Landscapes in Literature 2
Further exploration of British landscape writing through selected texts of poetry and prose, from industrial and post-industrial landscapes, to the “new nature writing” of the 21st century. NB It is not necessary to have attended Landscapes in Literature 1.
More details ...The Short Stories of Elizabeth Taylor and V.S. Pritchett
Read and discuss selected stories from two authors who have been claimed to have mapped the changes and details of everyday British life from the 1930s to the 1990s.
More details ...Landscapes in Literature 1
An exploration of British landscape writing through selected texts of poetry and prose, from the discovery of wild nature as a subject for exclamation and delight in the Romantic period, including passages from Defoe (1720s), the Wordsworths and Coleridge (early … More details …
Villanelles, Sonnets and Sestinas
Certain poetic forms have an enduring appeal for poets and readers alike. We shall read and discuss a variety of these, exploring the ways in which metre, rhyme and repetition contribute to a poem’s overall effect.
More details ...Barchester Chronicles
Delve into the world of Barchester: a study of the first two novels of Trollop’s Barchester Chronicles: The Warden and Barchester Towers.
More details ...Introduction to Latin – Summer Group
Using the Cambridge Latin Course Book One, which introduces Latin through the medium of light hearted stories, this course is aimed at those with no, or long-forgotten, knowledge of the language. N.B. This is a new group, repeating the Spring … More details …
Decadent Art and Literature
This course traces the rise and fall of decadence in the 19th century. From Baudelaire’s flowers of evil to the death of Dorian Grey, we will assess symbolist painting, sample the delights of the Vienna Secession and explore Paris at … More details …
The Beekeeper’s Daughter: The poetry of Sylvia Plath
The Beekeeper’s Daughter: The poetry of Sylvia Plath Being a daughter, wife, mother, woman and poet are some of the themes explored by Plath in her poetry. This day school will look at some of the thoughts of this complex … More details …
Novels of 1952
Novels of 1952 Had there been a major prize in 1952, which of these three novels would you have awarded it to? The Village by Marghanita Laski, The Far Country by Nevil Shute and Excellent Women by Barbara Pym. We’ll … More details …
The Other Brontë Girl
The Other Brontë Girl. This course will concentrate on the often neglected Brontë sister Anne. Her two novels The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey provide fascinating accounts of the lives of women facing the challenges of a patriarchal … More details …
Who is the “I” in this poem?
Who is the “I” in this poem? Explore the way poets use their own personal experience to create their work, introducing such concepts as ‘persona’ and ‘poetic voice’, but focusing primarily on the pleasure of reading poetry. What is autobiographical … More details …
The Elizabethan Theatre
Elizabeth Theatre Between the building of the first English theatre in 1576 until the death of Elizabeth in 1603, some of the greatest plays ever written were produced and acted in London. We will consider how the theatres were built, … More details …
The Tragical History of Dr Faustus
The legend of Dr Faustus has inspired some of the greatest works of art ever since it first appeared in the 16th century Playwrights, poets, novelists, film directors and composers have all interpreted the story. We will consider its different … More details …
The Old Wives’ Tale by Arnold Bennett: a novel of provincial life.
We will discuss this novel of provincial life, and consider how it reflects its period and what it says to ours. We shall be looking for key themes and at the impact the novel had on other writers. This novel … More details …
“The Rhyming Peasant” John Clare
John Clare, the ‘rhyming peasant’: poetry of dwelling and displacement in the late Romantic period. We shall explore Clare’s unique voice in English poetry through a reading of select poems about nature and his local environment in the first half … More details …