The course will examine early English literary criticism from the late 1500s to the 18th century. Its aim is to introduce students to the critical debates that formed the historical basis of modern literary criticism and theory. Topics of discussion will include Puritan attacks against poetry, defenses of poetry, the role of satire and mockery in criticism, the role of criticism and the critic in society, the quarrel between the ancients and the moderns, imitation and nature, meaning and interpretation, censorship, neo-classical theories of art and the sublime. We will examine critical and literary texts by, among others, the authors of the Marprelate Controversy, Sir Philip Sidney, John Dryden, Joseph Addison, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope and Dr Johnson.
 
 Assessment: essay and class contribution.