English 336-A: Studies in British Literature: Medieval Nature(s) and Environmental Crisis

The Middle Ages was a period of significant environmental crisis. Extreme drought, flash flooding, and volcanic eruptions, led to widespread agricultural failure, famine, and, consequently, a steep rise in climate refugees. And yet, medieval representations of nature and the natural world, while often bleak, were also imaginative, playful, and hopeful. This course will explore these tensions and contradictions in medieval understandings of nature and environmental crisis through a study of the drama, folklore, poetry, riddles, and animal fables of the period. By examining these literary representations of nature and the environment, we'll explore how medieval people mourned environmental disaster, critiqued human sources of ecological crises, and imagined better futures. May be taken for credit toward the Environmental Humanities major.