School of English - AUTh

Description

Survey of English Literature I, a compulsory course for 2nd-year students, offers an overview of English Literature from the late Medieval period, through the Renaissance, to the Restoration and the dawn of the Neoclassical Age. Focusing on a single theme (love and marriage), it attempts to trace the development of this theme through the various historical periods with the purpose of showing its various transformations. The emphasis is on the literary texts, but equally important are the various con-texts (social, religious, ideological, political) that determine their meaning and show the wider forces at work in the shaping of ideas and social practices. The course reading-list includes but is not limited to the following: selections from Tristan and Isolde, Chaucer’s “The Franklin’s Tale,” Castiglione’s The Courtier (book IV), a variety of Elizabethan sonnets, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, examples of “metaphysical” poems (by Donne and Marvell), selections from Milton’s Paradise Lost and Pepys’s Diary. The reading list is subject to revision and specified further in the course syllabus. The general aim of the course is to enable students to understand how the literary representation of a certain theme relates to the changing historical conditions and at the same time to familiarize them with the development of English literature over a course of about six centuries. Expected learning outcomes:

• Familiarization of students with the the literature and society of the Medieval and Early Modern periods.
• Ability to connect literary texts to social and historical context.
• Improvement of the students’ critical skills.

Assessment: Final Exam

Important Note: For an updated syllabus, complete reading list, required texts, assignments and supplementary material, please consult the course's e-learning site (https://elearning.auth.gr). Survey of English Literature I is not recommended for Erasmus students.

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Teaching

Course files

Course Outline