British Literature Syllabus
Anglo-Saxon Period
Familiarity with important
history, especially cultural values and literary development
Beowulf –
with significant project and several minor activities
Richard Wilbur’s Beowulf – with timed writing
Anglo-Saxon Riddles – small
activity
Excerpt from Grendel – reading in old literature book
Movie: The 13th Warrior – with timed writing
Medieval Period
Familiarity with important
history, especially cultural values and literary development
Chaucer’s Prologue – with activity
Wife of Bath’s Prologue – with timed writing
The Nun’s Priest’s Tale – with major paper
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – with activity
Excerpts from Morte d’ Arthur
Renaissance Period
Familiarity with important
history, especially cultural values and literary development
Assorted Sonnets and other
poems – with activity
Shakespearean Sonnets – with
critical analysis
Hamlet –
with several activities and a major paper
Transitional Poets
Metaphysical: Donne, others
as desired
Cavalier: Marvell, others as
desired
Restoration and Enlightenment
Familiarity with important
history, especially cultural values and literary development
Swift’s Modest Proposal – with creative writing assignment
Pope: Essay on Man and Epigrams
(as time allows)
Assorted other essays (on Marriage, etc.) as time allows
Romantic Period
Familiarity with important
history, especially cultural values and literary development
Wordsworth: Lines Composed…
Coleridge: Kubla Kahn
Keats: Grecian Urn, To Autumn
Others as time allows – Work
William Blake in there somewhere; Tennyson too if time.
That’s as far as I have ever
gotten in one semester, though I never quite get to as much towards the end of
that list as I’d like. Do the best you
can on pace, but don’t worry if you don’t get as far as this goes.
Finally, remember that all
my lesson plans, projects, rubrics, and student samples are online through www.maitespace.com. Just click on English Odyssey and you’ll find
whatever you need.
Good luck.
Tony Maite