English 2250: History of English Literature I
Course Location: RB 2024
Class Times: Wednesdays and Fridays, 10-11:30 am
Prerequisites: One FCE in English at the first-year level, including English 1115, or
permission of the Chair of the Department
To our Student: Should you require information or documents from our office in another
format, please let us know. We are happy to help you. Contact your instructor or our
Department of English Administrative Assistant.
Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... 1
Instructor Information................................................................................................................2
Course Description/Overview ...................................................................................................2
Course Objectives and/or Learner Outcomes ........................................................................2
Course Resources .....................................................................................................................2
Required Course Text(s) ................................................................................................................... 2
Course Schedule ........................................................................................................................2
Assignments and Evaluation ....................................................................................................3
Table of Assignments ................................................................................................................3
Assignment Policies ........................................................................................................................... 3
Details of Assignments ...................................................................................................................... 4
Short Paper ......................................................................................................................................... 4
Midterm Test ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Major Paper ......................................................................................................................................... 4
Final Exam........................................................................................................................................... 4
Marking Standards .....................................................................................................................5
Collaboration/Plagiarism Rules ................................................................................................5
Course Policies ..........................................................................................................................5
University Policies .....................................................................................................................5
Instructor Information
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Instructor: Dr. Douglas W. Hayes
Office: RB 3033
Telephone: 346-7885
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10-11:30 am or by appointment
Course Description/Overview
A historical survey of writers, texts, literary forms, and movements from the AngloSaxon period to 1700. Readings will include Old English, Middle English, Early Modern,
and Restoration texts.
Course Objectives and/or Learner Outcomes
 read texts of all kinds critically, and assess their rhetorical, ideological and aesthetic
strategies.
 write well (grammatically correct, clear, effective prose).
 communicate ideas effectively and coherently, in both the persuasive essay, and a
variety of other forms.
 identify the conventions of a variety of genres, both general (such as poetry) and
specific (such as the sonnet), and to identify ways in which individual texts work
within, or expand the definitions of, that genre.
 analyse specific literary devices and explain how those devices contribute to the
meaning of a literary text.
 explain the role of literature in articulating and creating categories of identity.
 explain how a text is produced by, and produces, its historical and cultural context.
 use library resources to research a topic and use what they discover to illuminate a
text.
 adapt the tools of literary analysis to cross-disciplinary inquiry.
 apply their knowledge of how literature works to their own writing.
 read texts critically in a variety of historical contexts.
 think independently and critically about literature and the issues raised by texts
 identify and assess the social, environmental and other ethical themes presented in
texts
 analyse texts from a variety of theoretical perspectives.
Course Resources
Required Course Text(s)
 Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Concise ed., Vol. A, 2nd ed.
Course Schedule and Reading List
Week 1 (7-9 Sep.): Introduction to course; introduction to medieval period
Week 2 (14-16 Sep.): Caedmon’s Hymn, The Wanderer, The Seafarer; Dream of the Rood
Week 3 (21-23 Sep.): Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, General Prologue; Wife of Bath’s Tale
Week 4 (28-30 Sep.): Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, Chs. 1-5, Short Paper due
Week 5 (5-7 Oct.): introduction to the early modern period, Wyatt 10, 80, 109; Surrey “Love that
doth reign,” “Wyatt resteth,” Aeneid
Week 6 (12-14 Oct.): Fall Reading Week (No Class)
Week 7 (19-21 Oct.): Midterm Test; Sidney, Astrophil and Stella 1, 2, 7, 18, 20, Defense of
Poesy
Week 8 (26-28 Oct.): Marlowe, Doctor Faustus
Week 9 (2-4 Nov.): Donne, “Hymn to God, my God,” “Canonization,” “The Flea”; “Valediction
forbidding Morning,” Holy Sonnets 10, 14
Final date for withdrawal (drop) Monday 7 November 2016
Week 10 (9-11 Nov.): Introduction to the Restoration period; Milton, Paradise Lost Book 1
Week 11 (16-18 Nov.): Dryden, “Absalom and Achitophel,” “Mac Flecknoe”, Major Paper due
Week 12 (23-25 Nov.): Behn, Oroonoko
Week 13 (30 Nov.-2 Dec.): Review; last class
Assignments and Evaluation
Table of Assignments
Assignment
Due date
Short Paper
Midterm Test
Major Paper
Final Exam
September 30
October 19
November 18
TBA
Value
15%
25%
30%
30%
Length
1000 words
60 minutes
2000 words
3 hours
Assignment Policies
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All assignments are individual assignments and cannot be completed collaboratively.
Assignments are due by 4:30pm on the dates indicated. If you do not hand in your
paper in class, have it date stamped by security and submit it either to the English
department office (RB3029), or to the instructor’s office.
If you require an extension, you must ask for one BEFORE the due date.
Unless you ask for (and receive) an extension, late essays will be penalized by 2%
per day (to a maximum of 20%), and will not be accepted after 4:30pm on December
2nd.
The final exam must be written on the date scheduled, so do not make travel plans
for the exam period until the exam schedule is posted.
 All assignments must be in MLA format, double spaced, with 1” margins, and in 12
point font.
 Exceptions to these policies are allowed only with a doctor’s note or other appropriate
documentation.
Details of Assignments
Short Paper
This is a 1000-word close reading (explication de texte) of one of the following Old English
poems in translation: “The Wanderer” or “The Seafarer.” It is due in class on 30 September
2016. It is worth 15%.
Midterm Test
This test will consist of one in-class essay to be written for one hour during class time. It
is worth 25%.
Major Paper
This is a 2000-word research essay that incorporates at least three scholarly secondary
sources to inform its argument. The essay is due in class on 18 November 2016. It is
worth 30%. Choose one of the following topics:
1. Analyze the relationship between the poetry of Wyatt and Surrey.
2. Discuss Sidney’s sonnet sequence Astrophil and Stella in light of his Defense of
Poesy.
3. Examine pride in Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus.
4. Compare or contrast the Donne of the secular love poetry and the Donne of the
Holy Sonnets.
Final Exam
This 3-hour examination will consist of two essays and will be scheduled during the final
exam period. It is worth 30%.
Marking Standards
All assignments will be marked in accordance with the English Department Marking
Standards1.
If any of your assignments have different marking standards, they should also be
indicated here.
Collaboration/Plagiarism Rules
Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of someone else's words and/or ideas. Not
acknowledging your debt to the ideas of a secondary source, failing to use quotation
marks when you are quoting directly, buying essays from essay banks, copying another
student's work, or working together on an individual assignment, all constitute
plagiarism. Resubmitting material you've submitted to another course is also academic
dishonesty. All plagiarized work (in whole or in part) and other forms of academic
dishonesty will be reported to the Dean, who is responsible for judging academic
misconduct and imposing penalties. The minimum penalty for academic misconduct is a
0 on the assignment in question. It might also be subject to more severe academic
penalties. See the Code of Student Behaviour2.
Course Policies
Video and audio recording is prohibited in class without the written permission of the
professor.
Students with no prior familiarity with the literature of the European Middle Ages and
early Renaissance are advised that the vast majority of extant poetry, prose, and drama
composed in Latin and vernacular languages from 400–1600 CE contains overt
Christian content and themes. Please note that we will study the texts with Christian
content as literary and cultural artifacts rather than as expressions of religious faith, and
no prior familiarity with the Christian tradition is expected.
University Policies
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Students in this course are expected to conform to the Code of Student Behaviour.
Accommodations: Lakehead University is committed to achieving full accessibility
for persons with disabilities. Part of this commitment includes arranging academic
accommodations for students with disabilities to ensure they have an equitable
opportunity to participate in all of their academic activities. If you think you may need
accommodations, you are strongly encouraged to contact Student Accessibility
Services (SAS)3 and register as early as possible.
https://www.lakeheadu.ca/academics/departments/english/marking-standards
https://www.lakeheadu.ca/academics/academic-support/skills-for-success/responsibilities
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http://studentaccessibility.lakeheadu.ca
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In accordance with the terms of the Ontario Human Rights Code4. This occurs
through a collaborative process that acknowledges a collective obligation to develop
an accessible learning environment that both meets the needs of students and
preserves the essential academic requirements of the course.
This course outline is available online through the English Department homepage5
and/or the Desire2Learn6 site for the course.
4
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/ontario-human-rights-code
https://www.lakeheadu.ca/academics/departments/english
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https://lakeheadu.desire2learn.com/d2l/home
5