Short course
Middle English Literature
Course status:
Applications being accepted
Location:
Online
Dates:
13/01/2027 - 26/03/2027
Study format:
Online - flexible
Fees:
£430.00
Middle English literature is not all prayer and piety and men in armour. Discover a rich cultural heritage in Middle English poems, plays and prose (modern translations); stories of high- and low-born, horribly good and gleefully bad, men and women; and the language and culture from which they sprang.
Listen to Dr Sandie Byrne talking about the course
From the End of the World to Creation, via Heaven, earthly paradises, greed, corruption, purity, saintliness, intrigue, betrayal, sex, jealousy, castles, maidens, knights, monsters, kings, plague, rogues, con-men, drunks, bawds, lovers, abduction, demons, angels, hunting, questing, comic shepherds, ranting Herods, and Hell. Middle English Literature is not all prayer and piety. Discover a rich cultural heritage in Middle English texts in modern translations and explore poetry, prose and plays of the medieval period, and the language and culture out of which they grew. We shall look at texts from The Owl and the Nightingale (c.1210) to The Morte d'Arthur (1470, published 1485), including poems of religious and secular love, and extracts from, among others, The Canterbury Tales, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Mystery Plays, and Piers Plowman. No knowledge of Middle English is necessary.
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Programme details
The course is broken down into 10 units over 10 weeks, each requiring approximately 10 hours of study time. The following topics are covered:
1. When was Middle English?
Medieval culture; English society in the Middle Ages; key events
2. What was Middle English?
Language, dialects, orthography
3. Short poems, religious and secular
The Harley Lyrics
4. Longer religious and devotional works
Saint’s Lives, Rules, Treatises
5. Drama
Extracts from Mystery, Morality, and Miracle Plays; Everyman
6. Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales (selection)
7. The Gawain poet
Gawain and the Green Knight (extracts)
8. Langland
Piers Plowman (extracts)
9. Didactic works, chronicles, and other non-fiction works
10. Manuscripts and books
Production; preservation; editing; mss studies
Level and demands
This course is open to all and no prior knowledge is required.
This course is offered at FHEQ level 4 (i.e. first year undergraduate level) and you will be expected to engage in independent study in preparation for your assignments. Our 10-week Short Online Courses come with an expected total commitment of 100 study hours.
English Language Requirements
We do not insist that applicants hold an English language certification, but warn that they may be at a disadvantage if their language skills are not of a comparable level to those qualifications listed on our website. If you are confident in your proficiency, please feel free to enrol. For more information regarding English language requirements please follow this link: https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/english-language-requirements
Course aims
1. Introduce students to the history and culture of the Middle Ages.
2. Introduce students to the range and variety of the literature of the Middle Ages (in modern English).
3. Introduce students to Middle English dialects.
4. Introduce students to Middle English orthography.
5. Introduce students to medieval manuscript and book production.
Course Objectives
1. Have knowledge and understanding of English life during the eleventh to fifteenth centuries.
2. Have knowledge and understanding of some of the key genres, authors, texts, styles and themes of Middle English literature.
3. Recognise key features of some Middle English dialects.
4. Recognise features of some varieties of Middle English orthography.
IT requirements
This course is delivered online. To participate you must to be familiar with using a computer for purposes such as sending email and searching the Internet. You will also need regular access to the Internet and a computer meeting our recommended minimum computer specification.
Programme details
The course is broken down into 10 units over 10 weeks, each requiring approximately 10 hours of study time. The following topics are covered:
1. When was Middle English?
Medieval culture; English society in the Middle Ages; key events
2. What was Middle English?
Language, dialects, orthography
3. Short poems, religious and secular
The Harley Lyrics
4. Longer religious and devotional works
Saint’s Lives, Rules, Treatises
5. Drama
Extracts from Mystery, Morality, and Miracle Plays; Everyman
6. Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales (selection)
7. The Gawain poet
Gawain and the Green Knight (extracts)
8. Langland
Piers Plowman (extracts)
9. Didactic works, chronicles, and other non-fiction works
10. Manuscripts and books
Production; preservation; editing; mss studies
Teaching methods
There will be links to online texts and hypertexts (for example, the electronic Canterbury Tales Project), to images of illuminated mss, to websites on Middle English and medieval culture (the European context as well as British), to examples of orthography, to audio files, and to commentaries.
One unit will include ‘drag and drop’ word choices, and click to reveal glosses will be provided in some extracts. Each unit will include a short talk available as a podcast, and a transcript.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course students will be expected to understand:
- Definitions and problems associated with defining the middle ages.
- The chronological order of key events during the middle ages.
- The variety of kinds of writing produced during the middle ages.
- Issues in establishing, preserving, and editing a Middle English literature corpus.
- Some key themes and concepts explored in writing of the middle ages.
- Some key elements of Middle English dialects.
- Differences between some kinds of scripts employed in the middle ages.
By the end of this course students will be expected to have gained the following skills:
- The ability to discuss and analyse a range of Middle English texts in modern English adaptations.
- The ability to identify key themes and styles in Middle English Literature.
- The ability to understand some simple phrases in Middle English.
- The ability to read some simple phrases in medieval book hand.
Assessment methods
You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first of 500 words is due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.
Dr Maria Artamonova
Assessment methods
You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first of 500 words is due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.
Level and demands
This course is open to all and no prior knowledge is required.
This course is offered at FHEQ level 4 (i.e. first year undergraduate level) and you will be expected to engage in independent study in preparation for your assignments. Our 10-week Short Online Courses come with an expected total commitment of 100 study hours.
English Language Requirements
We do not insist that applicants hold an English language certification, but warn that they may be at a disadvantage if their language skills are not of a comparable level to those qualifications listed on our website. If you are confident in your proficiency, please feel free to enrol. For more information regarding English language requirements please follow this link: https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/english-language-requirements
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course Fee | £430.00 |
Please use the ‘Book now’ button on this page.