Classics and English Taster Day

Date: 12th Apr


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PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME

Oriel College: 

10.00 — Arrival at Oriel College.

10.30 – 11.15 Admissions talk with Q & A.

11.30 – 12.00 Tour of Oriel.

Regent’s Park College:

12:15 – 13:15 Lunch (provided free of charge)

13:30 – 14:30 Academic seminars led by Dr Peta Fowler, Dr Lynne Robson, Dr Scott Scullion, and Ms Marchella Ward.

14:30 – 15:00 Tea break.

15:00 – 15:30 Feedback and evaluation session.

Following on from the success of our Ancient and Modern Philosophy Day with Corpus Christi College at the start of the year, the Faculty of Classics, together with Oriel College and Regent’s Park College, are proud to offer UK Year 11 and Year 12 students an introduction to studying Classics and English at university. The day will include a taster seminar, lunch in the main dining hall, two college tours with current students, and in-depth information on the Oxford admissions process. The day is entirely free of charge.

In the Classics and English taster seminar, participants will explore the enduring influence of the family in tragedy and epic with Oxford tutors. Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter, Iphigeneia, in order to appease the gods, an action that leads to his own death and his wife’s and torments his children’s futures. After ten years of war, Odysseus endures perils and temptations as he travels to regain his home, his wife and his son. Aeneas carries his father away from burning Troy and becomes the ‘founding father’ of Rome. Amata, Lavinia’s mother, is corrupted by Allecto to subvert the foundation legend. Eve eats the forbidden fruit, condemning her husband Adam and the whole of humankind to mortality. Mary, Eve’s ‘daughter’, gives birth to Jesus who, through his own sacrificial death, will redeem humans and regain Paradise.

Tragic falls, epic narratives: at the heart of these lies the story of the family, its steadfastness, its temptations, its cruelties and its redemptive possibilities.

Why are there differences in the way the family is depicted in Homeric, Virgilian and Christian epic? Are women always to blame when things go wrong? What happens when patriarchy fails? Must tragedy always involve the family? Is redemption possible and can it all end well after all? All to be explored in our seminar!

Click here to book via the Oriel College Website.