English 201 (Section 006) – British Literature I
Spring 2012 Class Schedule
The class should expect a reading quiz every day that a reading assignment is due. Reading assignments are due the
day that they correspond with on this schedule. All readings are from The Norton Anthology of English Literature
(8th edition), with the exception of Beowulf, Gulliver’s Travels, and The Castle of Otranto, which have their own
assigned editions. The last day to drop this, or any other, class is 8 March 2012. The final exam is Tuesday, 1 May
2012, from 6:00pm to 8:50pm. This schedule is subject to any alterations or changes that I may decide to make
during the semester.
Week I (January 17th)
Class Introduction & Syllabus. “The Middle Ages to ca. 1485” (1-23).
Week II (January 24th)
Beowulf (9-150); Bede (24-27); “The Dream of the Rood” (27-29), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
(115-117), Exile of the Sons of Usliu (129-136).
Week III (January 31st)
Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales – “The General Prologue,” “The Miller’s Prologue and
Tale,” and “The Pardoner’s Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue” (213-255, 284-298); John Gower: The
Lover’s Confession (319-331).
Week IV (February 7th)
“The Myth of Arthur’s Return” (127-128); Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (160-213); Sir
Thomas Malory: Le Morte d’Arthur (439-456); Film: The Quest for King Arthur.
Week V (February 14th)
Exam I; Reading Response on Medieval Literature due. “The Sixteenth Century” (485-513);
“The Early Seventeenth Century 1603-1660” (1235-1259).
Week VI (February 21st)
Mardi Gras Holiday (no class).
Week VII (February 28th)
Sir Thomas Moore: Utopia: Book I (518-545); Christopher Marlowe: Doctor Faustus (10021004, 1022-1057).
Week VIII (March 6th)
William Shakespeare: Sonnets #15, #18, #73, #130, and King Lear (1058-1061, 1063, 1068,
1074, 1139-1223).
Week IX (March 13th)
John Donne: “The Flea” and “Love’s Alchemy” (1260-1263, 1272); Andrew Marvell: “To His
Coy Mistress” (1695-1697, 1703-1704); John Milton: Paradise Lost – Book I and Book IX
(1785-1789, 1831-1850, 1973-1998).
Week X (March 20th)
Exam II; Reading Response on Renaissance Literature due. “The Restoration & EighteenthCentury 1660-1785” (2057-2082).
Week XI (March 27th)
John Dryden: Absalom and Achitophel and “Mac Flecknoe” (2083-2084, 2087-2117); Samuel
Butler: Hudibras (2161-2167); John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester: “The Disabled
Debauchee” and “A Satire against Reason and Mankind” (2167-2169, 2173-2177); William
Congreve: The Way of the World (2226-2284).
Week XII (April 3rd)
Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea: “A Nocturnal Reverie” (2294-2295, 2297-2298); Jonathan
Swift: A Modest Proposal (2301-2303, 2462-2468) and Gulliver’s Travels.
Week XIII (April 10th)
Spring Break (no class).
Week XIV (April 17th)
Literary Analysis Essay due; Alexander Pope: The Rape of the Lock and An Essay on Man
(2493-2497, 2513-2532, 2541-2548); Dr. Samuel Johnson: The Vanity of Human Wishes and A
Dictionary of the English Language (2664-2674, 2749-2755); James Boswell: The Life of
Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (2778-2779, 2781-2810).
Week XV (April 24th)
Anthony Ashley Cooper, Third Earl of Shaftesbury: Sensus Communis (2837-2840); James
Thomson: The Seasons (2860-2862); Thomas Gray: “Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat” and
“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” (2862-2863, 2865-2870); Horace Walpole: The Castle
of Otranto (vii-92).
Week XVI (May 1st)
Final Exam; Reading Response on Restoration & 18th Century Literature due.