This course surveys the origins of Western literature in Antiquity and spans the Early Modern period. Readings in representative early texts from Greece and Rome, the Medieval period, and the Renaissance introduce Cadets to literary history and the transmission of literature across time and place. Cadets explore the earliest experiments in drama, poetry, and the novel; the rediscovery of those models in later periods; and the legacy of customs and traditions that continue to shape us today. Topics may include Homeric epic, heroic virtue, the public and the private, faith and reason, and scientific discovery.
