British Literature: ENG241

An oddly diverse group of twenty-nine people meet at an inn. Each of them is on a pilgrimage to a martyr's shrine in Canterbury. The Host suggests the strange bunch journey together and tell stories to pass the time.

The wizard Merlin foretells that King Arthur's bastard son Mordred will one day bring about the ruin of Camelot. At Merlin's urging, Arthur tries to have the boy killed. Arthur then marries the fair Gwenyvere, who brings the Round Table with her as part of her dowry.

Kapelle's study of the North of England in the years before, during, and after the Norman Conquest is a fascinating account of a pivotal, but little-studied, region of medieval England.

In this poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious green warrior. In a struggle to uphold his oath along this quest, Gawain demonstrates chivalry, loyalty, and honor.

The most comprehensive collection of essays on Renaissance poetry on the market Covering the period 1520-1680, A Companion to Renaissance Poetry offers 46 essays which present an in-depth account of the context, production, and interpretation of early modern British poetry.

Aspects of three works are examined for their contributions to science: The Advancement of Learning, Novum Organum, and New Atlantis. A final chapter, which is especially relevant in the light of the current environmental crisis, looks at Bacon's notion that man should use all of nature for his benefit.

In his book, Hobbes argued that a strong and undivided central government was necessary to maintain societal order. By accepting the rule of a sovereign authority figure--which Hobbes called the "Leviathan" after the biblical sea monster--humans could avoid being ruled instead by self-interest and fear, and so escape humankind's natural state of war and violence.

For Romeo and Juliet, it's love at first sight. But there's a problem: Romeo belongs to the Montague family, while Juliet is a Capulet. In Verona, these noble families are constantly feuding.

Alexander Pope's technical polish and intellectual poise appeal to the subtlest audience. This selection includes The Rape of the Lock, Eloisa to Abelard, and extracts from The Dunciad and the translation of Homer.

John Milton's epic poem describes the fall of humankind and the war between heaven and hell. Satan and his fellow fallen angels are jealous that God has not given them more power. They decide to take their revenge on God's newest creation: humankind.

This is a major new selection of Samuel Johnson's best work, delightfully introduced by W. K. Wimsatt and scrupulously annotated by Frank Brady and Mr. Wimsatt. Samuel Johnson, the only writer in English since the Renaissance to give his name to a literary period, was the center of English letters in his time.

Fulton argues that the novel is a critical examination of the relationship between language and power and an expression of Richardson's own understanding of social interaction as a struggle for personal pre-eminence and sexual dominance.

This guide to Austen's much-loved work offers: an accessible introduction to the contexts and many interpretations of Austen's texts, including film adaptations, from publication to the present an introduction to key critical texts and perspectives on Austen's life and work, situated within a broader critical history cross-references between sections of the guide, in order to suggest links between texts, contexts and criticism suggestions for further reading.

The full range of his work, however, reveals a less straightforward and less stereotypical writer than this: a thinker as well as a feeler, a poet rather than merely a sensationalist, someone who justifies his towering literary reputation as much as his scandalous one.

The three-volume edition of Wordsworth's poems is the most comprehensive edition now in print and contains reading texts chosen from the 21 volumes of the Cornell Wordsworth. It is without a doubt the most pleasurable way to read Wordsworth's poems in their entirety.

In a fascinating account of picture collections in the early 19th century through the eyes of a great English poet, Morton Paley tells the story of Coleridge's initiation into art in England, and his further exploration in Rome.