9054_Classical Poetry

Introduction to the Course
Dear Students,
This study guide on the course of ‘Classical Poetry’ is developed to introduce
classical poetry as a key genre of English poetry. The primary objective of this
course is to provide holistic overview of the poetry written during the classical age.
The course is, unavoidably, selective in nature as this genre is highly diverse and is
constantly expanding as a result of extensive body of research and critical
reflections on it. Therefore, the selection of the poets and their works as well
analyses and discussions are representative rather than exhaustive in nature and aim
to demonstrate the wider scope of classical poetry.
The course aims at familiarizing you with major poetic developments of the
classical era. It, also, provides a detailed insight into social, cultural, political and
religious conditions of the classical age which greatly influenced literary
perceptions and sensibilities of the selected poets. Brief biographical sketches of
the selected poets are also included to provide you an insightful perspective into
literary geniuses in making. The course describes key terms, critical concepts and
fundamental literary theories related to this genre and is expected to inculcate basic
knowledge and develop essential skills required for advancing in a more detailed,
critical and theoretical exploration of this particular genre of English poetry.
However, it is pertinent to mention here that our primary objective was to
provide you basic orientation to critically approach the course so that you may be
able to appreciate literary beauty, value and worth of poetic excellencies of the
classic age independently. Therefore, it is advised that you thoroughly read the core
texts prescribed for this course. As, it is evident that contextual sensibility is highly
desirable in appreciating the true meanings of a literary text in its entirety, therefore
you must situate the selected poetic works in their social, cultural, historical,
political and religious contexts for detailed critical analyses and interpretations.
Moreover, as majority of the prescribed core texts are quite lengthy, so it is not
deemed appropriate to include them in this study guide. However, as the selected
texts are chief representative of the classic age, so these are readily available online
as well as in printed versions. Therefore, you are expected to study the original or
standardized versions of the core texts specially the ones which were written in old
English. You may consult their modern English versions in case of any difficulty.
You must realize the fact that detailed study of the selected works as well as an indepth analysis of extensive critical work produced on them is the key to success.