Literature 2
English Literature, ca. 1550 – 1700
2009–2010
University of Leiden
Department of English
Image: A sixteenth-century book wheel (Heinrich Zeising, 1613)
Course Convenor
Dr Jan Frans van Dijkhuizen
Van Eyckhof 4 (1168), room 205a
Email: [email protected]
Course Information
2nd semester 2009-2010; 5 ECTS; Level 200
Course Description
This course is an introduction to one of the richest eras of English literature and to a
historical period that in many ways marks the beginning of the modern world. Students will
familiarize themselves with a broad range of plays, poetry and prose. We will study the
language and form of these texts, while at the same time looking at the cultural, political and
historical contexts by which they were shaped, and which they helped to shape in their turn.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course students will have gained a basic knowledge of early modern
English literature. They will be able to analyse the form and language of literary texts from
this period, and can relate them to their cultural and historical context. They will also have
further developed their academic writing skills.
Blackboard
The course programme, assignments, visuals and/or quotations discussed during the lectures,
study questions, and any other relevant material used during the course will be posted on the
Blackboard site for this course. Surf to www.blackboard.leidenuniv.nl and search for ‘literature
2’ in the ‘Courses’ tab. You do not need to enroll to access the site.
Writing Assignment
During the course you will write one 1200-word essay, to be handed in during the tutorial of
week 8. The essay topic will be announced in week 2. The essay must be submitted both in
hard copy (on A4-size paper) and via Blackboard (we will explain how this works during the
course). Hand in your essays with a staple in the top left-hand corner. Plastic folders or any
other containers will be confiscated. The deadline for the essay is non-negotiable. The essay
will have to be presented according to the MLA style sheet (see the MLA Handbook). Please
keep a back-up copy of your essay on your computer after you hand it in.
Examination
The 1200-word essay counts as 25% towards your final mark; the written test counts as 75%.
Literary Terminology
During this course we will assume that you are familiar with the literary terminology
introduced in Literature 1a. If you did not take Literature 1a in the first semester, please
make sure you read the entries from Martin Gray’s A Dictionary of Literary Terms listed in the
Literature 1a syllabus before the start of the course.
Reading Work for Week 1
Make sure you have done the reading for week 1 before the first tutorial!
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Weekly Programme
Week 1 (1–5 February)
Reading from the Norton Anthology of English Literature (NA):
• ‘The Sixteenth Century, 1485–1603’ (pp. 485–513)
• Sir Thomas More, Utopia (521–590). The same translation is also available as a separate
volume in the Norton Critical Editions series.
Reading from A Dictionary of Literary Terms (DLT):
• Reformation (p. 242)
• Renaissance (243)
• Utopia (299)
Lecture and tutorial topics
• Introducing the early modern period
• Utopia in its cultural-historical context
• Narrative strategies in Utopia.
Week 2 (8–12 Feb)
Reading from NA:
• Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder, ‘The long love that in my thought doth harbour’ (plus
Petrarch, Rima 140), ‘They flee from me’, ‘The Lover Showeth How…’ (NA, 592ff.)
• Henry Howard, ‘Love, that doth reign and live within my thought’ (608; see also
Petrarch, Rima 140).
• Sir Philip Sidney, ‘Loving in truth, and fain in verse my low to show’ (975), ‘With how
sad steps, O Moon, thou climb’st the skies’ (980).
• William Shakespeare, Sonnets 19, 29, 30, 116, 129, 130 (1063ff.).
• John Milton, ‘Methought I Saw My Late Espousèd Saint’ (1829)
Reading from DLT:
• Sonnet (269)
Lecture and tutorial topics:
• Form, tradition and innovation in the early modern sonnet
Week 3 (15–19 Feb)
Reading from NA:
• Christopher Marlowe, Dr Faustus (1022–1056)
Reading from DLT:
• Act (10)
• Soliloquy (267)
• Tragedy (290)
Lecture and tutorial topics:
• The early modern stage
• Dramatic strategies and theological issues in Dr Faustus
Week 4 (22–26 Feb)
Reading from NA:
• Edmund Spenser, from The Faerie Queene: ‘A Letter of the Authors’ (716–719); Book 1,
Canto 1 & 2 (719–742); Book 2, Canto 12 (857–867).
Reading from DLT:
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• Allegory (14)
• Epic (103)
• Romance (250)
Lecture and tutorial topics:
• Epic, allegory and romance in The Faerie Queene
• Religious and national identity in The Faerie Queene
Week 5 (1–5 March)
Reading from NA:
• John Donne, ‘The Flea’, ‘The Sun Rising’, ‘The Canonization’, ‘The Apparition’, ‘A
Valediction: Forbidden Mourning’ (1263ff.); Holy Sonnets 10, 14 (1296–1297).
Reading from A Dictionary of Literary Terms (henceforth DLT):
• Conceit (67)
• Metaphysical poets (175)
Lecture and tutorial topics:
• Language and form in John Donne’s poetry
Week 6 (8–12 March)
Reading:
• William Shakespeare, The Tempest (Oxford edition, ed. Stephen Orgel)
Reading from DLT:
• Antimasque (26)
• Masque (171)
Lecture and tutorial topics:
• The Tempest in its cultural-historical context: Renaissance utopias, the new world, the
court masque.
• The nature of Prospero’s power
Week 7 (15–19 March)
Reading from NA:
• Ben Jonson, Volpone (1334–1427)
Reading from DLT:
• Comedy (62)
• Satire (255)
Lecture and tutorial topics:
• Satire, comedy and theatricality in Volpone
Study Week (22–26 March)
Week 8 (29 March – 2 April)
Reading from NA:
• ‘The Early Seventeenth Century, 1603–1660’ (1235–1259).
• ‘Faith in Conflict’ (616–627; from ‘The English Bible’ to [and including] John Calvin, ‘The
Institution of Christian Religion’).
• ‘Crisis of Authority’ (1737–1751; from ‘Reporting the News’ to [and including] John
Milton, ‘The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates’)
• John Milton, from Areopagitica (1816–1825).
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Lecture and tutorial topics:
• The political and religious conflicts of the early seventeenth century
• John Milton and censorship
Writing Assignment Deadline
No Lit 2 lectures or tutorials from 5 until 9 April
Week 9 (12–16 April)
Reading from NA:
George Herbert, ‘The Altar’, ‘Prayer (1)’, ‘Jordan’ (1), ‘Church Monuments’, ‘Denial’, ’Virtue’,
‘Love (3)’ (1607ff).
Lecture and tutorial topics:
• Theology, form and spiritual experience in Herbert’s poetry.
Week 10 (19–23 April)
Reading:
• William Shakespeare, Othello (Oxford edition, ed. Michael Neill)
Lecture and tutorial topics:
• Tragedy, race and gender in Othello
Week 11 (26–30 April)
Reading from NA:
• John Milton, from Paradise Lost: ‘The Vers‘, ‘The Argument’, Book 1, Book 2, Book 3 ll. 1134 (NA, 1830ff).
Lecture and tutorial topics:
• Epic, poetic form and the reading experience in Paradise Lost
No Lit 2 lectures or tutorials from 3 until 7 May
Week 12 (10–14 May)
(N.B. The tutorials Thursday 13 May (Ascension Day) may have to be rescheduled. It is up
to the individual tutors to arrange this with their groups.)
Reading from NA:
John Milton, from Paradise Lost, Book 4, Book 7 ll. 1-39, Book 9, Book 12 ll. 466-649 (NA, 1887ff).
Lecture and tutorial topics:
• Language, politics and religion in Paradise Lost.
Week 13 (17–21 May)
Reading from NA:
• Andrew Marvell, ‘An Horatian Ode’ (1712), ‘To His Coy Mistress’ (1703)
• ‘Writing the Self’ (1757–1769)
• Samuel Pepys, The Diary (2134–2142)
• Aphra Behn, ‘The Disappointment’ (2180–2183)
• John Wilmot Rochester, ‘A Satire on Charles II’ (on Blackboard).
Lecture and tutorial topics:
• Marvell’s ‘An Horatian Ode’ and Rochester’s ‘Satire on Charles II’ as political poems
• Self-writing in the mid-seventeenth century.
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