After reading reviews of Dr. Shuger from previous terms, I was a little nervous about taking this course, especially as it was my first upper-division class in the English major. After having completed it, however, and staying connected with Dr. Shuger to pursue individual research interests post-quarter, I cannot sing her praises enough. Dr. Shuger is a wonderfully thoughtful professor who, though occasionally zany and slightly too brilliant for the average human to comprehend, truly cares about her students and their education. After noticing that students were unable to make her in-person office hours, Dr. Shuger scheduled additional evening office hours for students to ask questions about confusing portions of the text. She also responds quickly to emails and provided her phone number for us to text questions if need be. Though the quizzes are not "easy," consistent participation ensures they are not hard, either. I felt she was a fair grader on the two assigned papers, as well. Overall, this class has greatly influenced the future of my educational career--I am now considering pursuing a PhD in Early Modern Literature, largely thanks to Dr. Shuger!

Overall, I really loved Shuger's class and was pleasantly surprised by it. I already had an interest in Milton's work, so that made the heavy readings a lot more enjoyable. I would highly, highly recommend going to her office hours because, otherwise, I would not have done nearly as well. She's super helpful during her office hours and actively welcomes questions and paper feedback during that time. The quizzes were on the difficult side, but she gives partial credit and extra credit metrical scansion questions that allowed me to consistently get over 100% on the quizzes. I would also go through the reading and highlight which lines were confusing and ask about them during Shuger's office hours. This made me way more prepared for the quizzes and actually understand the material in a way I would not have been able to if I just read the readings on my own.

I am an English major and this was my favorite class of the quarter by far. She is a wonderful lecturer, and if you enjoy the material or have an interest in it the lectures will go by very fast. The workload was very hefty, and you definitely need a solid understanding of 16th century British politics and history to really comprehend everything going on in Milton. The quizzes were quite difficult, and I really had to study the text very closely to surmise what was being said, but she is generous with extra credit if you can scan the lines. It's a fairly straightforward A and a fun class for history buffs and anyone who's wanted to read Milton.