Literature in English to the 18th Century
Term 1
TTh, 12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
This survey will concentrate on expressions of sacred and secular love and desire in the medieval and early modern periods. Texts we’ll study include “Caedmon’s Hymn;” “The Wife’s Lament;” the writings of the mystics Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe; poems from Donne’s Songs and Sonets and Elegies; Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. As a case study in form, we’ll trace the evolution and scope of the sonnet in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Wyatt, Surrey, Spenser, Sidney, Shakespeare, Donne, Wroth, Milton). We’ll also acquire a technical knowledge of the mechanics of poetry: metre and rhythm, syntax and line, diction, metaphor, rhetoric. We’ll approach these poems and plays from the perspective of working poets—as if we were writing them. For your term paper you’ll have the option to write your own sonnet.
