This course will examine what linguistics can tell us about the special nature of literary discourse. It will explore the potential of linguistics for describing and explaining literary effects and will apply linguistics to texts from a range of periods and genres, including fiction, drama and poetry. In this way it will provide an opportunity for students to apply their linguistic analytic skills to enhance their understanding of literature.

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to: 1. Apply linguistic concepts to the analysis of literary texts; 2. Demonstrate the operation of linguistic phenomenon in poetry; 3. Describe the effect of literary devices in terms of specific linguistic concepts.