(Recorded Course) How to Read Great Literature with Joseph Pearce

Register for the course and Professor Pearce will outline & explain the basic rules for reading. He will also bring understanding of the deepest level of meaning in the great works of civilization, including Homer, Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Hopkins, Eliot, Lewis, and Tolkien.

Total Classes: 6

Duration: 55 minutes per class

Prerequisite: A desire to learn how to read literarily, not merely literally, and a desire to engage more deeply with the allegorical dimension of the great works of literature.

Suggested grade level: 9th to 12th grade

Suggested credit: ½ semester Literary Analysis

Instructor: Joseph Pearce

Course description: The course is designed to help students to read literature literarily, which involves learning to see the allegorical dimension and the allegorical techniques employed by different writers. Those taking the course will be given priceless tools to enable them to read all sorts of literature on a deeper level. 

Course outline:

Week 1: Reading with the Saints: Augustine and Thomas Aquinas

Week 2: Reading with the Greeks: Homer and Sophocles

Week 3: Reading with the Mind of the Church: Boethius, Beowulf, Dante, and Chaucer

Week 4: Reading with the Martyrs: Shakespeare

Week 5: Reading with Wonder: Tolkien and Lewis

Week 6: Reading with Eyes Wide Open: Conclusion

Course materials: As this is a survey, individual books will not be necessary. Mr. Pearce will provide the course material on the course page.

Homework: Assigned reading for each week from the course material provided. Mr. Pearce will specify the week’s assigned reading at the conclusion of each class session. There is no assigned reading before the first class meeting. Students will also need to consult their notes and possibly watch the recording in order to review for the weekly quiz. Students should endeavour to take each online quiz prior to the following class, while the class discussion is fresh in their minds. Register for the course and Professor Pearce will outline & explain the basic rules for reading.