Course requirements: a presentation, reading responses, three papers and a take-home final

Schedule of readings (subject to change)
 
 

Date	Reading	Events
Jan. 20		Course Introduction
Some Ways of Reading
Jan.22	Cleanth Brooks, "The Language of Paradox" (ECR); Donne, "The Canonization" (106-107)
Jan. 27	Lee Patterson, "Literary History" (ECR); Donne, "Elegy VII" (115); Makin, "An Essay to Revive the Ancient Education of Gentlewomen" (425-433)
Court Poetry
Jan. 29	Campion, x from A Book of Airs (71) and vii from The Fourth Book of Airs (72-73); Donne, "The Good-morrow" (103-104), "Farewell to Love" (111), "Confined Love" (107), "The Apparition" (103)
Feb. 3	Donne, "The Sunne Rising" (106), "The Indifferent" (104-105), "The Anniversary" (105), "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" (112), "The Ecstacy" (109-110)
Feb. 5	Donne, "Loves Alchymie" (104),"The Flea" (103), "Elegy VI" (114), "Elegy 19: Going To Bed" (117-118)
Feb. 10	Jonson, "To the Reader" (146), "On Something that Walks Somewhere" (147), "To William Camden" (147), "On Lucy, Countess of Bedford" (148), "To Sir Thomas Roe" (149), "Inviting a Friend to Supper" (149-150), "To Penshurst" (150-152)
Feb. 12	Jonson, "Song: To Celia" (152), "Clerimont's Song" (162-63), "A Celebration of Charis in Ten Lyric Pieces" (ECR); Lanyer, "Description of Cooke-ham" (93-96)
New Worlds
Feb. 17	Three voyages: Jonson "On the Famous Voyage" (ECR); from John Smith, Proceedings of the English Colony (ECR); Drayton, " To the Virginian Voyage" (63-64)	Paper 1 assigned (5 pp)
Feb. 19	Bacon, New Atlantis, 36-68
Feb. 24	Bacon, New Atlantis, 69-83; Bacon, "Of Simulation and Dissimulation" (in Broadview Anthology, 26-27)	Paper 1 exchange
Feb. 26	Bacon, "Great Instauration," in New Atlantis, 5-32
Reformation  and Reaction
March 2	Reading TBA; Lawrence Clarkson, "The Lost Sheep Found" (713-719); Margaret Fell, "Women's Speaking Justified" (705-710); Edward, "Gangraena" (407-408); Watkyns, "The Anabaptist" (701) "The New Illiterate Lay-Teachers (702-703); Francis Quarles, "Eclogue VIII" (347-353); Milton, "On the New Forcers of Conscience" (523)	Paper 1 due
March 4	Donne "Holy Sonnets," #s 1-11 (122-125) (Note: may be numbered differently in some editions)
Spring Break
March 16	Donne, poems on pp. 125-28, from Devotions: Upon Emergent Occasions, "XVII. Meditation" (130-31)
March 18	Herbert poems on pp. 363-66, "The Windows" (367), "Denial" (367), "Virtue" (369), "The Pearl" (369), "Jordan (II)" (371), poems on pp. 376-377, "Love (III)" (379), "L'Envoy" (379); Marvell, "The Coronet" (832)
March 23	Corbett, "A Proper New Ballad" (223-24); Herrick, "The Argument of His Book" (309-310), "When He Would Have His Verses Read" (310), "The Difference Betwixt Kings and Men" (310), "Duty to Tyrants" (310), "Corinna's Going A-Maying" (311-313), "The Hock Cart" (314-315), "His Return to London" (320), "To Meadows" (316), "His Prayer to Ben Jonson" (319), "The Bad Season Makes the Poet Sad" (320), "A Thanksgiving to God, for his House" (321)	Paper 2 assigned (5 pp)
March 25	"Upon the Loss of His Mistresses"  (310), "Cherry-Ripe" (310), "Delight in Disorder" (311), "To Dianeme" (311), "To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time" (314),"Casualties" (316)" "To Daffodils" (317), "Fresh Crean and Cheese" (318), "Upon Julia's Clothes" (321); Carew, "A Rapture" (382-384); Suckling, "Song" (597) "The Constant Lover" (599-600), "Sonnets I-III" (600-601)
Reflections on a Revolution
March 30	Video in class: Was Cromwell a Revolutionary?	Paper 2 exchange
April 1	Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress" (834-836), "The Definition of Love" (833-834), "The Garden" (855-856), "The Gallery" (832), "Bermudas" (863), "Mower" poems on pp. 858-60
April 6	"The Nymph Complaining" (838-840), "An Horatian Ode" (835-837)	Paper 2 due
April 8	Denham, "Cooper's Hill"; Hobbes, from Leviathan, chapter XVII (243-46) Winstanley "A Declaration" and "The Digger's Song" (632-638)
April 13	"Samson Agonistes," prefatory material and lines 1-471 (pp. 524-533)
April 15	Stone, Family, Sex and Marriage in England, 1500-1800 (ECR); Milton, "Samson Agonistes," lines 472-1061 (pp. 533-542)
April 20	Milton, "Samson Agonistes," lines 1061-1758 (pp.  542-533)	Paper 3 assigned (5 pp)
A Restoration?
April 22	Behn, Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave, pages tba
April 27	Behn, Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave, pages tba	Paper 3 exchange
April 29	Wrap up
May 3	No Class	Paper 3 due
	Other Important Dates
Feb. 3	Last day to drop with no tuition liability Last day to add classess
Feb. 20	Last day to drop classes

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: There will be some historical background presented as lecture, but the class will mainly be conducted as a seminar. As much as possible we will open up the class to discussion, to observations about the ideas presented in a text, about its 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 a poem'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 responses need not be typed). I will frequently begin class by asking some of you to read out your responses. I will read all your responses 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: An assumption of this course will be that in interpreting the texts we read we'll want to know something about who produced them and for what reasons. To this end, I'll ask you each to provide a presentation on one of the writers we're reading. These might focus particularly on the relationship of a relevant event in the writer's life to the readings for the day, or the author's social/political position, or on the particular situation in which the author wrote: how did the author conceive of himself as a writer? Why and for what audience was he writing? Don't try to answer all these questions though, or give a complete biography of the writer. Instead, focus on some aspect of the writer's life or situation that seems worth pursuing for the class. The presentation should be about five minutes long. Some sources that can provide you with quick biographical information: the Dictionary of National Biography, introductions to individual editions of a particular author's works, and surveys of seventeenth-century literature. You might also consult, but don't have to, individual biographies. 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 A114 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 require you to recall and relate ideas from the semester as a whole. Grading: The final grade will be derived as follows:   Presentation 6 % Reading responses 12 % First paper 16 % Second paper 22% Third paper 22 % Final 22 % 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!