Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "EN 230"
COURSE NAME: "English Literature I: Literary Beginnings to Milton"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2025

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Alessandra Grego
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TTH 3:00 PM 4:15 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: EN 110 with a grade of C or above
OFFICE HOURS:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
: What makes Caedmon's Anglo-saxon dream a miracle, and Eve's dream in Paradise Lost a predictor of the fall of mankind? How are Chaucer and the sonnet connected to Italy? Why are the English so obsessed by the legitimacy of their kings and queens and what does King Lear have to do with it? Why does English literature need inventing and who works to do it? How does John Donne make spirituality sexy and sexuality spiritual? What do medieval visionary women have to tell us about love? What is the importance of the flea to English culture and literature? Is Shakespeare's "dark lady" in his sonnets really a man? Are Eve and Satan the true heroes of Milton's Paradise Lost? These questions and others will be debated in this survey of English literature from the Anglo-saxon period to the seventeenth century. Students are introduced to some of the most inventive writers in these centuries and are encouraged to see how literature emerges from and helps to create dynamic historical and cultural shifts.

This is a reading and writing intensive course. Students in 200-level literature classes are required to produce 4-5,000 words of critical writing.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
This first survey of the history of literature in English deals with the major works that have shaped the very character of the inhabitants of the British Isles from the Anglo-Saxons to the end of the seventeenth century, through various royal dynasties, the first revolution in Europe, and the institution of a constitutional monarchy. One thousand years of literature, from the epic poem of Beowulf to Milton's Paradise Lost.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

On exiting this course students will have

- a historical perspective on the development of literature from the Anglo-Saxons to the seventeenth century

- an understanding of the way social and political contexts are reflected in and affected by the literary texts

- the ability to appreciate and criticize specific works

- knowledge of the themes, tropes, imagery and genres that will influence successive literature

- a conception of the way literature shapes the collective imagination and constructs nationhood

TEXTBOOK:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Comments	Format
Cambridge HIstory of Early Medieval English Literature	edited by Clare A. Lees	Cambridge University Press 2012	9781139035637	Availbale from Frohring LIbrary	Ebook
The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature	edited by David Wallace	Cambridge University Press 2008	9781139053624	Available from the Frohring Library	Ebook
Cambridge History of Early Modern English Literature	edited by David Loewenstein, and Janel Mueller	Cambridge University Press 2008	9781139053495	Frohring LIbrary	Ebook

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
Two essays	Each essay is 2000 words in length and include peer-reviewed research. The first assignment will count for 20% and the second for 25% of the final grade.	45%
Reader response - initiating class discussion	students will prepare and post to the moodle a response to the reading assignment of the day and prepare to initiate class discussion	5%
Mid term exam	In class mid-term exam	15%
Final Exam		20%
Short presentation	Students will present their analysis of an assigned text to the class and will submit a write-up of their notes	15%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:

ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS AND EXAMINATION POLICY

No more than four absences per term. Beyond that number, your grade will be affected. This count includes excused absences.

You cannot make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

Week 1

Introduction to the course and discussion of requirements

Read: Cambridge History of Literature – the Early Middle Ages. Introduction.

"The Dream of the Rood"; "The Wanderer". Litotes and Kenning.

Week 2

German Mythology and Christianity – Beowulf

Week 3

Anglo-Norman England: Arthurian Romance and Female Fairy Worlds

Marie de France "Lanval" and "Bisclavret" (The Werewolf)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Week 4

Dreams and ‘mise en abyme’: Piers Plowman

Week 5

Geoffrey Chaucer: FromThe Canterbury Tales; The General Prologue; The Miller's Tale;

The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

Week 6

The Plague, Visionary Women, Dream Visions and Religious Allegory

Julian of Norwich fromA Revelation of Love

Margery Kempe fromThe Book of Margery Kempe

In addition to the reading view Simon Schama's History of Britain series Disc 2 Episode: King Death

Week 6

Miracle plays and Utopia: Thomas More'sUtopia

The Summoning Everyman

Week 7

Philip Sidney'sDefense of Poetry

Edmund Spenser'sThe Shepherd's Calendar

The Faerie QueenBook II Canto 12 "The Bower of Bliss"

Week 8

Sonnet:

Sir Thomas Wyatt (detailed discussion on "Whoso List to Hunt" and Spenser's Sonnet 67 in "Amoretti" sequence

Sir Philip Sidney (detailed discussion on 1, 7, 52 and 71)

Shakespeare (detailed discussion of 20; 29; 130, 116, 147)

Week 9

Poetic Dialogues on Sex, Marriage Anxiety and The Pastoral Ideal.

Christopher Marlowe “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”

Sir Walter Ralegh “The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd”

John Donne “The Bait”

Robert Herrick “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”

Andrew Marvell “To His Coy Mistress”

“Corinna’s Going A-Maying”

Thomas Carew “A Rapture”

Sir John Suckling "A Ballad Upon a Wedding"

Katherine Philips "A Married State"

Week 10

Christopher Marlowe'sDr. Faustus

Week 11

LIterature and Politics: Thomas Hobbes Selections from Leviathan

Week 12

Ben Jonson's "Clerimont's Song" "Song to Celia"

"Inviting a Friend to Supper" and "To Penshurt";

Read Herrick "Delight in Disorder"

Amelia Lanyer's "The Description of Cooke-ham" (the first Country House poem)

Week 13

John Donne "Good Friday, 1613: Riding Westward

"The Flea"; "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning"; "Elegy 19. To His Mistress Going to Bed"

Week 14

John MiltonParadise Lost

Week 15

Tues. April 23

John MiltonParadise Lostand Review

Final Exam: TBA