Poetry and Place



Overview

The way that we see the world affects the world. Literature, in particular poetry,  is part of this negotiation.

This course is about how place has developed as a site of contestation in the period roughly since Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space (1958). You will be guided through some of the inherited concepts in which literature positions space – pastoral, landscape, regional, epic, etc –as well as modern modes of an age of rapid travel, forced migration, environmental loss, and virtual presence.

Poetry provides a unique perspective on place, due to its focus on the particularity of perception. We will not specifically focus on 'nature' as a category (it is not a course on 'nature poetry'), but will circle around this theme, and try to find the grounds for a poetry (or an ecopoetry) in which language becomes a platform of orientation and possible recovery.

We shall engage in close readings of poems and texts by Bishop, Bunting, Clare, Darwish, Dickinson, Femi (Caleb), Gurney, Niedecker, Oswald (Alice), Vuong,  Wordsworth and selected 'ethnopoetic' texts. Short texts or extracts from Heidegger, Uexkull, Bachelard, Glissant and others will also be supplied.

Programme details

Courses starts: 3 Oct 2024

Week 1: The proper noun, the place name, the thing itself.  Heidegger, Glissant.

Week 2: Property and ownership. The concept and etymology of landscape. Clare.

Week 3: Dialects, languages, idiolects. The world as its languages. Ethnopoetry.

Week 4: Home vs Foreign. Nostos, exile, the refugee and nationality. 

Week 5: Urban environments 1: Psychogeography, the flaneur, the alien. Baudelaire.

Week 6: Urban environments 2: cities, estates, homes. Slang. Femi.

Week 7: Coasts: islands, tides, borders. Dover. 

Week 8: Cold Pastorals. Poetry of regions. Alice Oswald.

Week 9: Flora fauna and place in the end times. 'Ecopoetry'.

Week 10: Orientation within space. 

Certification

Credit Application Transfer Scheme (CATS) points 

To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee for each course you enrol on. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. If you do not register when you enrol, you have up until the course start date to register and pay the £30 fee. 

See more information on CATS point

Coursework is an integral part of all online courses and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework, but only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education, you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee. 

 

Digital credentials

All students who pass their final assignment, whether registered for credit or not, will be eligible for a digital Certificate of Completion. Upon successful completion, you will receive a link to download a University of Oxford digital certificate. Information on how to access this digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course you attended. You will be able to download your certificate or share it on social media if you choose to do so. 

Please note that assignments are not graded but are marked either pass or fail. 

Fees

Description Costs
Course Fee £285.00
Take this course for CATS points £30.00

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

Tutor

Dr Giles Goodland

Giles Goodland has published several books of poetry and has taught for the OUDCE for several years.

Course aims

To provide students with a history of both the concept and presentation of place in poetry, and a sense of how recent developments have altered the frameworks by which literature engages with place.

Course objectives:

  • To provide students with the critical knowledge to view texts on place or environment in both a historical and critical context.
  • To explore recent poetry on place and and environment, to understand how in a more globally-inflected society, 'place' has become a more contingent and fragile concept.
  • To be confident in engaging with poetry that delineates space or environment.

Teaching methods

Teaching will be largely through one-hour pre-recorded lectures each week, followed by one-hour class discussions and presentations. Reading material will be provided before each class. Student participation will be encouraged.

Each lecture will begin with an introduction on the week's topic, followed by a discussion focused on specific aspects of the texts.

Prior to submitting their main assessment, students will also have the opportunity to discuss the topics in class, and contact the tutor individually, should they require further guidance. 

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will be expected to:

  • be familiar with a range of poetic texts concerning place and environment;
  • be knowledgeable about recent developments in place and environment in relation to poetry;
  • be able to discuss and write about aspects of place, environment, and nature relating to recent poetry. 

Assessment methods

Assessment will be with one formative presentation (15 mins max) and one summative essay or creative piece on an aspect of place, max. 1,500 words.

Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work the required standard.

Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form

 

Application

We will close for enrolments 14 days prior to the start date to allow us to complete the course set up. We will email you at that time (14 days before the course begins) with further information and joining instructions. As always, students will want to check spam and junk folders during this period to ensure that these emails are received.

To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.

Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an Enrolment Form (Word) or Enrolment Form (Pdf)

Level and demands

The Department's Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, i.e. first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)

To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.

Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support