Take a spiritual and literary pilgrimage through ancient paths and storied cities of Great Britain.
Program Overview
The Wheaton in England 2019 program centers around the idea of spiritual and literary pilgrimage. In the unifying seminar, students read select literary offerings that offer the chance to practice spiritual and academic reflection on how language and place mutually constitute each other and become locales in which we are guest and host of the Spirit of God. Students select from a range of courses: a place-centered survey of Victorian literature, a Medieval literature course that figures the intersection of memory and place as a site of both Christian devotion and literary production, and figure courses that offer visions of land and pilgrimage from Eliot's desolate landscapes to Chaucer's vibrant (and sometimes disturbing) urban spaces.
Experience Literary and Historical Britain:
The trip will involve classic and memorable experiences in Britain: hiking the pilgrim's way into Canterbury, visiting the Tower of London and Poet's Corner, punting down a river in Oxford, experiencing Shakespeare plays at the Globe Theater and Stratford-Upon-Avon, hiking a fell in the Lake District, exploring the pump room and Roman baths at Bath, visiting Austen's house, reciting "Dover Beach" on Dover Beach—as well as exploring castles, the Wales coast, Tintern Abbey, and many more sites of historical significance.
- Sponsoring Department: English
- Program Leaders(s): Dr. Tiffany Eberle Kriner and Dr. Benjamin Weber
- Term: Summer
- On-Campus Dates: May 20 - June 6, 2019
- Travel Dates: June 6 - July 17, 2019
- Estimated Cost: $7,005.00 (airfare not included)
- Prerequisites: None
- Eligibility: Open to all college students, regardless of their major. Non-Wheaton students who share Wheaton's Christian commitment are welcome to participate.
- Highlights: Study English literature while being immersed in British culture. Led by full-time Wheaton faculty members, this program highlights Victorian and Medieval literature and the works of T.S. Eliot and Chaucer.
Course Offerings
The courses offered meet requirements for the English major and minor.
All students will take:
- ENGL 433: Literature and Place (2 hours)
(This course fulfills ENG 271 requirement for teaching concentration and elective for other concentrations)
The course is designed to help students engage fruitfully with English culture of the past and present through place-focused literature. Students read various works associated with the locations visited, participate in discussion groups with questions designed to help engage with key issues for each work, listen to lectures at sites to help draw important connections, and complete a paper that will demonstrate the particular interpretive fruit of their reading in place.
Students choose six to eight additional hours from the following course offerings:
- ENGL 361: Victorian Literature (4 hours)
A survey of Victorian literature in historical context, with particular attention to place and including major works of Bronte, Dickens, and Eliot.
Meets the post-1800 requirement. - ENGL 331: Medieval Literature (4 hours)
This course offers a chronological overview of medieval English literature with an emphasis on its religious background. We begin with some of the major texts of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, and continue through the Anglo-Saxon period, the great poetry of the 14th century, and the singular achievement that is Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur.
Meets the pre-1800 requirement. - ENGL 382: American Literature in Focus: T.E. Eliot (2 hours)
This course allows students to deeply engage with the work of T.S. Eliot. By studying this author’s works in poetry, prose, and drama—as well as visiting key sites important to the works’ formation and meanings—we will grow in our ability to interpret his work.
Meets American Literature in Focus, realism to modernism - ENGL 385: Figure Course: Chaucer (2 hours)
This course focuses on Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, his last, and certainly most ambitious, poetic work. As we read through the Tales, we will consider Chaucer as a poet, storyteller, moralist, dramatist, and above all, a Christian. Our journey from London to Canterbury, the site of Chaucer’s fictional pilgrimage, will help us to consider why pilgrimage—an institution that connected urban, rural and sacred spaces—became, in Chaucer’s hands, such a profound vehicle for social satire and Christian poetry.
Meets Figure Course requirement.
Program Fees
The estimated program fee covers tuition, on-campus room and board (3 meals per day, Monday – Friday only), lodging, most meals, ground transportation, group admission to literary and historical sites, and plays at the Globe and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
Estimated Additional Expenses: Students will be responsible for international airfare, the cost of books, weekend meals while on-campus, some on-your-own meals, and all personal expenses.
| Expense | Estimate |
|---|---|
| International airfare | $1,350.00 |
| Textbooks | $150.00 |
| Extra Meals (26 total) | $287.25 |
| Laundry | $50.00 |
Learn More
If you have questions or would like to know more about the program, review the English Department's Wheaton in England program details or contact Dr. Tiffany Kriner or Dr. Benjamin Weber for further information.
How to Apply
To apply, visit GoGlobal, Wheaton College's registration system for off-campus study and international travel, research, and internships.
