The course maps early English literature in its historical development: from Anglo-Saxon to early Tudor. Lectures survey cultural and literary trends and styles, such as Old English poetry, the Gothic Renascence, the fourteenth century, and the Early Renaissance, as well as key genres (romances, Mystery plays, Morality plays) and writers (Chaucer, Langland, the Gawain poet). Seminars read closely literary texts (Beowulf, Sir Orfeo, Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Canterbury Tales, Secunda Pastorum, Everyman, lyrical pieces) in cultural context.

Instructors: Prof. Dr. E. Pancheva, Dr. A. Asparuhov, Dr. G. Niagolov

5th semester, 3rd year
Teaching: 30 lectures and 30 seminars
Credits: 5

download free e-reader for the course
download e-book reading and managing freeware

Medieval to Renaissance – Winter Semester

SYLLABUS

Lectures:

1. The Early Middle Ages.
2. The Old English period. Historical and Cultural Characteristics.
3. Old English Poetry: Beowulf and the Elegies.
4. The Gothic Renascence.
5. Medieval Romances. The Arthurian Legend. Lyrical Poetry.
6. The Fourteenth Century. The Alliterative Revival. The Gawain Poet.
7. The Fourteenth Century. William Langland.
8. The Fourteenth Century. Geoffrey Chaucer.
9. Medieval Drama: The Mystery Cycles.
10. Medieval Drama: Morality Plays.
11. Medieval to Renaissance: The Tudor Age.
12. Humanism and Reformation.
13. The Petrarchan Love Sonnet. Wyatt and Surrey.
14. The Flowering of the Sonnet: Sir Philip Sidney.

Seminars:

1. Introductory
2. Old English Poetry: Beowulf (excerpt)
3. Old English Poetry: an elegy.
4. Medieval Poetry: lyrics
5. Medieval Romances: Sir Orfeo (excerpt)
6. The Gawain Poet: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, (excerpt)
7. William Langland, Piers Plowman: (excerpt)
8. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, The General Prologue.
9. The Wakefield Cycle, Anonymous, Secunda Pastorum.
10. The Wakefield Cycle, Anonymous, Secunda Pastorum.
11. Anonymous, Everyman.
12. Anonymous, Everyman.
13. The Sonnet: Wyatt and Surrey.
14. The Sonnet: Sir Philip Sidney, Astrophil and Stella.

ALL students attending seminar classes are expected to have read the text or excerpt scheduled for the respective week and provided in the reader.

EVALUATION

The final grade for the course is the SUM of the CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT mark (amounting to 25% of the final grade) and the FINAL EXAMINATION mark (amounting to 75% of the final grade).

FINAL EXAMINATION

The final examination will be written and will take place within 4 astronomical hours. The examination paper shall have two parts: A) theoretical part consisting of three 300-350 word answers to three randomly chosen questions concerning the literary and cultural history of the studied period; and B) a 500-word analysis of a given literary text (excerpt or short poem).

Evaluation method

The maximum amount of points awarded for the examination paper shall be 60. The answer of each of the three questions in part one of the examination paper shall bring a maximum of 10 points for accuracy and comprehensive coverage of the topic. The analysis in part two shall bring a maximum of 30 points of which 10 points shall be awarded for content, 10 points shall be awarded for organisation, i.e. clarity and cohesion of the text, and 10 points shall be awarded for original thinking and creativity. There will be a pass threshold of 15 points for each part of the examination paper, i.e. no one will successfully pass the examination unless he or she has obtained at least 15 points in each part of the examination paper.

RECOMMENDED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Author/Editor, Title, BASRC Classification

General Guidebooks

Mincoff, Marco A History of English Literature SV 820.9 MIN
Shurbanov , Alexander Poetics of the English Renaissance SV 820.9 SHU
Pancheva, Evgenia Dispersing Semblances: An Essay on Renaissance Culture SV 940.2 PAN
Wallace, David et al. (eds.) The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature SVR 820.9001 CAM
Loewenstein, David et al. (ed.) The Cambridge History of Early Modern English Literature SVR 820.9003 CAM
Ford, Boris (ed.) The New Pelican Guide to English Literature SV 820.9 FOR
Bolton, W. F. et al. (eds.) The Sphere History of English Literature Professor Mincoff Memorial Library
Sanders, Andrew The Short Oxford History of English Literature SVR 820.9 SAN
Head, Dominic The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English SVR 820.3
Hollander , JohnKermode , Frank The Literature of Renaissance England SV 820.9 HOL
Godden, Malcolm The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature SV 829.0920
Pulsanio, Philip et al. (eds.) A Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature SV 829.0922
Brown, Peter (ed.) A Companion to Medieval English Literature and Culture SVR 820.9001 COM
Hattaway , Michael A Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture SV 820.9003 HAT
Veldhoen, N. H. G. E. Companion to Early Middle English Literature SV 820.900120 VEL
Trapp , J. B. Medieval English Literature SV 820.8001 TRA
Beadle, Richard The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre SV 792.0942
Mitchell , Bruce An Invitation to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England
Myers , A. R. England in the Late Middle Ages 3SV 942.2 MYE

Critical Literature on specific topics

Achim Bednorz The Art of Gothic: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting SVR 700 TOM
Allport, Gordon W. Studies in Medieval English Romances SV 820.9001
Beadle Richard The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre SV 792.0942
Bindoff , S. T. , Stanley Thomas Tudor England SV 942.05 BIN
Boitani, Pietro et al. (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to Chaucer SV 821.1 CAM
Brewer, Derek A New Introduction to Chaucer SV 821.1 BRE
Brown, Peter (ed.) A Companion to Chaucer SV 821.1 COM
Chambers , E. K. English Literature at the Close of the Middle Ages SV 820.8 CHA
Chute, Marchette Goeffrey Chaucer of England SV 821.17 CHU
Donoghue, Daniel Old English Literature: A Short Introduction SV 829.0922 DON
Ford , Boris Chaucer and the Alliterative Tradition SV 820.9 FOR
Gransden , Antonia Legends, Traditions and History in Medieval England SV 942.03 GRA
Hamilton, Donna B. (ed.) A Concise Companion to English Renaissance Literature SV 820.9003
Harris , John Wesley Medieval Theatre in Context: An Introduction SV 792.09 HAR
Hattaway , Michael Renaissance and Reformations: An Introduction to Early Modern English Literature SV 820.9003 HAT
Hussey , S. Chaucer: An Introduction SV 821.1 HUS
Klein, Lisa M. The Exemplary Sidney and the Elizabethan Sonneteer SVS 821.321 KLE
Lever, J. W. The Elizabethan Love Sonnet Professor Mincoff Memorial Library
McGrade, A. S. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Philosophy 3SV 189.22
McGrath , Alister E. , Alister Edgar The Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation SV 274.06 MCG
Pearsall, Derek Albert Arthurian Romance: A Short Introduction SV 809.93351 PEA
Pincombe, Michael Elizabethan Humanism SV 820.9003 PIN
Plumb, J. H. The Italian Renaissance 3SV 945.05 PLU
Richardson, C. Medieval Drama SV 822.109
Ruggiero, Guido (ed.) A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance SVR 940.21 COM
Rutherford, Donald The Cambridge Companion to Early Modern Philosophy 3SV 190.9032
Stenton, Doris Mary English Society in the Early Middle Ages (1066-1307) SV 942.02 STE
Vasta, E. Interpretations of Piers Plowman Professor Mincoff Memorial Library
Wickham , Glynne The Medieval Theatre SV 792.094 WIC

ONLINE RESOURCES

http://www.luminarium.org/
http://www.umm.maine.edu/faculty/necastro/drama/comedy/index.html
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/tmsmenu.htm#menu
http://alliteration.net/Pearl.htm
http://www.anglo-saxons.net/eor
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook2.html
http://omacl.org/
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/browse.html
http://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/ren.htm