All Courses

In this course, Dr Benjamin Pohl (University of Bristol) explores Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest. The course begins by considering where the Normans came from, focusing in particular on the Viking raids of the ninth and tenth...

In this course, Dr Sophie Duncan (University of Oxford) explores Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, which premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen in December 1879. The course begins by introducing Ibsen's life and times, his inspiration for the...

In this course, Professor Stephen Morton (University of Southampton) discusses Chinua Achebe's 1958 novel Things Fall Apart. The course begins by introducing the author himself and the publication on the novel, before moving on in the second...

In this course, Dr John Rignall (University of Warwick) explores George Eliot's 1860 novel, The Mill on the Floss. The course begins by thinking about George Eliot herself and the place of the novel in her career. In the second...

In this course, Professor Richard Seaford (University of Exeter) explores Euripides' great tragedy, The Bacchae, which ends with the king of Thebes, Pentheus, being torn to pieces by his own mother, Agave. In the first module, we think about the...

In this course Dr Allison Adler Kroll (PhD student, University of Oxford) explores Ian McEwan's 2001 novel, Atonement. The course begins with a discussion of the book's title – what is atonement? what is atoned for? – before moving on...

In this course, Professor John Roe (University of York) explores Shakespeare's Henry V. The course begins with a brief introduction to the play as the fourth and final instalment in Shakespeare's second great tetralogy, before moving on in the...

In this course, Dr Christie Carson (Royal Holloway, London) explores Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. We begin in the first module by thinking of the play's status as a comedy: is it enough for the play to end with a marriage...

In this course, Dr Rosie Wyles (University of Kent) provides a close reading and analysis of Aristophanes' Acharnians, focusing in particular on the prescribed material for the OCR A-Level in Classical Greek. All passages are presented in the...

In this course, Dr Rosie Wyles (University of Kent) explores Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus. In the first module, we think about where Sophocles chooses to start the story and how it proceeds, compared to other versions of the myth. After that,...

In this course, Professor Cedric Watts (University of Sussex) explores Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The course begins by looking at Conrad's life – beginning with his upbringing in the small town of Berdychiv, and following his career as...

In this course, Professor Lisa Hopkins (University of Sheffield Hallam) discusses Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. In the first module, we consider 'the form of Faustus' fortunes', focusing in particular on the importance on books in the play – not least...