MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE LITERATURE AND CULTURE:
DREAMS, QUESTS, LOVE, AND MAGIC (ENGLISH 101)
Fall 2016, MWF 10:30-11:20, SSB 120
Instructor: Dr. Katherine Steele Brokaw, [email protected]
Office: COB2 375 • Office hours: Mondays 11:30 am–1:00 pm or by appointment
Discussion sections: W 11:30-12:20; 12:30-1:20
TA: Cristina Gomez, [email protected]
Office:
• Office hours:
In this class, we will meet men who battle monsters and green knights, secret lovers who
send messages through a swan, real townspeople who put on pageants in the city streets, and
a sympathetic Satan. We will also learn about the history of England from the eighth through
seventeenth centuries and the music and art and architecture of these periods, as well as the
politics and religions that shape and are shaped by these artistic forms.
COURSE GOALS:
After engaging with this course actively and thoughtfully, you will be able to:
1. Identify early forms of English literature as well as the people, places, and events
that shaped the context in which that literature was written.
2. Interpret early texts, sensitive to both textual and contextual cues.
3. Appreciate the aesthetic qualities of these texts, different as they are from
modern day.
4. Perform and recite early texts aloud, with proper presentation suitable to its
original context, enhancing your public speaking skills.
5. Articulate your evaluations of this literature, in speech and writing, cogently
and with sensitivity to context.
6. Apply interpretive strategies developed in historical literary study to other
academic and professional contexts.
TEXTS:
• The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume A: The Middle Ages. (Ninth Edition)
Edited by Stephen Greenblatt, James Simpson, and Alfred David. Norton, 2012.
• The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume B: The Sixteenth Century/The Early
Seventeenth Century. (Ninth Edition) Edited by Stephen Greenblatt, Katharine Maus,
George Logan, and Barbara Lewalski. Norton, 2012.
• Additional materials and study resources are available online; you must print out
materials for class.
REQUIREMENTS:
First Paper:
Second Paper:
Recitation Performance and Reflection:
Exams (3 during semester, 7.5% each):
Final Exam:
Quizzes, freewrites, and participation:
10% of grade
20%
15%
22.5%
17.5%
15%
WEEKLY SCHEDULE:
Reading and assignments are to be completed by the day they appear on the syllabus. You are responsible for
and may be quizzed on all assigned pages, including headnotes that introduce writers, periods, and texts.
ANGLO-SAXON AND ANGLO-NORMAN PERIODS
WEEK 1: HEROES AND MONSTERS
Wednesday, August 24: (in Norton A) “Introduction to the Middle Ages,” pages 3-10, 24-5;
Beowulf, pages 36-51(to line 490).
Friday, August 26: Beowulf, pp. 51-72 (to l. 1383).
WEEK 2: HEROES AND MOTHERS
Monday, August 29: Beowulf, pp. 72-88 (to l. 2199).
Wednesday, August 31: Beowulf, pp. 88-108. Sign up for recitations.
Friday, Sept 2: “Introduction to the Middle Ages,” pp. 10-13; “Romance,” pp. 140-42; Marie
de France, “Milun,” pp. 142-154.
WEEK 3: A WOMAN WRITES OF KNIGHTS
Monday, Sept 5: No class for Labor Day.
Wednesday, Sept 7: Marie de France, “Bisclavret” (online).
No section today.
Friday, Sept 9: Marie de France, “Lanval,” pp. 154-167; Thomas of England, from Le Roman
de Tristan, pp. 132-137; Marie de France, “Chevrefoil,” pp. 167-69.
Paper 1 assigned.
à Performance: Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost September 10h and 11th at Applegate Park
THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES
WEEK 4: GREEN KNIGHT, GREEN WORLD
Monday, Sept 12: “Introduction,” pp. 13-17, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, pp. 183-203 (to l.
810).
Wednesday, Sept 14: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, pp. 203-221 (to l. 1689).
Friday, Sept 16: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, pp. 221-238.
à Performance: Love’s Labour’s Lost September 17th and 18th at Applegate Park
WEEK 5: PILGRIMS AND STORIES I
Monday, Sept 19: Examination I in lecture.
Wednesday, Sept 21: “Introduction,” 19-25; Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, “General
Prologue,” pp. 238-263. See “Chaucer Glossary” online.
Complete draft of paper 1 due in section.
Friday, Sept 23: Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Miller’s Prologue and Tale,” pp. 264-280.
WEEK 6: PILGRIMS AND STORIES II
Monday, September 26: Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale,” pp. 282310.
Wednesday, September 28: Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale,” pp. 310325.
Paper 1 due.
Friday, September 30: Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” pp. 326-342, and
“Chaucer’s Retraction,” pp. 342-3.
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WEEK 7: MYSTICS AND LYRICS
Monday, Oct 3: Margery Kempe, from The Book of Margery Kempe, pp. 424-438.
Wednesday, Oct 5: “Introduction,” pp. 17-19; “Middle English lyrics,” pp. 408-9, “Adam Lay
Bound” and “Corpus Christi Carol,” p. 411, “The Cuckoo Song,” “Alison,” p. 478, “I am of
Ireland,” p. 480.
Friday, Oct 7: “Introduction,” pp. 531-34 (In Norton B), John Skelton poems, pp. 564-568;
William Dunbar “Flyting” and “Lament for the Makars” (online).
WEEK 8: “MEDIEVAL” BIBLICAL DRAMA
Monday, Oct 10: Introduction to “Mystery Plays,” and “The Wakefield Second Shepherd’s
Play,” 447-477. (In Norton A)
Paper 2 assigned.
Wednesday, Oct 12: “The York Play of the Crucifixion,” pp. 439-447.
Friday, Oct 14: The Brome Play of Abraham and Isaac (online).
THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
WEEK 9: POLITICS AND PREACHERS
Monday, Oct 17: Examination II.
Wednesday, Oct 19: “Female Monarch and Kingdom in Danger,” pp. 541-3; “Women in
Power,” p. 721; “Mary I,” pp. 722-3 and her “The Oration of Queen Mary,” pp. 726-7;
“Elizabeth I,” pp. 749-50 and her “The doubt of future foes,” p. 758, and “Speech to the
Troops at Tilbury,” p. 762.
à Thursday, Oct 20: Highly recommended extra credit lecture: Sandra Steingraber,
7:00 pm, KL 355
Friday, Oct 21: “The Reformation,” pp. 537-41; “Faith in Conflict,” 671-672; “The English
Bible,” 673-76; “The First Examination of Anne Askew,” pp. 684-87; from John Foxe’s Acts
and Monuments, pp. 687-688.
WEEK 10: SONNETS IN VOGUE
Monday, Oct 24: No class.
Paper proposal due on CatCourses.
Wednesday, Oct 26: “Tudor Style,” 549-555; “Writers, Printers, and Patrons,” pp. 547-9; “Sir
Thomas Wyatt,” 646-648; Wyatt, Petrarch, Rima 140, “Whoso List to hunt,” “They flee
from me.”
Friday, Oct 28: “Sir Philip Sidney,” pp. 1037-1039 and sonnets 1, 2, 45, 47 from Astrophil and
Stella.
WEEK 11: ANGELS AND DEVILS IN THE THEATER
Monday, Oct 31: “Elizabethan Theater,” 555-561; “Christopher Marlowe,” 1106-7; Marlowe,
Doctor Faustus, pp. 1127-1136 (through scene 3)
Wednesday, Nov 2: Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, pp. 1136-1148 (through scene 6)
Friday, Nov 4: Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (finish play); “Marlowe Resources”
(online).
WEEK 12: ANGELS AND DEVILS IN THE THEATER II
Monday, Nov 7: Film day: Doctor Faustus (Globe Theatre)
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Wednesday, Nov 9: Examination III
No section today
Friday, Nov 11: No class for Veterans’ Day
WEEK 13: STAGING SHIPWRECKS AND CROSS-DRESSING
Monday, Nov 14: “William Shakespeare,” pp. 1166-1170; Shakespeare, Twelfth Night Acts 1-3.
Wednesday, Nov 16: Shakespeare, Twelfth Night Acts 4-5. Guest lecture today from Dr. Peter
Novak, University of San Francisco.
Draft of paper 2 due in section
Friday, Nov 18: Review Shakespeare, Twelfth Night; Ben Jonson, “To the Memory of My
Beloved…Mr. William Shakespeare,” pp. 1556-58.
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
WEEK 14: OTHERNESS
Monday, Nov 21: “The Early Seventeenth Century,” pp. 1341-1348; “The English and
Otherness,” 544-47; “Ben Jonson,” 1441-3; Jonson, “Masque of Blackness,” Hakluyt,
“Hariot’s Report on Virginia,” Michel de Montaigne, “Of Cannibals” (online)
Paper 2 and reflection due in lecture.
Wednesday, Nov 23 and Friday, Nov 25: NO CLASS for Thanksgiving
WEEK 15: POEMS OF LOVE, DOUBT, AND FAITH
Monday, November 28: “John Donne,” pp. 1370-1372; Donne, “The Flea,” “The
Canonization,” “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” “Elegy 19. To His Mistress Going to
Bed,” pp. 1373, 1377-8, 1385-6, 1393-4.
Wednesday, Nov 30: John Donne, Holy Sonnets 7, 14, 19, pp. 1411-1415; “Katherine Philips,”
pp. 1783-4; Phillips, “A Married State,” p. 1784, “On the Death of my First and Dearest
Child, Hector Philips,” pp. 1788-9.
Friday, Dec 2: “The Caroline Era, 1625-40” pp. 1358-1360, “George Herbert,” pp. 17051707; Herbert, “The Altar,” “Easter Wings,” “Affliction (1),” “Jordan (2),” “The Collar,”
“Love (3),” 1707, 1709, 1710-11, 1712.
WEEK 16: SATAN, ADAM, AND EVE
Monday, Dec 5: “The Revolutionary Era,” “Literature and Culture 1640-60,” pp. 1360-1367;
“John Milton,” 1897-1902; Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 1, pp. 1943-1964.
Wednesday, Dec 7: John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2, pp. 1964-1986.
Friday, Dec 9: John Milton Paradise Lost, Book 9, pp. 2091-2116; excerpt from Book 12, pp.
2174-5 (l. 606-end).
Saturday, December 10: Final exam, 8-11 am.
ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW:
• First paper (close reading): You will write a 3-4 page paper closely analyzing how
language and rhetoric create meaning in a selection from Beowulf or a Marie de France lai.
• Second paper (comparative analysis): You will produce a 6-8 page paper comparing two
literary texts. You will select one text assigned for this course and compare a particular
aspect of it to another text that is not assigned for the class, which may be any of the
following: “The Wanderer,” “The Dream of the Rood,” Sir Orfeo, anything by Edmund
Spenser, Sidney’s Defense of Poesy, anything by Sir Walter Ralegh, any poetry Ben Jonson or
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his play Volpone, anything by Mary Wroth, or John Webster’s Duchess of Malfi. Process will be
a part of your final grade.
• Shorter examinations: Quotation identification, multiple choice questions, and short
essay, given in lecture. Three throughout the semester.
• Final examinations: Quotation identification, multiple choice, short answer, short essay,
and long essay. Comprehensive, covering Beowulf through Milton (first part of exam covers
fourth part of semester).
• Recitation: Because medieval and early modern literature was most often experienced in
live performance, you will be asked to memorize and recite one of the texts we are reading
for class, at the start of the period in which we are discussing that text. At a minimum, you
will memorize and recite 1-2 minutes of text. Extra credit: alone or in pairs, sing the text,
stage scenes with blocking and/or costumes, present the text in its original pronunciation
(not available for all texts), create a YouTube video. Keep all performances close to 2
minutes.
• Quizzes and in-class writing: Lecture or section may begin with a reading quiz that
includes a short freewrite to kickstart discussion of material. You will be unable to make up
quizzes you missed throughout the semester.
• Extra Credit: You may receive up to 15 quiz bonus points if you attend a live theater
event, a literary event, or an academic lecture and write a one-page response. Playhouse
Merced on Main Street offers many plays each semester, and there are also numerous
excellent campus events you might attend. You can also get extra credit for reading or
viewing one of the recommended medieval or early modern books and movies, and writing a
response. You may receive credit for three extra credit assignments (5 points each).
COURSE POLICIES:
Special Needs: I welcome all students into this class. If you have any special needs, please
speak to me and to Student Services as soon as possible so that we can outline the best ways
to promote your success in this course.
Writing Help: Students who would like help with their writing are encouraged to visit the
Student Advising and Learning Center (SALC) in Kolligian 172. Please check their website
(learning.ucmerced.edu) for details on tutoring and other academic assistance.
Plagiarism Policy: As a simple guideline, if you submit your own work, you will avoid all
serious types of plagiarism. Nevertheless, a responsible student should also consider the
less obvious variants of plagiarism, especially when writing research papers that require
citations. Consider these examples:
ü Paraphrasing or summarizing a written source, including text from the Internet, without footnoting
or otherwise referencing the source.
When does another person’s idea supplant your own? Who “owns” an idea?
ü Copying a written source, including text from the Internet, without using quotation marks or block
indentation.
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How can a student paraphrase or summarize without using at least some
language from the original source?
For serious instances of plagiarism, such as submitting an essay obtained from an online
“paper mill,” students in this course will automatically fail the assignment, receive a final
grade of F, and be recommended for dismissal from the university. There is no excuse for
serious plagiarism.
I will also regard unattributed citations – verbatim copying of another’s person’s work
without some indication of the source – as a serious form of plagiarism. In other words,
don’t insert any text in a paper that is not your own without also noting the source.
If you’re uncertain about how to use sources, ask me, or consult this website:
http://www.library.ucla.edu/bruinsuccess/. It’s your responsibility to comply with principles
of academic honesty; it’s my responsibility to see that every student receives a fair and
accurate grade. Let’s work together in meeting these goals.
Technology: Laptops and tablets are not allowed in lecture. Cell phones must be turned off,
and iPods and other recording devices are forbidden during class. The same applies to
discussion sections. Taping, filming, and photography in class (by camera, cell phone, or any
other means) is prohibited.
When emailing any instructor, you are expected to write as you would in any professional
correspondence, with courtesy, respect, and clarity. Please refer to the “How to email your
professor” handout, posted on CatCourses.
Participation: Arrive to class on time and do not leave early unless you have emailed the
instructor in advance with regards to an urgent prior commitment. Try to use the restroom
before coming to class. Please do not read other materials during class, or bring food into
the classroom.
Participation grades are assigned four times throughout the semester, on the day of each test.
If you miss more than two classes (including section and lecture) in one testing period, your
participation grade for that period is forfeited. If you miss more than six classes (including
section) during the course of the semester without a valid medical excuse, you will forfeit
your entire participation grade for the course, and are in danger of failing the course. If you
miss class, you are responsible for speaking with a classmate about the class discussion to get
caught up on the material. Missing class will also seriously affect your ability to do well on
quizzes and exams, as well as papers.
Two significantly late arrivals (or early departures) equal one absence, and texting once
during class also equals one absence.
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