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Literature Before 1660

ENGL 020.301
instructor(s):
TR 10:30-12

What did it mean to be an Anglo-Saxon, a Briton, an Anglo-Norman, or an Englishman? What did it mean to be a knight, a Christian, a wife, or a poet? This course will explore questions of identity and community through a survey of English literature written before 1660. By reading a selection of texts including Beowulf, The Lays of Marie de France, The Canterbury Tales, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Paradise Lost, we will track how a shared language and body of literature can contribute to the formation of communal identity. We will also address questions of individual identity formation using works such as Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Prologue, The Book of Margery Kempe, and the poems of William Shakespeare and John Donne. How does an author express or obscure his or her identity in a piece of writing? What happens when an author seeks to present or inhabit an alternative identity? To explore these questions, we will consider a wide variety of literary genres including historical writing, epic, romance, tragedy, farce, and lyrical poetry, taking into consideration how these different forms affect the construction of community and identity. Assignments will include reading responses, an oral presentation, and two papers.  

 

fulfills requirements
Sector 1: Theory and Poetics of the Standard Major
Sector 3: Early Literature to 1660 of the Standard Major