Course Catalog

ENG250E British Literature (4 credits) 9714

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Explores British Literature from its beginning to the present, including a brief historical overview of the development of the English language.

LEARNING RESULTS
• To provide the student with a foundational understanding of the English literary tradition by means of a survey of major British authors from antiquity to the present.
• To examine historical, sociological, and psychological forces that have shaped English literature.
• To develop critical thinking skills and to enable the student to become a discerning reader.

REQUIRED TEXTS AND MATERIALS
• The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 8th ed. vol.I Abrams, et.al., 2005. ISBN: 0393925315.
• The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 8th ed. vol.II Abrams, et.al., 2005. ISBN: 0393925323.
• A Handbook to Literature, 10th ed. Holman & Harmon, 2006.

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INTEGRATION OF FAITH AND LEARNING
Percy Bysse Shelley, the nineteenth-century romantic poet eloquently states what literature can do for us in these immortal words:

“ . . . literature represents the best and the brightest thinking of the best and the brightest minds . . . poets are the unacknowledged legislators of mankind.”

Literature, while it serves a multiplicity of purposes in our lives, is one of the chief means available to teach us what it means to be authentic human beings in a morally complex universe. In a literature course at a Christian institution such as Taylor University, we have the freedom and the luxury of examining the motivations of characters and the consequences of their actions from a Christian perspective. This means that we not only analyze the aesthetic accomplishments of selected literary works, but we also ask what motivates characters to act in particular ways and what the consequences of their actions are for themselves, their family, their country, and their posterity.

Through reading and writing assignments and my comments and suggestions, you will be challenged to develop and enlarge your own Christian worldview. This course calls for excellence in critical thinking and analytical skills as well as for an innate feel for the beauty and complexity of language. Not only will you master the skills of reading and understanding a wide array of literary genres, you will also discover that literature answers the most enduring questions of humankind. The most significant such question is, “In the infinite scheme of things, who am I to God?” Literature cannot be studied in a vacuum. It must be studied in the light of what it means to be moral.

LEARNING DOCUMENTATION
To determine if the course learning results have been attained, students document their learning by submitting the following items:

Assignment #1: The Old English Period
Assignment #2: Geoffrey Chaucer
Assignment #3: The Middle English Period
Assignment #4: The Renaissance
Assignment #5: Elizabethan Drama
Assignment #6: Seventh Century Poetry
Assignment #7: Restoration Literature
Assignment #8: 18th Century Literature
Assignment #9: The Romantic Poets (Part I)
Assignment #10: The Romantic Poets (Part II)
Assignment #11: Victorian Prose Writers
Assignment #12: Victorian Poets
Assignment #13: Modern Writers

There are 13 lessons and 0 examinations for this course.

LEARNING EVALUATION
Assignments are 50 points for a total of 650 points. The book reviews are 150 points total. You can earn up to 800 points in this course.