A reminder of the module’s overall learning outcomes is below.
Cognitive intellectual abilities
LO1 articulate coherent, detailed and sustained understanding of thematic and formal developments in poetry and prose fiction from 1940 to the most recent publications;
Knowledge and understanding
LO2 evaluate literary production in English in the period in terms of wider historical, cultural and political contexts and in terms of the qualities of the fictional world itself;
Subject specific skills
LO3 write sustained critical and/or creative responses to the thematic, formal and/or historical development of prose and poetry in the period 1940 to recent years;
Transferable skills
LO4 develop and produce critically and creatively sophisticated work in response to research task.
All of the texts on the syllabus have been chosen because they exemplify formal, thematic, cultural and political concerns of the historical periods under review. English Literature assignments are expected to demonstrate good critical understanding of literary developments from the 1940s to the 2010s insofar as your chosen literary text or movement is an expression of these. You will need to make reference to secondary criticism in your commentary and include a bibliography.
A good English Literature assignment will respond to LO1 by clearly explaining how your chosen literary work exemplifies developments of theme and form in the literature of the period. This will require good secondary research that makes this relationship clear. You should expect your tutor’s feedback to comment on the extent to which you make clear how your chosen literary work or own creative writing exemplifies literary thematic and formal developments, i.e., What did writers address in the 1950s that writers did not address in the 1930s, etc.?
A good English Literature assignment will respond to LO2 by explaining how your choice of critical topic illuminates the wider cultural and political context of the time. You will need to demonstrate that you understand why the set text and critical theme are a good means of understanding wider cultural and political history. You should expect feedback on your work to focus on how closely you produce evidence that ties together literary work, historical context and critical theme.
A good English Literature assignment will respond to LO3 by demonstrating coherence at the level of cumulative argument, criticism and secondary research; control over register and rhetoric;
