ENGL 292 - Topics in British Literature

FDR: HL
Credits: 3-4
Planned Offering: Fall

Prerequisite: Completion of the FW requirement.Studies in British literature, supported by attention to historical contexts. Versions of this course may survey several periods or concentrate on a group of works from a short span of time. Students develop their analytical writing skills in a series of short papers. May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different.

Topics for Winter 2011:

ENGL 292A: Topics in British Literature: Modern British Poetry (3). This course concentrates on poetry from 1870 through 1950, asking how British poets have pushed the limits of traditional verse. British poets are known for being less innovative than their American and Continental peers. We sample poems by Walt Whitman and William Carlos Williams before asking: what did “experimentation” mean to Gerard Manley Hopkins and Thomas Hardy? And how did Yeats experiment with history in his poems, as opposed to Ezra Pound? We also see how female poets, such as Edith Sitwell and Stevie Smith, developed highly original voices, and we end by sampling the works of more recent poets, including an influx of immigrant writers. (HL) Brodie.

ENGL 292B: Topics in British Literature: Law and Literature (3). We examine how Early British narratives and plays explore crucial cultural issues posed by English law in the formative stages of the Anglo-American legal system. What are the purposes and functions of law? What does each kind of law - folklaw, common law, Roman law, statute law, ecclesiastical - offer society and what are its drawbacks? What are the limits of law in governing human actions? In what circumstances is trust-based honor preferable to law? Are laws always binding? How should society deal with conflicts between the letter of the law and the intention of the lawgiver? What social forces are likely to corrupt legal processes and how should resulting injustices be righted? (HL) Craun.