This course will provide an introduction to the literary traditions and cultural contexts of the English Middle Ages. The first part of the course will focus on Anglo-Saxon poetry, and the second part will examine Middle English literature. Texts will be read mostly in translation, though we will read some in the original language, especially in the latter part of the course. There will be two main papers, a midterm, and a final. Texts: Richard Hamer, tr., Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse; Seamus Heaney, Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (dual-language edition); Hanning & Ferrante, eds., The Lais of Marie de France; Millet & Wogan-Brown, eds., Medieval English Prose for Women; Marie Borroff, tr., Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, Pearl: Verse Translation; Julian of Norwich, Showings; Covella, tr., Piers Plowman: The A-Text.