Department of English

This course offers an introduction to English literature from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to Milton’s Paradise Lost. We will grapple with well-known and influential works including the romance narratives of Malory and Spenser, medieval religious drama and Shakespeare’s plays, and short poems by anonymous medieval authors and Renaissance lyricists. Through developing our awareness of the social issues with which these texts engage, on the one hand, and training ourselves in the critical reading and writing skills, on the other, we will seek to open up the strangeness, familiarity, and delight of literatures of the past. Assignments will include short essays, a longer research paper, and a presentation.