World Literature I

Course Description

LIT2110 – World Literature I is a 3-credit lecture-discussion course that surveys major works of world literature from antiquity through the European Renaissance (c. 1650). The course examines representative literary works in their cultural, historical, and philosophical contexts, including ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian literature, the Hebrew Bible and early Christian writings, classical Greek and Roman literature, sacred and philosophical texts of South and East Asia, classical Arabic and Persian literature, medieval European literature, and the European Renaissance. Most institutions integrate works from multiple cultural traditions, supporting both a chronological framework and a broadly inclusive view of the period's literary heritage.

The course sits within the Florida Statewide Course Numbering System (SCNS) under Literature > World Literature and is offered at approximately 22 Florida public institutions. LIT2110 is the chronological complement to LIT2120 (World Literature II), which covers world literature from the Enlightenment (c. 1650) to the present. The two courses are typically interchangeable in either order at most institutions.

LIT2110 is designated under Florida State Board of Education Rule 6A-10.030 ("Gordon Rule") as a writing-intensive course. A grade of C or higher is required for the course to satisfy Gordon Rule requirements at most institutions. LIT2110 satisfies the humanities general education requirement and the literature requirement for the AA degree at every Florida public institution.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

Upon successful completion of LIT2110, students will be able to:

• Identify and describe the major literary periods and traditions from antiquity through the Renaissance (c. 1650): the literatures of the ancient Near East; classical Greek and Roman literature; the literatures of the Bible and early Christianity; classical and medieval South and East Asian literature; classical Arabic and Persian literature; medieval European literature; the European Renaissance.
• Apply close reading techniques to representative works of poetry, narrative, drama, and creative nonfiction from this period.
• Analyze the literary techniques employed in major works: epic conventions; lyric and dramatic forms; characterization; narrative structure; imagery; symbolism; rhetoric.
• Connect literary works to their historical, cultural, religious, philosophical, and political contexts: the rise and fall of empires; the development of major world religions; cross-cultural exchange along trade routes; the European Renaissance and humanism.
• Compare and contrast literary works across cultural traditions within the period, identifying both shared concerns and culturally distinctive responses.
• Articulate the development of major themes across the period: heroism and the heroic life; the divine and the human; love and desire; the family and the community; mortality and immortality; the self and the cosmos; honor, shame, and ethics; gender and power.
• Construct analytical arguments about literary texts, supported by textual evidence and grounded in scholarly conventions.
• Demonstrate college-level writing in critical analysis essays, response papers, and (typically) one or more research papers (typically 6,000+ words across the semester to satisfy Gordon Rule).
• Apply literary research methods: locating credible secondary sources; integrating sources; documenting using MLA style.
• Use discipline-specific terminology for poetry, narrative, drama, and literary analysis; apply genre-specific terminology for epic, lyric, drama, and didactic forms.

Optional Outcomes

Depending on instructor approach and institutional emphasis, students may also:

• Apply contemporary critical approaches (feminist, postcolonial, Marxist, psychoanalytic, ecocritical, queer theory) to literary texts.
• Engage with specific traditions in greater depth (e.g., classical epic; Sanskrit drama; Tang poetry; troubadour poetry; Renaissance drama).
• Engage with thematic or genre-based organization: thematic clusters across cultures rather than strict chronological survey.
• Consider translation theory: the practice and limitations of reading literature in translation, especially for ancient and non-Western languages.
• Engage with multimedia adaptations: film, theatre, and graphic-novel versions of pre-modern works.
• Conduct creative writing exercises in response to course readings.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Ancient Near Eastern Literature: The Epic of Gilgamesh (Mesopotamia); selected Egyptian texts; the role of writing in the ancient Near East.
• The Hebrew Bible: Selected narrative (Genesis, Exodus, Job); selected poetry (Psalms, Song of Songs); selected prophetic and wisdom literature; the Hebrew Bible as literature.
• Early Christian Writings: Selected gospel narratives; selected epistles; the New Testament as literature.
• Classical Greek Literature: Homer (Iliad, Odyssey); Greek tragedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides — typically Oedipus Rex, Antigone, or Medea); Greek comedy (Aristophanes); Greek lyric (Sappho); Greek philosophy (Plato — selections from the Apology, Symposium, Republic).
• Classical Roman Literature: Virgil (Aeneid); Ovid (Metamorphoses); selected Roman poetry (Catullus, Horace, Sappho-influenced traditions); Roman drama (Plautus, Seneca).
• Classical Asian Literature: Selected Hindu sacred and philosophical texts (the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana); the Tale of Genji (Japan, Murasaki Shikibu); selected Tang and Song dynasty Chinese poetry (Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei); the Analects (Confucius); selected Daoist texts (Laozi, Zhuangzi).
• The Qur'an and Islamic Literature: Selections from the Qur'an as a literary and religious text; the Thousand and One Nights; the poetry of Rumi and Hafez (selections).
• Medieval European Literature: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxon tradition; the chivalric romances (Chrétien de Troyes, Marie de France); Dante (Inferno, often Purgatorio and Paradiso selections); Chaucer (Canterbury Tales); Boccaccio (Decameron); the troubadours and courtly love.
• The European Renaissance: Petrarch (sonnets); Christine de Pizan; Erasmus; More (Utopia); Cervantes (Don Quixote, Part I); Shakespeare (typically a play, often Hamlet, Othello, or The Tempest); Milton (Paradise Lost, selections — at the chronological edge of the course).
• Critical Reading and Analysis: Close reading; literary terminology; argumentation; documentation (MLA); engaging with secondary sources.
• Writing in Literary Studies: The critical analysis essay; the comparison-contrast essay; the research paper.

Optional Topics

• Literary Theory: Introduction to feminist, postcolonial, Marxist, psychoanalytic, structuralist/post-structuralist, ecocritical, and queer-theory approaches.
• Genre Studies: The epic; lyric poetry; classical and Renaissance drama; allegory; the romance.
• Translation Theory: The role of translation in shaping the world-literature canon; comparing translations of the same work.
• Specialized Traditions: Greek tragedy in depth; Sanskrit drama (Kalidasa); Persian and Sufi poetry in depth; Renaissance Italian literature.
• Visual and Performance Adaptations: Comparing literary works to their stage, film, or graphic-novel adaptations.
• Creative Response: Original creative writing inspired by course readings.

Resources & Tools

• Most-adopted textbooks at Florida institutions: The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Volumes A, B, and C (W. W. Norton) — the standard scholarly anthology for this period; The Bedford Anthology of World Literature (volumes covering antiquity through Renaissance); The Longman Anthology of World Literature.
• Open-access alternative: Compact Anthology of World Literature (University of North Georgia Press) — free, open educational resource covering antiquity through the Renaissance; widely adopted at Florida community colleges as a zero-textbook-cost option. Project Gutenberg provides free public-domain texts for many works.
• Online learning platforms: Norton's online resources (paired with the Norton Anthology); institution Canvas modules.
• Reference texts: M. H. Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Harpham, A Glossary of Literary Terms; The MLA Handbook; The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics.
• Library databases: JSTOR; MLA International Bibliography; Project MUSE; Literature Resource Center (Gale); typically available through institution libraries.
• Audio and visual resources: Audio recordings of poetry; theatre and film adaptations of major works (often available through institution libraries or streaming services). The Yale University Open Courses (free) include excellent introductory video lectures on classical and medieval literature.
• Tutoring and support: Institution writing centers (especially important for the analytic essays and research paper).

Career Pathways

LIT2110 supports career fields requiring strong reading comprehension, critical analysis, written communication, and cross-cultural literacy:

• K–12 English/Language Arts Teacher — pathway through Florida education programs.
• Editor / Publishing Professional — Florida and national publishing employers.
• Journalist / Content Writer / Communications Professional — Florida media, tourism, and corporate communications.
• Lawyer (long-term) — literary studies preparation supports legal study; many law students hold humanities and English bachelor's degrees.
• Library and Information Science — Florida public, academic, and special libraries.
• Public Relations / Marketing — strong reading and writing skills are valued.
• Translation and Interpreting — Florida's bilingual workforce demand (especially Spanish-English).
• Cultural Sector / Arts Administration — Florida's literary festivals (Miami Book Fair, Sanibel Island Writers Conference), bookstore industry, humanities organizations.
• Higher Education / Academia (with graduate study) — pathway into English / comparative literature graduate programs.

Special Information

Articulation and Transfer

LIT2110 articulates to all Florida SUS institutions and satisfies the humanities/literature general-education requirement at every Florida public institution. A grade of C or higher is required for the course to count toward Gordon Rule satisfaction. LIT2110 typically counts as one of the literature courses required by English majors at SUS institutions.

The Gordon Rule

LIT2110 is designated as a writing-intensive course under Florida State Board of Education Rule 6A-10.030. The total writing volume across formal essays typically meets or exceeds 6,000 words. Common assignment types include short response papers (250–500 words), critical analysis essays (750–1,500 words), and at least one research paper (1,500–2,500 words) integrating secondary sources.

Companion Course: LIT2120

LIT2120 (World Literature II) covers world literature from the Enlightenment to the present (c. 1650 onward). The two courses can typically be taken in either order. Many English majors take both as part of their literary-survey foundation; many non-majors take only one to satisfy general education.

Other Florida Literature Survey Courses

• LIT2000 — Introduction to Literature (multi-genre survey, no chronological focus).
• ENL2012 / ENL2022 — British Literature I / II.
• AML2010 / AML2020 — American Literature I / II.

Students should consult their advisor about which literature course best satisfies their major and gen-ed needs.

Course Format and Workload

LIT2110 is typically a lecture-discussion course meeting three hours per week, often offered in face-to-face, hybrid, and fully online formats. Expect substantial weekly reading (typically 100–200 pages per week from the anthology, plus selected longer works such as a complete play or substantial portions of an epic), regular response writing, 2–4 major analytic essays, and 2–4 exams. Out-of-class workload typically runs 6–9 hours per week. Reading classical and medieval literature in translation requires patience with unfamiliar conventions and cultural contexts; instructors typically scaffold this engagement carefully.

Course Code Variations

Florida institutions consistently title this course "World Literature I" or sometimes "World Literature: Antiquity through the Renaissance" or "World Literature: Beginnings through the 17th Century." The endpoint varies slightly: most institutions end with the Renaissance (c. 1600–1650); some include Milton (often considered a Renaissance/early Restoration figure) at the end of LIT2110 rather than the start of LIT2120. Coverage details should be verified with the specific institution and instructor.