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Description
The particular focus of this module is literature in English that was composed in the later part of the Middle English period. One of its aims is to explore writing that was produced in the wake of Chaucer鈥檚 literary achievement, and that was influenced by this. But it also explores writing that was produced outside the sphere of influence of Chaucer鈥檚 works: devotional and dramatic literature, for example. For both of these reasons, the module extends material studied for the core course 鈥楥haucer and his Literary Background鈥�.
In addition to looking at such writers as Thomas Hoccleve and William Dunbar, admirers but also potentially questioners of Chaucer鈥檚 poetic 舱耻惫谤别, the module examines some of the works produced by female authors in England in the late-fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries: the Revelation of Love of the woman visionary Julian of Norwich, for example, and the equally remarkable Book of Margery Kempe, which presses the claims to sanctity of one serial pilgrim, and mother of fourteen children, from East Anglia. A major component of the course is medieval drama, both the mystery cycles that were performed in prosperous English towns in the late Middle Ages, and 鈥榤orality plays鈥�, much more cerebral and stylised examples of dramatic writing that continued to be produced in the 鈥榚arly modern鈥� era, and that were influential on the playwrights of other forms of drama that were written then. Late-medieval England was a place of protest against authority, both political and religious, as well as deference to it, and the module also looks at, for example, the challenges to the official doctrines of the Church issued by the followers of the Oxford theologian John Wyclif.
By the end of the module, you will have been made aware of the variety of both writing and the individuals who produced it in England in the Middle Ages. You will also have extended your competence in reading Middle English.
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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