Short Course Description
What did the English language sound like over a thousand years ago? Why is it so different today? Has British culture always enjoyed the same global prestige? What are its sources? How did it come to assert itself? What was it like to be a woman in the fourteenth or sixteenth centuries? How can texts written in the remote past speak to present readers? These are some of the questions asked, and partly answered, by this survey of English literature from its earliest medieval records to the Renaissance and the Restoration. It aims to familiarize you with some of the best poetry and drama ever produced in Britain and to give you the tools to understand, enjoy, and take further courses on the works you will study. By the end of the semester, you should be able to identify, analyze, contextualize, and trace the development of their forms, themes, and ideologies.
EVALUATION: attendance; a midterm exam (30%); a final exam (70%). All exams will take place on campus.
Full Syllabus
