| Week | Dates | Activities |
| 1. | 08/22 | Course Introduction. The Story of English |
| 2. | 08/27 08/29 |
Anglo-Saxon (Old English) Literature:
The Heroic Tradition "The Middle Ages" (1-21); Beowulf (29-98) |
| 3. | 09/03 09/05 |
Anglo-Saxon Literature: The Religious
Tradition Bede "Caedmon's Hymn" (23-25); "The Dream of the Rood" (26-28) Seminar: Celtic Contexts |
| 4. | 09/10 09/12 |
The Matter of Britain: The Arthurian
Tradition in Anglo-Norman Legendaries Geoffrey of Monmouth (115-117); Wace (118-121); Layamon (122-123); The Myth of Arthur's Return (124-125) |
| 5. | 09/17 09/19 |
The Matter of Britain: The Arthurian
Tradition in the Later Middle Ages "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" (156-209); Malory's Morte Arthur (419-438) Report Due |
| 6. | 09/24 09/26 |
The Matter of Britain: The Arthurian
Tradition in the English Renaissance Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book 1 (614-616, 622-771) Seminar: Film Treatments of Arthurian Lore |
| 7. | 10/01 10/03 |
Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales: "Prologue," "The Miller's Tale" (Prologue and Tale), "The Wife of Bath's Tale" (tale only), from "The Parson's Tale" (210-213, 213-235, 235-252, 272-81, 311-313) Seminar: Chaucer's Other Tales |
| 8. | 10/08 10/10 |
Middle English Religious Literature Margery Kempe's Book (366-379); Langland's Piers Plowman (317-319, 319-322, 336-346) Midterm Exam |
| 9. | 10/15 10/17 |
English Renaissance, Reformation and
Exploration "Introduction" (469-497); Thomas More, Utopia Book I, Book II "Religions" (503-511, 516-520); Amadas and Barlowe (897-901); Hariot (901-905). Golding (600-601); Sidney, The Defense of Poesy (909-911, 933-934, 947-954); "The English Bible" (538-542) Report Due |
| 10. | 10/22 10/24 |
Revolution and Reform: Anglicans and
Puritans in the Civil War John Donne, "Holy Sonnet 14, " "Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness" (1233-1236, 1271, 1274-75); George Herbert, "The Altar," "Easter Wings," "Love" (1595-1596, 1597, 1599, 1614-1615); Andrew Marvell, "Bermudas" (1684-1685, 1686-1687); Abiezer Coppe (1747-1751). Last Day to Withdraw: 10/22John Milton, from Areopagitica, Paradise Lost, Books I, IX (1771-1774, 1801-1811, 1815-1836, 1961-1986) Seminar: Politics and Poetry |
| 11. | 10/29 10/31 |
Restoration and the Age of Reason Aphra Behn, Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave (2165-2167, 2170-2215); Jonathan Swift, "A Modest Proposal" (2298-2300, 2473-2479). Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man "Epistle 1" (2505-2509, 2554-2561); Samuel Johnson, Rambler No. 4 "On Fiction" (2660-2662, 2712-2715) Seminar: Satire and Social Criticism |
| 12. | 11/05 11/07 |
The Dramatic Tradition: The Medieval Morality Play Everyman |
| 13. | 11/12 11/14 |
The Dramatic Tradition: From Germanic Saga to Renaissance Tragedy in Shakespeare's Hamlet |
| 14. | 11/19 11/21 |
Seminar: Film Treatments of Hamlet Thanksgiving Holiday |
| 15. | 11/26
11/28 |
Lyric Poetry, Song, and Ballad
Traditions Elegiac Mode: "The Wanderer" (99-102); Gray, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" (2830) Report Due 11/26 Thanksgiving Holiday |
| 16. | 12/03 12/05 |
Lyric Poetry, Song, and Ballad
Traditions Shakespeare, Sonnets (1026-42) #19, 20, 29, 30, 130, 138, 144 Mary Wroth, Song #74 (1430-31) Herrick, "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" (1649-50), "Upon the Nipples of Julia's Breast" (1651-52) Katherine Philips, "Friendship's Mystery, To My Dearest Lucasia" (1681) John Donne, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" (1248-49) Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress" (1691-92) Popular Ballads (2882-88) Seminar: Panel on Poets |
| 12/10 | Course and Exam Review | |
| Final Exam | 12/17 | 5:00-6:45 p.m. |