Britain, Ireland, and their archipelago were home to an exceptionally vibrant early literary tradition spanning English, French, Irish, Latin, Norse, and other languages. Writing from these islands connected rulers and rebels, merchants and monks, brewers and bureaucrats. This course is a survey of ‘British’ literature (we’ll question the term) from the beginnings to 1700. Most texts are in English; some are read in translation. The course focuses on connections between literature, power, and the formation of literary canons. The survey covers all major genres of early literature from the archipelago. Texts and authors include Beowulf, Marie de France, Chaucer, Margery Kempe, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, and Behn.

units

Literature before “literature”
Bards and beer halls (spotlight: Beowulf)
Monks and scholars (spotlight: the Exeter Book elegies)
Clerics and kings, history and magic (spotlight: The Four Branches of the Mabinogi)
Ladies, monsters, and courtly love (spotlight: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight)
Rebels, truthseekers, and the status quo (spotlight: William Langland)
London lawyers and bureaucrats (spotlight: John Gower)
Visionaries and prisoners (spotlights: Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe)
The English royal court (spotlight: William Shakespeare)
Lovers, believers, and philosophers (spotlight: John Donne)
Dissenters, Puritans, and a rake (spotlights: John Milton, Aphra Behn)

course website

[pictured: Elizabeth I on procession]