Resources for English 215: Survey of British Literature I

Calvin College English Department

Related web sites: Norton Topics Online (companion website for our anthology); Labyrinth (OE/Medieval links); Internet Medieval Sourcebook and ORB Encyclopedia (Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies); Luminarium (Medieval and Renaissance writers)

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Historical Background

• Norton Topics Online (companion website for our anthology)
• Regia Anglorum: Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Norman and British Living History
• Norman and Post Conquest history of Measham and the Mease Valley -  i.e., a localized English perspective - (Simon Marchini)
• The Middle Ages - an interactive inroduction to the culture (Annenberg/CPB Exhibits Collection)
• Medieval Culture resources - scroll down the page  (ORB)
• Dissent, Doubt, and Spiritual Violence in the Reformation  (Norton)
• 17th Century Literature in England (University of Nebraska-Omaha students)
• Tour of Restoration London
• 18tth-century background links (Jack Lynch, Rutgers)

• A Day in the Life- creative essay on lyrics, ballads ("Barbara Allen"), and Sir Gawain (student essay)
• Perceptions of Self in Early English Literature (student essay by Bill Morgan)
• Sonnet Central

• Here's How it Really Happened - women in the Middle Ages (by student Lea Jackson)
• Medieval Women (L)
• Representations of Women: Medieval to Renaissance (student essay by Erin Dalcourt)

• Bede: background (from the Catholic Encyclopedia)
• Bede's History of the Primitive Church of England (full text)
• Caedmon's Hymn in Old English (with glossary)
• Hilda and  Caedmon: 'The Dream of the Rood': The Earliest English Poem (Julia Bolton Holloway argues that Caedmon composed the Dream of the Rood)
• Listen to Caedmon's Hymn, read by Dr. Steven Killion, Marist College
• Bede: The Conversion of England (ORB Medieval Sourcebook)

• Aphra Behn Society

• Seamus Heaney's introduction to the poem (Norton website)
• Audio files: Heaney reads from his translation. (Theyappear in a menu near the bottom of that web page.)
• The Electronic Beowulf (with manuscript images)
• Beowulf: a verse adaptation by David Breedon
• Instant Old English - A Conversational Phrasebook (Catherine Ball)

• English Versions of the Bible (beginning with 8th-century Old English translations; from the Catholic Encyclopedia.)

• Online Pilgrim's Progress (University of Toronto Electronic Texts)
• A Comparison of George Herbert and John Bunyan (Rebecca Dimon)

Chaucer, Geoffrey

• A Basic Chaucer Glossary (Edwin Duncan)
• Geoffrey Chaucer (ca.1343-1400) (L)
• Chaucer's Pronunciation, Grammar and Vocabulary - a tutorial. Click on the boxes in the left frame to begin. (Elizabeth   Rehfeld)
• Geoffrey Chaucer website - with excellent Canterbury Tales material (Harvard)
• Read and listen to the General Prologue (SAC)
• Study questions for the General Prologue (Mary-Jo Arn, Bloomsburg U)
• Summary of the GP
• The Wife of Bath: Introduction and illustrations (SAC)
• Wyf of Bathe - Attack on Women & Married Life? (Student essay by Ng E-Ching)
• The Wife of Bath: An Insult to Her Sex (Student essay: Hannah Schaffer)
• Reading the Wife of Bath by the Light of Madonna (Susan K. Hagen)
• Believe: A comparison of Julian and the Wife of Bath (Student essay by Jennifer Jones)
• Margery Kempe and the Wife of Bath (by student Terry McClelland)
• The Nun's Priest - introduction and illustrations (SAC)

• Richard Crashaw (L)

• John Donne (L)
• John Donne Resources (UN-Omaha)
• Donne and Rock-n-Roll (Stefan Hall)
• Shakespeare Versus Donne: Poets Ahead of their Time? (Student essay by Erin Jones, U Missouri)
• Love in Shakespeare and Donne (Student Ryan Pinkston, Missouri)

• Background and Text in Old English, Modern English, and Runic Alphabets (Alexander Bruce)
• The Dream of the Rood in Old English with glosses (Melanie Siebert)
• Hear an audio recording of The Dream of the Rood in Old English
• The Dream of the Rood: verse translation by Douglas B. Killings
• Hilda and  Caedmon: 'The Dream of the Rood': The Earliest English Poem (Julia Bolton Holloway argues that Caedmon composed the Dream of the Rood)
• Instant Old English - A Conversational Phrasebook. Speak it yourself!  (Catherine Ball)

• John Dryden: biography (S. Morgan)
• Absalom and Achitophel: Introduction by E. Cobham Brewer, 1899
• Heroic Couplets by students at the University of Missouri. Try writing some of your own.

Herbert, George

• George Herbert (L)
• George Herbert (UN-Omaha)
• George Herbert and the Crisis of the Church (Stephen Noll)
• A Comparison of George Herbert and John Bunyan (Rebecca Dimon)

• Robert Herrick (L)
• Robert Herrick (UN-Omaha)

• A Guide to Samuel Johnson (Jack Lynch, U Penn)
• Who is this Johnson Guy? (Jack Lynch)
• Samuel Johnson Sound Bite Page - quotations organized by topic   (Frank "No Relation to Jack" Lynch)

• Ben Jonson (L)
• Ben Jonson (UN-Omaha)
• Ben Jonson's Punctuation [no, really, it's interesting] (Sara van den Berg)

• Julian of Norwich (1342-ca.1416) (L)
• Background sketch - a helpful introduction to Julian and her work (S. Cohen)
• The Julian of Norwich Website (Julia Bolton Holloway). Excellent site.
• Believe: A comparison of Julian and the Wife of Bath (by student Jennifer Jones)

• Margery Kempe (ca.1373-1438) (L)
• Background: Margery Kempe (Lynn H. Nelson)
• Background: Margery Kempe (by Dean Lee Evans)
• Study aids for Margery Kempe (Jim Jones, WCUPA)
• Margery Kempe and the Wife of Bath (by student Terry McClelland)

• William Langland (ca.1330-1387) (L)
• William Langland Home Page
• An detailed outline of the complete Piers Plowman B-Text  (the version excerpted in the Norton Anthology) - Find out what's missing from our text  (David Wilson-Okamura)
• Fourteenth Century Political and Social Upheaval - Piers Plowman background (Lawrence Warner)

• Aemilia Lanyer (1569-1645) - Kari Boyd McBride

• Middle English Lyrics (L)

• Sir Thomas Malory (ca. 1405-1471) (L)
• King Arthur: Romancing Politics (Norton Topics Online)
• Arthurian Literature links (from Calvin 1995 Interim)
• The Veil of Christianity in the Literature of the Middle Ages - Morte D'Arthur and The Second Shepherds' Play (student essay)

• Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) (L)
• The Magician, the Heretic, and the Playright: Faustus, Marlowe, and the English Stage  with links to sources and analogues-- Use upper-left menu to choose this topic (W.W. Norton site)
• The Poetry Contest: Raleigh and Donne reply to Marlowe's Passionate Shepherd (Jan Greer?)
• Marlowe Lives! by David More (Elvis the Playwright?!--don't take it too seriously)
• Renaissance Attitudes Towards Faustus as a Magician (student project from the University of Georgia)

• Andrew Marvell (L)
• Andrew Marvell (UN-Omaha)

• Paradise Lost Study Guide (summaries, questions and answers, texts, biblical references, and criticism)
• Milton-L Home Page (best web resource for research on Milton)
• 1667 and 1674 texts of Paradise Lost (The Institute For Advanced Interdisciplinary Research)
• John Milton (L)
• Milton Reading Room  - online texts, with notes (Thomas Luxon, Dartmouth)
• Paradise Lost: Texts and Contexts (Norton Anthology site--related texts and images)

Nun's Priest: see Chaucer

Piers Plowman: See Langland

Pope, Alexander

• The Rape of the Lock home page (S. Constantine): background, annotated text, illustrations, even trivia questions

• Middle English Plays (L)
• Text from the Towneley plays (Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia)
• God in Sheep's Clothing (Second Shepherd's Play and The Dream of the Rood (by student Ryan Van Meter)
• The Veil of Christianity in the Literature of the Middle Ages - Morte D'Arthur and The Second Shepherds' Play (student essay)
• Saupe's adaptation of the Second Shepherd's Play

• Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day") with commentary (Van Geffen/van Moll/Kortland)
• Sonnet 138 ("When my love swears") line by line (Seamus Cooney, WMU)
• Synopsis of I Henry IV (Neil Bright?)
• Study questions for I Henry IV (J.M. Massi)
• Shakespeare Versus Donne: Poets Ahead of their Time? (Student essay by Erin Jones, U Missouri)
• Love in Shakespeare and Donne (Student Ryan Pinkston, Missouri)
• Calvin College's own Shakespeare Web

• Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)(L)

• Luminarium: Sir Gawain and The Green Knight (online texts and resources--a mixed bag)
• Sir Gawain's Spiritual Decay (student essay)
• Wit in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (student essay)
• Gawain in medieval and modern literature and art (UR Camelot Project)

• Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) (L)
• The Faerie Queene, Book One - outline (Mary Jo Arn, Bloomsburg U)

• Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547) (L)
• Petrarch's sonnets

• Jonathan Swift: biographical information and overview of "A Modest Proposal" (C. McVay/B. Rodriguez, U Texas)
• The Cynic's Hall of Fame (Rick Bayan)
• Gulliver's Travels Sources, dates, graphics, etc. compiled by Lee Jaffe
• Sources: Imaginary Journeys and Places (Lee Jaffe)--travel fantasy before Swift
• Study/journal questions for Gulliver's Travels(S. Liu?--Berkeley)
• Chronology of Swift's life/Gulliver's voyage (Jaffe)--dates are live links: see what's happening in the real world while Gulliver travels

Wakefield Master: see Second Shepherd's Play

Wife of Bath: See Chaucer

Wroth, Lady Mary

• Lady Mary Wroth (L)

• Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) (L)