English 45A

Book List

Chaucer, G.: The Canterbury Tales, ed. Jill Mann (Penguin); Dickson, D.: John Donne's Poetry (Norton edition); Heaney, S.: Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (Bilingual Edition); Marlowe, C.: Doctor Faustus, ed. David Scott Kastan (Norton ed.); Milton, J.: Paradise Lost, ed. Gordon Teskey (Norton ed.)

Other Readings and Media

Readings on bSpace.

Description

In this course you will explore some of the great foundational works of English literature, ranging from the very earliest period up to Milton's Paradise Lost. In the process, you will learn to understand--and even speak!--the forms of early English, and to appreciate genres ranging from epic to lyric verse. You will practice the close analysis of language, and will also consider how literature engages with--and shapes--the historical circumstances in which it was produced. Our goal is to understand how and why the texts we will read created the landscape of English literature.