ENGL 141A
Early Medieval Literature
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: courses 10A, 10B. Major poetry and prose of early medieval Britain, including epic, romance, history, saints' lives, and travel literature. Texts and topics include Beowulf, Vikings, poems on women, Bede, and King Alfred. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Allen is my absolute favorite professor at UCLA. After taking Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with him this summer, I cancelled my enrollment in Shakespeare in Fall so I could wait to take his class in Winter. He is immensely funny, a gifted lecturer, and if you actually pay attention, his tests and papers shouldn't be difficult for you. But, that said, this is not an easy class. He will immerse you in it, and make seemingly dull topics incredibly interesting, but you HAVE to read, or you WILL NOT do well. Middle English is hard to understand, so you really have to make sense of the characters and their plot lines, and pay attention to the footnotes! He has a lot to say, and its true, its hard to tell what you're going to be tested on, so take notes on everything! If you can't write fast enough to do that, then I suggest recording his lectures, because he is so passionate about these topics that he will give you as much information as he possibly can in a class period. He is very loud, and if you don't like participating in class, then you shouldn't sit in the aisles, but know that if you do participate, he will give you a much better grade. Also, don't be afraid of having to recite the introduction - it seems scary, but he closes his eyes the entire time so its not like a performance, and he will help you along. The amount of work for any English class can be excessive, but if you take any class with Allen, you will laugh your way through ten weeks of what would otherwise be deemed hell.
Professor Allen is my absolute favorite professor at UCLA. After taking Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with him this summer, I cancelled my enrollment in Shakespeare in Fall so I could wait to take his class in Winter. He is immensely funny, a gifted lecturer, and if you actually pay attention, his tests and papers shouldn't be difficult for you. But, that said, this is not an easy class. He will immerse you in it, and make seemingly dull topics incredibly interesting, but you HAVE to read, or you WILL NOT do well. Middle English is hard to understand, so you really have to make sense of the characters and their plot lines, and pay attention to the footnotes! He has a lot to say, and its true, its hard to tell what you're going to be tested on, so take notes on everything! If you can't write fast enough to do that, then I suggest recording his lectures, because he is so passionate about these topics that he will give you as much information as he possibly can in a class period. He is very loud, and if you don't like participating in class, then you shouldn't sit in the aisles, but know that if you do participate, he will give you a much better grade. Also, don't be afraid of having to recite the introduction - it seems scary, but he closes his eyes the entire time so its not like a performance, and he will help you along. The amount of work for any English class can be excessive, but if you take any class with Allen, you will laugh your way through ten weeks of what would otherwise be deemed hell.
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Most Helpful Review
Prof. Condren is an outstanding professor. His ideas are original and always entertaining. He is a fair grader, although he is not always clear on what he expects from his students on exams and papers. Prof. Condren took a potentially excruciating topic, like The Canterbury Tales, and really made the material relevant and amusing. I looked forward to his lectures and the suplementary reading he suggested was VERY helpful.
Prof. Condren is an outstanding professor. His ideas are original and always entertaining. He is a fair grader, although he is not always clear on what he expects from his students on exams and papers. Prof. Condren took a potentially excruciating topic, like The Canterbury Tales, and really made the material relevant and amusing. I looked forward to his lectures and the suplementary reading he suggested was VERY helpful.
Most Helpful Review
Fisher is a great guy...once you get to know him through many meetings. He genuinely cares about the student and is willing to sit for long periods of time discussion issues in the class, his teaching style, and of course, the literature. The thing I respect most of all is his willingness and openness to critique and evaluation. He's fairly new to UCLA. I also had him for 10A (his first quarter here) and I think he learned a lot because when I took 141B with him, I could see vast improvements. His lecture style is a bit odd. He speaks very elaborately, and to be honest, sometimes doesn't even finish his thoughts. I think he gets lost in his tangents. Many times he'll say "And the most important thing to remember is...[insert tangent]..." and will never finish the thought. Despite his tendency to lecture over people's heads, he is brilliant. He's got so much knowledge and passion for Medieval Literature and is the reason why I like to consider myself a medievalist. He's a great guy who cares for his students, has a bit more to learn in terms of being an effective professor, but is all in all one of the most brillian people I know.
Fisher is a great guy...once you get to know him through many meetings. He genuinely cares about the student and is willing to sit for long periods of time discussion issues in the class, his teaching style, and of course, the literature. The thing I respect most of all is his willingness and openness to critique and evaluation. He's fairly new to UCLA. I also had him for 10A (his first quarter here) and I think he learned a lot because when I took 141B with him, I could see vast improvements. His lecture style is a bit odd. He speaks very elaborately, and to be honest, sometimes doesn't even finish his thoughts. I think he gets lost in his tangents. Many times he'll say "And the most important thing to remember is...[insert tangent]..." and will never finish the thought. Despite his tendency to lecture over people's heads, he is brilliant. He's got so much knowledge and passion for Medieval Literature and is the reason why I like to consider myself a medievalist. He's a great guy who cares for his students, has a bit more to learn in terms of being an effective professor, but is all in all one of the most brillian people I know.
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Most Helpful Review
This is a class on Chaucer, this is also a class with readings in Middle English rather than translated English. I took him in the summer and felt that...this class could have been better in a longer semester and I sort of regret not taking it in a longer semester because there was NO paper involved although this class was pretty easy despite that. I feel his class had lots of busy-work and he even told me it's much different than his Medieval class, which I wanted to take, but decided to wait. He's a funny guy and likes to see his students around once in awhile, and if I had to say anything about his class it's this: if you're interested, take it in a long semester but if you're not, take it in summer.
This is a class on Chaucer, this is also a class with readings in Middle English rather than translated English. I took him in the summer and felt that...this class could have been better in a longer semester and I sort of regret not taking it in a longer semester because there was NO paper involved although this class was pretty easy despite that. I feel his class had lots of busy-work and he even told me it's much different than his Medieval class, which I wanted to take, but decided to wait. He's a funny guy and likes to see his students around once in awhile, and if I had to say anything about his class it's this: if you're interested, take it in a long semester but if you're not, take it in summer.
Most Helpful Review
Kipling is fantastic. He's not the type of professor to crack jokes often or to amuse students throughout the lecture, but he is UNDOUBTEDLY incredibly intelligent and learned in his field. He's difficult, but if you really want to learn something valuable, he's one of the best out there.
Kipling is fantastic. He's not the type of professor to crack jokes often or to amuse students throughout the lecture, but he is UNDOUBTEDLY incredibly intelligent and learned in his field. He's difficult, but if you really want to learn something valuable, he's one of the best out there.
Most Helpful Review
She is an awesome professor! Not only she is nice, she is such an engaging lecturer! I felt that whenever i go to her class, i would sit through storytelling time. She is super duper nice about grading too. Quizzes but drops the lowest grade, and her midterm and finals are easy, if you read the book (which you have to anyways). She even lets us revise the final paper, and all we need to do is just correct the paper. she even gives the class extra credit! She's definitely the one to take if you like middle english.
She is an awesome professor! Not only she is nice, she is such an engaging lecturer! I felt that whenever i go to her class, i would sit through storytelling time. She is super duper nice about grading too. Quizzes but drops the lowest grade, and her midterm and finals are easy, if you read the book (which you have to anyways). She even lets us revise the final paper, and all we need to do is just correct the paper. she even gives the class extra credit! She's definitely the one to take if you like middle english.
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