Theorizing the Monstrous in Early English Literature Monsters abound in early English literature. Dragons, mermaids, ogres, demons, and other fusions of the natural and the supernatural haunt narrative poetry and drama, in particular, revealing the fears and anxieties of those who imagined them. From Grendel to Caliban, characters deemed to be monstrous have much to teach us about the boundaries that separate the human from the non-human. In this course we will read and discuss a variety of literary works originally written in Old English, Middle English, and early modern English (some in translation), along with readings in recent literary and cultural theory, to decipher and interpret the many meanings of the monstrous.

Ecopoetry: From Nature to Environment Can poetry save the world, as some have proposed? Maybe not, yet a poem can reframe our perceptions of the natural world. In this course we will develop our critical thinking and writing skills, as well as our “ecocritical” thinking skills, by exploring how poems about the human relationship to the biophysical environment can inspire us to rethink our place in the universe. We will read works by such poets as Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, Stanley Kunitz, Mary Oliver, Wendell Berry, Galway Kinnell, Maxine Kumin, Lucia Perillo, Jorie Graham, and Layli Long Soldier. 3hrs. sem.

Contested Grounds:  U.S. Cultures and Environments Throughout the history of the United States, Americans have created a complex set of meanings pertaining to the environments (wild, pastoral, urban, marine) in which they live.  From European-Native contact to the present, Americans’ various identities, cultures, and beliefs about the bio-physical world have shaped the stories they tell about “nature,” stories that sometimes share common ground, but often create conflicting and contested understandings of human-environment relationships.  In this course we will investigate these varied and contested stories from multi-disciplinary perspectives in the humanities—history, literature, and religion--and will include attention to race, class, gender, and environmental justice.

Maritime Literature and Culture Writers have long found the sea to be a cause of wonder and reflection.  A mirror for some and a desert for others, the sea has influenced the imaginations of writers throughout history in vastly different ways.  In this course we will read a variety of literary works, both fiction and non-fiction, in which the sea acts as the setting, a body of symbolism, an epistemological challenge, and a reason to reflect on the human relationship to nature.  Readings will be drawn from the Bible, Homer's Odyssey, Old English Poetry, Shakespeare, Tennyson, Kipling, Conrad, Melville, Hemingway, Walcott, O'Brian, and others.

Reading Literature: Fantastic This course seeks to develop skills for the close reading of literature through discussion of and writing about selected poems, plays, and short stories. A basic vocabulary of literary terms and an introductory palette of critical methods will also be covered, and the course's ultimate goal will be to enable students to attain the skills and tools vital to further course work in the major.

Poetry and the Marine Environment In this course we will read and discuss Anglophone poetry about the sea, from the Old English poem The Seafarer to Derek Walcott’s The Sea is History. Our two main goals will be to investigate how poets imagine the marine environment and to bring multiple interpretive approaches to bear on literary texts from different regions and traditions. These approaches will include formal, contextual, and theoretical methods of inquiry. We will read poems by a diversity of poets, including John Masefield, Rudyard Kipling, Adrienne Rich, Derek Walcott, and Mary Oliver.

Shakespeare on Tyranny Shakespeare wrote a great deal about tyrants and tyranny throughout his career, from the early comedies and history plays to the great tragedies and late romances. Characters whose abuse of power for personal gain wreaks havoc and ultimately leads to their own demise are illustrative and instructive today. In this class we will read and discuss a selection of Shakespeare plays, including Richard III, Julius Caesar, Henry V, Macbeth, Measure for Measure, King Lear, and The Tempest, as well as a selection of historical materials on politics and statecraft. These readings will be supplemented by two modern scholarly books, Tyrant, by the literature scholar Stephen Greenblatt, and On Tyranny, by historian Timothy Snyder. Our main goals will be to hone our critical inquiry skills by close-reading and intensive discussion as well as to strengthen our research and writing skills. Prerequisite: at least one ENGL class. Pre-1800 tag.

Nature Poetry Can a poem reframe the relationship between humans and nature? Poets have posed this and similar questions for centuries. Scholars of literature and the environment, or “ecocritics,” ask it anew with reference to ongoing disasters such as global climate change, mass extinction, and new pandemics. In this course we will develop our ecocritical skills by exploring how poems about the human relationship to the biophysical environment can inspire us to rethink our place in the universe. We will read works by such poets as Gerard Manley Hopkins, William Butler Yeats, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Frost, Elisabeth Bishop, Stanley Kunitz, Mary Oliver, Wendell Berry, Galway Kinnell, Maxine Kumin, Lucia Perillo, and Jorie Graham.

Towards a Poetics of Community Why read literature? One answer: such reading is not individual but communal. It links readers to each other in aesthetic experience, in ethical and hermeneutic debate, and in appreciation for writers and fellow readers. As we read literary texts from different times, cultures, and genres, we will examine how they anticipate, create, or recreate readerly communities, and how these communities in turn help shape the texts as they are experienced. We will also strive to form our own readerly community—one that is as inclusive and as intellectually generous as possible. We will begin with close analysis of poetry in various forms from various historical periods. We will then read dramas by such playwrights as William Shakespeare, Margaret Edson, and/or Lolita Chakrabarti, as well as two works from among such prose writers as Charles Dickens, Emily Brontë, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Marilynne Robinson, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Ian McEwan, Walter Moseley, and Jean Rhys.

Daniel Brayton

Reviews and ratings for Daniel Brayton at Middlebury College.Daniel Brayton teaches Theorizing the Monstrous, Ecopoetry: Nature to Environmn, Contested Grounds and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Daniel Brayton good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

I took Contested Grounds in Fall 2025 with Professor Brayton, and I loved the class. I spent about 2 hours outside of class on readings, and 3-4 hours on weeks when there was a paper due. But I found writing for Professor Brayton more enjoyable than your typical college paper. He once said in class that he didn't want to receive heaps of papers from students who were just asked to regurgitate information for a grade like robots, and I saw this in his teaching and throughout the class. He would much rather hear from you and what you think, which made it easy to do well. Similarly, discussions also play a big role. I enjoyed the class mostly because of Professor Brayton; he is so passionate. 

Didn't love Brayton. He was very intelligent but uncompromising in his views - I do not appreciate professors who teach without an open mind. He was very accommodating about paper deadlines. Bummer it's a core requirement.

Daniel Brayton is fantastic. He is enthusiastic and his excitement for the course content comes across in how he teaches. It's a lot of reading, and then we spend classes discussing the reading. We have 3 in essays--2 in class and 1 formally written, and the rest of your grade is participating which is easy to do. I learned a lot and loved this class. 