Middle English Literature

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.
 

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

Credit Application Transfer Scheme (CATS) points 

Coursework is an integral part of all online courses and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework. All those enrolled on an online courses are registered for credit and will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard.

See more information on CATS points

Digital credentials

All students who pass their final assignment will be eligible for a digital Certificate of Completion. Upon successful completion, you will receive a link to download a University of Oxford digital certificate. Information on how to access this digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course you attended. You will be able to download your certificate or share it on social media if you choose to do so.

Fees

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, or are a care-leaver in the UK, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Concessionary fees for short courses

Textbooks

To participate in this course you will need to have regular access to the Internet and you will need to buy the following books:

• Turville-Petre, Reading Middle English Literature: An Introduction,  Oxford: Blackwell (2006)

• Larry Scanlon, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (2009)

Please ensure that you can access copies of any required textbooks before enrolling on a course. While cancellations are uncommon, courses may not run if enrolment is too low. The Department accepts no responsibility for books purchased in anticipation of a course running.

Module code: O26P432LTV

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