link to writing center

This course will introduce students to the first half of English literary history (from Beowulf to the late eighteenth century). We will consider literature as both a game and a tool: a way to make friends or attack enemies, to woo lovers or kings, as well as a way to argue, explain, and try to understand the world. Over the course of the semester, we’ll see writers laying the groundwork for some of the defining features of the modern world—new paradigms of culture and self, experience and tradition, nature and imagination—and we’ll consider how writing helped foster and make sense of these new developments. By looking at how different literary forms and genres (poetry and prose, comedy and tragedy, romance and neoclassicism) interacted with changing social realities, we’ll explore the various uses of literature, how it was used both to explain a changing world and to resist those changes by building refuges from them.

text (available in bookstore):
Norton Anthology of English Literature (part 1), seventh edition

Requirements: prep paragraphs / response papers (10%), 3 short papers (10%, 15%, 15%), presentation (15%), mid-term (10%), final (10%), participation (15%) (You must pass each part to pass the class.)

Participation: This is a discussion class. Come to class prepared to discuss the readings. (To do this, of course, you must come to class: attendance is required.)

Writing: Because writing well is an integral component of reading well, there will be regular and frequent writing assignments in this class. These will be divided into three levels or stages:
First, for each class please prepare a prep paragraph, which should consist of a brief comment or question about the day’s reading. Sometimes a passage or theme will be assigned and sometimes you will choose your own. These will be presented orally in class or shown to me.
Second, each week an informal response paper will be due. These are on topics of your own choosing, responses to the week’s readings or class discussions. They may further elaborate on your prep paragraphs or be on something completely different. Each Wednesday, a couple of people will share their responses with the class—and each of you should volunteer to share a response at least twice during the semester.
Third, there will be 3 short formal essays (3-5 pages) on topics assigned by me (although you will always have the option of proposing an alternative topic, which could start from either your prep paragraphs or your response papers).

All papers handed in to me or used for in-class workshops must be word-processed, double spaced, with normal margins and font.

Presentation:

Each student will pick one text or topic to independently research. You may choose to look at some of the cultural or historical background to the text, or some of the criticism on it, or some of the writer’s other work. You will then share your project with the class in a 5-10 minute presentation. Please consult with me on your topic at least a week in advance, and hand in an outline at the time of your presentation. You may work with another student on your presentation if you wish.

Exams (including surprise quizzes) will include both identifications and essays.

Plagiarism: Do your work, and do your own work. If you cheat, you fail. Period.

week of:

8/28

(M) intro
(W) Beowulf (32-49)

9/4

(M) Labor Day: no class
(W) Beowulf (49-99)

9/11

(M) Chaucer, Canterbury Tales: General Prologue (213-35)
(W) Chaucer

9/18

(M) Wyatt, "The Long Love," "Whoso List to Hunt," "My Galley," "Diverse Doth Use," "They Flee from Me," "My Own John Poins" (527-537)
(W) Surrey, "Love, that doth reign," "So cruel prison" "Wyatt resteth here" (571-75); Castiglione, The Courtier ["Grace"] (578-79)
paper 1 assignment

9/25

(M) Sidney, Astrophil and Stella, sonnets 15, 16, 18, 21, 37, 69, 71, 81, fourth song (920-29)
       workshop: paper 1 draft due
editing worksheet
(W) Sidney, The Defense of Poesy (933-54)
       paper 1 due

10/2

(M) Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (1045-1105)
(W) Shakespeare

10/9

(M) Yom Kippur: no class
(W) mid-term

10/16
fall break: no class

10/23

(M) Donne, "The Canonization" (1240-41), "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" (1248-49), Elegy 19 (1256), Holy Sonnet 10 (1270), Holy Sonnet 14 (1271)
(W) Donne, Devotions (1276-79)
paper 2 assignment

10/30

(M) religious poetry: Herbert, "The Temple," "Easter Wings," "Affliction (1)," "Jordan (1)," "The Pulley," "Love (3)" (1595-1615)
      workshop: paper 2 draft due
(W) cavalier poetry: Herrick, "Corinna’s Gone A-Maying," "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" (1648-1650); Phillips, "To Mrs. M.A. at Parting" (1682-83); Marvell, "A Dialogue," "The Nymph Complaining" (1687-91)
      paper 2 due

11/6

(M) Behn, Oroonoko (2170-91)
(W) Behn, Oroonoko (2191-2215)

11/13

(M) Congreve, The Way of the World, Acts 1-3 (2215-54)
(W) Congreve, The Way of the World, Acts 4-5 (2254-80); Astell, "Reflections on Marriage" (2280-84)

11/20

(M) Pope, "The Rape of the Lock," cantos 1-3 (2525-44)
(W) Thanksgiving Break

11/27

(M) Swift, "Lady’s Dressing Room" (2585-88), Montagu, "The Reasons…" (2588-90), Swift, "City Shower" (2300-1), Montagu, "The Lover" (2580-81)
(W) Swift, "A Modest Proposal" (2467-80)
paper 3 assignment
editing worksheet

12/4

(M) Johnson, "Preface to the Dictionary," "Preface to Shakespeare" (2719-36)
     paper 3 due (please hand in draft along with final paper)
(W) Goldsmith, "The Deserted Village" (2858-67)

12/11

(M) Gray, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" (2830-33)
(W) wrap-up