ENGL 5703 - Beowulf through Time: Text, Reception, Adaptation

Often described as ‘the earliest English epic’, Beowulf speaks to us from over a thousand years ago about our anxieties as much as it did to its earliest readers and listeners. This course provides a deep dive into the poem’s treatment of peace and conflict, fears of monstrosity and apocalyptic systems collapse, not just in its own time, but also in the many modern creative adaptations and responses to the poem, in films, novels and poetry.