E301 15828 LITERATURES IN ENGLISH TO 1600
Joan Pong Linton

12:20p-1:10p MWF (30 students) 3 cr., A&H. Open to English majors and declared minors only.

This course will focus on English literature from Anglo Saxon times through the Elizabethan period, with a focus on the images of community presented in these works, and the social values and assumptions they reflect or question. We will read texts from a variety of critical perspectives in order to develop an understanding of each within its literary, cultural, and historical contexts. Readings will include but not be limited to: Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Second Shepherds Play, selections from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Malory’s Morte Darthur, and The Book of Margery Kempe, Book 1 of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, lyric poetry of Sidney, Spenser, Marlowe, and Shakespeare, and a play by Marlowe or Shakespeare. Writing will include a midterm and a comprehensive final, several short writings, and two 5-page essays. Regular attendance and participation are expected.