Free Online Literature Courses

Get free Lit­er­a­ture cours­es online from the world’s lead­ing uni­ver­si­ties. You can down­load these audio & video cours­es straight to your com­put­er or mp3 play­er. For more online cours­es, vis­it our com­plete col­lec­tion, 1,700 Free Online Cours­es from Top Uni­ver­si­ties.

• Amer­i­can Lit­er­a­ture I: Begin­nings to Civ­il War - Free Online Video — Cyrus Patell, NYU
• Amer­i­can Pas­sages: A Lit­er­ary Sur­vey — Free Online Video — Mul­ti­ple profs, Annen­berg Learn­er
• Approach­ing Shake­speare — Free iTunes Audio — Free Online Audio — Emma Smith, Oxford
• British and Amer­i­can Poet­ry: 1900 to the Present — Free Online Audio — Charles Altieri, UC Berke­ley
• Chaucer — iTunes Audio — Prince­ton, John Flem­ing
• Cer­vantes’ Don Quixote - Free Online Video + Course Info — Rober­to González Echevar­ría, Yale
• Con­tem­po­rary Lit­er­a­ture — Free Online Video — Free Video Down­load - Aysha Iqbal Viswamo­han, IIT Madras
• Cre­ative Read­ing — Free Online Audio — William S. Bur­roughs, Naropa Uni­ver­si­ty
• Cre­ative Writ­ing: A Mas­ter Class — Free iTunes Video — Ali­son Ersheid
• Cul­tur­al Stud­ies — Free Online Video — Free Video Down­load — Liza Das, IIT Guwa­hati
• Dan­te’s Divine Com­e­dy — Free Online Video — Teodolin­da Baroli­ni, Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty
• Dante in Trans­la­tion — Free Online Course — Giuseppe Maz­zot­ta, Yale
• Dar­win and Design — Free Online Video & Course Info — James Par­adis, MIT
• D.H. Lawrence — Free Online Video & Audio — Cather­ine Brown, Oxford
• Drac­u­la (by Bram Stok­er) — Free iTunes Video/Audio — Free Online Video — Myth­gard Acad­e­my
• Dune (Nov­el by Frank Her­bert) — Free Online Video/Audio + Lec­ture Slides — iTunes Video — Corey Olson, Myth­gard Acad­e­my
• Epics of Rome — Free iTunes Video — Rhi­an­non Evans, LaTrobe Uni­ver­si­­ty-Aus­­tralia
• Exis­ten­tial­ism in Lit­er­a­ture & Film - Free Online Audio — Hubert Drey­fus, UC Berke­ley
• Expan­sive Poet­ics — Free Online Audio — Allen Gins­berg, Naropa Uni­ver­si­ty
• Faeirie and Fan­ta­sy — Free Online Video & Audio — Corey Olsen, Wash­ing­ton Col­lege
• Fic­tion for Young Adults — Free iTunes Audio — David Bea­gley, La Trobe Uni­ver­si­ty — Aus­tri­alia
• From Gods and Back - Free Online Audio — Hubert Drey­fus, UC Berke­ley
• Gen­res in Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture — Free iTunes Audio — David Bea­gley, La Trobe Uni­ver­si­ty — Aus­tri­alia
• George Eliot — Free Online Audio — Cather­ine Brown, Oxford
• Hem­ing­way, Fitzger­ald, Faulkn­er — Free Online Video — Course Mate­ri­als — Wai Chee Dimock, Yale
• His­to­ry of Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture — Free iTunes Audio — David Bea­gley, La Trobe Uni­ver­si­ty — Aus­tralia
• Holo­caust in Film and Lit­er­a­ture — Free Online Video — Todd Pres­ner, UCLA
• His­to­ry of Poet­ry — Free Online Audio — Allen Gins­berg, Naropa
• How Sto­ries Seduce Us — Free Online Video — Stan­ley Fish, NYU
• Intro­duc­tion to Lit­er­a­ture and the Envi­ron­ment — Free Online Video — Ken Hilt­ner, Prince­ton
• Intro­duc­tion to Mod­ern Japan­ese Lit­er­a­ture and Cul­ture — Free Online Audio — John Wal­lace, UC Berke­ley
• Intro­duc­tion to Poet­ry — Free iTunes Video — Lan­ette Cadle, Mis­souri State
• Intro­duc­tion to Pre-Mod­­ern Japan­ese Lit­er­a­ture and Cul­ture — Free Online Audio - John Wal­lace, UC Berke­ley
• Intro­duc­tion to The­o­ry of Lit­er­a­ture — Free Online Course — Paul H. Fry, Yale
• Invi­ta­tion to World Lit­er­a­ture — Free Online Video — David Dam­rosch, Har­vard
• Jack Ker­ouac — Free Online Audio Part 1 and Part 2 — Allen Gins­berg, Naropa Uni­ver­si­ty
• Latin Amer­i­can His­to­ry through the Nov­el — Free Online Video — Lois Zamo­ra, Uni­ver­si­ty of Hous­ton
• La Pré­pa­ra­tion du roman, in French (1978–80) — Free Online Audio — Roland Barthes, Col­lège de France
• Lit­er­ary His­to­ry of the Beats — Free Online Audio — Naropa Uni­ver­si­ty, Allen Gins­berg
• Lit­er­a­ture and Form — Free Online Video & Audio — Free iTunes Video — Free iTunes Audio — Cather­ine Brown, Oxford
• Lit­er­a­ture and Psy­cho­analy­sis — Free Online Audio — John Fletch­er, Uni­ver­si­ty of War­wick
• Lord of the Rings I: The Road Goes Ever On — Free iTunes Video & Audio — Corey Olsen, Wash­ing­ton Col­lege
• Lord of the Rings II: The Two Tow­ers — Free Tunes Video & Audio — Free Online Video & Audio — Corey Olsen, Wash­ing­ton Col­lege
• Lord of the Rings III: Return of the King — Free iTunes Video & Audio — Free Online Video & Audio — Corey Olsen, Wash­ing­ton Col­lege
• Mil­ton — Free Online Video - Free iTunes Video — Course Mate­ri­als — John Rogers, Yale
• Mod­ern Mas­ter­pieces of World Lit­er­a­ture — Mas­sive Open Online Course (MOOC) — Har­vard
• Mod­ern & Con­tem­po­rary Amer­i­can Poet­ry — Mas­sive Open Online Course (MOOC) — Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­va­nia
• Mod­ern Poet­ry - Free Online Video — Course Mate­ri­als — Lang­don Ham­mer, Yale
• Not Shake­speare: Eliz­a­bethan and Jacobean Pop­u­lar The­atre — Free iTunes Audio — Free Online Audio — Mul­ti­ple profs, Oxford
• Old Eng­lish in Con­text - Free Online Audio — Stu­art Lee, Oxford Uni­ver­si­ty
• Oscar Wilde — Free Online Audio — Sos Eltis, Oxford
• Plagues, Witch­es, and War: The Worlds of His­tor­i­cal Fic­tion — Mas­sive Open Online Course (MOOC) — Uni­ver­si­ty of Vir­ginia
• Post Colo­nial Lit­er­a­ture for Chil­dren — Free iTunes Audio — David Bea­gley, La Trobe Uni­ver­si­ty — Aus­tralia
• Restora­tion and 18th Cen­tu­ry Poet­ry: From Dry­den to Wordsworth — Free Online Audio — William Flesch, Bran­deis
• Rhetoric — Free Online Video — Stan­ley Fish, Car­do­zo School of Law
• Roman­ti­cism — Free iTunes Audio — Tim­o­thy Mor­ton, UC Davis
• Sci­ence Fic­tion and Pol­i­tics — Free iTunes Audio — Court­ney Brown, Emory Uni­ver­si­ty
• Shake­speare - Free Online Audio — Charles Altieri, UC Berke­ley
• Shake­speare After All: The Lat­er Plays — Free Online Video — Mar­jorie Gar­ber, Har­vard
• Shake­speare’s Prin­ci­pal Plays - Free iTunes Audio — Free Online Audio — Ralph Williams, Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan
• Spenser and Mil­ton — Free Online Audio — William Flesch, Bran­deis
• Sur­vey of Shake­speare’s Plays - Free Online Audio — William Flesch, Bran­deis
• The Amer­i­can Nov­el Since 1945 — Free Online Course — Amy Hunger­ford, Yale
• The Bible and Eng­lish Lit­er­a­ture — Free Online Video (+ More Back­ground) — Northrop Frye, U. of Toron­to
• The Hero­ic Quest — Free Online Video — Free iTunes Video — Joseph Hugh­es, Mis­souri State
• The Hob­bit — Free iTunes Video — Free Online Audio — More — Corey Olsen, Wash­ing­ton Col­lege
• The Lit­er­a­ture of Cri­sis — Free  iTunes Audio — Marsh McCall & Mar­tin Evans, Stan­ford
• The Lost Road (Tolkien) — Free Online Video — Myth­gard Insti­tute
• The Princess Bride — Free iTunes Audio + Video — Free Online Audio & Video — Free Online Video — Myth­gard Insti­tute
• The Shap­ing of Mid­dle Earth — Free iTunes Audio & Video — Free Online Video - Myth­gard Insti­tute
• The Sil­mar­il­lion Sem­i­nar — Free Online Video & Audio — Corey Olsen, Wash­ing­ton Col­lege
• The Tem­pest — Free Online Audio — Allen Gins­berg, Naropa Uni­ver­si­ty
• The West­ern Canon: From Homer to Mil­ton — Free Online Audio — William Flesch, Bran­deis
• This Craft of Verse: The Charles Eliot Nor­ton Lec­tures — Free Online Audio — Jorge Luis Borges, Har­vard
• Tolkien — Free iTunes Audio — Corey Olsen, Wash­ing­ton Col­lege
• Tolkien’s The Book of Lost Tales: Part 1 — Free Online Video/Audio + Course Slides — Free iTunes Video — Corey Olsen, Myth­gard Acad­e­my
• Tolkien’s The Book of Lost Tales: Part 2 — Free Online Video/Audio + Course Slides — Free iTunes Video — Corey Olsen, Myth­gard Acad­e­my
• Tolkien’s Unfin­ished Tales of Númenor and Mid­­dle-earth - Free Online Video/Audio + Lec­ture Slides — Free iTunes Video — Corey Olsen, Myth­gard Acad­e­my
• Under­grad­u­ate Tolkien Sur­vey — Free Online Video & Audio — Corey Olsen, Wash­ing­ton Col­lege
• Virgil’s Aeneid: Anato­my of a Clas­sic — Free iTunes Audio — Susan­na Braund, Stan­ford
• Voic­es & Visions: The Lives & Works of 13 Amer­i­can Poets — Free Online Video — Annen­berg Media
• Water­ship Down — Free Online Video/Audio + Lec­ture Slides - Free iTunes Video — Corey Olsen, Myth­gard Acad­e­my
• Writ­ing Sources — Free Online Audio — William S. Bur­roughs, Naropa Uni­ver­si­ty

Book­mark our col­lec­tion of free online cours­es in Lit­er­a­ture.

For a com­plete list of online cours­es, please vis­it our com­plete col­lec­tion, 1,700 Free Online Cours­es from Top Uni­ver­si­ties.

For a list of online cer­tifi­cate pro­grams, vis­it 200 Online Cer­tifi­cate & Micro­cre­den­tial Pro­grams from Lead­ing Uni­ver­si­ties & Com­pa­nies, which fea­tures pro­grams from our part­ners Cours­era, Udac­i­ty, Future­Learn and edX.

And if you’re inter­est­ed in Online Mini-Mas­ters and Mas­ter’s Degrees pro­grams from uni­ver­si­ties, see our col­lec­tion: Online Degrees & Mini Degrees: Explore Mas­ters, Mini Mas­ters, Bach­e­lors & Mini Bach­e­lors from Top Uni­ver­si­ties.