English 338-- Seventeenth Century Literature
Spring 1999
11 M,Tu,Th-- Olin 315
Professor Theresa DiPasquale
Olin 232-- Office Hours T, Th 8-9 and 10-11; W 1:15-2:15; and
by appointment
Office Phone: 526-4710
Email username: dipasqtm
Course Description:
English 338 is designed to familiarize students with the literature
and culture of seventeenth-century England. Most class periods will be
divided between discussion and lecture; some classes will also include
creative student presentations by individuals or groups (see requirements
below). We will read texts by a wide range of authors, considering works
in groups arranged thematically. Through background readings on culture
and through careful attention to the form and content of poems, plays,
and prose works, we will strive to appreciate the unique characteristics
of individual writers and, more broadly, the spirit of the century. It
is a century charged with change and controversy; indeed, it might
be said to encompass at least three different "periods": the early Stuart
era (1603-1642), when King James I and his son Charles I ruled the newly
united kingdoms of England and Scotland in unprecedented splendor; the
English Civil War and the Interregnum (1642-1660) when the forces of parliamentary
politics and religious dissent overcame the monarchy and the Established
Church; and the Restoration (1660-1700), the period of fin-de-siecle decadence
after the monarchy was reestablished under Charles II. The writing of this
century is muscular and energetic. The love poems are filled with challenging
thought as well as feeling; the sex poems are blunt, even angry at times,
but always clever and witty; the satires are scathing, uncompromising;
the religious poetry strikes at the heart of human frailty; and the prose
works range from the pithy and didactic to the inspiring and the mystical.
Required Texts:
The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M. H. Abrams.
6th Edition. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 1993.
Isabel Rivers, Classical and Christian Ideas in English Renaissance
Poetry: A Students' Guide. 2nd Edition. New York: Routledge,
1994.
Course Requirements and Policies:
Completion of Course Requirements-- You must complete
all written assignments and examinations to earn a passing grade in the
course.
Attendance-- You may miss no more than 5 classes during
the semester; any additional absences will affect your grade. If you do
miss class for any reason, you are still responsible for the material covered
when you were absent. Don't wait until the next time you see me in class
to pick up any handouts that may have been distributed, as you will fall
behind in the mean time; it is your responsibility to get them from me
or from a classmate. You may contact me by phone or through electronic
mail; my e-mail username is dipasqtm. Many course materials will be available
on my web page.
Plagiarism-- Please see the Student Handbook, pages 37-39,
on Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism. I will abide by the policies stated
in the Handbook.
Writing-- Writing guidelines are available on my web
page; please read these to familiarize yourself with my expectations and
requirements for literary analysis papers and summaries. You will hand
in two papers, which you may do in whatever order you prefer. One
will be due on February 8, the other on April 15. One paper will be a response
to a critical article on a work or works covered in the syllabus. Using
the MLA Bibliography, find a scholarly article on a work (from the syllabus)
that interests you. Write a summary of the article (approximately two pages)
and a 3-6 page response in which you consider the validity of the scholar's
argument and expand upon it to explore your own analysis of the work or
works in question. Hand in a photocopy of the article along with your paper.
The other paper will be a 5-8 page critical essay (no shorter than five
pages, no longer than eight). This paper must be either 1)A critical analysis
of a single work on the syllabus; 2)A comparison of two works related by
theme or genre; or 3)An exploration of a particular theme in several works.
The topic is otherwise open; you should consult with me if you are having
trouble coming up with a topic or a thesis. No research is required for
this essay.
In-Class Creative Presentation-- Each student will present
a creative response to the reading at some point during the semester. You
may choose to write a parody of one of the genres we study and read it
to the class; you may perform a musical rendition of a lyric poem; you
may act, dance, or sing in a scene from one of the dramatic works (the
latter types of performance may involve groups).
Midterm and Final Exams-- The midterm and final examinations
will both involve short answer objective questions based on the lectures,
identification of passages from the works we read, and brief essays. The
final covers everything we read after the midterm; it is not cumulative.
Please be sure to check the exam schedule before you make your travel plans
for the end of the semester, as the schedule is not flexible.
GRADING:
15% Paper with lower grade
25% Paper with higher grade
10% Participation in Class Discussions
10% Creative Presentation
20% Midterm
20% Final Exam
SCHEDULE
All reading assignments are from the Norton Anthology of English
Literature, Vol. 1, unless otherwise indicated. Please use the index
to the Norton to locate individual authors and works. You should read the
Norton introduction to each author on the first occasion that his
or her writing is assigned.
January
19 Tu Introduction to the Course; Broadsides; sign-ups for presentations
Part I: Royalty, Nobility, and Power
21 Th Country House Poems: Lanyer's "The Description of Cookeham,"
Jonson's "To Penshurst." Rivers, Introduction and Chapter 1 (The Golden
Age and the Garden of Eden).
25 M Court Masque: Jonson's Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue. Norton
Anthology Introduction to the Early Seventeenth Century. Rivers Chapters
2 (The Pagan Gods) and 9 (Humanism)
26 Tu Epithalamia by Donne and Jonson (on xerox handout)
28 Th Praise for Real-Life Heroes: Drayton's "Ode. To the Virginia
Voyage," Jonson's "To the Immortal Memory and Friendship of that Noble
Pair...," Marvell's "An Horatian Ode," and Milton's "To the Lord General
Cromwell"; Rivers Chapter 5 (Views of History)
Part II: Tragic and Epic Heroism
February
1 M Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, Acts 1-3
2 Tu Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, Acts 4-5; Rivers Chapter
4 (Stoicism)
4 Th Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, continued
8 M Rivers, Chapter 6 (Cosmology). First paper due.
9 Tu Milton's Paradise Lost, Selections from Books 1-4;
11 Th Milton's Paradise Lost, Selections from Books 1-4, continued
15 M No Class; Washington's Holiday. Read pp. 1767-1779 of the Norton.
16 Tu Behn's Oroonoko
18 Th Behn's Oroonoko, continued
Part III: Versions of Paradise and the Fall of Humankind
22 M Selections from Lanyer's Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum ("Eve's
Apology in Defense of Women")
23 Tu Milton's Paradise Lost, Selections from Books 4-9
25 Th No Class (I will be attending the annual conference of the John
Donne Society).
March
1 M Milton's Paradise Lost, Selections from Books 4-9, continued
2 Tu Marvell's "The Mower Against Gardens" and "Bermudas"; Lovelace's
"Love Made in the First Age: To Chloris"
4 Th Midterm Examination
Part IV: Death
8 M Donne's Holy Sonnets 10 ("Death, be not proud") and 17 ("Since
she whom I loved"); Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness; and "Meditation
17" from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions; Walton's The Life
of Dr. John Donne (selection).
9 Tu Jonson's "On My First Son," "On My First Daughter"; King's "The
Exequy"; Milton's "Methought I Saw My Late Espoused Saint"; Bacon, "Of
Death" (via link on web page).
11 Th Milton's "Lycidas" and Dryden's "To the Pious Memory of . . .
Anne Killigrew."
13-28 SPRING BREAK
Part V: Love, Sex, Seduction, and the Erotic
29 M Donne's "The Good Morrow," "The Sun Rising," "The Canonization,"
and "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"; Bacon's "Of Love" (via link on
web page).
30 Tu Donne's "The Flea," "The Ecstasy," "The Blossom," and "Elegy
XIX: Going to Bed"; Rivers, Chapter 3 (Platonism and Neo-Platonism)
April
1 Th Selections from Wroth's The Countess of Montgomery's Urania
and Pamphilia to Amphilanthus; Katherine Philips, "Friendship's
Mystery, To My Dearest Lucasia" and "To Mrs. M. A. at Parting) (via link
on web page); additional poems in Kissing the Rod (on reserve at
Penrose).
5 M Jonson's "To Celia," "My Picture Left in Scotland," and (on xerox)
"A Sonnet, To the Noble Lady, The Lady Mary Wroth"; Herrick's "Delight
in Disorder," "Corinna's Going A-Maying," "The Lily in a Crystal," "To
the Virgins, To Make Much of Time," "Upon the Nipples of Julia's Breast,"
"Upon Julia's Clothes."
6 Tu Other Cavalier Love Poetry: Carew's "A Rapture"; Lovelace's "To
Lucasta, Going to the Wars," "To Althea, from Prison"; Suckling's ""Song"
and others on xerox; Waller's "The Story of Phoebus and Daphne Applied"
and "Song"
8 Th Marvell's Love Poetry: "To His Coy Mistress," "The Definition
of Love," "The Picture of Little T.C. in a Prospect of Flowers," "The Mower's
Song," and "The Garden."
12 M Congreve, The Way of the World, Acts 1-2
13 Tu Congreve, The Way of the World, Acts 3-5
15 Th Congreve, The Way of the World, continued; Second paper
due.
Part VI: Religion and Spirituality
19 M Donne's Holy Sonnets 5, 13, and 14; Marvell's "The Coronet"; Bacon's
"Of Superstition"; Rivers Chs. 7 (Reformation and Counter-Reformation)
and 8 (Protestant Theology).
20 Tu Donne's "Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward."
22 Th Herbert's "The Altar," "Prayer (I)," "Jordan (I)," "Virtue,"
"Jordan (2)," and "Love (3)"; Crashaw's "The Flaming Heart"; Rivers Ch.
10 (Biblical Exegesis and Typology).
26 M Bunyan, Selections from The Pilgrim's Progress; Rivers Ch.
12 (Allegory).
Part VII: Satire
27 Tu Donne's "Satire III" and (on xerox) The Courtier's Library;
Jonson's "On Something, That Walks Somewhere" and "To Lucy, Countess of
B. with . . ."
29 Th Jonson's Volpone, Acts 1-3
May
3 M Jonson's Volpone, Acts 4-5
4 Tu Dryden's Mac Flecknoe
Part VIII: Poets on Poets and Poetry, Inspiration and Art
6 Th Rivers Chapter 11 (Theories of Poetry). Donne's Expostulation
19 from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions; Jonson's "To My Book,"
"To John Donne," "Ode to Himself"; Herrick's "His Prayer to Ben Jonson";
Carew's "An Elegy upon the Death of the Dean of Paul's, Dr. John Donne"
and "To Ben Jonson"; Milton's "On Shakespeare"; "To the Excellent Orinda"
by "Philo-Philippa" in Kissing the Rod (on reserve at Penrose);
and Dryden's "Epigram on Milton."
10 M Herrick's "His Farewell to Sack" and (on xerox) "The Welcome to
Sack"; Jonson's "Epigram to the Household" (also on xerox).
11 Tu Dryden, "The Secular Masque"; Review.
17 M Final Exam. 9-11 AM.
LIST OF AUTHORS
Since we're following a thematic arrangement, the following outline
of names to watch for may be helpful. I have included their dates of birth
and death, and you can see how their lives and works fit into the century
by checking the timeline available on my web page.
Highly influential authors we will return to repeatedly throughout the course
John Donne 1572-1631
Ben Jonson 1572-1637
John Milton 1608-1674
Andrew Marvell 1621-1678
John Dryden 1631-1700
Other authors represented by a major work or substantial selections on the syllabus
Francis Bacon 1561-1626
Aemilia Lanyer 1569-1645
John Webster 1580?-1625?
Lady Mary Wroth 1587?-1651?
Robert Herrick 1591-1674
George Herbert 1593-1633
Thomas Carew 1595-1640
John Suckling 1609-1642
Richard Lovelace 1618-1657
John Bunyan 1628-1688
Katherine Philips 1632-1664
Aphra Behn 1640?-1689
William Congreve 1670-1729
Additional authors briefly represented on the syllabus
Michael Drayton 1563-1631
Henry King 1592-1669
Izaak Walton 1593-1683
Edmund Waller 1606-1687
Richard Crashaw 1613-1649
"Philo-Philippa" ? (poem published 1667)