We have created this site to feature some of the compelling and creative final projects we’ve received as recitation leaders for English 2201: Survey of British Literature to 1800. This site currently features work from Prof. Karen Winstead‘s autumn 2019 iteration of English 2201. Recitation leaders included Nick Hoffman, Bethany Christiansen, and Shaun Russell.
The Portfolio Project gives students the opportunity to immerse themselves creatively in some of the texts covered in the survey course. As stated in the syllabus, the Portfolio Project is essentially
a genre- and period-bending exercise that [demonstrates] your knowledge of each of the four literary periods we covered this semester and challenge you to think creatively about them.
In the spirit of the prompt’s flexibility and focus on each student’s individual talents and interests, we received a broad range of submissions: blog posts, sketches, games, sonnet sequences, reconstructed letters, and more. These projects spoke not only to students’ engagement with four distinct literary periods (Pre-Conquest, Post-Conquest, Renaissance, and Restoration literatures), but reflected the personality and acumen of this year’s course participants—without whom 2201 wouldn’t be possible!
To showcase some of this fantastic work, we’ve built this site as a reference for future English 2201 students. Just take it from your predecessors in English 2201—the Portfolio is your opportunity to breathe new life into the literatures of premodern Britain. We eagerly await the opportunity to expand this site further, with new projects and insights from this foundational course and its talented participants.
