ENGL W3261

Around fifty to a hundred pages of reading per week, some in older forms of English. I did not find it difficult to keep up with the readings week to week because they were usually interesting stories or myths. We had three essays through the course of the semester and Professor Crane would read through our rough drafts to give us suggestions before grading them. Occasional short writing assignments in class to prepare for essay topics.

This was an excellent and interesting class. I took this class for a literature requirement at Barnard because I like medieval history and culture, but I don't think you need to have a prior interest in medieval literature in order to enjoy the class. All the texts are fun reads and don't take too long to go through. Professor Crane is great and she happily answers questions and encourages discussion of the readings. Her lectures are easy to follow and introduce historical and cultural context for the texts. She is really kind and supportive and was awesome to work with for a semester.

Moderate - short readings for each class and three essays total over the semester.

Even though I am not an English major, this has so far been my favorite course at Columbia. I love medieval literature and culture and took this as a general education requirement for Barnard. Professor Crane was very kind and obviously loves the subject, and the readings she assigns are all interesting and relatively short, and if anything is unclear she will gladly provide answers in class, through email, or during office hours. She encourages participation in class but this can be in the form of questions about the readings or general comments or opinions. The texts are probably only compelling for fans of medieval art (we read Beowulf, King Arthur, etc.), but it is a great English class and Professor Crane is excellent.

Not too bad. No more than 25 pages for a class, though a lot of it is in Middle English, which is slow reading. Three papers due throughout the semester, 5 pages, 7 pages, and 10 pages long each.

This class was a great experience! Professor Crane was engaging and clearly interested in the subject matter, which was itself also quite interesting. There was a nice balance of in-class discussion and lecture. Professor Crane was always very attentive to students and receptive of their comments. The additional activites, such as manuscript reading, Middle English practice, and the trip to the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, were also very engaging and connected well to the subject matter. She gave great feedback and comments on the papers as well. Really enjoyed it!

Reasonable/manageable. (I.e., what you would expect from a literature course.)

I loved this class. Learning about the English literary tradition seemed essential for me as a writer (and erstwhile, aspiring academic), but I was worried it might be a little dull. Fortunately, Professor Crane really breathed life into the lectures and and thoroughly immersed us in the material. I ended up finding myself incredibly moved by the texts as a result. Moreover, her Steven Pinker-like grasp of style/grammar was invaluable for--I'm almost certain--everyone. She would address common mistakes made in papers and it was clear that she was filling in gaps that had obviously been neglected by countless professors/courses... Anyone with even the most remote interest in English literature HAS to take this class. And anyone who wants to further develop their academic writing would do well to take ANY class offered by her.

The class had an average amount of reading for an English course, with manageable paper assignments.The only worry might be reading in Middle English, but we went over the hard-to-follow parts in class, and she made sure we could all follow the basic plot of each piece :)

I noticed there's a bad review for this professor and I don't know why! I was in her English to the 1500s class, and I really enjoyed it! She gave a good overview of some very interesting literature, with an easy to follow crash course on Middle English, and she went out of her way to guide us when it came to paper-writing. The discussions were insightful as well, and I have used the basic knowledge of texts I learned in this class for many later courses :)