All Courses

In this course, Dr Linda Freedman (University College, London) explores the poetry of the 19th-century American poet, Emily Dickinson. The course begins with an introduction to Emily Dickinson herself, dispelling the myth that she was a an...

In this course, Professor Edith Hall (King's College, London) explores how the Greeks saw themselves as distinct from their 'barbarian' neighbours, especially in the context of the Greco-Persian wars of the early 5th century BC. In the first...

In this course, Dr Nicholas Morton (Nottingham Trent University) explores the First Crusade, a massive military campaign in the Near East which ended with the Crusaders' capture of Jerusalem in 1099. The course begins by considering the nature of...

In this course, Professor Tom Mole (University of Edinburgh) explores the poetry of the great Romantic poet, William Wordsworth. In the first module, we look at Wordsworth's Preface to the Lyrical Ballads, in which he outlines his views on the...

In this course, Dr Michael Rapport (University of Glasgow) explores the Bourbon Restoration, the period of French history between the defeat of Napoleon in 1814 and the July Revolution of 1830. The first module provides a basic introduction to...

In this course, Dr Michael Rapport (University of Glasgow) explores the Congress of Vienna, the conference of ambassadors who met between November 1814 – June 1815 with the aim of providing a long-term peace plan for Europe. The course begins...

In this course, Dr Benjamin Pohl (University of Bristol) explores Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest. The course begins by considering where the Normans came from, focusing in particular on the Viking raids of the ninth and tenth...

In this course, Dr Sophie Duncan (University of Oxford) explores Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, which premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen in December 1879. The course begins by introducing Ibsen's life and times, his inspiration for the...

In this course, Professor Stephen Morton (University of Southampton) discusses Chinua Achebe's 1958 novel Things Fall Apart. The course begins by introducing the author himself and the publication on the novel, before moving on in the second...

In this course, Dr John Rignall (University of Warwick) explores George Eliot's 1860 novel, The Mill on the Floss. The course begins by thinking about George Eliot herself and the place of the novel in her career. In the second...

In this course, Professor Richard Seaford (University of Exeter) explores Euripides' great tragedy, The Bacchae, which ends with the king of Thebes, Pentheus, being torn to pieces by his own mother, Agave. In the first module, we think about the...

In this course Dr Allison Adler Kroll (PhD student, University of Oxford) explores Ian McEwan's 2001 novel, Atonement. The course begins with a discussion of the book's title – what is atonement? what is atoned for? – before moving on...