British Literature and Composition (English 7H/8H) is a 2-semester course for academically talented students that leads to an understanding of our heritage through a study of British literature and the great books of the world. College preparation and essay writing are emphasized.

This course meets the University of California "b" and "g" requirements.

Readings will include, but may not be limited to, most of the following, not necessarily in this order. Units will include selections of poetry, prose and non-fiction in addition to the novels and plays listed as well as two required book reports each semester: biography, drama, non-fiction, and science fiction. Lectures will cover the History of the English Language including historical linguistics, etymology and slang.

RENAISSANCE & EARLY MODERN ENGLISH (EMNE) 1485 – 1660

Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Taming of the Shrew, selected sonnets, William Shakespeare

“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” John Donne

“To the Virgins to Make Much of Time” Robert Herrick

“To His Coy Mistress” Andrew Marvell

MEDIEVAL & MIDDLE ENGLISH (ME) 1066 – 1485

Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer

ANGLO-SAXON & OLD ENGLISH (OE) 449 – 1066

The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien

“The Wanderer” “The Seafarer” unknown

RESTORATION (ENLIGHTMENT) & MODERN ENGLISH 1660 – 1800

“A Modest Proposal” Jonathan Swift

Vindication of the Rights of Women Mary Wollstonecraft

ROMANTIC 1800 – 1832

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson

Sense & Sensibility (DVD), Emma (DVD) Jane Austen

VICTORIAN 1832 – 1901

A Tale of Two Cities (DVD), Great Expectations (DVD), Nicholas Nickleby (DVD), Charles Dickens

Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw

20^TH CENTURY (MODERN & CONTEMPORARY) 1901 – PRESENT

1984 George Orwell

A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf

“The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock” T.S. Eliot

COMPOSITION

Rhetorical Modes: Expository (College Essay – both UC prompts),

Narrative (personal experience), Timed Writes/Unit Essays, Quick Writes

Research paper: Monsters in Literature

Poetry: Sonnet

PRESENTATION

Chaucer’s Tales (film, live, PowerPoint), British Author (PowerPoint),

Senior Exhibition (PowerPoint)

VOCABULARY

Mythological and Biblical Allusions, Words in Context (weekly)

Language

History of the English Language (series of lectures), CST review as needed