This course charts an entire cultural period and its major authors and themes in more or less chronological order. Issues of nationhood and national identity, as well as the relationship between historiography and literature, figure large at the start. Subsequently, the course provides the required depth to study the later fifteenth century (the 'Golden Age of the Makars') on its own terms and investigate how contemporary literature increasingly self-consciously evolved from within itself unprecedented ways of addressing private as well as public matters, from alliterative narratives via romance and the lyric to fantasy literature, and particularly against the backdrop of the rise of humanism in Europe.

1 x lecture per week over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus.

1 x 1 hr session per week over 10 weeks (9 seminars and 1 workshop) as scheduled on MyCampus.

This is one of the Honours options in Scottish Literature and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

None

The standard assessments for this course are:

■ Examination (1.5 hours duration) - 50%

■ Essay (1800 words) - 40%

■ Seminar presentation of 8 minutes -10%

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:

■ There is no alternative to the exam, but flexible deadlines and extra time can be offered as reasonable adjustments (students should follow the usual process for extensions)

■ There is no alternative to the essay, but flexible deadlines and extra time can be offered as reasonable adjustments (students should follow the usual process for extensions)

■ Recording of presentation as an alternative to the presentation

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.

This course aims to:

■ investigate issues of nationhood and national identity in Older Scots literature;

■ challenge modern perceptions about the relationship between historiography and literature;

■ achieve an in-depth understanding of fifteenth-century literature in Scots as seen through its own textual traditions;

■ develop skills in the close reading of Older Scots literature in a wide range of genres;

■ map the literary dimensions and innovations in the representation of self-hood specific to contemporary literature in Scots;

■ investigate the material dimensions of Scottish and European book-history relevant to the above objectives through a visit to GU Special Collections.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ analyse the content and style of specific passages of Older Scots verse;

■ show knowledge of the interaction of metrical form, style and genre in historiography, romance, allegory, advice poetry and fantasy verse;

■ analyse, in both written and oral formats, Older Scots literature within its own literary traditions and in the context of book history

■ show an understanding of the function of supernatural and fantasy narrative within medieval Scottish literature;

■ recognise the influence of humanism in Scotland at the end of the fifteenth century;

■ comment on the development of the lyrical persona in Older Scots literature.