English Literature

In this course, Professor John Lennard explores the history of tragedy from its origins in ancient Athens to the present day. In the first three modules, we think about the tragedy of Classical Athens, looking in particular at the plays...

In this course, Dr Ross Wilson (University of Cambridge) explores William Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’. We begin in the first module by thinking about the historical, political and cultural context in which Blake was writing....

In this course, Dr Helen Stoddart (University of Glasgow) explores Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber, first published in 1979. We begin by thinking about Carter's literary career, focusing in particular on her interest in fairy tales. After that,...

In this course, Professor John Lennard explores John Webster’s masterpiece, the Duchess of Malfi. The course begins by thinking about John Webster himself, about whom we know very little, and the historical context for the play itself. After that,...

In this course, Professor Marie Mulvey-Roberts (University of the West of England) explores Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. We begin by providing an introduction to Carter herself, focusing in particular on the range of her literary output and...

In this course, we explore Philip Larkin’s 1964 collection of poetry, ‘The Whitsun Weddings’. Having introduced Larkin and his poetry in the first module, we then go through each poem in turn, reading it aloud and providing an in-depth,...

In this course, Professor Marion Turner (University of Oxford) explores Geoffrey Chaucer's Merchant's Tale. We begin by thinking about some of the Biblical allusions in the Tale, focusing in particular on the Garden the Eden and the Song of Songs....

In this course, Professor John McRae (University of Nottingham) explores Khalid Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. We begin with a broad introduction to the historical, political and literary context of the novel, before going through the whole novel...

In this course, Professor Nick Groom (University of Exeter) explores Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, ‘Dracula’. In the first module, we provide a short history of vampires from the blood-sucking demons of the ancient world to the present day. In the ...

In this course, we explore several aspects of Shakespeare’s Othello, thinking in particular about the play in performance. In the first module, we explore the concept of racism in the play, before moving on in the following three modules to...

In this course, Professor Helen Smith (University of York) explores Shakespeare’s Othello. In the first module, we provide a broad introduction to the play and some of its key themes. In the second module, we think about the theme of race and...

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...

In this course, Professor Karen Edwards (University of Exeter) explores of Books 9 and 10 of John Milton’s Paradise Lost through five key questions: (1) What do we learn from Satan’s soliloquy and his return to hell? (2) What is...

In this course, Dr Edmund White (University of Oxford) explores the religious and literary background of Paradise Lost. This course provides an introduction to the religious culture of seventeenth-century England, and shows how this culture...