Themes in Medieval Literature

Catalog description

Starting with the key sources in classical antiquity that informed English poets’ discussions of both love and war, examine the rise of English courtly love poetry in the context of a devastating and drawn-out conflict that would forever alter England’s cultural and political climate and set the stage for the birth of English nationalism: the pre-condition for the eventual formation of the British Empire and for the birth of “English” itself as an academic discipline in the university.