E211 British Lit. to 1760 Syllabus, Spring 2015 – Alfred J. Drake's Academic Site

SYLLABUS FOR ENGLISH 211 BRITISH LITERATURE TO 1760
CSU FULLERTON, SPRING 2015

COURSE INFORMATION. English 211, Course Code 21000, Section 1. MWF 9:00 – 9:50 a.m., McCarthy Hall (MH) 406. Instructor: Alfred J. Drake, Ph.D. Office hours: M/W 8:00 – 8:55 a.m. in University Hall (UH) 329. Email: e211@ajdrake.com. Catalog: “Major periods and movements, major authors, and major forms through 1760. Units (3). Satisfies requirements for General Education (GE) Category III.B.2 with grade of C or better.” I will use +/- grading. The English Dept. may be reached at (657) 278-3163. Students who need special accommodations at the main campus should contact the Disability Support Services Office in UH 101 or call (657) 278-3117; for the Irvine Campus, see Student Affairs, IRVC-159 phone (657) 278-3112. One other required link: Emergency Preparedness Guidelines.

REQUIRED TEXTS AT TITAN BOOKSTORE

Greenblatt, Stephen and Carol T. Christ. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 9th. edition. Package 1: Vols. A, B, C. Paperback. Norton: 2012. ISBN-13: 978-0393913002.

COURSE RATIONALE AND ACTIVITIES

FOCUS AND OBJECTIVES. This course will will follow a roughly chronological order and will cover a selection of literary, critical, and dramatic texts from the late old-English Period and early Medieval Period through the English Renaissance and the mid-eighteenth century Neoclassical Era. The aims of a broad survey are to acquaint you with a variety of excellent work from the periods and movements studied and to point you towards further exploration of the areas that most interest you. My comments will provide historical and thematic background, but the course will center on discussion of the specific qualities and language of assigned texts. In surveys, my method is never to impose ambitious claims of universal coherence, thematic unity, etc. on the material, but instead to follow a roughly chronological order, noting themes and issues as they arise and connecting them when appropriate.

ACTIVITIES. In class, there will be a mix of lectures, student presentations, whole-class and smaller-group discussion, occasional quizzes, an essay, and a final exam. I encourage questions and comments—class sessions improve when students take an active part. Outside class, do the assigned readings before the relevant discussion dates, complete your journal sets as outlined below, start planning and drafting your essay early, and work on your presentation drafts. In literary studies, the aim is to read and discuss actively and thereby to develop your own voice in response to the texts you read. Insightful interpretation and the ability to make compelling connections are central goals. The essay, discussions, presentations, and journal-keeping should combine to help you work towards these goals.

HOW YOUR PERFORMANCE WILL BE EVALUATED

COURSE POLICIES. Please review the course policies page early in the semester. Key points easily stated here: missing more than 20% of sessions may affect course grade; failing to stay reasonably engaged during sessions may also adversely affect course grade; academic dishonesty on any assignment (journals, presentations, paper, exam) may result in course failure. The four evaluative requirements outlined below must be substantially completed to earn at least a “C” in the course. Since most assignments will be due by email, it is students’ responsibility to contact me promptly if they do not get an email verifying receipt.

PRESENTATIONS REQUIREMENT. At the beginning of the course, students will sign up for one or two 5-7 minute in-class presentations on an author of their choosing (if possible). I will provide presenters with a range of journal questions from which they need choose only one, and a few days after sign-up I will post a schedule on the Presentations page. Each session will feature one or more presentations. Required: Around five days in advance of your presentation, email me as full a draft as possible of what you intend to say in class. I will email you back with advice. If I suggest developing the remarks further, email me a revised version at least one day before your in-class presentation. I won’t judge students on their rhetorical skills during the presentation, but rather on evidence of prior preparation and consultation as well as on the written draft. How to do well on this assignment: email me as required, and send a final written version; craft your responses to invite discussion; aim for spontaneity and a personal touch: use the question as a springboard rather than a prescription. (15% of course grade.)

JOURNALS REQUIREMENT. Responses to a choice of questions from the study questions page for each author. Four separate journal sets due by email as specified below in the session schedule. Electronic format required. I will not mark journal sets down unless they are late (maximum grade = B), incomplete, or so brief and derivative as to suggest evasion of intellectual labor: they should consist of honest responses to the assigned readings, not “yes-or-no” style answers, quotation of the assigned texts without further comment, or pasted secondary material from Internet sources. How to do well on this assignment: read instructions; complete entries as you go through each text; send sets on time, making sure I verify receipt; respond with a thoughtful paragraph on each chosen question–use your own words and refer to the texts’ specific language. (30% of course grade.)

TERM PAPER REQUIREMENT. By Monday, April 20, a one-paragraph description addressing the paper’s general topic and specific argument will be due by email. Not providing this description on time may affect the final draft grade. Please read the term paper instructions carefully since they contain the general prompt, suggested topics, and advance draft comments. I reserve the right to require proof of the final paper’s authenticity, such as notes or an early draft. Final draft (5-7 pages) due as specified towards the bottom of the syllabus page. There is no need to consider this a research paper, though you are free to make it one. CSUF academic integrity policies apply — see UPS 300.021). How to do well on this assignment: send required advance paragraph on time and incorporate advice; allow time for revision; proofread and follow MLA formatting and style guidelines; avoid exhaustive coverage and stale generalities: instead, develop a specific, arguable set of claims, demonstrating their strength by showing how they enhance our understanding of specific language, structures, and themes; document your online/print sources; read instructions and take advantage of our writing guides. (30% of course grade.)

FINAL EXAM REQUIREMENT. The exam will consist of substantive id passages (30% of exam), mix-and-match questions (match phrase or concept x to author/text y; 30% of exam), and key lecture points paired with substantive quotations from the assigned texts (40% of exam). Books and notes allowed for all sections, but no laptops. Students may not share books or notes during the exam. Exam date: see below. How to do well on this assignment: read the online prep. sheet; take good notes and ask questions/make comments; above all, enjoy the works rather than thinking of them only as “test material.” If you take pleasure in the assigned texts’ language, attend to the sophistication with which they have been structured, and reflect on the intellectual/moral/spiritual value you derive from them, you are likely to earn a good exam grade. (25% of course grade.)

EMAILING ASSIGNMENTS. Email journals, presentations, and term paper as attachments, though it’s a good idea also to paste them into the message itself as a backup strategy, especially if you’re using a program other than Microsoft Word to generate your materials. Don’t send more than one document in the same email. Label subject lines appropriately: “E211 Journal 1, Jane Rodriguez,” etc. Journal “sets” include responses to questions about several authors; do not send entries on each author separately. Responses on the set’s relevant authors should be combined into one document.) Contact me if you don’t receive prompt email confirmation.

QUESTIONS FOR JOURNALS AND PRESENTATIONS

*2023 Note: Visitors may download the following questions in PDF format: BRITISH LITERATURE TO C18 | SHAKESPEARE. Editions may differ from the ones used for this course.

SCHEDULE: WORKS DISCUSSED ON DATES INDICATED

WEEK 1

01/19. Mon. MLK JR. Holiday, no classes. Campus closed.

01/21. Wed. Course Introduction.

01/23. Fri. Bede and Anonymous. From Bede’s Ecclesiastical History (Vol. A, 30-32). Anonymous author’s “The Dream of the Rood” (Vol. A, 33-36).

WEEK 2

01/26. Mon. Geoffrey Chaucer. From The Canterbury Tales, “General Prologue” (Vol. A, 243-63).

01/28. Wed. Geoffrey Chaucer. From The Canterbury Tales, “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” (Vol. A, 282-301).

01/30. Fri. Geoffrey Chaucer. From The Canterbury Tales, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” (Vol. A, 301-10).

WEEK 3

02/02. Mon. Sir Thomas Malory. From Morte Darthur (Vol. A, 482-500).

02/04. Wed. Everyman (Vol. A, 508-29).

02/06. Fri. Sir Thomas Wyatt. “The long love” and Petrarch’s “Rima 140” (Vol. B, 648-49); “Whoso list to hunt” and Petrarch’s “Rima 140” (649-50); “My galley” (651); “Divers doth use” (652); “Madam, withouten many words” (653); “They flee from me” (653-54); “My lute, awake!” (655); “Forget not yet” (656); “Blame not my lute” (656-57); “Who list his wealth and ease retain” (658); “Mine Own John Poins” (659-61).

WEEK 4

02/09. Mon. Sir Philip Sidney and Christopher Marlowe. Sidney’s “The Defense of Poesy” (Vol. B, 1046-51, 1066-74 only). Marlowe’s “Hero and Leander” (1108-26), “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (Vol. B, 1126).

02/11. Wed. Edmund Spenser. “Epithalamion” (Vol. B, 990-99).

02/13. Fri. Queen Elizabeth I. All Selections (Vol. B, 749-59).

JOURNAL SET 1 DUE BY EMAIL WED. 02/18. (Bede through and including Elizabeth I. Please expect an email from me verifying receipt of this and subsequent journal sets.)

WEEK 5

02/16. Mon. President’s Day. No classes. Campus closed.

02/18. Wed. Sir Walter Ralegh. “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” (Vol. B, 1024-25); “What is our life? (1025); “…to His Son” (1025); “The Lie” (1026-27); “Farewell, False Love” (1028); “Methought I saw the grave where Laura lay” (1028-29); “Nature, that washed her hands in milk” (1029-30); “The Author’s Epitaph…” (1030); from The discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana (1030-33) and from The History of the World (1033-34).

02/20. Fri. Shakespeare. Twelfth Night, Act 1 (Vol. B, 1189-1204).

WEEK 6

02/23. Mon. Shakespeare. Twelfth Night, Act 2 (Vol. B, 1204-18).

02/25. Wed. Shakespeare. Twelfth Night, Act 3 (Vol. B, 1219-35).

02/27. Fri. Shakespeare. Twelfth Night, Act 4 (Vol. B, 1235-41).

WEEK 7

03/02. Mon. Shakespeare. Twelfth Night, Act 5 (Vol. B, 1241-50).

03/04. Wed. John Donne. “The Flea” (Vol. B, 1373); “The Good-Morrow” (1373-74); “The Sun Rising” (1376); “The Canonization” (1377-78); “A Nocturnal upon Saint Lucy’s Day” (1382-84); “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” (1385-86); “The Ecstasy” (1386-88).

03/06. Fri. John Donne. From Holy Sonnets (Vol. B, 1410-15), “Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward” (1415-16); from Devotions upon Emergent Occasions and “Death’s Duel” (1419-24).

WEEK 8

03/09. Mon. Ben Jonson. “On My First Daughter” (Vol. B, 1541); “On Lucy, Countess of Bedford” (1542-43); “Inviting a Friend to Supper” (1544-45); “To Penshurst” (1546-48); “Song: To Celia” (1548-49);”To the Memory of my Beloved, The Author, Mr. William Shakespeare” (1556-58), “Ode to Himself” (1558-59).

03/11. Wed. Sir Francis Bacon. From Essays (Vol. B, 1663-75).

03/13. Fri. Sir Francis Bacon. From The Advancement of Learning (Vol. B, 1675-77) and from Novum Organum (1677-81). Read also the selections from William Harvey’s The Anatomical Exercises (1687-88) and from Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy (1690-96).

JOURNAL SET 2 DUE BY EMAIL MON. 03/16. (Ralegh through and including Bacon.)

WEEK 9

03/16. Mon. Milton. Paradise Lost, Book 1 (Vol. E, 1945-64).

03/18. Wed. Milton. Paradise Lost, Book 1 (Vol. E, 1945-64).

03/20. Fri. Milton. Paradise Lost, Book 2 (Vol. E, 1964-86).

WEEK 10

03/23. Mon. Milton. Paradise Lost, Book 4 (Vol. E, 2003-24).

03/25. Wed. Milton. Paradise Lost, Book 9 (Vol. E, 2091-2116).

03/27. Fri. Milton. Paradise Lost, Book 9 (Vol. E, 2091-2116).

WEEK 11

03/30. Mon. Spring recess, no classes.

04/01. Wed. Spring recess, no classes.

04/03. Fri. Spring recess, no classes.

WEEK 12

04/06. Mon. Aphra Behn. Oroonoko (Vol. F, 2313-58; read approx. the first half).

04/08. Wed. Aphra Behn. Oroonoko (Vol. F, 2313-58; read approx. the second half).

04/10. Fri. Alexander Pope. The Rape of the Lock (Vol. F, 2686-2704).

WEEK 13

04/13. Mon. Pope. “Eloisa to Abelard” (Vol. F, 2705-13).

04/15. Wed. Pope. from “Essay on Criticism” (Vol. F, 2713-21).

04/17. Fri. John Gay. The Beggar’s Opera, Introduction and Act 1 (Vol. F, 2789-2803).

JOURNAL SET 3 DUE BY EMAIL MON. 04/20. (Milton through and including Pope.)

PARAGRAPH ON PAPER TOPIC AND ARGUMENT DUE BY EMAIL FRI. 04/24.

WEEK 14

04/20. Mon. John Gay. The Beggar’s Opera, Act 2 (Vol. F, 2803-18).

04/22. Wed. John Gay. The Beggar’s Opera, Act 3 (Vol. F, 2818-33).

04/24. Fri. Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. “The Aims of the Spectator” (Vol. F, 2644-46); “Inkle and Yarico” (2647-49); “The Royal Exchange” (2649-52) “Wit: True, False, Mixed” (2652-56); “Paradise Lost: General Critical Remarks” (2657-60); “The Pleasures of the Imagination” (2660-62); “On the Scale of Being” (2662-65).

WEEK 15

04/27. Mon. Samuel Johnson. The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, Chs. 1-29 (Vol. F, 2856-95).

04/29. Wed. Samuel Johnson. The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, Chs. 30-49 (Vol. F, 2896-2923).

05/01. Fri. Samuel Johnson. Rambler #4 “On Fiction” (Vol. F, 2923-26); “The Preface to Shakespeare” (Vol. F, 2936-47).

WEEK 16

05/04. Mon. Thomas Boswell. From The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (Vol. F, 2962-92).

05/06. Wed. Frances Burney. From Journal and Letters. (Vol. F, 2993-3011).

05/08. Fri. General Review.

JOURNAL SET 4 DUE BY EMAIL BY EXAM DAY. (Gay through and including Burney.)

FINALS WEEK

Final Exam Date: Wednesday, May 13 from 9:30 – 11:20 a.m. Due by email by Sunday, May 17: Essay. I must turn in grades by Friday, May 22, 2015. For your other courses, check the CSUF Exam Schedule.

SYLLABUS FOR ENGLISH 211 BRITISH LITERATURE TO 1760CSU FULLERTON, SPRING 2015