English Literature From Beowulf to the 18th Century

English 211 provides students with foundational knowledge of the representative (and sometimes scandalous) literary works and movements that defined British literature from c. 1200 to 1780. Students will read a wide variety of texts from Beowulf and Chaucer to the speeches and poetry of Queen Elizabeth I and the biting satire of Alexander Pope. The course will also ask students to question the scope of literary canon, incorporating texts from marginal and underrepresented writers and pointing out gaps.