Sophomore Lit 54 (A Retro Course) Readings in Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton

Michael Manheim

Thursdays, 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
September 30 - November 18, 2004
D.O.C. House

Possibly the most satisfying course I have taught in over 50 years of college teaching, for my students as well as me, was one I gave in 1954 as part of the sophomore literature requirement at the university at which I then taught. It was, quite simply, a course in selected readings from the works of the three greatest writers in English literature: Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton. Specifically, we read the general prologue and three tales from The Canterbury Tales, all of Henry IV, Part 1, and four books from Paradise Lost. I propose re-doing that course for ILEAD today to see how the results may compare. Given the nature of ILEAD, some of the students who elect it may actually have taken some version of sophomore literature around that time, so how they react today might be particularly interesting. For others, it may actually be an introduction to literature.

This 8-week course will be all lecture and discussion, heavily the latter, and will (for once) involve no film.

Class is limited to 25 members.

Michael Manheim received his BA from Columbia in 1949, his MA in 1951, and his Ph.D. in 1961. He is an emeritus professor of English at the University of Toledo, where he lectured and conducted seminars in Shakespeare, modern drama, and the Great Books, as well as chairing the English department and serving terms as dean of the humanities division and director of the M(A)LS program. He is past president of the Midwest MLA, the Ohio Shakespeare Conference, and the Eugene O’Neill Society. For the summer of 1972, he was invited to teach Shakespeare by the Dartmouth English department. He has also published books on Shakespeare and on early modern drama.