Time Schedule:
Traynor F Iii Hansen
ENGL 211
Seattle Campus
Introduces literature from the Age of Shakespeare to the American and French Revolutions, focusing on major works that have shaped the development of literary and intellectual traditions in these centuries. Topics include: The Renaissance, religious and political reforms, exploration and colonialism, vernacular cultures, and scientific thought. Offered: AWSpS.
Class description
This class presents a survey of English literature from the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. It is no accident that the tumultuous political changes of these centuries—the English Civil War, the Glorious Revolution, and eventually the Enlightenment and the American Revolution—occurred in the wake of and alongside significant religious upheaval, including the English Reformation (and its continental cousin, the Protestant Reformation) in the sixteenth century, the Puritan movement of the seventeenth, and the emergence of methodism in the eighteenth. At the same time, others began to live without religion altogether by experimenting with a form of secular humanism. These large-scale changes reflect a shifting perspective of what it meant to be an individual subject, no longer under the authority of Church or State.
Our reading and discussion will focus on texts that attempt to come to terms with these changes—texts that ask questions such as: What does it mean for the writer to truly “know” him– or herself? What responsibility does the writer have to his readers? To tradition? To authority? To God? Our major texts will be a play (Hamlet) and two works of fiction, Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress and Henry Fielding’s comic novel Joseph Andrews. Other texts will include essays, devotional writing, short– and long-form poetry.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
The class will be a combination of lecture and discussion. You should expect quite a bit of reading, including a good deal of poetry, fiction and nonfiction prose—also, be aware that the dates of our texts mean that our reading will be, in some ways, substantially different from the kind of writing with which most of us are familiar and will thus pose difficulties for some.
Recommended preparation
Note for current and prospective English majors: this class will satisfy your pre-1900 requirement. Please keep in mind, however, that as a 200-level class it will be geared primarily toward non-majors.
Class assignments and grading
This is primarily a literature class, so you should be prepared to read a lot. You should also be prepared to participate regularly in discussions. Please expect a midterm and a final exam, and short paper (5 pp.).
