Lecturer

• Dr. Luciano García García

Credits

• 6 (Theory: 4; Practice: 2)

Course

• BA in English Philology (Licenciatura de Filología inglesa)

Timetable and Tutorial hours (2007-2008)

Course goals, general description and procedure

 

This is a general course about the history of English literature, from its origins until 1660. Its main purpose is to provide students with a solid introduction to the main periods and canonical authors during the referred period (40 hours). In accordance with this aim. our approach will be primarily theoretical. The student will have to deal with a systematic view on English literary history, rather than with thorough textual analyses.

 

Attention, however, will be also paid in the practice sessions to some outstanding literary works, so that students will become familiar with the fundamental skills involved in the critical appreciation of English literature (20 hours). The type of activities to be carried out in the practical sessions are reading, translating and commenting the set excerpts.

 

Students are also invited to take part in extra-academic activities -basically, watching video films and listening to music, the purpose of which is to familiarize them with the milieu in which the texts were written.

Syllabus

1. ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE: FROM THE VII CENTURY TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST (1066).

2. MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE: FROM 1150 TO 1485.

3. MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE: THE AGE OF CHAUCER

4. FROM CHAUCER TO SPENSER

5. THE ELIZABETHAN AND STUART AGE: PROSE, POETRY AND DRAMA.

6. THE AGE OF MILTON.

Set readingsStudents are asked to read the following literary excerpts:
-

• Caedmon's Hymn.
• [The Coming of Beowulf to Heorot] (excerpt), from Beowulf, anonymous poem.
  - "I Sing of a Maiden" and "The Knight Knocked at the Castle Gate".
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Part 1, lines 37-84), anonymous romance.
• "The General Prologue" (lines 79-100), from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.
• "The Geography of Utopia] (excerpt), from Utopia by Thomas More.
• The Faerie Queene (Book 1, Canto 1. lines 1-36), by Edmund Spenser.
• The Tempest (Act I, scene ü. lines 66-119), by William Shakespeare.
• Paradise Lost (Book 4, lines 32-88), by John Milton.
• "Of Studies", from Essayes by Francis Bacon.
  

A booklet with all these excerpts will be supplied. It will also include a brief introduction (date, author, main theme...) to each chosen passage, as well as several indications to help the student in his/her approach to it. A brief bibliographic note (main editions and literary criticism) will also accompany the set texts.

Assessment and exams

There will be one final cumulative exam in which students will be asked to answer several short questions. They will also have to identify and comment on some literary excerpts from the above mentioned list of set readings and write two short commentaries. The exam will be in English.

I will take attendance into account, which will be factored into the students' participation grade. Participation and attendance thus will be taken into account within the final mark amounting to 5 %.

Bibliography

Basic Textbooks:

• Arnold, E. 1984. A History of English Literature. Walthon-on-Thames, Surrey: Nelson. 5th ed.
• Carter, Ronald and J. McRae. 1995. The Penguin Guide to English Literature: Britain and Ireland. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
  Legouis, E. 1986. A Short History of English Literature. Oxford: Oxford Universíty Press.

General works of reference:

• Abramss, M. H. et al (eds.). 1986 (1962). The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 2 Vols. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Vol. 1
• Bateson, N. F. 1974. A Guide to English Literature. London: Longman.
• Burgess, A. 1974. English Literature: A Survey for Students. Harlow: Longman.
• ---. 1983. Literatura Inglesa [English Literature: a Survey for Students]. Translated by Fernando Toda. Madríd: Alhambra.
• Evans, I. 1985. A Short History of English Literature. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
  Ford, B. (ed. ). 1982. The New Pelican Guide to English Literature. 9 vols. London: Penguin.
• Ousby, I. (ed.). 1988. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: C.U.P.
• Pujals, E. 1984. Historia de la Literatura Inglesa. Madrid: Gredos.

Outlines and documents of chapters (click below to get them):

• Outline of Chapter I.
• Anglo-Saxon stylistic resources and conventions
• Outline of Chapter II
• Outline of Chapter III
• Outline of Chapter IV
• Outline of Chapter V
• Outline of Chapter VI
• Translations into Spanish

Exam Samples

• Lit1exam6
• Lit1exam6parte2