Course Goals


  • To familiarize you with the development of British Literature from its earliest roots (ca. 700 AD) to the Enlightenment (ca. 1750).

  • To make you aware of changes in literary language, genres, styles, and content throughout the period.

  • To familiarize you with some of the enduringly (or at least currently) significant writers of the period.

  • To reveal how this literature developed out of the changing social, political, religious, and cultural conditions in Britain as these evolved over the centuries.

  • To provide experience in the critical analysis of literature and the close study of the uses of language.

  • To develop your ability to present a carefully considered position on some critical issue and to support it by appropriate references to the text.


General Education Goals: Literature Category

The Literature Category. This category develops students' capacity to take delight in the richness of the language of the creative literary imagination. Emphasis is placed on understanding, interpreting, and critiquing selected literary texts.

Objectives for the Category

  • Increased ability to understand and appreciate the nature and uses of language.

  • Increased awareness of the historical, cultural, spiritual, and personal contexts for literature.

  • Increased appreciation of the opportunities for lifelong learning afforded by reading and thinking about literary texts.