Course aims – first semester

- This course is designed to introduce the vernacular-language literature of the British

Middle Ages -- the foundation upon which modern English literature stands.
- In addition to presenting a number of important medieval authors and works, this course
will familiarize you with medieval attitudes toward authorship and textuality, with
medieval modes of textual production, transmission and reception, and with specific
textual practices relevant to the interpretation of medieval literature.
- By the end of the semester, you will have read all medieval works on the exam reading
list. You will be familiar with the most significant English-language authors and works
of the 8th to 15th centuries and have an understanding of the historical development of
vernacular English literature during that period.
- You will be able to identify and distinguish between the most significant medieval
literary genres.
- You will have gained an understanding of how medieval literature differs from modern
literature (and from modern notions of what literature is): e.g. the differences between
manuscript and print cultures; the tension between Latin and the vernacular languages;
the emphasis on literature as an on-going process rather than an end product, and thus the
inappropriateness of modern notions of "originality" or "intellectual property" in the
medieval context.