This course introduces students to major pieces of literature and literary and cultural currents of the high and late Middle Ages, surveying a variety of influential genres such as epic, romance, hagiography, lyric, fabliau, dream vision, drama, and tale collection. It also introduces students to important critical paradigms that serve to illuminate medieval texts. While the course incorporates material from across western Europe and the eastern Mediterranean, it includes a special focus on England in order to investigate how England’s literary culture developed in relation to wider global trends. With the inclusion of translated texts from Persian and Arabic alongside examples from the western canon, the course explores the dynamic literary exchange between Europe and the Islamicate cultures of the Mediterranean.
Assessment
- Consistent attendance and preparation of reading assignments
- One passage analysis composition,
- Three take-home essays
- Middle English translation quizzes
- Multiple in-class writing responses
- Final exam
**Subject to change**
