Autumn 2026 English 325a W.R. Streitberger LOW 106 Early Modern Literature A-510 Padelford TuTh 1:30-3:20 streitwr@uw.edu
Required TEXT: The Norton Anthology, English Literature, The Sixteenth Century, The Early Seventeenth Century, 11th ed. ISBN 978-0-393-54329-2
ABOUT THE COURSE: This is a junior-senior level major’s course in English literature and drama from the early sixteenth through the mid-seventeenth century. The period is sometimes described as ‘Early Modern’ because so much of our own culture has been significantly affected by the intellectual, scientific, literary, and cultural developments of the period. It is the period in which Sir Thomas More wrote Utopia; the period in which Wyatt, Surrey, Sidney Donne, and Wroth produced some the most memorable lyric poetry in English history; it was the period in which the two most important English epic poems were written--Spenser’s The Faerie Queene and Milton’s Paradise Lost; and it was the age that produced some of the greatest dramatists in all of Western history. Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, and other dramatic poets were responsible for the greatest outpouring of tragic and comic art since the 5th century BC in Athens.
Most of the works we will read were written early modern English. While the spelling and orthography have been modernized in our text, early modern syntax and word choice will occasionally make reading more challenging than you might be used to. You need to plan for this in terms of setting aside enough time to comprehend the reading assignments. In our class sessions you must have your text open in front of you so that you can follow along in our reading and discussions and take the appropriate notes
REQUIREMENTS: 50%: five reports on assigned topics (2-3 pp each). 50%: two exams.