Russ McDonald                                                                                 Spring 2003

ENG 640-01                                                                          

 

 

THE ELIZABETHAN SHAKESPEARE

 

 

English 640, Seminar in Shakespeare:  This semester the course will be devoted to The Elizabethan Shakespeare.  Specifically, members of the seminar will develop a complex understanding of those plays written at the very beginning of the playwright’s professional career, particularly the Henry VI plays, such strange comedies as Love’s Labor’s Lost, and early tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet.  These works will be examined under two rubrics.  First, they should be seen as the labors of a young man, a new playwright becoming aware of his theatrical gifts and eager to develop and sell those talents.  Second, the plays can also be seen as a product of the exciting literary culture emerging in London during the last years of Elizabeth’s reign, particularly in the 1580s and 1590s.  The young Shakespeare was especially influenced by the new movements in poetry during this period, especially the poems of Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser and the plays of Lyly and Peele and Marlowe. The most notable common feature in the work of these artists is a devotion to ornament:  why are all the poets and playwrights so thoroughly consumed with poetic decoration?  To some extent this passion for embellishment and pattern derives from the political context:  the literary culture intersects with court culture in Elizabethan England, and thus the queen’s persona, her own writings, and the taste she fostered will serve as fruitful areas of study as well.  The course will end with Hamlet, looking at it from the perspective developed during the term.

 

STUDENT LEARNING GOALS

ENG 640 is designed specifically to help graduate students learn:

 

• to read a Shakespeare play with pleasure, sensitivity, and understanding
• to develop a deeper understanding of the components of drama generally
• to develop reading and critical skills that are pertinent to other works of early modern and later literature

• to read critically and with increasing understanding some pertinent literary criticism

• to begin to understand and appreciate Elizabethan culture, particularly its theatrical and literary milieux
• to present, as a kind of mini-conference paper, a thorough and persuasive report on an aspect of this culture
• to approach literary works pedagogically, i.e., with an eye to teaching them to others
• to produce a seminar paper of publishable quality
• to learn to take, without fear, a written examination in a stipulated period of time

 

SEMINAR LEADER

Russ McDonald

McIver 126; Phone:  334-4694 (voice mail)

e-mail address: r_mcdona@uncg.edu

web page:   http://www.uncg.edu/~r_mcdona/home.html

Office Hours: Tuesday, 11:00-12:15; 5:30-6:15; also by appointment.  You are encouraged to consult me about problems in reading, for help with writing papers, and on other such matters.

 

REQUIREMENTS

Each student will:

 

• read carefully each work on the syllabus and contribute to discussion about the work.  This is a seminar, and while the instructor will certainly take a role, he would appreciate cooperation and participation from all members.
• be asked to initiate the analysis of one work, i.e., to introduce extemporaneously (from notes) the major topics and concerns raised by the play or poem to be considered.
• deliver a written report on some aspect of Elizabethan culture (see below)
• write a term paper of some twelve to fifteen pages
• write a final examination

 

REPORTS ON ELIZABETHAN CULTURE

 

According to the following schedule, two students will be assigned to each of the following topics.  In the class indicated, both students, having divided up the material, will report their findings to the class by means of a three-page report.  It should be comprehensive, detailed, and polished.  The written report, to be submitted at the end of the class, is to be accompanied by a one-page bibliography of the subject.

 

January       28       Elizabethan the Queen

February       4       Elizabethan Rhetoric

                   11      Elizabethan Architecture and Gardening

                   18      Elizabethan Dress

                   25      Elizabethan Religion

March          4       Elizabethan Court Life

                    18      Elizabethan Music and Painting

25      Elizabethan Education

THE ELIZABETHAN SHAKESPEARE

 

Tentative Schedule

 

 

January        14      Introduction to the Course

 

                   21      Marlowe, Dido, Queene of Carthage

                                            Edward II

 

                   28      Henry VI, Part One

 

February       4       Henry VI, Part Two

                  

                   11      Henry VI, Part Three

                    

                   18      Richard III

 

                   25      Faerie Queene, Book I, Cantos 1-6

 

March          4       Faerie Queene, Book I, Cantos 7-12

 

                     8-15 Spring Recess

 

                   18      Sidney, Sonnets from Astrophil and Stella

 

25      Lyly, Gallathea

 

April            1       Love’s Labor’s Lost

 

 8       The Faerie Queene, Book VI, Cantos 1-6

 

                   15      The Faerie Queene, Book VI, Cantos 1-6

                  

                   22      Romeo and Juliet (Term Paper due)

 

                   29      Hamlet

                  

                     8      Final Examination