English 201 - Studies in Early British Literature:
Theater and Theatricality
Spring 2017, Oddfellows 105C, MWF 10-10:50
Professor Jennie Votava
Office location: Oddfellows 216
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (814) 332-4334
Office hours: MWF 9-10, MW 2:25-2:55, Th 2-4, and by appointment
Text
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, ed. Greenblatt, Volume 1, 9th ed.
Course Description
This course will introduce you to some of the richest and most turbulent works in all English literature, written during a period of intense political and religious ferment, as well as increasing
literary and social mobility. It was also an age of great theater, not only in the purpose-built playhouses first built during this era, in which a dizzying variety of dramatic works were performed,
but also in poetry, prose, and daily life — from the staging of sovereign authority by two of England’s most memorable monarchs, Elizabeth I and James I, to the shifting grounds of the performance of selfhood and sexuality in the early modern sonnet.
Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete English 201 will:
• Describe early British literature in its historical contexts;
• Differentiate between periods of literary history, including the Elizabethan and Jacobean
periods in England;
• Identify how literature and culture are interrelated;
• Continue to develop and refine skills as close readers of literary texts;
• Continue to develop interpretive arguments about literary texts.
Votava English 201 Spring 2017 - !2
Requirements and Policies
This course will combine lecture with discussion. To help produce productive conversations in a
class this size, there will be regular, required Sakai posts and in-class quizzes. Quizzes will be
graded in the usual fashion. Sakai posts that are submitted on time, demonstrate reasonable effort, and which you are prepared to reference in class will receive full credit; less than full effort
and late responses will receive partial or no credit. It is imperative, therefore, that you attend
class regularly and read all texts before the dates for which they are assigned. Sakai posts submitted late on the day they are due will receive half credit; after that date they cannot be made up.
Quizzes must be made up within one week of the original assignment, or receive a grade of zero.
Grading Policy
Your final grade will be calculated as follows:*
10% Participation**
10% Quizzes
10% Sakai Posts (graded on completeness, effort, and timeliness)
30% Essays (2)
15% Midterm Exam
25% Final Exam
*IN ORDER TO RECEIVE A PASSING GRADE IN THIS COURSE, YOU MUST
COMPLETE ALL ESSAYS AND EXAMS
**Your participation grade will be determined by the following criteria:
• A for class participation is awarded when students regularly initiate discussion. This means coming to class thoroughly familiar with the assigned readings and prepared to raise questions, open
discussion, and actively engage other students in discussion. Students who are self-starters and
do not rely on the instructor’s questions to set the agenda for our discussions will earn an A for
participation.
• B for class participation is awarded to students who participate regularly and productively in class
discussion, who are prepared, and who are willing to engage.
• C for class participation is awarded to those who participate on a regular but less frequent basis
than the B student. “C” discussants will be prepared for class, but their contributions will indicate
that less thought has been given to the assigned material.
• F for class participation is given to those who contribute infrequently to discussion and/or whose
absences are frequent.
Attendance Policy
Because life happens — illness, family emergencies, sleeping through your alarm, and so on — I
allow up three unexcused absences without penalty. Each additional unexcused absence will
incur a 5-point deduction from your final exam; frequent absences will also affect your participation grade. Absences will be excused only with written proof of cause (not including your
personal emails to your professor, although these are appreciated). If you need to miss class due
to a religious observance, please let me know in advance so that we can make arrangements to
cover materials from that day. See http://sites.allegheny.edu/religiouslife/religious-holy-days/.
Votava English 201 Spring 2017 - !3
Late Work
All assignments are posted in bold on the course schedule below. Unless you make other
arrangements with your professor at least 48 hours in advance, late written work will be penalized by a third of a letter grade per day (e.g. B- to C+).
Disability Services
Students with disabilities who believe they need accommodations in this class are encouraged to
contact Disability Services at 332-2898. Disability Services is part of the Learning Commons
and is located in Pelletier Library. Please contact that office as soon as possible to insure that
such accommodations are implemented expeditiously.
A Note on Extenuating Circumstances
If you should find yourself in difficult circumstances that significantly interfere with your ability
to prepare for this class and to complete assignments, please inform me immediately so that we
can work something out together. Do not wait until the last day of class to ask for exceptions to
what is stated in this syllabus. In such a situation, you may also find it helpful to contact the
campus Counseling Center (332-4368) in 304 Reis Hall,which is open from 8-5 but also has a 24
hour hotline.
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism will not be tolerated in this class. Plagiarism includes direct or indirect use of any
words or ideas not your own, including internet sources, without proper acknowledgment; it is
a crime and may result in failure of the assignment or course. In addition, all cases of plagiarism
are to be reported to the Honor Committee. Please read the Honor Code (by which we are all
bound) in the College Handbook, or at http://sites.allegheny.edu/deanofstudents/student-conductsystem/academic-conduct/honor-code/.
Course Schedule
N.B.: The following schedule is subject to change. Please pay attention to announcements regarding any changes in course readings and assignments.
M 1/16 - No Class; MLK Day
W 1/18 - Introductions.
F 1/20 - “The Reformation,” 537-541; “Faith in Conflict,” 672-672. “The English Bible,”
673-676.1 Quiz 1.
1
Throughout the syllabus, you will be responsible for both listed literary texts and introductory materials
about authors and their works in the Norton Anthology, as specified by page numbers.
Votava English 201 Spring 2017 - !4
M 1/23 - Mary Sidney’s translation of Psalm 139, 1102; 1104-1106; Psalm 139, Geneva Bible
(handout). Sakai Post 1.
I - The Elizabethan Period
THE ELIZABETHAN COURT
W 1/25 - Castiglione/Hoby, The Courtier [Grace], 704-706. Sir Thomas Wyatt, “Whoso list to
hunt” and Petrarch’s Rima 190, “My galley” and Petrarch’s Rima 189, “They flee from me,”
646-654. “The Court and the City,” 532-534. “Sonnet: a verse form,” A24.
F 1/27 – The Courtier, [The Ladder of Love]. 706-720; Plato’s Symposium excerpt (handout).
“Renaissance Humanism,” 534-537. Quiz 2.
M 1/30 - Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella, select sonnets TBA, 1037-1039; 1084-1101. “Writers,
Printers, and Patrons,” 547-549.
W 2/1 - Sidney’s sonnets, cont. Sakai Post 2.
F 2/3 - Sidney’s Defense of Poesy, 1044-1083. “Tudor Style,” 549-555. Quiz 3.
M 2/6 - Elizabeth I: scholar, woman, and politician, 749-766. “A Female Monarch in a Male
World,” 541-542; “The Kingdom in Danger,” 542-543; “Surprised by Time,” 561. Sakai Post 3.
W 2/8 - Spenser’s Amoretti, select sonnets TBA, 766-768; 985-989.
F 2/10 - Shakespeare’s sonnets, selections TBA, 1170-1186. Quiz 4.
M 2/13 - Shakespeare’s sonnets, cont. Sakai Post 4.
THE ELIZABETHAN THEATER
W 2/15 – Marlowe, The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, Scenes 1-4. 1106-1107; 1127-1139.
“The Elizabethan Theater,” 555-561; “Sketch of the Swan Theater,” 1167.
F 2/17 - Faustus, Scenes 5-6, 1139-1148. Quiz 5
M 2/20 - Faustus, Chorus 2-Scene 11, 1148-1157.
*Essay 1 due on Sakai by 11:59 PM*
W 2/22 - Faustus, Chorus 4-Epilogue, 1157-1163. Sakai Post 5.
Votava English 201 Spring 2017 - !5
F 2/24 - Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Acts I-II, 1166-1170; 1187-1218. Quiz 6.
M 2/27 - Twelfth Night, Act I-II, cont. Nunn’s Twelfth Night. Sakai Post 6.
W 3/1- Twelfth Night, Acts III-IV, 1219-1241.
F 3/3 - Twelfth Night, Acts III-IV, cont. Nunn’s Twelfth Night, cont. Quiz 7
M 3/6 - Twelfth Night, Act V, 1241-1250. Nunn’s Twelfth Night, ending. Sakai Post 7.
*W 3/9 - Midterm Exam on the Elizabethan Period*
Part II: The Jacobean Period
EARLY 17TH CENTURY POETRY I
F 3/10 - Donne,“The Flea,” “The Sun Rising,” “The Canonization,” “A Lecture upon the Shadow,” “Elegy 19. To His Mistress Going to Bed,” Holy Sonnet 10, Holy Sonnet 14, 1370-1414.
Quiz 8.
M 3/13 - Donne, cont. Introduction to “The Early 17th Century,” 1341-1351 (Beginning -“Old
Ideas and New”). Sakai Post 8.
W 3/15 - Herbert,“The Altar,” “Easter Wings,” “Jordan I,” “Denial,” “The Collar, “Discipline,”
“Death,” 1705-1725. Sakai Post 9.
F 3/17 - Herbert, cont. Introduction to “The Early 17th Century,” 1351-1358 (“Patrons, Printers,
and Acting Companies-“Jacobean Writers and Genres”). Quiz 9.
**3/18 - 3/26: No Class; Spring Break**
JACOBEAN CITY COMEDY
M 3/27 - Jonson’s Volpone, Act 1, 1441-1464.
W 3/29 - Volpone, Acts 2-3, 1464-1500. Sakai Post 10.
F 4/1 - Volpone, Acts 4-5, 1500-1539. Quiz 10.
M 4/3 - Volpone, conclusion.
Votava English 201 Spring 2017 - !6
**W 4/5-M 4/10 - No Class **
EARLY 17TH CENTURY POETRY II
W 4/12 - Jonson, “To Penshurst,” 1546-1548.
F 4/14 - Lanyer, “The Description of Cookham,” 1430-1431; 1436-1440. Sakai Post 11.
M 4/17 - Herrick, “The Vine,” “Delight in Disorder,” “Corinna’s Going A-Maying,” “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” “Upon the Nipples of Julia’s Breast,” “Upon Julia’s Clothes,”
1756-1767.
*Essay 2 due on Sakai by 11:59 PM*
JACOBEAN TRAGEDY
W 4/19 - Webster, Duchess, Acts 1-2, 1571-1598.
F 4/21 -Duchess, Acts 3-4, 1599-1630. Quiz 11.
M 4/24 - Duchess, Act 5, 1630-1647. Sakai Post 12.
W 4/26 - Duchess, conclusion.
F 4/28 - Cary, The Tragedy of Mariam excerpts (handout). Quiz 12.
M 5/1 - Catch-up; Review. Final Exam study guide distributed.
**M 5/8 - Final Exam (Exam Group G) 9 AM to 12 PM. NO EXCEPTIONS**