ENGLISH 10E: Intro to English I: Love and Death from Chaucer to Milton
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Last offered: Autumn 2023
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
ENGLISH 10F: Intro to English I: The Natural World in Early English Literary History
The first poem written down in English, composed in the 7th century, is about the creation of Earth; this course surveys British literature from then until the 17th century to explore the wisdom, beauty, mystery, and terror in medieval and early modern representations of nature. While following this tradition of writing about the natural world, we will study its connection to the evolution of English literary forms and the interplay between text and culture in this period. Old English riddles that enigmatize earth and sky; beast fables drawing human morality from animal behavior; the varieties of play between love and nature in sonnets; Elizabethan drama's power to conjure wildernesses onstage.
Last offered: Winter 2025
| Units: 5
ENGLISH 10G: Intro to English I: Voice and Style in Medieval and Renaissance Literature
This course provides an introduction to the foundations of literary writing in England from the early Middle Ages to the beginning of the seventeenth century, with a particular focus on four representative authors: Marie de France, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, and John Donne. We will situate each work in its cultural and historical context, as well as discuss whether and how these poems and plays, although written many centuries ago, may still be relevant today, especially concerning issues of gender, colonialism, race, political authority, and religion. As we journey across this long historical period, we will pay close attention to innovations in literary technique and explore how these shaped those qualities we call "voice" and "style."
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
ENGLISH 10H: Introduction to English I: What Women Want in Med/Ren Literature
This course grapples with female desire - for knowledge, for sex (straight and queer), and for sovereignty - in the canonical works of early English literature. It features heroines who are transgressive, bold, and unapologetic, including Chaucer's proto-feminist Wife of Bath and Shakespeare's diva Cleopatra and froward Rosalind. Female poets, including Mary Wroth and Aemilia Lanyer, wrote of and for women's right to education, power, and love. As Lanyer puts it, "If Eve did error, it was for knowledge sake."
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
ENGLISH 10Q: Technologies of Handwriting: History, Theory, Practice (DLCL 122Q)
Handwriting has a long history and significance. Think about Toni Morrison's diaries; a note by Einstein; a Laozi manuscript from the second century; Elizabeth I's poems; hieroglyphic laws; an electronic signature; a postcard from a friend. This course will investigate the history of handwriting, focusing on the importance of the technology and its digital aspects. We shall consider the training and physical efforts of scribes, and the transmission of knowledge, including that of traditionally oral cultures. We'll look at the development of western scripts, gain insight about materials and tools (from animal skin to reed pens) and learn calligraphy from an expert modern scribe, the better to understand the skill and aesthetic of this most everyday of technologies that, I shall argue, will outlive all others
Last offered: Autumn 2023
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
ENGLISH 11A: Introduction to English II: From Milton to the Romantics
English majors must take class for 5 units. Major moments in English literary history, from John Milton's 'Paradise Lost' to John Keats's 'Hyperion'. The trajectory involves a variety of literary forms, including Augustan satire, the illuminated poetry of William Blake's handcrafted books, the historical novel invented by Sir Walter Scott, the society novel of Jane Austen, and William Wordsworth's epic of psychological and artistic development. Literary texts will be studied in the context of important cultural influences, among them civil war, religious dissent, revolution, commercialization, colonialism, and industrialization.
Last offered: Winter 2025
| Units: 3-5
ENGLISH 11B: Introduction to English II: American Literature and Culture to 1855 (AMSTUD 150)
In this course we'll explore the uncanny world--at once strange and strangely familiar - of early American literature and culture, as we read diverse works - including poetry, captivity and slave narratives, seduction novels, Native American oratory, short stories, essays, autobiographies, and more - in relation to political, social, and artistic as well as literary contexts from the colonial period to the eve of Civil War. Note: students majoring (or planning to major) in English or American Studies should take the course for 5 units and for a letter grade.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-AmerCul, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Bullitt-Rigsbee, M. (PI)
;
Richardson, J. (PI)
;
Bullitt-Rigsbee, M. (TA)
;
Starovoitov, S. (TA)
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Instructors:
Bullitt-Rigsbee, M. (PI)
;
Richardson, J. (PI)
;
Bullitt-Rigsbee, M. (TA)
;
Starovoitov, S. (TA)
ENGLISH 11C: Introduction to English II: Revolutionary Energies (1640-1820)
This course guides students into a turbulent period of literary history marked on one end by two English revolutions and, on the other, the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
ENGLISH 11Q: Art in the Metropolis (ARTSINST 11Q, ARTSTUDI 11Q, FILMEDIA 11Q, MUSIC 11Q, TAPS 11Q)
This seminar is offered in conjunction with the annual "Arts Immersion" trip to New York that takes place over the spring break and is organized by the Stanford Arts Institute (SAI). Enrollment in this course is a requirement for taking part in the spring break trip. The program is designed to provide a group of students with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the cultural life of New York City guided by faculty and SAI staff. Students will experience a broad range and variety of art forms (visual arts, theater, opera, dance, etc.) and will meet with prominent arts administrators and practitioners, some of whom are Stanford alumni. In the seminar, students will prepare for the diverse experiences the trip affords and develop individual projects related to particular works of art, exhibitions, and performances that they'll encounter in person during our stay in New York. For further details please visit the Stanford Arts Institute website:
https://arts.stanford.edu/for-students/academics/arts-immersion/new-york/
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Rau, M. (PI)
ENGLISH 12C: Introduction to English III: Modern Literature
Survey of the major trends in literary history from 1850 to the present.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP