AP/EN3525 6.0: Renaissance Literature
2012-13
Course Director
Prof. Heather Campbell
334 Stong College
(416) 736-5166, ext. 30439
[email protected]
Class time & place
T 4-7
SC 205
Office Hours
T 2-3pm and by appt.
Shakespeare may stand alone in the canon of English Literature, but he did not work
in a solitary vacuum. This course will introduce students to the extraordinarily rich
period of literary history that produced not only Shakespeare but also (among many
others) Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, John Donne, Ben Jonson, Aemilia Lanyer,
Katherine Philips and finally John Milton. We will see what happened to the theatre
when it left the streets and came indoors; what happened to poetry when travellers
came back to England from Italy with the new-fangled sonnet, and again when the
poets of the new century challenged the established traditions; and how literature
responded to and helped define the world in which it was made. This period is also
known as the early modern period, and we will be aware of the ways in which the
literature reflects and encompasses the extraordinary changes that constitute the
transition from the middle ages to the early stages of modernity.
Evaluation
1000-word essay, due October 23 …………………………………………...10
1500-word essay, due November 20...……………………………………….15
2500-word essay, due March 17 ……………………………………….…....20
Quizzes……….………………………………………………………………..5
Mid-term test, in class, January 8….……………………….…………..…….10
Active class participation and mini-presentations.………………….......……15
Final examination, in the April exam period ……………………..………….25
Texts
Required:
The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume Two: the Renaissance and the
Early Seventeenth Century, 2nd edition (Broadview Press)
William Shakespeare, As You Like It (Oxford Classics)
Thomas Middleton, Women Beware Women and Other Plays (Oxford Classics)
Recommended:
M.H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms, 6th ed. (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1993)
SYLLABUS
2010-11
All selections are from the Broadview Anthology, except where indicated.
September 11: Introduction
Sonnets and other lyric poetry
September 18:
Wyatt, “Blame Not My Lute”, p.110
Isabella Whitney, “Is. W. to her Unconstant Lover”, p. 557; “The Manner of Her
Will, and What She Left to London”, p. 564ff.
Elizabeth 1, “On Monsieur’s Departure”, p. 303; “When I was Fair and Young”,
p. 303
Surrey, “Wyatt Resteth Here”, p. 119
September 25: Petrarch, Sonnet 134, 140 & 190, pp.122-23;
Wyatt, Sonnet # 10, p.108
Daniel, Sonnet # 6. p.126
Drayton, Sonnet # 6, p.126
Shakespeare, from Romeo and Juliet, p.127
Sidney, from Astrophil and Stella: sonnets # 1, 2, 20, 31, 34, 108 pp. 259-68
October 2: Spenser, from Amoretti: sonnets # 1, 22, 26, 54, 67, 68, 75, 89, pp. 247-50
Shakespeare, sonnets: # 1, 2, 15, 18, 19, 36, 73, 93, 116, 130, p. 456ff
Mary Wroth, all selections, p. 743ff.
Milton, Sonnets, all selections
Literary Theory
October 9: Sidney, The Defence of Poesy, p. 268ff
From Plato, The Republic, Book II, pp.297-99
From Stephen Gosson, The School of Abuse, pp. 299-300
Campion, Observations in the Art of English Poesy
The Writer to His Book
The English Sapphic (all online)
Queen Elizabeth, Gloriana, Eve and some other women
October 16: Aemilia Lanyer, “Eve’s Apology in Defense of
Women” from Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, p. 338ff.
Background reading: Genesis chapters 1 -3; Matthew, chapters 26-28.
October 23: Lecture: Queen Elizabeth, portraits and politics
Elizabeth I, “Written on a Wall at Woodstock”, p. 302
“To the Troops at Tilbury”, p. 305; The Golden Speech, p. 306
“The Doubt of Future Foes”, p.303
Mary, Queen of Scots, Sonnet to Elizabeth, p.330.
Lady Jane Grey, Letter to her Father, 131; Certain Pretty Verses, p. 133
Essay due, October 26
October 30: Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book 3, Canto 6, p. 232ff.
Pastoral
November 6: Milton, “Lycidas”
November 13 Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”, p. 415
Raleigh, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”, p. 345
Shakespeare, As You Like It (Oxford)
November 20:
Shakespeare, As You Like It (Oxford)
Essay due, November 30
November 27: Film: Globe production of As You Like It
WINTER BREAK
January 8: Mid-term test (4-5.30pm)
The Country House Poem
January 15: Jonson “To Penshurst”, p. 587
Lanyer, “The Description of Cooke-ham”, p. 339
The Tribe of Ben
January 22: Jonson, “”,“To the Reader”; On My First Daughter”; “On My First
Son”; “To John Donne”; “Ode to Himself”; “My Picture Left in Scotland”, p.
584ff.
Herrick, all selections, pp. 754-58
Thomas Carew , all selections, pp. 788-89
Sir John Suckling , all selections, pp. 791-93
Richard Lovelace , “To Lucasta, Going to the Wars “ p. 794
Edmund Waller “Go, Lovely Rose! “, p. 796
The School of Wit
January 29: Donne, “The Good Morrow”; “Song (Goe and catch…)”; “The Sun
Rising”; “The Bait”; “The Flea”; “Elegy 19: To His Mistress Going to
Bed”; “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”; “A Valediction: Of
Weeping”, p.664ff.
February 5: Donne, Holy Sonnets, all selections, pp. 684-86
Herbert, “The Collar”, p. 766
Herbert, “The Altar”, p.760; “Easter Wings”, p. 761 “The
Windows”, p.763; “The Pulley”, p.767
February 12: Katherine Philips, “To My Excellent Lucasia, on Our
Friendship”; “Friendship’s Mystery, To My Dearest Lucasia”, p. 786
Abraham Cowley, “Of Wit “, p. 797
READING WEEK
Jacobean Theatre
February 26: Middleton, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside
In Middleton, Women Beware Women and Other Plays
March 5 and 12: Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, pp. 690ff.
Final essay due March 8
Political Writing
March 19: Thomas More, Utopia, Book 2 Chapters 1, 3, 5, 7, 8
Francis Bacon, all selections
Hobbes, Leviathan, pp. 749-52
March 26: John Foxe, The Benefit and Invention of Printing, p. 96ff.
Milton Areopagitica,
April 2: Review
Participation
Class participation includes regular, punctual attendance at class meetings, preparing the
material beforehand by reading actively and thinking about what you have read, and
participating in discussions. If you are very shy and find speaking in class difficult, talk
to me privately—I can help. Be prepared also to listen carefully to other students’
contributions and respond to them. Dominating a discussion is not the same as
participating.
There are no formal presentations in this course, but students will be required to present
briefly at least once, with advance preparation, as part of the participation component.
In terms of marks: C is considered average according to the Common Grading Scheme,
so if you show up every week but never say anything, C is what you will get. Similarly,
if you work hard in class but only show up half the time, you will get a C. If you show
up regularly but never let anyone else get a chance to speak, you will not get the A you
are hoping for. Good and excellent grades are for students who are regularly present and
well prepared, and who enter into courteous, thoughtful, relevant conversation. A+
grades reflect extra brilliance in the quality of the contribution.
Laptop computers in class
A seminar class differs from a lecture course in that it is a shared experience, which open
laptops undermine. If I am lecturing, and the computer is your preferred vehicle for
note-taking, that’s fine, but please keep laptops closed during discussions.
Academic Honesty
The essay writing process is a dialogue. You present me with ideas in a more developed
form than is possible in the classroom, and I respond to them. Of course, this is only
useful if the ideas you offer are your own, and expressed in your own words. Plagiarism
is the presentation of someone else's ideas and/or words as if they were your own.
Academic dishonesty includes giving or receiving an excessive amount of assistance in
preparing a piece of work, submitting the same piece of work in two courses without
permission from both course directors, and cheating on tests and examinations. All these
practices betray the trust on which the relationship between student and instructor is
based, and the penalties for them are rightfully severe.
I don’t use Turnitin.com but, even though you’ve almost certainly done it before, for this
course you are required to demonstrate successful completion (i.e. 100%) of the
Academic Integrity Tutorial, online at http://www.yorku.ca/tutorial/academic_integrity/.
Print the final results page and submit it two weeks before you submit your first essay.
Office Hours and email
I will be holding regular office hours on Thursday, 2-3, when you can come and discuss
your work or any problems you are having with the course, or simply visit. A meeting is
almost always more productive than an email conversation. Of course, you can also
contact me by email, but remember to use it with some discretion. Don’t expect an
instant answer, and if you don’t hear back within two days read the course packet,
because I do not respond to questions if the answer is in the course packet.
Deadlines, late penalties and extensions
You may take one-week extension for one assignment by informing me 24 hours in
advance. The week is not divisible into separate days. Beyond this, late assignments
will be penalized at the rate of one half grade per week or part of a week beyond the
published deadline. If you are ill, or have a family crisis or some other good reason for
not being able to submit on time, come and talk to me: extensions are certainly possible
when circumstances merit. I will need to see documentation such as a doctor’s note,
where appropriate. If you need an extension for illness or other good reason, and you
still have your grace week available to you, ask for the extension and keep your free
week in case you need it later.
Drop dates and petitions
Be aware of the final dates for dropping courses without receiving a grade, and make a
realistic assessment of your prospects in each course in advance of that date. Once the
date has passed, a grade will be recorded for you in each course in which you are
enrolled, whether or not you have attended or completed the work. You may petition to
withdraw from a course after the deadline if circumstances arise after that date which
prevent you from doing as well as you should, but the Petitions Committee expects
students to know the drop dates, to make a sensible assessment of their progress in each
course, and to monitor their own enrolments. Similarly, if circumstances such as illness
or bereavement prevent you from finishing your course work by the last date for
submission of work, you can request deferment of that deadline, and/or deferment of the
examination. Come and talk to me.
Online Course Evaluation
This is important because I need to know what’s working and what isn’t, so as to be able
to continue to improve the course and my teaching. You will be notified via the email
address York has on file for you when the survey is available, and you will be directed to
the courses in which you are enrolled. I earnestly ask that you take the time to complete
the survey (it doesn’t take long) as honestly and fully as you can. I will liberate some
class time to make it possible. Please note that the system is completely confidential. I
will receive the numerical results of the survey and anonymous comments after final
grades have been published. There is no possible way for me ever to find out who wrote
what.
Important dates
Wednesday, September 5: First day of classes.
October 31 – November 4: Co-curricular days
Monday, October 8: Thanksgiving—University closed.
Monday, December 3: Last day of classes and last date to submit Fall term work.
December 5 - 21: Fall examination period
December 22 – January 6: Winter Break
Monday, January 7: Winter Term begins.
Friday, February 15: Last day to withdraw from Full Session (Y) courses without
receiving a grade.
February 16-22: Reading Week
Monday, February 18: Family Day—University closed
Friday, March 29: Good Friday—University closed
Friday, April 5: Last day of classes
Monday, April 8: Last day to submit Winter term work
April 10 - 26: Winter Term and Full Year Final Examination period.
Check this link for additional important dates:
http://www.registrar.yorku.ca/importantdates/fw09.htm
Questionnaire
This is to help me avoid either teaching you stuff you already know, or assuming you
already know material you haven’t yet encountered.
Name:
Email address that you read regularly:
Major:
Which English courses have you already taken?
Have you taken the Humanities course in the Renaissance?
Have you been taught the mechanics of poetry, such as metre etc.? That is, can you
recognize, for example, an iambic tetrameter?