BEGINNINGS: BRITISH LITERATURE TO 1800

Credit Hours: 3 · Undergraduate Lower-Level

"Beginnings" is a course about the emergence and development of English literature. It is a backgrounds class for majors and non-majors who are interested in reading, and/or in creative writing, and who want to understand the literary past and how it remains with us. You will leave the class with 1) a clear and informed grasp of the major authors, texts, and literary movements from the Middle Ages through the British Enlightenment, 2) some answers to why we should still care about these "early" authors and their writing now, and 3) sharpened skills in reading and appreciating poetry and literary forms generally. Our class will approach our literary past with openness and curiosity for what it might hold for us, remembering that we can’t find our voices without knowing something about the traditions, legacies, and heritages that precede and shape us. (This class fulfills the pre-1800 requirement for the English major as well as Humanities distribution.)