Exploring British Literature

Professor McKennon's Teaching Sites
Home | Exploring British Literature | Unit #1 - 449-1066AD The Anglo-Saxons | Unit #2 - 1066-1485 AD The Middle Ages | Unit #3 - The Renaissance | Unit #4 -Shakespeare's MacBeth | Unit #5 - 18th c. The Age of Reason | Early 19th c. - The Romantic Period | The Victorian Period 1832-1901 | Literary Terms & Definitions
Red Growing Filagree
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Red Growing Filagree

Course Objectives . . . .
 
I believe education and educators provide the building blocks for a society's cultural and social foundation.  Literature and writing are real tools that can improve a student's understanding of the complex world he or she is entering.  Language and literature can improve communication between cultures.  Life lessons can be learned from the literature of the past.  Students will widen their world view by using literature as a bridge to understanding other cultures, past and present.  Students will study literature in the context of the historical events which define and impact this same literature. From the rich oral traditions of the 5th century Anglo-Saxon invaders to the 19th century literature of social enlightenment and reform, the writers and visionaries of the British Isles have helped define our present day values and attitudes.
 
-----------Anna Lee McKennon, Instructor
 

CLICK HERE FOR HOLT-RHINEHART LITERATURE LANGUAGE ARTS TEXTBOOK INTERACTIVE WEBSITE ENTER KEYWORD: HLLA 12-1

UNIT #1( 8/18 - 9/8):  The Anglo Saxons 449-1066AD, Chapter One in Text *  READING - Beowulf , The Mabinogian & the History of the Arthurian Legend, Book 22: The Death of Hector from The Illiad.  Descriptive Creative Writing - Epic

UNIT #2 ( 9/8 - 10/10):  Norman England,The Middle Ages 1066AD - 1485AD,  Chapter Two in Text * READING - Mort D'Arthur, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, The Book of Margery Kempe ( not in text), Lord Randall ( ballad).  Historical Literary Research Paper

UNIT #3 ( 10/10 - 10/31): The Renaissance 1485AD - 1660, Chapter Three in Text * READING - Poetry of  Christopher Marlowe, John Donne, Andrew Marvell, Ben Johnson, Philip Sydney, William Shakespeare, and selections from "PARADISE LOST": MILTON'S EPIC.  Compare/Contrast Literary Analysis Essay

UNIT #4 ( 11/3 - 11/21):  MACBETH by William Shakespeare.  In-depth reading and analysis - both written & oral.  Quizzes & Presentations.  Literary Analysis Essay -Characterization

UNIT #5 ( 12/1-12/12: The Restoration & the 18th century, Chapter Four in Text * READING - Jonathan Swift "A Modest Proposal", Alexander Pope "An Essay on Man", Mary Wollstonecraft " A Vindication of the Rights of Women", Miguel de Cervantes " Don Quixote."  Literary Criticism Essay, Satire 

UNIT #6 ( 12/12 - 1/9): The RomanticPeriod 1798 - 1832, Chapter Five in Text * READING - Poetry by William Blake, William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge " The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,"  George Gordon Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, and Mary Shelley.

UNIT #7 -SECOND SEMESTER: The Victorian Period 1832-1901, Chapter Six in Text * READING -  Oscar Wilde's play  "The Importance of Being Ernest", Alfred Lord Tennyson "The Lady of Shalott", selections by Robert & Elizabeth Browning, Dante Gabriel Rossetti & Christina Rosetti. 

 

 

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King Arthur & Queen Guinevere
Artist's rendering