Department of EnglishEarly British Literature

Recent Graduate Courses in Early British Literature

ENGL 5334: History of the English Language: Who Owns English? Authority in a Worldwide Language

Dr. Brian McFadden, Spring 2026

This course examines the history and development of English from its origins in Early Medieval England through the high Middle Ages and the Early Modern period to Modern English, including the internal history, external history, and the development of its morphology, phonology, semantics, and syntax, in addition to examining orality and literacy and the effects of developing methods of textual production. We will also be reading short pieces written at different times through English history (e.g. Ælfric of Eynsham, Alfred the Great, Chaucer, Milton, Sidney, Johnson, Swift, Jefferson, Orwell) for a historical perspective on how authors perceived the language in which they were writing and how they claim authority to define and use the English language for their social and political ends. The earlier parts of the course will be highly technical; as the course progresses, there will be more opportunity for discussion and development of topics of interest to the student. The requirements will be a dialect project, a seminar paper on a topic of interest to the study of English as a language, a prospectus at midterm to give me an idea of what you wish to discuss in the seminar paper, and an oral presentation on one of the texts to be discussed in class. Primary texts: Gramley, The History of English: An Introduction; Knowles, A Cultural History of the English Language; Orwell, 1984; McCrum, Globish; George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion; Wilton, Word Myths; plus additional reading assignments via Canvas.

ENGL 5302 Translating Middle English Literature

Dr. Julie Nelson Couch, Fall 2025

This course introduces students to the grammar, syntax, vocabulary, phonology, and prosody of Middle English. This course also introduces students to Middle English manuscript studies. This course will be of interest to literature students as well as to linguistics and creative writing students interested in form, prosody, book history, the theory and praxis of translation, and reading outlandish poetry! The term Middle English encompasses an array of regional dialects that coexisted in England roughly between the Norman Conquest in 1066 and the standardization of English in 1430. Class time will be spent translating and pronouncing Middle English, transcribing from manuscript facsimiles, and discussing related issues in translation, manuscript context, and literary interpretation. By the end of the course, students will be able to comprehend and read aloud Middle English poetry that ranges widely in dialect, form, and genre. This course also serves as the prerequisite for the spring ENGL 5303 Medieval British Literature course; 5302 will prepare students to study a Middle English corpus (such as the Canterbury Tales, the Gawain poems, Arthurian romances, or another set of poems) in the spring.

ENGL 5306: Japanese Haiku and English Sonnets: Bashō and Shakespeare

Dr. Ryan Hackenbracht, Fall 2024

This course is a comparative study of the haiku and sonnet traditions in Japan and England, respectively, as perfected by Matsuo Bashō (1644-94) and William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Aesthetic iconoclasts of their day, Bashō and Shakespeare wrote poetry as no one had done before. The fruit of their labors is evident in the ubiquity of haiku and sonnets today—without question, the most recognizable poetic forms in the world. What made these two poets so unique and compelling? How did Bashō and Shakespeare reinvent the literary materials they inherited? How did they navigate the relationship between religious thought and poetic form—a relationship that, whether in Protestant England or Buddhist Japan, was fraught with nuance and even peril? We also read works by Onitsura, Ryokan, Buson, and Issa, as well as by Sidney, Donne, Milton, and Rossetti.