I often go into the semester suspecting that one of my three courses will really stand out. Sometimes it does; other times an unexpected course grabs the spotlight — usually because the students are energized.
This term I don’t lean toward one course or another. I smile thinking that I get to teach these courses — I am excited by the challenge.
- Shakespeare: I’ve never taught a course devoted to Bill. But here I go. Some see the modern preoccupation with Shakespeare as a fetish. I don’t. With the course focus on ways of reading and writing Shakespeare, I see this as an examination of the English language at a very high level of sophistication.
- Short Verse of Early Modern Britain: Skelton, Wyatt, Surrey, Spenser, Sidney, Drayton, Shakespeare, Campion, Wroth, Donne, Wither, Herrick, Herbert, Milton, Montrose, Marvel, Philips, Border Ballads. Yow! Reading several of these poets has informed my life in deeply important ways. I’m hoping to pass along the favor, especially as it pertains to meter and form.
- English Language and Grammar: This has been my favorite course for more than a decade. Don’t see why it should lose its glamour this time around: “What is a participial phrase and how does it function?”
I suspect there will be quite a bit of cross-over among these courses. Hopefully, I’ll have reasonable things to say on this, their unified blog.