Restoration Literature

Catalog description

This course will survey the richness and variety of textual material produced in England during the “Restoration”, the 30-year period of intense cultural productivity that began with the coronation of Charles II in 1660 and ended with the Revolution of 1688-89. We’ll read poetry, plays, romances/novels, and religious texts, as well as some political, ceremonial, and scientific tracts from the period, drawing upon authors like: John Dryden; John Milton; John Bunyan; Aphra Behn; John Wilmot; William Wycherley; and John Locke. In examining these works, we’ll focus on literary style, genre, diction, structure, internal and external meaning, and social/political context. Offered regularly.