English 45A

Description

This is a story of discovering, then forgetting, then discovering again the fact that a particular language can be used not only for communication but also for creation. At the beginning of our story Caedmon, a shepherd, is called upon in his dream to praise God in poetry. A thousand years later, John Milton calls upon the “Heav’nly Muse” to sing “Of Man’s First Disobedience.” In between them, English turns from its humble beginnings into a medium of literature. In this course, we trace this transformation by readings works of Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton. 

Texts: Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (original spelling edition, ed. Jill Mann);  Stephen Greenblatt (ed.), The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume B. Additional materials will be posted on BCourses. If you do not own an edition of the Canterbury Tales, you may use the UMichigan online edition, which is accessible at: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/CT/1:1.2?rgn=div2;view=toc