |
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Fees | Look up fees |
Reading a poem involves nothing more than reading the words in front of you in the order in which they appear. Which means that if you can read, you can read poetry. So why take this subject? The answer requires understanding the word “reading” in a particular sense: as a noun rather than as a verb; not just as something you do, but also as something you create, as in “a reading of a poem.” This subject is designed for students who want to learn how to be better readers in this specialised sense of people who read poems in order to write about them. It takes a step-by-step approach to poetic interpretation, investigating theories and methods of reading alongside poems and poetic practices from ancient Greece and Rome to medieval and early modern Europe through to the present day. Students will be trained in the art of creative reading: they will read some of the best poems ever written, and learn how to invent things to say about them that are not just original and coherent but even true.
Intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
- demonstrate a detailed knowledge and understanding of representative examples of poems and poetic forms;
- articulate the relationship between exemplary poems and the social, historical and cultural contexts that produced them;
- apply high-level analysis, conceptual sophistication and critical thinking to the study of poetic texts and their uses;
- contribute to the understanding of poetic texts in ways that engage the interests of the discipline of literary studies;
- effectively communicate an understanding of poetic texts and their contexts in both written and oral formats; and
- have gained an understanding of how to act as critically informed participants within a community of literature scholars, as citizens and in the work force at large.
Generic skills
At the completion of this subject, students should gain the following generic skills:
- acquired a transportable set of interpretative skills;
- developed their capacity for independent research;
- developed their capacity for critical thinking and analysis; and
- developed their ability to communicate in writing.
Last updated: 27 April 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 27 April 2024
Assessment
Additional details
- Three short-answer interpretation exercises of 500 words each (1,500 words in total, 3 x 13%) due in weeks 4, 5 and 6
- An essay of 2,500 words (61%), due in the examination period
- Hurdle: This subject has a minimum hurdle requirement of 80% attendance and regular participation in tutorials. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.
Last updated: 27 April 2024
Dates & times
- Semester 2
Coordinator Tom Ford Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours Total time commitment 170 hours Teaching period 23 July 2018 to 21 October 2018 Last self-enrol date 3 August 2018 Census date 31 August 2018 Last date to withdraw without fail 21 September 2018 Assessment period ends 16 November 2018 Semester 2 contact information
Time commitment details
170 hours
Last updated: 27 April 2024
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
A subject reader will be available with selected texts from classical antiquity to contemporary conceptual poetry.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Major English and Theatre Studies Specialisation (formal) English and Theatre Studies Specialisation (formal) Graduate Certificate in Arts - English and Theatre Studies - Breadth options
This subject is available as breadth in the following courses:
- Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 27 April 2024