BBL 3103: LITERARY THEORY FROM PLATO TO
T.S. ELIOT
• Assoc. Professor Noritah Omar
• Dept. of English/School of Graduate Studies
• Email: nomar@upm.edu.my (best
corresponding mode),
noritahhjomar@gmail.com
• +603 8946 4205/4206
• +6012 335 9806 (Urgent SMS only, calls will
not be answered)
About the Course
• The modular course encompasses two faceface-two face meetings with the lecturer
within the semester. To fulfill the theoretical
part of this course, students will have to
complete one individual assignment. This
assignment will be a self-learning exercise,
given that distance learning will not allow for
frequent meetings between the student and
the instructor.
Course Objectives
• To enable students to trace the development of
literary criticism and aesthetic practices in the
Western tradition from the beginning to the 19th
century;
• To evaluate the representative texts from various
literary and cultural traditions;
• To discuss the connection between the
development of literary theory in relation to
society; and
• To develop ethical behaviour and a sense of
communal responsibility.
Course Content
• Course content will be divided by unit and
subtopic. Roughly, each unit corresponds to a
particular time period (e.g.: Classical
Antiquity), and each topic to a particular critic
from that time period. Each unit represents 3
lecture hours (1 week’s study). The 14 units
therefore represent the 14 weeks of the
semester.
What is covered for mid-semester
evaluation?
• Units 1-7.
• Unit 1: Overview of the Trends and Traditions in Literary
Criticism
• Unit 2: History of Literary Criticism
• Unit 3: Classical Criticism I: Plato and Aristotle
• Unit 4: Classical Criticism II: Horace and Longinus
• Unit 5: Criticism of the English Renaissance: The Middle
Ages, Sir Philip Sidney and Ben Jonson
• Unit 6: Criticism of the Neoclassical Period: John Dryden,
Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison and Samuel Johnson
• Unit 7: Criticism of the Romantic Period: Alexander Pope is
usually remembered
Assignment (30%)
• Please refer to the module (p. iv) for details of
the assignment and Appendix A(pp. 169-175)
for the assignment guide.
Course Evaluation
• This course evaluation is divided into:
i. Overall coursework
60%
- Assignment(individual) 30%
- Test
30%
ii. Final Examination
40%
Total
100%
Test
• The test questions will be based on this
module. The questions in this test will be in
objective format (multiple choice). For this
semester, the units that will be covered are
units 1-7.
Sample test questions
Who was Longinus?
-- The author of On the Sublime
-- The first critic to classify tragedy as a genre
-- The author of The Republic
-- The first critic to establish that decorum is a
necessary condition of staging a play
Sample test questions
• What is the defining feature of comparative criticism?
A text set against a particular historical backdrop
– A text set against other works of a similar nature
– A text set against the author’s personal history
– A text set against knowledge of human psychology
• Horace reformulated many of Aristotle’s theories in his
Ars Poetica.
– True
– False
Sample test questions
• With regard to Athenian youth, why did Plato believe
poetry was harmful?
– The young would be more suited reading less complex
stories
– The young are impressionable, and poets are a bad
influence
– The young are not impressionable, and would not be
educated by poetry
– The young should engage in more masculine activities
rather than watch plays
Unit 1: Overview of the Trends and
Traditions in Literary Criticism
• Unit objectives:
- To provide a general overview of the history of
literary criticism
- To provide a workable definition of literary
critical activity, as well as a detailing of its
common functions
- To examine the various types of literary
criticism that have been used throughout history
Unit 2: The History of Literary Criticism
• Unit objectives
- To provide a general overview of the history of
literary criticism
- To examine the various types of literary
criticism that have been used throughout
history
- To provide a historical context to correspond
to each of these types of criticism
Unit 3: Classical Criticism I: Plato and
Aristotle
• Unit objectives
- To establish a definite starting point of literary
theory (as we know it)
- To introduce the theories of the ancient Greek
philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, and their
theories on art and poiesis
- To provide students with an understanding of
the theories that continue to shape and
influence literary theory in the present day
Unit 4: Classical Criticism II: Horace
and Longinus
• Unit Objectives
- To establish the continuity and linkage between the
culture of ancient Greece and ancient Rome
- To introduce the ideas of the ancient Roman theorists,
Horace and Longinus; as well as to show how literary
theory vacillates between Apollonian and Dionysian
extremes, by noting Longinus’ diversion from the
tradition propagated by Horace
- To provide students with an understanding of the
theories that continue to shape and influence literary
theory in the present day
Unit 5: Criticism of the English Renaissance
• Unit Objectives
- To further evidence the idea of continuity
(chronological and thematic) in literary theory, as an
ongoing activity that is based on preceding thought
- To introduce literary critical activity taking place during
the Middle Ages and the Renaissance; in this case, with
special attention paid to Sir Philip Sidney and Ben
Jonson
- To provide students with an understanding of the
theories that continue to shape and influence literary
theory in the present day
Unit 6: Criticism of the Neo-Classical
Period
• Unit Objectives
- To further evidence the idea of continuity
(chronological and thematic) in literary theory, as an
ongoing activity that is based on preceding thought
- To introduce literary critical activity taking place during
17th and 18th century Europe; with special attention
paid to the John Dryden and Samuel Johnson
- To provide students with an understanding of the
theories that continue to shape and influence literary
theory in the present day
Unit 7: Criticism of the Romantic
Period
• Unit Objectives
- To further evidence the idea of continuity
(chronological and thematic) in literary theory, as an
ongoing activity that is based on preceding thought
- To introduce literary critical activity taking place during
18th and 19th century Europe; with special attention
paid to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth
and Percy Bysshe Shelley
- To provide students with an understanding of the
theories that continue to shape and influence literary
theory in the present day
BL3103 Mid-Semester Exam (PPL Programme)
Topics
• Format of mid-semester examination: multiple choice (30
questions)
Overview of literary criticism
• Types of literary criticism
• Rise of the Roman empire (Roman culture as derivative)
Plato
• Poiesis as mimesis; mimesis as copy of external reality
• Poetry and emotional restraint
• Social impact of poetry
• Poetic creation (divine inspiration)
BL3103 Mid-Semester Exam (PPL Programme)
Topics
Horace
• Decorum
• Verisimilitude
• Reformulation of Aristotle’s tenets
Longinus
• Characteristics of the sublime
• The false sublime
The Middle Ages and Renaissance
•
Characteristics
•
Concerns of the Age
•
Literary figures: Sir Philip Sidney, and Ben Jonson
Major works? What others say about their works?
BL3103 Mid-Semester Exam (PPL Programme)
Topics
Neo-Classical Period: John Dryden, Alexander Pope,
Joseph Addison & Samuel Johnson
• Who wrote and what is Preface to Fables?
• What was the contribution of Alexander Pope?
• What was Joseph Addison style of literary
criticism?
• Who was Samuel Johnson?
BL3103 Mid-Semester Exam (PPL Programme)
Topics
The Romantic Period:
• Who was the most prominent poet of the
period?
• What is Romantic Sensibility?
• What was the argument made by Wordsworth
about poetic diction?
BL3103 Mid-Semester Exam (PPL Programme)
Topics
IMPORTANT NOTE:
• Please refer to the module when preparing for
the all aspects of the course assessment
(assignment, mid-semester examination, and
Final examination)
• The Module’s publication year: 2011 (do not use
any previous modules, but the 2011 one)