University: Going In To Second Year

Hello everyone and welcome back to The Bookworm’s Fantasy! I hope you’re all doing well. This is going to be a different kind of post; all about my thoughts and feelings surrounding going back to uni for second year, and what I will be studying this year. I hope some of you find this helpful or informative. Firstly, I’ll answer a few basic questions about my course, and then I’ll get into the details. Disclaimer: I’ve tried to give as much information as possible about different modules, but this is not possible for all. Here we go…

 

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What am I studying? BA (Hons) in English and Creative Writing.

How does the course work? My course is split equally between studying English Literature and Creative Writing. So 50% of the time I’m studying/working on English, and the other 50% is dedicated to Creative Writing.

What year am I in? I’m just going into my second year.

What do I plan to do after graduating? My dream is to become a music journalist. You can read more about that here.

How am I feeling? I’m feeling a variety of different emotions at the moment. I’m feeling scared, nervous and apprehensive about the difficulty of the course this year. I’ve heard that second year is when the workload really kicks in, and it’s the first year that my marks will actually count towards my degree. But I’m also feeling energised and determined. I’m ready to get stuck in to the course and really get my head down. I’m determined to do better than last year.

 

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What I’m studying this year: English Literature

 

Victorian Literature

Victorian Literature is the one module that I was pretty certain on studying. I love a lot of novels that have emerged from the Victorian period, and a lot of poetry too.

So, as the title suggests, we will be studying literature from the Victorian period. We will study many iconic writers of the period (e.g. George Eliot, Charles Dickens) and we will study important movements of the period (e.g. Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and its circle). We will also study many different literary genres, such as journalism, nonsense writing, biographies, essays and much more.

This module will be assessed by a 3 hour exam. I hate exams so wish me luck!

 

The Reading List

• ‘Oliver Twist’ by Charles Dickens (already read this and loved it)
• ‘Cranford’ by Elizabeth Gaskell
• ‘Middlemarch’ by George Eliot (I’m currently reading this – it’s a very difficult read!)
• ‘Daisy Miller’ by Henry James
• ‘Jude The Obscure’ by Thomas Hardy
• Various poems: from the likes of Alfred Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti, George Meredith and much more

 

 

Gothic

I absolutely love the Gothic. I love so many books that have emerged from the Gothic, and when I saw this on the module list I just knew I had to study it!

This module follows the movement of Gothic literature, beginning with ‘Zofloya’ from 1806 and moving into the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We will explore many categories (e.g. the ‘Urban Gothic’, the ‘Female Gothic’ and the ‘Southern Gothic’) and many themes (e.g. the uncanny, the double, the Gothic body).

This module will be assessed by two coursework pieces, one worth 40% and one worth 60%.

 

The Reading List

• ‘Zofloya, or the Moor’ by Charlotte Dacre (currently reading this and enjoying it)
• ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley (I read this for A-level, absolutely love it)
• ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Bronte (I read this for A-level, not too keen)
• ‘Selected Tales’ by Edgar Allen Poe
• ‘Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ by Robert Louis Stevenson (read this and enjoyed it)
• ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad
• ‘As I Lay Dying’ by William Faulkner
• ‘Beloved’ by Toni Morrison
• ‘The Wasp Factory’ by Iain Banks
• ‘The Keep’ by Jennifer Egan

 

 

Stories of the Novel

This was a module that I didn’t necessarily want to study. We had to choose modules from selected lists, but this was the best one on that list in my opinion. I do think it will be interesting, and who knows, I might enjoy it!

This module follows the major developments in the writing of prose and the shaping of the novel. We will be introduced to a variety of models on what the novel can be. This begins with seventeenth-century prose fiction and ends towards the Gothic period, and shows how early fiction has shaped the modern novel.

This is assessed by a 3 hour exam. Again, wish me luck!

 

The Reading List

• ‘Oroonoko’ by Aphra Behn
• ‘Moll Flanders’ by Daniel Defoe (I read this and thought it was very interesting, really enjoyed it)
• ‘Joseph Andrews and Shamela’ by Henry Fielding
• ‘Tristam Shandy’ by Laurence Sterne (I’m currently reading this – it’s a very difficult read)
• ‘Evelina: or the History of a Young Woman’s Entrance into the World’ by Frances Burney

 

 

 

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What I’m Studying This Year: Creative Writing

Disclaimer: I’m not able to choose any modules for Creative Writing this year, and I don’t know as much about them as my English modules. I only know the reading list for the one module at the moment – sorry!

Also, Creative Writing is assessed 100% by coursework.

 

Drama and Media Writing

In this module, we will essentially develop our skills in dramatic writing (e.g. for film, stage and more). We will produce script extracts (I’ve never done this before!!) and will develop them each week.

This is assessed by a script extract and a writer’s notes (commentary) to accompany it. The script can be dramatic writing for stage, a radio/TV drama or a film script, and is worth 75% of the mark. The commentary is worth the other 25% of the mark.

 

The Reading List

• ‘Far Away’ by Caryl Churchill
• ‘Posh’ by Laura Wade
• ‘Black Watch’ by Gregory Burke
• ‘Mr Burns’ by Anne Washburn
• ‘The Pillowman’ by Martin McDonagh

 

 

Poetry & Prose

This module will be all about developing our skills in writing prose and poetry. We will experiment with different content, forms and techniques in writing both prose and poetry.

In both semesters 1 and 2, we will produce both a prose extract and a poetry portfolio. Each one of these is worth 25% of the mark.

 

Editing: Theory & Practice

In this module, we will learn about the theory and practice in regards to editing both our own and others’ work. We will be introduced to many different editing techniques and we will practice editing work regularly.

This is assessed by two individual coursework pieces (one is worth 30% and one is worth 60%) and a group work portfolio which is worth 10%.

 

 

I realise that this is a much more informative post than usual. If any of you study/have studied a similar degree to me or have studied similar modules, I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Leave me any comments below and get in touch – I’ll always respond. Or similarly if any of you have any questions just leave them down below 🙂

 

 

 

Happy reading 🙂