course-details-portlet

ALIT1112

Literature from Antiquity to 1800: Drama and Poetics

Credits 15
Level Foundation courses, level I
Course start Autumn 2025
Duration 1 semester
Language of instruction Norwegian
Location Trondheim
Examination arrangement School exam

About

About the course

Course content

The course offers an introduction to drama and poetics (reflections on literature) in the oldest literary tradition. We read some of the most prominent drama and poetics texts, from antiquity, the Renaissance, the baroque, and into the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. The students are taught fundamental analytical approaches to texts and genres, and they get insights into how social, cultural and aesthetic contexts have shaped the literature of the past. The course is organized in two modules: In the drama course, we read works by Sophocles, Shakespeare, Goethe and others. In the poetics course, we study how the great minds of the past have discussed literature as an art form, in texts by Aristotle, Horace, Schiller, and several others.

Learning outcome

The candidate will after successfully completing this course have KNOWLEDGE about:

- the outlines of Western literature from the Antiquity until 1800

- of essential literary works within the genres of drama and lyric poetry

- of the origin, development and poetics of these genres

The candidate will after successfully completing this course be SKILLED in:

- presenting and discussing her/his acquired knowledge in writing

- employing comparative literary analytical tools.

The candidate’s GENERAL COMPETENCY includes:

- an understanding literature in an extensive aesthetic, historical and cultural connection

- a basic understanding of the function of the main literary genres.

Learning methods and activities

Lectures and group sessions including written assignments. Obligatory activity: 1-2 obligatory activities, including one approved written assignment (4-5 pages) with feedback.

Compulsory assignments

  • 1-2 obligatory activities

Course materials

A reading list will be available first day of class. Students that use the standard list do not have to hand in a reading list to the department. Students that want to use an alternative curriculum must apply for this by handing in an alternative reading list to the department for approval. Deadline is 10th October in the autumn semester and 10th March in the spring semester.

Credit reductions

Course code Reduction From
ALIT1101 7.5 sp Autumn 2018
ALIT1102 7.5 sp Autumn 2018
This course has academic overlap with the courses in the table above. If you take overlapping courses, you will receive a credit reduction in the course where you have the lowest grade. If the grades are the same, the reduction will be applied to the course completed most recently.

Subject areas

  • Comparative Literature

Contact information

Course coordinator

Department with academic responsibility

Department of Language and Literature

Examination

Examination

Examination arrangement: School exam
Grade: Letter grades

Ordinary examination - Autumn 2025

School exam
Weighting 100/100 Examination aids Code E Date 2025-12-05 Time 09:00 Duration 6 hours Exam system Inspera Assessment
Place and room for school exam

The specified room can be changed and the final location will be ready no later than 3 days before the exam. You can find your room location on Studentweb.

Sluppenvegen 14
Room SL310 hvit sone
32 candidates

Ordinary examination - Spring 2026

School exam
Weighting 100/100 Examination aids Code E Duration 6 hours Exam system Inspera Assessment Place and room Not specified yet.