11:15a-12:05p MWF (30) 3 cr.

This course will focus on English literature from Anglo-Saxon times to the Elizabethan period. Reading will likely include, but not be limited to, Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, extensive selections from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, selected sonnets, and important texts by Sidney, Spenser, Marlowe, and Shakespeare. The course will emphasize the major literary achievements of the centuries it treats, acknowledging as well the larger cultural contexts in which these participate. Writing will include a midterm, a comprehensive final, and several other assignments, ranging from essays to in-class exercises. Attendance and participation will be valued.