This course is a survey of English literature of the sixteenth century. Starting with an introduction of early modern England, its religious, political, social, and cultural background, we will read major authors including Thomas More, Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare in a wide variety of genres–lyric and narrative poetry, prose romance and satire, and drama. To optimize this course, your active involvement is essential. In addition to the three-hour lecture, students must attend and contribute to a fifty-minute discussion session per week. Additional information and course updates can be found on the online course site.