In 1595 a "cunning woman" from London named Judith Phillips was whipped for tricking gullible people into paying large fees for the opportunity to meet "the queen of the faeries." If this punishment suggests some skepticism about the supernatural, it also reminds us of Renaissance belief in it. Indeed, along with skepticism, Europe witnessed during the Renaissance an increasing persecution of people--especially women--as witches. What then might Spenser have been evoking when five years earlier he published his great romance poem under the title The Faerie Queene? How might the promise of Spenser's poem to provide access to a "faerie queene" relate to Judith Phillip's promise to provide such access? Was Spenser joking about the supernatural? Invoking it? What does it mean to invoke magical powers--especially as poetic ones? We'll consider these questions in this course, as well as connect them to the shaping in the period of ideas concerning religion, sexuality and the state. Besides Spenser's poetry, we'll read some supplemental materials to help us think about these issues: work in history, literary criticism and anthropology, some accounts of modern magic, and some writers contemporary with Spenser. The course should give us both a better understanding of the Faerie Queene, and some ways of thinking about magic and religion, about the significance of these ideas in the Renaissance, and about Renaissance culture more generally.

Course requirements: A presentation, discussion questions, three papers, and a take-home final.
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Note: Schedule subject to change (I will give warning, however).
Readings in course packet are designated with an *.
 

Aug. 29	Introduction
	SOME INTRODUCTORY CONTEXTS
Aug. 31	Modern Witches--and poets: Margot Adler, "Magic and Ritual" (162-75)*
Sept. 5	The Reformation: C.S.L. Davies, "The Beginning of the Reformation" (176-88)*; Frances Yates, "Queen Elizabeth I as Astraea" (29-39; 76-80)*; and Spenser, Shepherdes Calender, "April" (in ESP)
Sept. 7	Poetry (I): Charms and Carmina: Philip Sidney, from Defense of Poetry (18-25)* and Spenser, Shepherdes Calender, "October" (in ESP)
Sept. 12	Poetry (II): The total poem: Jorge Luis Borges, "The Aleph"*; Angus Fletcher, "The Cosmic Image" (129-46; 174-78)*
Sept. 14	Poetry (III): Allegory: Spenser, "A Letter of the Authors" (pp. 1-4 in ESP) and proem to book 1 (in ESP); Keith Thomas, "The Impact of the Reformation" (50-77)*
	PROTESTANT POETICS
Sept. 19	Faerie Queene, 1.1-2 (in ESP)	Paper 1 assigned (5 pp)
Sept. 21	FQ, 1.3
Sept. 26	FQ, 1.4-5	Paper 1 exchange
Sept. 28	FQ, 1.6
Oct. 3	FQ, 1.7-8; Thomas Becon, "Displaying of the Popish Mass"*
		Paper 1 due
Oct. 5	FQ, 1.9
Oct. 10	Fall Break
Oct. 12	FQ, 1.10-11
Oct. 17	FQ, 1.12; A.C. Hamilton, "The Cosmic Image": Spenser and Dante" (in ESP, 716-726)
	"AGAINST ALL RULES OF NATURE": LOVE CHARMS, GENDER AND NATIONHOOD
Oct. 19	FQ, 2.12; Othello, 1.3.77-172 (to be distributed in class)	Paper 2 assigned (5 pp)
Oct. 24	FQ, 3.1-2
Oct. 26	FQ, 3.3	Paper 2 exchange
Oct. 31	FQ, 3.4; from Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger, pp. 114-15 and 122-28*
Nov. 2	FQ, 3.5	Paper 2 due
Nov. 7	FQ, 3.6-7
Nov. 9	FQ, 3.8-9; also selected sonnets from Spenser's Amoretti (in ESP)
Nov. 14	FQ, 3.10-11
Nov. 16	FQ, 3.12; Thomas P. Roche, "Love, Lust and Sexuality," (in ESP, 741-743)
	MATERIALISMS: THE COMIC CRITIQUE OF THE "FAERIE QUEENE"
Nov. 21	Ben Jonson, The Alchemist, "The argument and prologue" and act 1	Paper 3 assigned (5 pp)
Nov. 23	Thanksgiving Break
Nov. 28	The Alchemist, acts 2 and 3
Nov. 30	The Alchemist, act 4	Paper 3 exchange
Dec. 5	The Alchemist, act 5
Dec. 7	Wrap-up	Paper 3 due

Other important dates:

Sept. 6:	Last day to drop a course with no tuition liability
Sept. 12:	Last day to add a course
Sept. 29	Last day to drop a course without dean's permission.

Course policies:

Readings:
The readings for each class are due on the date listed above. Approach each assignment actively by always reading with a pen or pencil in hand. Note words, phrases or sentences that interest you, that seem significant in the context of the work, or that you have questions about. Jot down in the margins any questions or ideas you have about a particular point or the work as a whole. This practice will help you come prepared to discuss the readings in class and get the most out of class discussion; it will also help you become a more skillful reader of literary texts in general.

Participation
and Attendance:
The class will generally be conducted as a seminar. As much as possible we will open up the class to discussion, to questions or observations about the ideas presented in a text, about a text's form or style, its uses of language, its puzzling qualities--whatever grabs our attention. I am interested in your ideas. Contribution to class discussion will not be formally calculated into grades, but I will take participation into account for grades that are borderline. If you aren't in class, you can't participate in discussion, nor will active class participation wholly excuse excessive absences.
 

Reading Responses:
The reading responses are meant to help you read carefully, to prepare for class discussion and to aid you in finding starting points for your essays. A reading response should either ask a question about or observe some aspect of the day's reading that is not answerable by a fact. For example, a question about what happens in the Faerie Queene's narrative would not be appropriate while an observation about the use of a certain image or the reasons behind a puzzling sequence of events in the narrative would be. You may also wish to speculate about how your question or observation would matter for other moments in the text, or why it seems an important matter to consider. A reading response of a half page to a page will be required for each day's reading, and collected at the end of class (the questions need not be typed). I will frequently begin class by asking some of you to read out your questions. I will read all your questions and grade them on a credit/no credit basis. They will get credit if they are turned in at the end of class and meet the criteria above. Grading will be based on the number of no credits: 0-3=A; 4-5=B; 6-7=C; 8-9=D; 10 or more=F. I will also use reading responses to keep track of who was in class for a particular day, so if you were in class but did not do a response (say it's not so!) let me know you were there.

Presentations: One of the interests and challenges of the Faerie Queene is that it refers to many other texts. To help us understand these references and why Spenser makes them, your presentation should pick one such reference in the reading for the day of your presentation. You might especially pick one that you didn't recognize and you think the class might not too, or one that seemed particularly interesting to you. Then 1) give us some background on it (e.g. where does the reference come from? what stories have been told about the figure you chose?); and 2) pose some questions or interpretations about the relationship between the reference you picked and its use in the Faerie Queene (how does Spenser change or adapt the story? why? what is the significance of where the reference comes from?). The reference could be to a mythical or religious figure (e.g. St. George in 1.1). It shouldn't be too a major figure (for example, Arthur or Circe) since there would be too much to cover. The presentations will be scheduled in the first couple of weeks of class.
 

Paper
Deadlines:
Each paper will be due twice: the first time in class at the paper workshop scheduled one week after each paper is assigned, and the second time one week following that. During the workshop you'll have a chance to trade papers with fellow students and raise questions or give each other suggestions for revision. You'll have the second week to revise your paper, based on this input and on your own rethinking and rewriting. The second week after the paper is assigned both the revised and original version of the paper will be handed in to me. I hope that this system will build revision, so necessary to good writing, into the structure of the course.

Late papers: You need to have your first paper done on time so that you can work on it in the paper workshop. I also expect that the final versions will be handed in on time. Late final versions will be graded down a half grade for each day late. On late first versions, see below under "paper standards."
 

Paper
Standards (final and first versions):
Each paper should be typed with standard margins, spacing and type size. It should be carefully proofread and neatly presented. The paper topics will relate to issues we have discussed in class, and you are encouraged to bring to bear class discussion in your writing. You are also encouraged to expand on these discussions and credit will be given for new ideas. You may set your own topic, but you should talk it over with me first.

I'll grade the paper on basis of the revised version only, but I will expect the original version to be your best initial attempt at the topic. Original versions not done, not typed or obviously incomplete will result in a half letter grade reduction in the evaluation of the final paper. It would not be fair for other students to have to read work that is not your best; additionally, it is in your interest to write as good an original version as possible, so that your second version is even better. Remember that because everyone has two tries at the paper, I will accordingly have higher expectations for the final version.

Paper Helps:
During the scheduled workshops, you'll have a chance to give and get advice on your papers. Additionally, I encourage you to come see me at my office hours or to make an appointment to see me. When we meet, try to have a draft of the paper you are working on. This will give us something more concrete to talk about. There is also available a Writing Center at Robinson A116 that can provide you with further individual attention to your writing. I encourage you to take advantage of this excellent facility.

I would also suggest that you give yourself plenty of time to work. Writing a paper at one sitting is, for most people, unpleasant, and the results are not likely to be satisfactory. Start early!

Plagiarism
Since this class emphasizes the development of your own close reading and interpretive skills, you are not encouraged to consult secondary sources. If you do choose to look at such work, however, you must cite, using a standard citation format, all the articles, books or other sources that your own writing draws on, either directly or indirectly. Such sources include (but are not limited to) introductions to editions of the texts we're reading and any kind study aid.

Also note that uncited sources will constitute plagiarism even if they ended up in your work without your conscious knowledge (e.g. you forgot you read the material; you confused your own notes with notes on a source), since part of the scholarly responsibility that comes with using secondary sources is keeping track of which words or ideas were yours and which came from a source. If you do not wish to take on this responsibility then you should not consult secondary sources.

I will take all suspected cases of plagiarism to the Honor Committee.

Final:
The final will be a take-home essay that will cover material from the entire course. While comprehensive, it will also somewhat emphasize material that you have not yet had a chance to write about.

Grading:
The final grade will be derived as follows:

Presentation	8 %
Reading responses	12 %
First paper	15 %
Second paper	22 %
Third paper	22 %
Final	21 %

Please come see me if you have any questions about grading, the syllabus or the class. I look forward to having the chance to meet you. Best wishes for a good semester!
 
 

A Specific, complex and/or striking thesis, thesis developed without digression through the course of the paper, consistently precise, sensitive and/or striking interpretations of the text, crafted prose, no major mechanical problems

B Specific thesis, thesis generally developed through the course of the paper, consistently good interpretation of text, competent prose, minor mechanical problems

C Has a thesis, but one that needs greater specificity or complexity, thesis developed with some digression or repetition, some good interpretation, some mechanical problems

D Very general thesis, thesis development digressive or repetitive, plot summary or thoughts/speculations not based on textual evidence, major mechanical problems

F No thesis or thesis development