📜 General Information

English 3160 is a survey of early British Literature, spanning from its beginnings to the 17th century. In this course, we will examine exemplary works of literature from this period with a specific focus on how these works represent and help shape British identity and culture. Some of the questions our discussions will address throughout the semester include: How do literary texts participate in both shaping and conveying collective/ individual British identity? How does literature from this period contribute to England’s nation- and empire- building agendas? How can we engage with these texts through an anti-racist lens: in other words, how can we read and engage with these texts without upholding values of white and Western supremacy? Finally, what makes each of these texts canonical and what warrants their inclusion in our class and in our anthology?

Student Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate orally, in writing, or by some other means a fundamental ability to use some of the techniques and/or methods of literary analysis.
Identify and/or describe some of the various social, historical, cultural, and/or theoretical contexts in which literary texts have been written and interpreted.

Course Objectives

Students who complete this course successfully will:

Identify and discuss important characteristics of early British literature;
Deepen knowledge of and appreciation for British literature through reading, writing, reflection, and discussion;
Engage with major or otherwise representative texts, key historical periods, and major aesthetic and intellectual movements;
Analyze the various social, historical, and literary contexts in which these texts were written;
Expand, deepen, and complicate conceptions of what it means to read, write, and make use of language;
Apply techniques of literary analysis to texts; demonstrate analytical skills through informed responses based on effective evidence and reasoned analysis
Strengthen ability to formulate critical questions, to construct effective arguments both verbally and in writing, to make effective use of textual evidence, close reading, and analysis and to thereby improve your writing skills;
Practice and explicate multimodal composition;