ENGL 235 - Old English Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as MRST 235 ) Introduction to Old English language and literature.
Topic for 2019/20a: Old English: In a time when Latin was the language of the learned and the literate, the language of the law and of the prevailing Christian faith, Old English was significant enough (in England) to be used for legal, religious, scientific, and literary texts. Thus, Old English is significant not only in the history of English itself but also in the history of vernacular writing in western Europe. Furthermore, texts recorded in Old English have important, if seldom-acknowledged, effects on the modern world. For example, Thomas Jefferson thought that instruction in Old English should begin in elementary school and that the language had democratic ideals embedded in it—ideas that are only the tip of his disturbingly expansionist and nationalistic agenda for the language. And, in the 19th c., Old English was the vehicle by which American women scholars advanced academic careers in a period when the academy was dominated by men (although while still reifying existing hierarchies of race and class). Vassar may have been the first women’s college in the United States to offer Old English, making this course a significant Vassar tradition.
In this class we learn and practice the grammar and vocabulary of this earliest form of English. You also get to experience the genres of writing in which Old English was used by its speakers and learn about the social values and literary motifs that this corpus preserves. This knowledge prepares you to read Beowulf in its original form, which is the focus of English 236. Erin Sweany.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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