Classical and Biblical Backgrounds to Modern Literature

All second-year English literature courses share the following features:

1. Students are presumed to be proficient in the writing of critical essays on literary subjects.
2. Students are required to read in the course subject area beyond the texts assigned by the instructor or discussed in class.
3. Students are required to incorporate into their oral and written coursework secondary source materials. These may include autobiographical or biographical material; literary criticism or theory; unassigned texts by the author under study; relevant cultural or intellectual history; or other arts, such as music, film, or fine arts.
4. Readings and topics will vary with each instructor’s presentation of a course; however, all course materials are consistent with the objectives/outcomes for this course.

In English 2107, students will examine

1. the development of early story-telling culture, from an oral to a literary one;
2. the evolution of over-arching ideas and themes (such as the nature of the hero, the roles and depcitions of women, the ideals of leadership, and the development of cultures) in the literature of the times;
3. selected classical and biblical literary texts in their own right, as sources for subsequent works of literature, and in relation to modern texts; and
4. historical, cultural, and cultural/theoretical contexts relating to the study of classical and biblical texts.