In this course we will study large excerpts of Old English poems as well as entire poems in the original language. While we will contextualize these poems as to make them intelligible to ourselves as readers of today, we will nevertheless also use the approaches that are generally thought to bear light upon poetry, namely psychoanalysis and anthropology. We shall read The Ruin, The Dream of the Rood, The Battle of Maldon, The Seafarer, The Wanderer, and Beowulf. Students will be required to write two critical essays (10 pages each) on these poems ( or indeed on others poems).There will be a final exam.
Undergraduate majors may enroll in this course.