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Module IRELAND AND THE CLASSICS

Module code: GC320
Credits: 5
Semester: 2
Department: ANCIENT CLASSICS
International: Yes
Coordinator: Dr William Desmond (ANCIENT CLASSICS)
Overview Overview
 

Module description

After a targeted survey of historical interactions between Ireland and the “classical” Mediterranean world, this module will focus on the reception of Greek and Roman myth, poetry, and philosophy in modern Irish literature. Three primary case studies will take us from the early twentieth century to the present:

(1) Joyce’s Ulysses in dialogue with Homer’s Odyssey;
(2) Yeats’ lyric and dramatic engagements with Homer, Sophocles, and Plato; and
(3) Heaney’s “translations” of Sophocles and Virgil.

In the treatment of epic and the novel, lyric and dramatic poetry, of heroic, tragic and Platonic world-views, equal attention will be given to modern Irish and ancient voices, with explorations (of heroism and the homely, city and nation, place, memory, war, art, prophecy, fate) touching upon other cognate figures, ancient (e.g. Hesiod, Catullus), modern (e.g. Wilde, Kavanagh), and contemporary (e.g. Longley, Tóibín, Boland, Carr). In all, students will gain a deeper sense of the variety of ways in which Greek and Roman classics have helped to forge modern Irish literary imaginations.

Open Learning Outcomes
 
Open Teaching & Learning methods
 
Open Assessment
 
Open Autumn Supplementals/Resits
 
Open Timetable
 
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