E301 12032 LITERATURES IN ENGLISH TO 1600
Gina Brandolino

10:30a-11:20a D (30 students) 3 cr., A&H.

This course offers an introduction to important texts and historical and cultural contexts of the literature of England from its beginnings in the late 600s to 1600. It is impossible to cover exhaustively all the important works written in English during this large expanse of time, but we will read selections representative of Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, and Early Modern literature. We will read such relatively unknown but notable works as the first text composed in English and the first book written in English by a woman as well as more familiar texts like The Canterbury Tales and The Faerie Queene. We will explore such themes as religious virtue, representations of the divine, courtly love, the depiction of women, and the shifting qualities of the hero. Most, but not all, of the texts we will read will be translated into Modern English, and particularly when we come to the Middle English period, the language in texts may prove difficult and time-consuming.

Becasue of the accelerated nature of a summer course and the heavy reading load E301 requires, there will be no papers assigned. There will be unannounced reading quizzes as well as a midterm and final exam.