Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of Virginia Woolf resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of William Blake resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes audio and video lectures and short talks, downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of William Shakespeare resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes audio and video lectures and short talks, downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Students are introduced to Old English and the poetic devices of alliteration, kenning, and compounding in preparation for reading the epic poem "Beowulf".

This is a review of Introduction to Literary Studieshttps://legacy.saylor.org/engl101/Intro/ An introductory survey of the history and practice of English literary and cultural expression, exploring the major genres of poetry, the novel, drama, and the critical essay.Completed  by Joyce Cottonham, Southern University in Shreveport, LA  

In this course, the student will examine James Joyce's aesthetic and artistic sensibilities through close readings of his major works, placing special emphasis on Ulysses. First, the student will take a look at the life and times of James Joyce to understand his context. Then, the student will then progress through his works chronologically. By the end of this course, you will not only have read and thought critically about a number of his most celebrated works, but will have evaluated the reasons for Joyce's prestigious position within the English canon. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: place the works of James Joyce in the context of historical events and literary developments (in Ireland as well as the broader literary community) contemporaneous to their creation; discuss the theme of place in Joyce's works, especially in The Dubliners; more specifically, students will be able to describe the notion of place in Joyce's works as it relates to identity; identify the literary strategies and techniques Joyce uses in his works and cite examples of them from the texts read in class; trace the evolution of Joyce's writing style across his different books and compare the development of shared themes in his various novels; identify and discuss the main recurring themes in James's work, including immobility, religion, and maturation, and cite examples of these from his specific texts; summarize the use of language in Joyce's works, specifically Finnegans Wake, and point to this as an example of Joyce's unique aesthetic. (English Literature 406)

In 1667, John Milton published what he intended both as the crowning achievement of a poetic career and a justification of God's ways to man: an epic poem which retold and reimagined the Biblical story of creation, temptation, and original sin. Even in a hostile political climate, Paradise Lost was almost immediately recognized as a classic, and one fate of a classic is to be rewritten, both by admirers and by antagonists. In this seminar, we will read Paradise Lost alongside works of 20th century fantasy and science fiction which rethink both Milton's text and its source.

Subject studies important examples of the literary form that, between the beginning of the eighteenth century and the end of the nineteenth century, became an indispensable instrument for representing modern life, in the hands of such writers as Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Sterne, Burney, Austen, Scott, Dickens, the Bront%s, Eliot, Hardy, and Conrad. The class alternates between eighteenth and nineteenth century topics, and may be repeated for credit with instructor's permission.

The Open Access Companion to the Canterbury Tales (OACCT) is a volume of introductory chapters for first-time, university-level readers of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The chapters have been created and edited by professional scholars of Chaucer, and all material is released open access and free of charge for classroom, scholarly, and personal use.

There are two kinds of material available here. Essay chapters explore each of the tales in relation to an engaging topic of broad general interest, while reference chapters provide key context and tools for understanding the Canterbury Tales and its time period. In the future, more material will be added to this project: teaching resources, reader contributions, and new essay chapters that consider tales from additional viewpoints and in relation to different topics.

This rubric was developed by BCcampus. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.The rubric allows reviewers to evaluate OER textbooks using a consistent set of criteria. Reviewers are encouraged to remix this rubric and add their review content within this tool. If you remix this rubric for an evaluation, please add the title to the evaluated content and link to it from your review.This is a review of the Open Access Companion to Chaucer: https://louis.oercommons.org/courses/the-open-access-companion-to-the-canterbury-tales-a-new-way-to-learn-about-old-books completed by Will Rogers, Assistant Professor of English, ULM

Inspired by Dr. Kim Hall’s video Why Study Shakespeare Today?, 2:46 (Folger Shakespeare Library, Jul. 11, 2012), this project seeks to link in conversation teachers and learners from diverse places and at different kinds of selective and open-admission, four-year and two-year educational institutions.

Through assignments on and discussions of Shakespeare’s Othello, we can share thoughts on controversial social issues such as race, migration, politics, rule of law, sex, gender, and domestic violence. We can ask about the difficulties, drawbacks, and benefits of studying these topics in Shakespeare’s plays, begin conversations, and hear different perspectives.

Feel free to reach out should you wish to participate.

Renaissance pastoral poetry is gaining new interest for its distinctive imaginative vein, its varied allusive content, and the theoretical implications of the genre. This is by far the biggest ever anthology of English Renaissance pastoral poetry, with 277 pieces spanning two centuries. Spenser, Sidney, Jonson and Drayton are amply represented alongside their many contemporaries. There is a wide range of pastoral lyrics, weightier allusive pieces, and translations from classical and vernacular pastoral poetry; also, more unusually, pastoral ballads and poems set in all kinds of prose works. Each piece has been freshly edited from the original sources, with full apparatus and commentary. This book will be complemented by a second volume, to be published in 2017, which includes a book-length introduction, textual notes and analytic indices.

In this course, the student will study the poetry of John Milton, focusing on the texts and contexts that are relevant to Milton's oeuvre. Who was John Milton, and how did he manage to write Paradise Lost? By the end of this course, the student will possess a comprehensive understanding of Milton, his times, and his works. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: explain the social and historical context of John Milton's work; define some of the most important ideas related to Milton's life and times, including (but not limited to) Calvinism, Puritanism, Protestantism, Neo-Classicism, and Predestination; provide accounts of the life of Charles I, the significance of the British Commonwealth, and the Restoration of the Monarchy; explain Milton's major philosophies, his politics, and his religious beliefs; describe Milton's chosen literary forms and rhetoric; provide a brief account of Milton's life, his relationship to Cavalier Poetry, his early elegies and eulogies, and his pastoral elegies, sonnets, and odes; list and describe the major plot developments that occur in Paradise Lost as well as Paradise Regained; analyze and describe both Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained in terms of their respective treatments of Biblical versions of Heaven and Hell, the Creation, Predestination, gender relations, representations of human nature, and the Fall of humankind; discuss the formal aspects and structure of both Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained and analyze and describe both of these works in terms of their epic styles and conventions. (English Literature 402)

This not-for-profit site is intended to make vocal music and lyrics of the of the early 19th century in the British Isles, Europe, Canada, the United States, and Australia more accessible. It includes contemporary music of the period and later settings (e.g., Brian Holmes's complete score for Death's Jest Book and Lori Lange's settings of Byron lyrics).

Close readings of the major British Romantic poets (Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Scott, Shelley, Keats), perhaps including some of the period's important fiction writers (e.g. Mary Shelley, Walter Scott). Some attention to literary and historical context. Lecture/discussion; at least two papers.

This edition of Romeo and Juliet was edited by students for students. We believe that reliably edited versions of the play should be available for free online. But we wanted ours to be easy to get in other ways as well. The editors—Oregon State University students who remember, far better than their professors, what it was like to read the play for the first time—carefully considered every pronoun, punctuation mark, and footnote. Our goal: to make a friendly, confidence-building edition that supported classroom activities at the high school and college level.

This edition of Romeo and Juliet was edited by students for students. We believe that reliably edited versions of the play should be available for free online. But we wanted ours to be easy to get in other ways as well. The editors—Oregon State University students who remember, far better than their professors, what it was like to read the play for the first time—carefully considered every pronoun, punctuation mark, and footnote. Our goal: to make a friendly, confidence-building edition that supported classroom activities at the high school and college level.

Table of Contents
The Play
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Act 4
Act 5

Educational Resources for Teachers
Racism
Ableism
Classism
Contextualization

Supplementary Lesson Plans
Act I Focus: Family Dynamics and Misogynistic Language in the Early Modern Period
Act II Focus: Representation of Class Through Language
Act III Focus: Gender Dynamics and Storyline
Act IV Focus: Language Variance Across Editions
Act V Focus: The Narrative of Shakespeare

Extensive reading of works by a few major poets. Emphasizes the evolution of each poet's work and the questions of poetic influence and literary tradition. Instruction and practice in oral and written communication. Topic for Fall: Does Poetry Matter? Topic for Spring: Gender and Lyric Poetry.

Review  Survey of English Literature IExamines major British texts from the Anglo-Saxon period to the 18th century, emphasizing the ideas and characteristics of the British literary tradition. Involves critical reading and writingCompleted  by Joyce Cottonham, Southern University in Shreveport, LAhttps://louis.oercommons.org/courses/survey-of-english-literature-i/view  

Examines major British texts from the Anglo-Saxon period to the 18th century, emphasizing the ideas and characteristics of the British literary tradition. Involves critical reading and writing. ENG 243 has been designated as a “writing intensive” course according to standards developed by the English department. Prerequisite: ENG 112 or its equivalent. ENG 243 and ENG 244 may be taken out of order. Lecture 3 hours per week.