English Literature 1
A.Y. 2025/2026
Learning objectives
English literature 1 is the first of three foundation modules in English literature for students enrolled in the 3-year BA in Foreign languages and literatures. The course, divided into three parts, focuses on the period between the Glorious Revolution and 1870s, and teaches students to contextualize and critically analyze literary texts (prose and poetry).
Expected learning outcomes
- Read and understand literary texts in their linguistic aspects
- Place literary texts within their historical and cultural context
- Establish connections between literary works
- Analyze poetry in its thematic and formal aspects using the relevant metalanguage
- Analyze fiction in its thematic and formal aspects using the relevant metalanguage
- Use literary essays to engage in the critical reading of texts
- Place literary texts within their historical and cultural context
- Establish connections between literary works
- Analyze poetry in its thematic and formal aspects using the relevant metalanguage
- Analyze fiction in its thematic and formal aspects using the relevant metalanguage
- Use literary essays to engage in the critical reading of texts
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Group A
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
The course aims to provide students with a basic, solid, and structured knowledge of 18th and 19th-century English literature, while also fostering the development of critical analysis skills for literary texts in prose and poetry. Specifically, by the end of the course, students will be able to:
*Knowledge
Recognise the main literary and cultural movements of the 18th century (Neoclassicism, Preromanticism), Romanticism, and the Victorian era.
Identify the most significant authors, texts, and genres of each period.
Describe the formal and thematic characteristics of the works analysed within their historical and cultural context.
*Analytical Skills
Analyze poetic texts in English from a metrical, rhetorical, narratological, and thematic perspective.
Apply basic critical categories (such as stanza, rhyme, enjambment, rhetorical figures) to the analysis of 18th and 19th-century poetry.
Examine prose narrative texts using narratological tools (focalization, narrative voice, temporal structure, setting).
Interpret the thematic content of the works in relation to the social, moral, and cultural transformations of the time.
*Critical and Communicative Abilities
Clearly and coherently argue a personal interpretation of the analyzed texts, both orally and in writing.
Develop a critical reading ability that integrates attention to textual form with historical and cultural awareness.
Appropriately use the specific vocabulary of literary criticism in both English and Italian.
The course bears 9 credits. It is not possible to earn only 6 credits.
*Knowledge
Recognise the main literary and cultural movements of the 18th century (Neoclassicism, Preromanticism), Romanticism, and the Victorian era.
Identify the most significant authors, texts, and genres of each period.
Describe the formal and thematic characteristics of the works analysed within their historical and cultural context.
*Analytical Skills
Analyze poetic texts in English from a metrical, rhetorical, narratological, and thematic perspective.
Apply basic critical categories (such as stanza, rhyme, enjambment, rhetorical figures) to the analysis of 18th and 19th-century poetry.
Examine prose narrative texts using narratological tools (focalization, narrative voice, temporal structure, setting).
Interpret the thematic content of the works in relation to the social, moral, and cultural transformations of the time.
*Critical and Communicative Abilities
Clearly and coherently argue a personal interpretation of the analyzed texts, both orally and in writing.
Develop a critical reading ability that integrates attention to textual form with historical and cultural awareness.
Appropriately use the specific vocabulary of literary criticism in both English and Italian.
The course bears 9 credits. It is not possible to earn only 6 credits.
Prerequisites for admission
None, except a B1+ knowledge of the English language
Teaching methods
Every week, lectures dedicated to presenting some basic tenets of English literature of the period will alternate with practical classes. In these practical lessons, for each topic covered, literary texts will be read and analyzed using traditional tools of textual analysis along with a creative approach.
At the beginning of the course, a lesson schedule indicating the texts to read and bring to class each week will be uploaded to the Ariel website of the course.
At the beginning of the course, a lesson schedule indicating the texts to read and bring to class each week will be uploaded to the Ariel website of the course.
Teaching Resources
Literary history and textual analysis:
o Paul Poplawski, English Literature in Context, OUP, 2nd edition. Capitoli 3-5.
o Fludernik M. NARRATOLOGY. Encyclopedia of the Novel (2 Volumes). 1998. https://www.proquest.com/encyclopedias-reference-works/narratology/docview/2137925141/se-2.
o Andrew Hodgson, The Cambridge Guide to Poetry.
Literary texts:
o Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock. Qualsiasi edizione
o Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto. Qualsiasi edizione
o William Hogarth, "The Harlot's Progress", "Gin Lane".
o John Gay, The Beggar's Opera. Qualsiasi edizione
o William Blake, "The Lamb", "The Tyger", "The Chimney Sweeper", "Holy Thursday", "The Rose", "London".
o Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Christabel".
o William Wordsworth, "The Solitary Reaper", "Michael", "Three Years She Grew", "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal", "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey".
o George Gordon Byron, "Darkness".
o John Keats, "La belle dame sans merci", "Ode on a Grecian Urn".
o Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.
o Percy B. Shelley, "On a Faded Violet", "Ozymandias", "England in 1819", "Song to the Men of England".
o Robert Browning, "My Last Duchess".
o Alfred Tennyson, "The Lady of Shalott", "Break Break, Break"
o Charles Dickens, David Copperfield. Reccomended: Norton Classical Edition
o George Eliot, Readings from Scenes of Clerical Life. Qualsiasi edizione
Besides the texts above, all students will also have to independently read a work of their choice for each of the following three groups:
1. Eighteenth Century
· Samuel Richardson, Pamela, any edition.
- Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
2. Romantic Novels
· Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
· Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
3. High Victorian Novels
Mrs Gaskell, North and South
William Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone
Charles Dickens, Bleak House
o Paul Poplawski, English Literature in Context, OUP, 2nd edition. Capitoli 3-5.
o Fludernik M. NARRATOLOGY. Encyclopedia of the Novel (2 Volumes). 1998. https://www.proquest.com/encyclopedias-reference-works/narratology/docview/2137925141/se-2.
o Andrew Hodgson, The Cambridge Guide to Poetry.
Literary texts:
o Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock. Qualsiasi edizione
o Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto. Qualsiasi edizione
o William Hogarth, "The Harlot's Progress", "Gin Lane".
o John Gay, The Beggar's Opera. Qualsiasi edizione
o William Blake, "The Lamb", "The Tyger", "The Chimney Sweeper", "Holy Thursday", "The Rose", "London".
o Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Christabel".
o William Wordsworth, "The Solitary Reaper", "Michael", "Three Years She Grew", "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal", "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey".
o George Gordon Byron, "Darkness".
o John Keats, "La belle dame sans merci", "Ode on a Grecian Urn".
o Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.
o Percy B. Shelley, "On a Faded Violet", "Ozymandias", "England in 1819", "Song to the Men of England".
o Robert Browning, "My Last Duchess".
o Alfred Tennyson, "The Lady of Shalott", "Break Break, Break"
o Charles Dickens, David Copperfield. Reccomended: Norton Classical Edition
o George Eliot, Readings from Scenes of Clerical Life. Qualsiasi edizione
Besides the texts above, all students will also have to independently read a work of their choice for each of the following three groups:
1. Eighteenth Century
· Samuel Richardson, Pamela, any edition.
- Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
2. Romantic Novels
· Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
· Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
3. High Victorian Novels
Mrs Gaskell, North and South
William Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone
Charles Dickens, Bleak House
Assessment methods and Criteria
Oral Exam: The exam consists of an oral test evaluated on a scale of thirty. The test involves a discussion on the topics covered in the syllabus, aimed at verifying that candidates have achieved a sufficient level of linguistic competence (reading and translating texts), analytical skills (analysis and critical commentary), and historical-literary knowledge (understanding and contextualizing literary texts and authors) to pass the test. The ability to read and translate texts in English is a necessary prerequisite for taking the exam. The evaluation will also consider the appropriateness of language and the ability to make connections between works, authors, and the cultural context discussed. The exam can be taken in either Italian or English.
Only attending students will have the opportunity to take an intermediate written test ('midterm') on the skills of reading and analyzing poetic and narrative texts.
The final grade is expressed on a scale of thirty, and the student has the option to refuse it (in which case it will be recorded as "Ritirato").
The exam procedures for students with disabilities and/or specific learning disorders (DSA) must be agreed upon with the instructor, in accordance with the competent office.
To take the exam, it is essential to bring along all the literary texts in the syllabus.
To register for the exam, it is recommended to always refer to the instructor who taught the course, especially when taking the exam more than a year after the end of the course.
This syllabus is valid until February 2027.
Only attending students will have the opportunity to take an intermediate written test ('midterm') on the skills of reading and analyzing poetic and narrative texts.
The final grade is expressed on a scale of thirty, and the student has the option to refuse it (in which case it will be recorded as "Ritirato").
The exam procedures for students with disabilities and/or specific learning disorders (DSA) must be agreed upon with the instructor, in accordance with the competent office.
To take the exam, it is essential to bring along all the literary texts in the syllabus.
To register for the exam, it is recommended to always refer to the instructor who taught the course, especially when taking the exam more than a year after the end of the course.
This syllabus is valid until February 2027.
Modules or teaching units
Part A and B
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Part C
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Group B
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Modules or teaching units
Part A and B
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Part C
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)
Reception:
Every Friday 2:30 pm. Please use the form to reserve a position.
Teacher's office or Teams