Syllabus
Ø WEEK 1-2
Theme 1: The Romantic North
North of England, birthplace of landscape art - from Turner, Girtin and Ward to Emily Bronte, Wordsworth and Coleridge
Ø WEEK 3-4
Theme 2: The Flatlands
Suffolk, the Norfolk Broads, the Fens and the East coast - from Constable, Gainsborough and Stubbs to Brooke and Lord Byron with music by Britten
Ø WEEK 5-6
Theme 3: Highlands and Glens
Highlands and Glens of Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland - from Sir Walter, Yeats and Burns to Landseer, Nasmyth, McCulloch, Henry and Craig with music by Mendelssohn
Ø WEEK 7-8
Theme 4: The Heart of England
The Midlands, the Peak District, the Black Country, the Cotswolds and the Malverns - from Lowry, Wright and Cartwright to Dickens with music by Stone and Elgar
Ø WEEK 9-10
Theme 5: The Home Front
The South East - from Blake, Constable, Turner, Frith, Churchill, Allingham and Nash to Kipling accompanied by the White Cliffs of Dover by Dame Vera
Ø WEEK 11-12
Theme 6: The Mystical West
From Stonehenge to Cornwall and Wales - from Constable, Turner and Wilson to Hardy, Thomas, Conan Doyle and du Maurier with music by Holst
Annotation
The second part of the course focuses on the British landscape and the art which it has inspired. In each of the six thematic units a different British region is explored and the ways in which its landscape and culture have influenced painters and composers is discussed. The works of painters such as Turner, Gainsborough, Constable, Landseer, and more recently Nash and Long, are discussed as the best demonstrations of how the British perceptions of nationhood and the countryside are co-shaped by their artistic representations. The main focus on fine arts will be complemented by mentions of the music of leading composers including Elgar,Vaughan Williams or Britten, together with relevant works by novelists and poets such as Bronte, Dickens or Thomas.
On completing this part of the course, the students should have enhanced their understanding of the British rural spaces as a prominent identity-forming phenomenon that is mediated through their representations in fine arts, music and literature.