Overview

This module will study a number of works of medieval and early modern literature in the context of contemporary beliefs and historical and social developments. The module will be taught by means of lectures on the historical, cultural and critical context; seminars to discuss particular texts; and (in weeks 2-5 of term 1 only) supplementary classes to help develop your skills in reading texts written in earlier forms of English. Works studied include: The Canterbury Tales; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; The Book of Margery Kempe; travel writing; poems by Sidney, Spenser, and Mary Wroth; and medieval and early modern drama.

Teaching

Lectures in 2024-25 take place

• Tues 12-1 in MS.01 (Term 1)

• Tues 12-1 in OC0.03 (Terms 2 and 3).

Syllabus

• Course Outline.
• Lecture List.
• Reading Middle English.

Books required for 2024-25 academic year

You will need your own copies of the books listed below. Incoming first years who are based in the English Department will be provided with free copies of some textbooks; others you will need to buy yourself. NB Please be aware that retailers may take a couple of weeks to order these books for you. You are strongly advised to place your orders well in advance.

• The Norton Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales, ed. by David Lawton (Norton, 2019). You will need this book for term 1, weeks 1-5. (If you are unable to obtain this book, the following are acceptable alternatives: The Canterbury Tales: Seventeen Tales and The General Prologue, ed. V. A. Kolve and Glending Olson, 3rd edition (Norton, 2018) OR The Riverside Chaucer, ed. L. D. Benson, 3rd edition (OUP, 2008))

• The Works of the Gawain Poet: Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ed. by Ad Putter and Myra Stokes (Penguin, 2014). You will need this book for term 1, weeks 7-8.
• The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume B: The Sixteenth Century and The Early Seventeenth Century, ed. by Stephen Greenblatt et al, 11th edition (2024)ISBN 9781324062639. You will need this book for your work in term 2. NB Norton is offering a discount to students who buy this volume directly from their UK website. Details of the discount codes to use.

Other primary texts for the module will be provided in digital formats.

How to obtain books

For information about buying books at Warwick see: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/retail/shops/booksgiftsLink opens in a new window

Secondhand copies are widely available from online retailers if you wish to reduce costs. The department also has pre-owned copies of set books donated by previous students and staff.

Recommended Summer Reading

• For an introduction to the literature of the medieval period, our focus in term 1, we recommend that you read J.A. Burrow, Medieval Writers and their Work, 2nd edn (Oxford, 2008). For an overview of historical and social developments, please see Maurice Keen, English Society in the Later Middle Ages 1348-1500 (Penguin, 1990).
• For a taste of some of the texts we'll be studying, you might like to read the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, which we'll be studying in the first half of term 1. You can find it with an interlinear modern English translation on the Harvard Geoffrey Chaucer websiteLink opens in a new window.