This course is designed to familiarize students with a range of Middle English and early modern texts.  We will examine the ways in which literary works participate in this period’s shifting debates about social, gendered, religious, cultural, and national identity, and we will be particularly interested in analyzing how a text’s formal components mediate its larger themes and arguments.  Readings may include such authors as Chaucer, Kempe, Malory, More, Wyatt, Surrey, Foxe, Sidney, Spenser, Donne, Lanyer, Wroth, Hobbes, Milton, and others.  Assignments will include several short papers, a midterm exam, and a final exam.