Undergraduate Course: The Poetry and Prose of Thomas Hardy (LLLG07044)
Course Outline
| School | Centre for Open Learning |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | THIS IS A FOR-CREDIT COURSE OFFERED BY THE OFFICE OF LIFELONG LEARNING (OLL); ONLY STUDENTS REGISTERED WITH OLL SHOULD BE ENROLLED.
A detailed investigation of some of Hardy's greatest novels, from the troubled rural romance of Far from the Madding Crowd to the controversial Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Hardy's powerful topographical prose and examples from his vast body of poetry will be discussed in the light of his life and changing society. |
| Course description |
Week 1: Introduction to Hardy: his life and times; his critical reputation; the poems that deal with his first marriage
Weeks 2 and 3 : Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) : darker rural themes and Hardy's treatment of his female characters
Week 4: The Trumpet-Major (1880): love on the South Coast during the Napoleonic era
Week 5: Short stories, 'The Son's Veto' and 'The Distracted Preacher' from The Distracted Preacher and Other Tales
Weeks 6 and 7: The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) : Hardy's creation of Michael Henchard, a powerful tragic hero, against the background of Dorset
Week 8: More short stories, 'The Withered Arm' and 'The Melancholy Hussar'
Weeks 9 and 10: Tess of the d'Uurbervilles (1891) Tess, tragic heroine or victim of snobbery and agricultural change?
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
* demonstrate the extent of Hardy¿s achievement as a writer of poetry and prose and his contribution to the development of English literature;
* explain the relationship between Hardy¿s theoretical ideas and his practice as a craftsman with words;
* discuss the ways Hardy shaped his own life experiences, and his awareness of the Wessex landscape, in his poetry and prose;
* explain the extent to which Hardy was a late Victorian, in technique and attitude, and to which he was innovative and perceived by his contemporaries as shocking and immoral.
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Reading List
Essential
Hardy, T., 2006. The Trumpet-Major. London: Penguin.
Hardy, T., 2003. Far from the Madding Crowd. London: Penguin.
Hill, S., ed., 1979. The Distracted Preacher and other Tales. London: Penguin.
Hardy, T., 2003. The Mayor of Casterbridge. London: Penguin.
Hardy, T., 1998. Tess of the d'Urbervilles. London: Penguin.
Recommended
Gittings, Robert 1978. Young Thomas Hardy. London: Penguin.
Tomalin, Claire 2006. Thomas Hardy, Time-torn Man. London: Viking.
Ward, Jon 1992. Thomas Hardy's Poetry. Milton Keyes: OU Press.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Collaborative working.
Group discussion.
Composition of discursive essays.
Understanding of interpersonal relationships.
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Anya Clayworth
Tel:
Email: aclaywor@staffmail.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Sabine Murdoch
Tel: (0131 6)51 1855
Email: Sabine.Murdoch@ed.ac.uk |
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