Degrees

ENG 225 Masterworks of Western Literature I Course Objectives

1. Awaken in students a renewed respect for great literature, particularly those works which have been recognized as masterpieces through the centuries.
2. Make students more knowledgeable about great literary and philosophical movements that have dominated European thought since early Greek civilization.
3. Show students how the allied arts (music, sculpture, painting) have reflected the same influences as the literature of a given period.
4. Discriminate among the kinds of literature produced in the periods under discussion, showing how or why certain genres gained or lost popularity over time.
5. Present each of the writers under consideration as distinct personalities, not as disembodied intellects.
6. Present the ancient Greek literary tradition from its roots to its zenith.
7. Demonstrate why Homer’s tales are not only for our time but all ages.
8. Explain how Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides present the joys and perplexities of life.
9. Introduce students to the medieval world of Dante, St. Francis and St. Thomas Aquinas.
10. Promote an understanding of The Divine Comedy in its cultural/historical context.
11. Emphasize why the Renaissance is truly a reawakening of the human spirit.
12. Explain why Shakespeare is both informative and provocative and why he stands out as the literary giant of his age.