Learning outcomes

Understand the evolution of literature in English in its various linguistic, political, social, etc. contexts spanning the period 600-1660. Develop a sensitivity to the complexity of literature (genres, media, ideology, reception, etc.). Acquire the technical vocabulary of literary studies. Construct the foundations of a sound cultural literacy and literary erudition. Improve the students' knowledge of the English language in a wide range of uses, stylistic and historical variants, and help them to achieve level B1 (ELP).

Goals

See "Learning Outcomes".

Content

The course traces the evolution of literature in English from its Anglo-Saxon origins to the Restoration (1660), aiming to understand it in its multiple historical contexts. The material is divided into three chapters: the Anglo-Saxon Period, the Middle English Period, and the Renaissance. Several excerpts are used for illustration, and links are made to contemporary culture.

Table of contents

600-1066: Old English Literature

  • Anglo-Saxon culture: The general context

  • Anglo-Saxon literature: The wider picture

  • Bede's Church History of the English People

  • "Caedmon's Hymn"

  • Beowulf

  • King Alfred

1066-1485: Middle English Literature

  • Middle English literature: The general context

  • Latin: A continuing presence

  • French: A new language, a new literary culture

  • Voices of protest and the alliterative revival

  • William Langland's Piers Plowman

  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

  • Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

  • Patience Agbabi's Telling Tales

  • Religious drama and the introduction of printing

The Renaissance

  • Renaissance: Basic political facts

  • Elizabeth I's "Speech to the Troops at Tilbury"

  • Christopher Columbus's "Letter... Regarding the First Voyage"

  • Anne Bradstreet's "The Author to Her Book"

  • Renaissance: Main concepts and features

  • The Reformation

  • Humanism and classically inspired genres

  • Edmund Spenser's The First Booke of the Faerie Queene

  • John Milton's Paradise Lost

  • Margaret Cavendish's "The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing World"

  • Drama

  • William Shakespeare's Hamlet

  • The sonnet

  • Thomas Wyatt's "Version of Petrarch's Rime 190"

  • William Shakespeare's Sonnets 18 and 130

  • Lyrical poetry in the seventeenth century

  • John Donne's "Elegy XIX: To His Mistress Going to Bed"

  • George Herbert's "Easter-Wings"

  • Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress"

Exercices

None.

Teaching methods

Taught lectures based on the course book and PowerPoints, involving active participation of the students, who will have previously studied the relevant chapter or the text in the "coursebook" indicated in advance. Given the teacher's interactive approach and the fairly fast pace of the course, it is imperative for students to prepare lectures in advance.

Assessment method


For students in Germanic languages and literatures: written exam in English


For students from other departments: written exam in English, adapted to their statute as "not studying germanic languages"


Detailed information on both exams, including models of the question sheets, will be posted on WebCampus with detailed information

Sources, references and any support material

Emma-Louise Silva, Cultural History of Literature in English: 600-1660 (University of Namur), available at "Réprographie".

The PowerPoints will be made available on WebCampus, and additional illustrations will be provided, for instance in the form of musical excerpts or video clips, which will illustrate the concepts, texts, and periods discussed.

No specific readings beyond this coursebook are required, but students are encouraged to enhance their personal understanding.

 

Language of instruction

English