LIT3112-001 Spring 2025 - Ward

This course introduces English majors to noteworthy authors, formative texts, and key imaginative traditions and literary movements of British literature before 1800. Students will gain familiarity with the historical development of early English writing from the beginnings of the English language in Anglo-Saxon heroic epic; through the later medieval flourishing of courtly romance and satire; to the dazzling formal innovations of Renaissance lyric, epic, and drama; and concluding with the explosion of literary output during the eighteenth century that emerged from the entangled strands of global commerce, colonialism, and ideologies of “improvement.” Students will encounter major canonical authors of these periods, learn how those authors came to be canonized, and read lesser-known works outside the canon. You will learn to identify and analyze a variety of genres that are crucial to English literary tradition, and you will discover how authors imaginatively respond to their predecessors. The creative forms and major themes of each era will be contextualized within the social and cultural history that shaped them. Meets LMC Core Requirement