ENGL 260-01, Survey of English Literture I, Fall 1998

Abstract

This course has several aims in view. It acts, first, as a chronological introduction to English literature from roughly 1000 to 1800. Understanding literature often requires a knowledge of what has been written before, and by the end of the course you should be able to sketch out the main developments in English literature in this crucial and formative period. Secondly, we shall consider many of the acknowledged great works of this period, as well as other significant, but less well known, pieces. The third aim is to introduce a wide range of different ways of analyzing and talking about literature of this period, including topics such as genre and form, the development of English as a literary medium, and the interactions between literature, culture more generally, politics, and society.