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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "EN 230"
COURSE NAME: "English Literature I: Literary Beginnings to Milton"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2014
SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Shannon Russell
EMAIL: [email protected]
 HOURS: TTH 8:30 AM 9:45 AM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: EN 110 with a grade of C or above
OFFICE HOURS:
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The course deals with works by major writers in the English language over a period of nearly one thousand years. Beginning with Anglo-Saxon poetry, this survey continues through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concludes with Milton. In the context of the course, students should develop both their general background knowledge of literary history as well as their ability to appreciate and criticize particular texts.
SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
This course deals with works by major writers in the English language over a period of nearly one thousand years. Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare and Milton are represented in a course which begins with Anglo-saxon poetry, continues through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concludes with a study of Milton’s Paradise Lost. 
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

In the context of the course, students should develop both their general background knowledge of literary history as well as their ability to appreciate and criticize particular texts. The importance and depiction of women in this literature as well as emerging work by women will also be a special focus of the course.
TEXTBOOK:
Book TitleAuthorPublisherISBN numberLibrary Call NumberCommentsFormatLocal BookstoreOnline Purchase
The Broadview Anthology of English Literature Vol 1: The Medieval PeriodBlack et al.Broadview Press 9781551116099/155111609X     
The Broadview Anthology of English Literature Vol II: The Renaissance and the early Seventeenth CenturyBlack et al.Broadview Press 978155     
REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
NONE
GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
AssignmentGuidelinesWeight
Two Essays 8-10 typed pagesEssays need to conform to MLA style guidelines. 50% (25% each)
Reader response/Initiation of Class DiscussionStudents will prepare a response to the reading assignment for the day and will be responsible for initiating class discussion. For the second assignment they will be asked to analyze a sonnet and to hand in their work on the poem selected.10% (two times of 5% each)
Mid-term exam 15%
Final Exam 20%
Participation Participation is mandatory.5%

-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 cours
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 is mandatory. At three absences your overall grade for the course is automatically lowered.  
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
SCHEDULE

Session Date

Session Focus

Reading Assignment

Exam Date

Week 1 Tues. Jan 14

Introduction to the Course and Discussion of Requirements
PLEASE VIEW the first episode from Simon Schama's History of Brtain  series -- On RESERVE in the library

Read Old English Riddles and Charms in the anthology 

Week 1 Thurs. Jan. 16
LAST DAY TO ADD/DROP COURSES

"Caedmon’s Hymn" Read Abbess Hild of Whitby: The Miraculous Poet Caedmon and "Caedmon's Hymn" that follows pp. 11-15 of older edition or 19-23 of newer edition.

"The Dream of the Rood"

"The Wanderer"

What is litotes and what are kennings?

Recommended reading in addition to poetry:   
The Medieval Period

Week 2 Tues.  Jan. 21

"The Wife's Lament"

"The Seafarer"

Schedule Set for Reader Response/Seminars Please let me know today if you have any potential conflicts with dates for seminars
 


Week 2
Thurs. Jan. 23

Anglo-Norman England: Arthurian Romance and Female Fairy Worlds

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

 

Week 3 

Tues. Jan. 28



Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

READER RESPONSE 1: Nadine Ibrahim

Recommended Reading in addition to "Gawain" 
In Context: The Crises of the 14th century pp. 200ff

Week 3
Thurs. Jan. 30

 Chaucer:  From The Canterbury Tales  

The General Prologue 

The Miller's Tale

READER RESPONSE 2: Jacopo Caparelli

Recommended Reading in addition to Chaucer selections
In Context: Love and Marriage in Medieval Britain

Week 4 

Tues. Feb. 4

Chaucer 

The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

READER RESPONSE 3: Summer Knapp

 
Week 4 Thurs. Feb. 6


 Piers Plowman 



READER RESPONSE 4:  Samuel Washburn		  Recommended Reading for Tuesday.  In Context:  Religious and Spiritual Life  p. 547ff

For Thurs:  View Simon Schama selection on The Plague in the library on reserve		  

Week 5 

Tues. Feb. 11



The Plague, Visionary Women, Dream Visions and Religious Allegory

Julian of Norwich from A Revelation of Loveand Margery Kempe from The Book of Margery Kempe

READER RESPONSE 5: Connor Minnix

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

                         
Week 5 Thurs. Feb. 13

FIRST ESSAY DUE		  Thomas Mallory: Selections from Morte D'Arthur

READER RESPONSE 6: Arianna Pavoncello

    



 Week 6
Tues. Feb. 18


Week 6  Thurs. Feb. 20 Class Cancelled -- Lunchitme makeup day for sonnet presentations March 13		 Everyman




    

Week 7

Tues. Feb. 25
              

Selections from Thomas More's Utopia

Sidney's Defense of Poetry
Castiglione's The Courtier 


Week 7
Thurs. Feb. 27

Spenser's "The Shepherd's Calendar"

The Faerie Queen:  Book II Canto 12 "The Bower of Bliss" 

Recommended reading: In Context "Culture"

 

Week 8

Tues. March 4

MID-TERM EXAM



Week 8

Thurs. March 6
  The Sonnet

Read all of the sonnets in the anthology by:
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, and 71)
Shakespeare (detailed discussion of 130, 116, 147)


    

Week 9
Tues. March 11 


Thurs. March 13 

                       

The Sonnet continued


Thursday:  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" 



March 13 Lunchtime
Makeup Class 1-2:15 sonnet presentations





SPRING BREAK March 17-21		  
Sonnet Presentations:

1. Shakespeare Sonnet 29  Nadine Ibrahim

2. Spenser Sonnet 75 and Shakespeare's sonnet 60 (compare)  Samuel Washburn

3.  Sidney Sonnet 52  Connor Minnix		  


  
Week 10 Tues.  March 25  Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus    
 Week 10 Thurs. March 27  Shakespeare King Lear    
 Week 11 Tues. April 1  Shakespeare King Lear    



 
Week 11 Thurs. April 3  Thomas Hobbes Selections from Leviathan

Sonnet Presentations

4.  Shakespeare Sonnet 20  Arianna Pavoncello
5.  Shakespeare Sonnet 147  Summer Knapp
6.  Milton's "On His Blindness" Jacopo Caparelli


 

Week 12
Tues. April 8

                       

                       

Ben Jonson's "Clerimont's Song" p. 580
"Song to Celia," 
"Inviting a Friend to Supper" and "To Penshurt"; 
Read Herrick "Delight in Disorder" p. 756
Also have a look at Amelia Lanyer's "The Description of Cooke-ham" -- first Country House poem



Week 2 Thurs. April 10

SECOND ESSAY DUE THURSDAY

George Herbert and John Donne
Read Herbert's "Easter Wings"
"The Pulley"
"The Altar"
Donne's "Good Friday, 1613 Riding Westward"

Week 13 Tues. April 15

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

 

SECOND ESSAY DUE 
Week 13 Thurs. April 17  John Milton Paradise Lost    
 Week 14
Tues. April 22
                       
 John Milton Paradise Lost


    

Week 14 Thurs. April 24

Meet at Protestant Cemetery (Piramide) for this last class

John Milton 
Paradise Lost