Introduction to Old English B

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2008:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject is an introduction to the language and literature of the Anglo-Saxons from 750-1150, focusing on both prose and poetry, which is read in the original. Students will be taught advanced Old English grammar and syntax, and will examine medieval poetic and rhetorical theory. The subject also investigates the intellectual and institutional history of the period in order to contextualise the literary developments. On completion of the subject students should have acquired a sound linguistic knowledge of Old English and should also have developed a sense of the significance of Medieval literature to the history, and further study, of English literature and language.

• have acquired specific generic skills in the following areas:

• developing critical self-awareness and the capacity to shape persuasive arguments;

• applying research skills (especially in library and on-line resources) and critical methods to an emerging field of inquiry;

• communicating arguments and ideas effectively and articulately, both in writing and in group discussions;

• detailed readings of a range of texts in different media;

• thinking critically about the relations between academic and popular forms of knowledge of the past.