Register for the course and Professor Pearce will outline & explain the basic rules for reading literature. 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.

Instructor Access (Optional grading support) is available for this course. Please note: this is ONLY recommended if you wish to write the optional paper. All quizzes are internally graded in this course. Optional papers will be completed via this page (click here) for an Instructor Access fee of $75.

How to get the most out of this course:

• First, read the course details below.

• Prepare a notebook for taking notes as you read and watch the lectures.

• Watch each recording of the class sessions.

• Take careful notes.

• If you need review, go back and rewatch the recording.

• Take each of the six weekly quizzes as soon as possible after each class.

• Once the course is done to the parent's satisfaction, complete the Certificate of Completion at the bottom for your records.

• Make sure to record your grades (HSC does not provide recordkeeping services).

**Please note that this course is a macrocosmic panoramic overview of three millennia of literature. Professor Pearce discusses principles and techniques employed by the greatest writers. Although knowledge of the works and the writers listed in the Course Outline will be helpful to the student, it is not necessary. There is no weekly reading list because the texts are discussed in this panoramic way, focusing on the works as a whole and not on specific passages within them, though specific examples from the text might be given to illustrate the general point.**

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.

Technical Help: If you have any technical trouble or questions about course content, please email us at homeschoolconnections@gmail.com.

©2022 Homeschool Connections and Joseph Pearce.   All rights reserved. This course is designed by Joseph Pearce.

• This material is only to be used for its intended purpose by active subscribers of Homeschool Connections. Any other use without explicit permission is in violation of the seventh commandment (yes, the 7th commandment) and in violation of US and International copyright laws.

• You may print or download to local hard disk extracts for your personal homeschool and non-commercial use only. This is not to be used for homeschool co-ops without express written permission from Homeschool Connections.