A Survey of British Literature
Dr. Gal Manor
On-line Course
1 hour
Course Description
The goal for this survey class is to introduce students to the entire scope of British literature from the
middle Ages until today, using excerpts and short literary pieces representing each period. We will be
reading and engaging with a survey of selected major British authors for a reason: the material explored
here will enhance your knowledge of British culture while also making you better communicators. In
order to do this, we will both discuss British literature in historical context, and find ways in which these
texts connect to our own lives and times. This is an on-line course with seven modules, including a short
assignment of choice for each module.
Course Structure
I have four major goals for this class. The first is for students to gain a broader understanding and
appreciation of British literature. The second is to improve communicative language skills, while the
third is to learn to critically evaluate ideas, arguments and points of view. Last but not least, I would love
for you to enjoy some of the most enchanting literary pieces of the English speaking world. The course
is made up of seven modules, each devoted to a literary period and arranged in chronological order.
1. Medieval period: Beowulf, Malory’s Morte D’Arthur, and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
2. Early Modern Period: Shakespeare, John Donne, Milton.
3. Restoration / 18th century: Pepys’: Selections from Diary, Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” and
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.
4. The Romantic Period: William Blake, William Wordsworth, Coleridge, the Shelleys.
5. The Victorians: Alfred Tennyson, the Brownings, Charles Dickens.
6. Modernism: Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence.
7. Postmodernism: Doris Lessing, Ted Hughes, Roald Dahl.
Format of Learning
This is an online course in which you will receive a short literary text and an assignment to be completed
once a fortnight. For each module, you will choose to write about one author out of a choice of at least
three authors/texts. I will be available on-line in order to guide you in the learning process and answer
any questions that come up. I will use a variety of sources including video clips, filmed lectures and
other media products. The final grade will be based on six out of the seven assignments that you will be
asked to write.
Course Requirements
Six on-line assignments: 90%
Active participation: 10%
Bibliography
Sanders, A. (1994). The short Oxford dictionary of English literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Retrieved
from http://lanquiz.org/assets/pdfbooks/lanquiz.org__the_short_oxford_history_of_english_literature.pdf
The literature network. Retrieved from http://www.online-literature.com/
The Norton anthology of English Literature: Norton topics online. Retrieved from
https://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/welcome.htm
The poetry archive. Retrieved from http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/poetsHome.do