Göteborgs Universitet
Inst för språk och litteraturer
B Literary Survey Course/EN1210, gr 1
Chloé Avril
British Literary Survey Course:
British Literature from the Middle Ages to 1900
Texts:
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Major Authors, 9th edition
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
LECTURE 1:
10. September
INTRODCUTION TO THE COURSE AND TO THE
PERIODS
Lesson 1:
12. September
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE:
POETRY FROM THE RENAISSANCE:
THE SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET:
Required reading:
The Sonnet (compendium).
William Shakespeare and the sonnets (NAE 535-540).
Shakespeare, Sonnets 18 (NAE 541-42), 20 (NAE 542),
130 (NAE 550).
Mary Wroth, Sonnet 77 (NAE 724)
PASTORAL POETRY:
Christopher Marlowe, (NAE 498-499).
Marlowe, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (NAE 499500).
Sir Walter Ralegh, “The Nymph’s Response” (NAE 488-89)
LECTURE 2:
16. September
CHAUCER
Lesson 2:
19. September
THE MIDDLE AGES:
Required reading:
Introduction to the Middle Ages (NAE 3-6; 13-18).
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Geoffrey Chaucer (NAE 188-191).
Introduction to The Canterbury Tales (NAE 191-193).
From The Canterbury Tales (see selection in modern
translation on GUL)
Introduction to “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale” (NAE
230).
Marie de France, “About a Woman and her Paramour” (GUL)
LECTURE 3:
22. September
SHAKESPEARE
Lesson 3:
26. September
SHAKESPEARE AND THE RENAISSANCE
Required reading:
Introduction to the sixteenth century (NAE 349-381).
Shakespeare, (NAE 535-539).
“An Introduction to the Study of Shakespeare’s Plays”
(compendium).
Othello (NAE 552-635).
LECTURE 4:
MILTON
1. October
Lesson 4:
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
3. October
Metaphysical poetry.
Required reading:
Introduction to the early seventeenth century
(NAE 637-665).
John Donne, (NAE 666-668).
Donne, "The Flea" (669), “The Sun Rising" (672), Holy Sonnets
no. 7 (NAE 690) and no.14. (NAE 692).
Andrew Marvell, (NAE B 750-751).
Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress" (NAE 751-752).
Study questions for metaphysical poetry (compendium)
Concepts of metaphysical poetry: conceit, wit
(compendium).
Paradise Lost:
Required reading:
John Milton, (NAE 768-772).
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Paradise Lost, extracts: Introduction (NAE 799-800 ).
Read the arguments (summaries) to all the books.
Book 1 (NAE 801-819: with special attention to lines
1-270, 589-662). Book 4 (NAE 854-870: with special
attention to lines 32-113, 635-38. 736-75).
Extract from Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress (compendium)
Extracts from Genesis (compendium)
“Critical Voices on Paradise Lost” (compendium)
"Epic" and "epic simile" (compendium).
LECTURE 5:
THE ENGLIGHTENMENT
8. October
Lesson 5:
10. October
THE RESTORATION AND THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY
The Augustans: Pope, Swift and Johnson.
Required reading:
Introduction to the restoration and the eighteenth
Century (NAE 931-960).
Jonathan Swift, (NAE 1055-1056).
Swift, A Modest Proposal (NAE 1199-1205).
Alexander Pope, (NAE 1205-1209).
Pope, from An Essay on Man (NAE 1245-1252).
“The Mythos of Winter: Irony and Satire” (compendium).
Samuel Johnson, (1283-1285).
Johnson, from The Preface to Shakespeare (NAE 1340-1350).
Johnson, on Milton’s Paradise Lost (NAE 1351-1356).
Study questions for a Modest Proposal, Essay on Man and
Johnson’s criticism (compendium).
The rise of the novel.
Required reading:
“Realism and the Novel Form” (compendium).
Extracts from eighteenth-century novels (compendium).
“The Development of the Novel” (compendium).
“The Eighteenth-century Novel: Study Questions”
(compendium).
Aphra Behn, (NAE 1004-1006).
Behn, Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave (NAE 1010-1054).
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LECTURE 6:
15. October
THE ROMANTIC PERIOD
Lesson 6:
17. October
ROMANTICISM
Romantic poetry:
Required reading:
Introduction to the Romantic period (NAE 1411-1438).
William Wordsworth, (NAE 1532-1535).
Wordsworth, from Preface to Lyrical Ballads (NAE 15431555).
Wordsworth, “I wandered lonely as a cloud” (NAE 15851586).
Wordsworth, “My heart leaps up” (NAE 1586).
Percy Bysshe Shelley, (NAE D 1784-1786).
Shelley, “Ozymandias” (NAE 1794), “Ode to the West Wind”
(NAE 1796-1798).
John Keats, (NAE 1874-1877).
Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale” (NAE 1900-1902).
From Keats’ letters: “A Poet Has No Identity” (NAE 19311933).
Romantic fiction:
Required reading:
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
LECTURE 7:
22. October
THE VICTORIAN AGE IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA
Lesson 7:
24. October
THE VICTORIAN AGE IN ENGLAND
Required reading:
Introduction to the Victorian Age (NAE 1941-1967).
Victorian poetry:
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (NAE 1993-1995).
Browning, “The Cry of the Children” (NAE 1995-1998).
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (NAE 2021-2024).
Tennyson, “The Lady of Shallott” (NAE 2026-2030).
Robert Browning (NAE 2117-2120).
Browning, “My Last Duchess” (2124-2125).
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Matthew Arnold, (NAE 2158-2163).
Arnold, “Dover Beach” (NAE 2172-73).
The Victorian Novel:
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
Lesson 8:
27. October
NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICA
Required reading:
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
Selected articles (GUL)
SIT-IN EXAM
TAKE-HOME EXAM
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