Upcoming Courses
Spring 2023 Classes
Looking for a class in Spring 2023? Check out our great line up of literature, language, and writing courses to help round out your gen-eds, major requirements, or electives.
Visit the Schedule of Classes to find days/time for courses. Then register in the UAccess Student Center.
Schedule of Classes UAccess Student Center
English 100 & 200 Level Courses
English 300 & 400 Level Courses
Literary history—in one sense, this single subject forms the core of studying English literature. Which old books have people throughout the centuries found fascinating, and why? How do people radically different from us in perspective and outlook comprehend their worlds? An old joke goes that a true survey course must range from Beowulf to Virginia Woolf, but of course that’s impossible. Already in this class we cover a 1,000-year stretch; even that barely scratches the surface. Yet we’ll take journeys through historical ages only dimly understood by most people—the “Dark Ages,” the Middle Ages, the English Renaissance and Reformation. But we’ll also see how those ages flourish in texts that range across a hundred thousand adaptations, from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (basically Arthurian fan-fic) to The Lord of the Rings. In ENGL 373A, we’ll ultimately study the earliest beginnings of English literature up through the early Modern period. We’ll breathe in the romance of the old, where far from the daringness of the avant-garde or the technological cutting edge, we’ll find world-views and wisdom buried deeply by time. We’ll uncover strange new literary modes and techniques, and we’ll delve into nuances of creative adaptation through the centuries. Not everyone takes 373A already knowing that they love literary history … but everyone will leave having learned what they have missed.
Literary history—in one sense, this single subject forms the core of studying English literature. Which old books have people throughout the centuries found fascinating, and why? How do people radically different from us in perspective and outlook comprehend their worlds? An old joke goes that a true survey course must range from Beowulf to Virginia Woolf, but of course that’s impossible. Already in this class we cover a 1,000-year stretch; even that barely scratches the surface. Yet we’ll take journeys through historical ages only dimly understood by most people—the “Dark Ages,” the Middle Ages, the English Renaissance and Reformation. But we’ll also see how those ages flourish in texts that range across a hundred thousand adaptations, from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (basically Arthurian fan-fic) to The Lord of the Rings. In ENGL 373A, we’ll ultimately study the earliest beginnings of English literature up through the early Modern period. We’ll breathe in the romance of the old, where far from the daringness of the avant-garde or the technological cutting edge, we’ll find world-views and wisdom buried deeply by time. We’ll uncover strange new literary modes and techniques, and we’ll delve into nuances of creative adaptation through the centuries. Not everyone takes 373A already knowing that they love literary history … but everyone will leave having learned what they have missed.