The Critical Companion to ENG 140 @ Clark showcases literary criticism by undergraduate students in Dr. Justin Shaw’s ENG 140 “British Literature I” course at Clark University. As this is an introductory course to the study of early British literary history and culture – a span of time ranging from the 8th to the beginning of the 18th Century – these essays showcase thematic introductions to the texts studied in the course.

Starting in Fall 2022, this course does not employ a standard textbook or anthology. Instead, we source texts and materials from openly accessible resources online and in the public domain to guide our syllabus. As part of this endeavor, we center students’ voices and scholarly interests as essential to the contextualization of early British literature. This site represents those conversations. While the suggested audience for these introductory essays is undergraduate students, we hope that scholars at all levels might find some value and enjoyment in them.

This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International