English and drama

Word & Image

Module code: Q3286B
Level 5
15 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Class
Assessment modes: Coursework

Word and Image is a cross-period, interdisciplinary module, rooted in materiality, theory, history and the archive.

Through research and writing practice, we will investigate ways that writing (poetry, fiction, theoretical texts, captions and titles) can address itself to images.

We will explore visual arts that take literature for their inspiration: illustrations, history paintings, and visual adaptations of textual narratives.

We will examine cases in which word and image are composed together as a single work, e.g. concrete poetry, illuminated books, and graphic narratives. The module is suitable for students new to the visual arts as well as those with prior knowledge.

Module learning outcomes

• Develop a critical and creative vocabulary for writing about images.
• Ability to place the making of texts and images in a historical context.
• Show knowledge of the ways in which different writers have addressed images, how images have responded to writing, and how the literary and visual arts have been combined in single works.
• Critically evaluate the way in which writers and artists have worked with texts and images, and how critics have explored their relationship.