In this course we will discuss literary works written in the various phases of the English language from its beginnings in the fifth century to our contemporary time. We will particularly look at the exchanges with which these works are concerned as well as those of which they are intricately a part. Though this is not a course in English history, let alone one in the history of the world, we constantly take into account historical events and processes with which the texts deal and which produced them. Ultimately, we will try to see what these texts say about their world (maybe, it is also ours) and how they say it. Thus, we may by the end of the semester have some understanding about the body of texts we call English literature and the way its has developed from the Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, Early Modern, the Restoration, the Victorian, to the contemporary periods; and how it represents, describes, characterizes, and addresses the individuals, ideas, events, and the world which converge within and revolve around it.