ENGL 2111: English Literature from Chaucer to Milton
This course is a brief, selective survey of English literature from Chaucer to the late seventeenth century. The reading list is drawn from a list that includes Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, and Milton’s Paradise Lost (selections) as well as some of the works of such Elizabethan and Jacobean poets as Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, and Jonson.
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course, you will be able to:
- Read closely and understand Middle and Early Modern English, from Chaucer's rhyming couplets to Milton's blank verse.
- Recognize and understand figurative language, such as allegory and metaphor, and literary techniques, like irony, rhyme, and allusion.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the style, structure, and content of the assigned literary texts, from Chaucer to Milton.
- Identify the unique qualities of the authors studied, and compare and contrast them.
- Situate the assigned literary texts in their historical contexts and recognize the impact of major events and transitions.
- Develop a well-written argument about one or more literary texts or authors, and accurately cite literary and other sources.
Course topics
ENGL 2111: English Literature from Chaucer to Milton includes the following four units:
Unit 1: Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and English Literature in the Fourteenth Century
Unit 2: Elizabethan Literature: The Verse Exchange, the Epic Romance, and the English Sonnet
Unit 3: William Shakespeare's The Tempest: Text, Criticism, Performance, and Appropriation
Unit 4: Four English Poets of the Seventeenth Century: John Donne, Aemilia Lanyer, Katherine Philips, and John Milton
Required text and materials
Students will receive the following:
- Greenblatt, Stephen, et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Major
Authors. Volume 1, 10th ed. New York and London: W.W. Norton, 2019.
Type: Textbook ISBN: 978-0-393-60308-8.
- Hulme, Peter and William H. Sherman, eds. The Tempest: William Shakespeare. Second
Norton Critical Edition. New York and London: W.W. Norton, 2019.
Type: Textbook ISBN: 978-0-393-26542-2.
Note: Students will be receiving a text bundle which includes both the above-noted books under one ISBN: 978-0-393-44957-0.
- Barnet, Sylvan and William Cain. A Short Guide to Writing about Literature. 12th
ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012.
ISBN: 978-0-205-11845-8.
Please Note:
ENGL 2111 makes use of the textbook publisher’s Digital Resources website. To access
the online materials, you will need to create an account following the instructions on the
website.
Thompson Rivers University is not responsible for the content or privacy
policies of third-party websites. Please read the terms of use of third-party websites
carefully. If you need help accessing the site, please contact the publisher directly.
Assessments
Please be aware that due to COVID-19 safety guidelines all in-person exams have been suspended. As such, all final exams are currently being delivered through ProctorU, which has an approximate fee of $35 involved. There will be more information in your course shell, on how to apply, if your course has a final exam.
To complete this course successfully, you must achieve a passing grade of 50% or higher on the overall course and 50% or higher on the mandatory Final Exam. The following table illustrates how your final grade will be determined for this course.
| Assignment 1: Canterbury Tales | 15% |
| Assignment 2: Elizabethan Literature | 15% |
| Assignment 3: Shakespeare’s The Tempest | 15% |
| Assignment 4: Seventeenth Century Literature | 15% |
| Final Exam (mandatory) | 40% |
| Total | 100% |
Open Learning Faculty Member
An Open Learning Faculty member is available to assist students. Primary communication is by phone if taking the print version of the course and through the Learning Environment’s “Mail” tool if taking the web version. Students will receive the necessary contact information at the start of the course.