ENGL 8 - British Literature I

Transfer Status

CSU/UC

Unit(s)

3.00

• Lecture: 51.00 Contact hours/102.00 Out of class hours/153.00 Total hours/3.00 Unit(s)
• Total: 51.00 Contact hours/102.00 Out of class hours/153.00 Total hours/3.00 Unit(s)

Course Description: This course is an introductory survey to the seminal works, genres and eras of the development of literature in English in the British Isles, from the early Medieval to the Renaissance and 17th century, to conclude with the Augustan literature of the 18th century. It is designed for students seeking an introductory survey of British literature, its figures, and movements. Authors include Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, Shakespeare, Swift, and others. Graded only. (C-ID ENGL 160).

Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Demonstrate familiarity with major authors, works, genres, and themes of the period
2. Analyze and interpret the literature and intellectual movements of the period
3. Demonstrate understanding of appropriate academic discourse and the conventions of critical literary analysis
4. Relate the literary works to their historical, philosophical, social, political, and aesthetic contexts
5. Demonstrate comprehension of the above through class discussion, written exams, and essays

Topic Titles / Suggested Time Topic

Lecture

1. Class Activities
2. Discussion
3. Homework: Students are required to complete two hours of outside-of-class homework for each hour of lecture
4. Lecture
5. Multimedia Presentations
6. Reading Assignments
7. Small Group Work
   Analytical Research Projects
   Methods may also include one or more of the following:
   1. Interactive Journals
   2. Student Oral Presentations
   3. Internet/Online Research
   Students are expected to write a minimum of 4000 words for this course.

1. Exams/Tests
2. Projects
3. Homework
4. Short papers
5. Essays and research papers
6. Class Discussion
7. Analytical Research Projects, Methods may also include one or more of the following:
   1. Interactive journals
   2. Oral presentations
   3. Smaller analytical papers

Reading Assignments

1. Evaluate one classmate's literary analysis,and offer suggestions for deepening it. Think about the ways your own interpretation of the work differed from your classmate's and offer these different perspectives. Select additional quotes from the literary selection to question, debate, or add to your classmate's analysis.
2. Read the literary work assigned by your instructor, choose two quotations from the work, analyze the meanings of the quotes and explain how you think they connect to the theme of the work as a whole.

Writing Assignments

1. Chose one of the assigned literary works to articulate a specific question that has emerged from your reading and analysis of it. Use that question to help you formulate a thesis that you can support and develop in a formal essay. Be sure to consistently synthesize specific details from your chosen literary work and outside research, and come to a logical conclusion that develops the implications of your thesis for your audience.
2. Articulate a specific question that has emerged from your comparison of two of the assigned literary works, and formulate a thesis about that question. Compose a formal essay, supporting and developing your thesis. Consistently synthesizing specific details from your chosen literary works and outside research, come to a logical conclusion that develops for your audience the implications of your thesis.

Out-of-Class Assignments

1. Select two or more of the assigned literary works from a particular period, and research their historical and cultural contexts, using this new information to deepen your analyses of those works.
2. Choose one or two of the assigned authors, and research specific circumstances of their lives and times that might have influenced their literary productions. Select the most relevant information to further inform and develop your analysis of the authors and their texts.

Greenblatt, Stephen. (2018). The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volumes Package 1: A, B, C. W.W. Norton, 10th.

Robertson, B. & Getty, L. (2019). British Literature I Anthology: From the Middle Ages to Neoclassicism and the Eighteenth Century. University System of Georgia, OER.

Other Learning Materials

Literary Works:

Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, The Fairie Queene, King Lear, Twelfth Night, Paradise Lost, Gulliver’s Travels and/or other appropriate selections.

English (Masters Required)