Survey of British Literature: Beginnings to 1784

Join us for a whirlwind tour through nearly a thousand years of literary history. We will read riddles, sonnets, odes, elegies, romances, fables, and more. Our authors will range from monks, anchoresses, aspiring saints, to queens and reprobate nobles. Over the course of this survey, we will see the English language make and remake itself as it transforms from Old English to Middle English to modern English. We will also see how literary works engaged with the radical social and cultural reconfigurations brought about by war, conquest, and technological innovations.