Literature I

Literature I: English Literature Course Outline (30 Weeks)

📖 Focus: Exploring major works of English literature across six key periods, integrating poetry, prose, and drama with a focus on themes of heroism, morality, and faith.

🔹 Course Format:

1-hour weekly live session
3 hours of independent reading, writing, or multimedia study per week
Assessment: Essays, close readings, discussion forums, creative responses, quizzes
Teacher: Ferdi McDermott, Headmaster of Chavagnes International College and professor in English literature at the Catholic University of the Vendée, ICES.

Unit 1: Old and Middle English Literature (Weeks 1-5)

📖 Focus: The heroic tradition, religious allegory, and the medieval imagination.

Week 1: Anglo-Saxon Epic & The Christian Warrior
- Beowulf (excerpts) – Heroism, fate, and Christian imagery
- Oral tradition, alliteration, and kennings
Week 2: Chesterton’s The Ballad of the White Horse
- Themes of faith, prophecy, and perseverance in crisis
- Comparison with Beowulf – pagan vs. Christian heroism
Week 3: Medieval Poetry & The Alliterative Tradition
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (excerpts) – Chivalry and moral testing
- Medieval ballads (The Twa Corbies, Sir Patrick Spens)
Week 4: Geoffrey Chaucer & Medieval Storytelling
- The Canterbury Tales (General Prologue & one tale)
- Satire and social hierarchy
Week 5: Medieval Drama & Allegory
- Everyman – Salvation and moral reckoning
- Mystery plays and religious theatre

Unit 2: The Renaissance & Shakespeare (Weeks 6-10)

📖 Focus: Humanism, metaphysics, and the development of English drama.

Week 6: Shakespearean Sonnets & The Renaissance Mind
- Sonnet 18, Sonnet 116
- Metaphysics in poetry – Love, eternity, and divine order
Week 7: Shakespeare’s Metaphysics & Catholic Themes
- Hamlet (selected acts) – The afterlife, sin, and providence
- Exploration of Shakespeare’s possible Catholicism
Week 8: Shakespeare’s Tragedy – Fate vs. Free Will
- Macbeth (selected acts) – Ambition, supernatural fate, and moral downfall
Week 9: Shakespeare’s Comedy – Grace & Mercy
- Much Ado About Nothing (selected scenes) – Wit, deception, and redemption
Week 10: John Donne & Religious Metaphysical Poetry
- Batter My Heart, Death Be Not Proud – The soul’s struggle with grace
- The influence of Catholicism and Anglican spirituality

Unit 3: The Restoration & 18th Century (Weeks 11-14)

📖 Focus: Satire, reason, and the emergence of the novel.

Week 11: Satire & Society
- Jonathan Swift (A Modest Proposal) – Irony and critique
- Alexander Pope (The Rape of the Lock)
Week 12: The Early Novel – Moral & Religious Dilemmas
- Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe excerpts) – Providence and human endurance
- Samuel Richardson (Pamela excerpts) – Virtue and temptation
Week 13: Gothic Literature & Faith in the Supernatural
- Horace Walpole (The Castle of Otranto excerpts)
- The Gothic’s interest in divine justice and human frailty
Week 14: Midterm Review & Assessment

Unit 4: Romanticism & Victorian Literature (Weeks 15-21)

📖 Focus: Imagination, social change, and faith in crisis.

Week 15: Romanticism – Nature & The Divine
- Wordsworth (Tintern Abbey) – Nature as spiritual revelation
- Coleridge (Kubla Khan) – The dreamlike world
Week 16: Romanticism – Rebellion & The Sublime
- Lord Byron (She Walks in Beauty)
- Percy Shelley (Ozymandias)
Week 17: Jane Austen – Social Critique & Christian Virtue
- Pride and Prejudice (selected chapters) – Marriage, class, and morality
Week 18: The Victorian Novel – Faith vs. Doubt
- Charles Dickens (Great Expectations excerpts) – Redemption and social conscience
Week 19: Victorian Morality & The Tragic Hero
- Thomas Hardy (Tess of the d’Urbervilles excerpts) – Fate and suffering
Week 20: Victorian Poetry & Catholic Aestheticism
- Tennyson (The Lady of Shalott) – Isolation and transcendence
- Gerard Manley Hopkins (God’s Grandeur) – Nature and divine presence
Week 21: Review & Creative Writing Assignment

Unit 5: The 20th Century & Modernism (Weeks 22-26)

📖 Focus: War, faith, and literature in an age of doubt.

Week 22:The World Wars & The Crisis of Faith
- Wilfred Owen (Dulce et Decorum Est) – The loss of innocence
- G.K. Chesterton (Lepanto) – Heroic resistance and faith
Week 23: The Christian Satire of Evelyn Waugh
- Brideshead Revisited (selected chapters) – The tension between faith and worldliness
Week 24: Tolkien & The Recovery of Myth
- The Lord of the Rings (excerpts) – Providence and heroism
- The role of myth in moral imagination
Week 25: C.S. Lewis – Fantasy & Christian Allegory
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (excerpts) – Sacrifice and redemption
Week 26: Catholicism & The Absurd
- T.S. Eliot (The Journey of the Magi) – The longing for transcendence
- Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot excerpts)

Unit 6: Contemporary Literature & Final Assessments (Weeks 27-30)

📖 Focus: The future of faith and literature.

Week 27: Post-War Religious Thought in Literature
- Graham Greene (The Power and the Glory excerpts) – The flawed priest and redemption
Week 28: Poetry & The Search for Meaning
- Seamus Heaney (Digging) – Memory, culture, and identity
Week 29: The Future of Storytelling
- The impact of digital storytelling, podcasts, and graphic novels
- Reflection on how literature evolves
Week 30: Final Review & Exam Preparation

Assessment & Grading

Weekly readings & discussion posts (20%)
Close reading analysis & response essays (30%)
Creative writing tasks (10%)
Midterm assessment (20%)
Final project or exam (20%)