Adventures in British Literature

Students will receive an overview of British literature from the early Anglo-Saxon to Modern. A literary study will be infused with historical applications for a better understanding of the social and historical context of the readings. Literary terms and elements of poetry will be discussed throughout this course. The study of grammar and mechanics of writing will continue with a focus on reviewing concepts and avoiding common errors. 

NOTE: The classes are slated for 9-14 and so the content will be amended to fit this class age demographic. 

Students will further improve their writing through the study of problem areas as well as the regular use of response journals. Spelling and vocabulary will largely come from literary terminology, but will also include the study of root words and affixes in preparation for college entrance examinations. 

British Literature is a survey course of epic poems, plays, poetry, novels, historical documents,
and speeches. The curriculum focuses on the following skills and learning experiences:
Reading - Reflection and Response: Students will reflect upon and respond to print and non-print texts.
Research/Analysis: Students will conduct research and analyze the text in order to inform an audience.
Critical Reading - Evaluation: Students will use critical thinking skills to analyze and evaluate text
structures and develop and support arguments.
Critical Reading - Analysis: Students will analyze text to gain meaning and synthesize ideas.
Literary Analysis: Students will analyze and interpret British Literature.
Language - Vocabulary, Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics: Students will apply conventions of grammar
and language usage

Week 1 & 2:  Anglo-Saxon and Medieval:  Bravery, Dignity, and Beauty

Week 3 & 4 : Renaissance:  Celebrating Humanity:  To Love or Not to Love?  That is the Question

Week 5 & 6  17th and 18th Centuries:  A Turbulent Time

Week 7 & 8:  Romanticism:   Rebels and Dreamers:  Nature, Individuality, Imagination, and Youth

Week 9 & 10  Victorian Period:  Progress and Decline:  The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Week 11 & 12  Modern and Post-Modern:  Time of Rapid Change:  Alienation, Upheaval, and Justice

Week 13 & 14: British Lit Class Recap & Class Project

Week 15 & 16: Class Project Presentations
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Reading List: (NOTE all books listed are in the PUBLIC DOMAIN. 

Poetry: Caedmon’s Hymn; The Dream of the Rood; The Wanderer; The Seafarer; Sir Gawain and The Green Knight; One Day I Wrote Her Name Upon the Strand; Amoretti XV; Death Be Not Proud (Holy Sonnet 10); Hymn to God, my God, in My Sickness; Sonnet XVIII;  Sonnet XXIX;  Sonnet 30;  Sonnet CXVI; Easter Wings; An Hymn On The Nativity Of My Savior; On My First Son; An Essay on Criticism; The Lamb; Holy Thursday; The Tyger; Augeries of Innocence; There is a Pleasure in the Pathless Woods; She Walks in Beauty; To Autumn; Ode on A Grecian Urn; When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be; Daffodils; The World Is Too Much With Us; She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways; The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; Lift not the painted veil which those who live; The Cloud; The Lady of Shalott; The Charge of the Light Brigade; The Pied Piper of Hamelin; If thou must love me… (Sonnet 14);  How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43); Dover Beach; When You Are Old; A Prayer for my daughter; Sailing to Byzantium; Do not go gentle into that good night

Plays: Hamlet; A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Books: Robinson Crusoe; The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne; Sense and Sensibility

Selected Readings from: Beowulf; The Canterbury Tales; Le Morte D’Arthur; Tyndale’s New Testament; Utopia; Paradise Lost; Frankenstein; Ivanhoe; Oliver Twist; Mere Christianity