English Literature

The English course was run in parallel with courses for teachers of History and of Science with a view to presenting the conclusions of all the discussions to a panel of educationalists on the final morning, these were;

• The best teaching of literature is likely to come not from a top-down approach, but from allowing teachers to make more use of their professional judgement and to follow their individual enthusiasms.
• The serious study of literature is hard; but it is this difficulty that makes it the more worthwhile because of all the aspects that need to be explored for a full understanding; and the more rewarding because of the challenges that can be overcome by good teaching.
• Subject specialism lies at the heart of good teaching, and the teacher’s subject knowledge therefore needs to be constantly developed and enriched by suitable training.
• A system of assessment that militates against good teaching and learning is the biggest obstacle to creativity and intellectual growth in the classroom.

The English programme included sessions addressed by eminent speakers, group discussions on current issues in English teaching, and subject-specific seminars on a wide range of literary topics.

Issues addressed in discussions included:

• The Literary Tradition
• Challenging Texts
• Literature in Performance
• Literature and the Arts
• Literature and Identity

 Lecture topics included:

• The Long Story of Romance
• Providential Voyages: St Brendan and the Dawn Treader
• The Winter's Tale
• The Wife of Bath's Tale and Ideals
• Wuthering Heights
• Jane Eyre
• The American Novel: The Grapes of Wrath
• Making History: Heaney, Friel and "The Troubles"
• Literature and History
• Literature and the Environment: Ecocriticism: Wallace Stevens and Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Literature and Religion
• Genre and National Identity in Shakespeare's Histories
• Richard III
• Remembering England: Henry V, Richard III, Henry VII
• The General Prologue and Chaucer's Geography