Englisches Seminar - Ruhr-Universität Bochum

In the sessions we will discuss well-known poems by these writers and consider their
interests and achievements in the context of rapid political, social and cultural
change. On the strength of our own readings we will question critical assessments of
'Georgian poetry', especially in relation to the avant-garde modernist poetry that
emerged at the same time. A reader will be made available through Blackboard.
Assessment/requirements: presentation in class or interpretative essay (5 pages).
050 722 Ottlinger
John Donne, 3 CP
2 st. do 8.30-10 GABF 04/614 Süd
John Donne ranks as the foremost representative of Metaphysical Poetry, which was
diametrically opposed to the clichés and conventions of the Elizabethan sonnet
craze. In this class we will study both secular and religious key poems by Donne and
explore his witty conceits, paradoxes and puns. The focus, however, will be on his
love poetry, which covers a range of feelings and moods unknown to his
predecessors. All the poems will be subjected to in-depth analyses against the
historical, philosophical and literary background. The overriding aim of this class is to
improve students’ skills in text analysis. The primary texts will be provided in the form
of a reader.
Assessment/requirements: regular attendance and preparation, active class
participation, either a five-page essay or a short end-of-term test.
050 723 von Contzen
Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde and Its Afterlives, 3 CP
2 st. di 10-12 GB 02/60
Troilus and Criseyde, a narrative poem in five books, recounts an unhappy love affair
during the time of the Trojan war and thus is a prime example of medieval
preoccupations with the legacy of antiquity. Although the poem today is not as well
known as The Canterbury Tales, it was once regarded as Chaucer’s finest work: it
inspired Robert Henryson, a Scottish writer of the late fifteenth century, to write a
‘sequel’, and Shakespeare too drew on Chaucer’s text for his play Troilus and
Cressida.