to broaden and intensify the literary-critical skills and understanding attained by students at earlier levels, particularly where essay writing and extra-literary issues are concerned;

to attain an ability to read the text of Beowulf in Old English;

to develop an understanding of the principles by which editors determine, reconstruct and emend the text of the Beowulf manuscript;

to acquire the ability to locate, summarise and evaluate a current topic in Beowulf studies and to judge which studies are determining the current direction of research;

to achieve a detailed knowledge of the C-Text of Piers Plowman and of the ideas and arguments on salvation, poverty, charity and love which it contains;

to attain a knowledge of the political context of Piers Plowman ;

to develop an understanding of the poetry and poetic genres of Piers Plowman .