EN4432 Poetry and Cinema

Academic year

2025 to 2026 Semester 1

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 10

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Availability restrictions

Not automatically available to General Degree students

Planned timetable

2.00 pm - 4.00 pm Tue

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr E Jones

Dr E Jones
This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Emma Jones (EJ26)

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

Come to the movies! In this module we'll look at techniques common to poetry and cinema (an ancient art and a very modern one). We'll pay particular attention to Modernism at the movies, looking at works by T.S. Eliot, H.D., Ezra Pound, Hart Crane, Samuel Beckett, Charlie Chaplin and others; we'll also look to the 'golden age' of Hollywood via (among others) the poems of Frank O'Hara and Sylvia Plath. We'll explore how poetry and cinema met and produced newforms by discussing the film-poem from its birth in Surrealism to its flourishing in our digital present, taking in the pioneering work of Germaine Dulac, Man Ray, Maya Deren, Stan Brakhage and Kenneth Anger. We'll also discuss the different uses of poetry in a range of world cinemas, including Italian cinema of the 1960s and 1970s (Pier Paolo Pasolini and Michelangelo Antonioni), in Soviet cinema (especially Tarkovsky), in US cinema (Terence Malick and Julie Dash), in Iranian new wave cinema (Kiarostami) and in Bollywood. Students will watch a range of movies online and at in-School screenings, and will have the option ofproducing a short film in lieu of a written assessment. No prior knowledge of film is assumed for this module. (Group E)

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST PASS EN2003 AND PASS EN2004

Assessment pattern

2-hour Written Examination = 40%, Coursework = 60%

Re-assessment

exam = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

2-hour seminar and 2 optional consultative hours.

Scheduled learning hours

22

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

256

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.