This course is designed to familiarize students with 
representative texts of major English writers from the Beowulf
poet to 1700 and to enable students to discuss the works they
have read orally and in writing with a considerable degree of
critical sophistication, to reread these works with pleasure, to
read and enjoy other works from the period, and to converse with
fellow students about texts and issues related to the subject
matter of the course. Students will also work on their
writing skills by taking essay examinations or writing papers,
responses or other assignments, and responding to the comments 
of their instructor.

Topical outline:  The choice and sequence of topics will vary from instructor to 
instructor and semester to semester.  The topics will consist of selected works by 
various authors, to be read outside of class and discussed in class, examined 
individually and comparatively in the context of the times and the circumstances of 
their composition.  Periodically during the semester, students will perform a number 
of graded tasks, including some combination of tests and out-of-class papers.

A possible series of readings might resemble this:

Beowulf
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales:  "The General Prologue," "The Miller's Tale,"
  "The Wife of Bath's Tale"
Sir Thomas Malory, Morte Darthur:  selected readings
Sir Thomas More, Utopia:  selected readings
William Shakespeare, Sonnets; The Tempest
John Donne, selected readings
John Milton, Paradise Lost: selected readings

Academic honesty:  Students in this course are expected to be familiar with and 
adhere to the University of Georgia policy on academic honesty, according to which 
all violations of academic honesty will be handled.  Students may participate in 
graded group projects at the instructor's discretion.