English 211: British Authors, Medieval to Neoclassical

Spring 2005
Hodgkins
Curry 238

Office hours: TR 1-1:50, W 1:00-2:00, & by appt.
MCVR 115, 4-4690
(h) 316-0463
hhhodgki@uncg.edu

Course goals: To read the major texts of earlier English literature, from the Anglo-Saxon period up to eighteenth-century neoclassicism; to discuss, analyze, and understand the themes and aesthetic traits of these texts in light of their cultural, historical, and intellectual contexts; to appreciate the diverse roots of the English literary tradition. The student who successfully completes this course will learn to identify and explain the varied characteristics of British literature from the Old English through the neoclassical periods and to understand the literary tenets and the historical contexts that helped shape these texts.

Texts: Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1, Seventh edition, in three paperback volumes:
1A The Middle Ages
1B The Sixteenth Century; The Early Seventeenth Century
1C The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century
Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing (Bantam), ed. Bevington

Grades: Quizzes 10%
Group and class participation 10%
Tests (20% each) 80%
Reading responsibilities: You must read carefully the assignment for each day. You are expected to read the introduction for each author or text as well as reading the literature. You should plan for two hours of reading per class meeting, and more time for your paper and exams.
Participation responsibilities: In order to get credit for participation, begin by bringing your text each day, opening it, and following along during lectures and discussions. You should be ready to share your insights and ideas; quality counts as much as quantity.
Attendance responsibilities: Your grade will be reduced after three absences, and any student missing four class sessions before 3/16 will be dropped from the class. This rule does apply to students who have added late. Frequent tardiness or early leave-takings will be regarded as evidence of indifference and will affect your participation grade. In most cases, doctors' appointments and job responsibilities do not constitute acceptable excuses for missing class.
Honor responsibilities: All work in this class should be governed by the UNCG Academic Honor Policy. Any work falsely submitted as your own will receive an F and will subject you to University disciplinary procedures.
Schedule (subject to revision):
IA: The Middle Ages
1/11 Introduction; "The Wanderer"; “The Wife’s Lament”
1/13 "The Middle Ages," 1-20; Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, General Prologue

1/18 The Miller's Prologue & Tale
1/20 Wife of Bath's Prologue & Tale

1/25 Pardoner's Prologue and Tale; Parson's Tale; Chaucer's Retraction
1/27 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (SGGK), Parts 1 & 2
2/1 SGGK, Parts 3 & 4
2/3 Test 1

2/8 Julian of Norwich, A Book of Showings; Excerpts from The Book of Margery Kempe
2/10 Introduction to mystery cycles, 379-80; Second Shepherds' Play

1B: The Sixteenth Century; The Early Seventeenth Century
2/15 "The Sixteenth Century," 469-496; Sidney, “The Defense of Poesy”
2/17 "Poetic Forms and Lit. Term." (A44-A60); Astrophil and Stella 1, 7, 31, 47, 49, 52, 71

2/22 Shakespeare sonnets 3, 18, 20, 35, 55, 73, 116, 126, 129, 130, 138
2/24 Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Scenes 1-5

3/1 Doctor Faustus, Scenes 6-13
3/3 Test 2
Spring break
3/15 Much Ado about Nothing, Intro & Acts 1-2 {3/16: Last day to drop without penalty.}
3/17 Much Ado Acts 3-5

3/22 “The Early Seventeenth Century,” 469-496; John Donne: "The Good Morrow," "Go and Catch a Falling Star," "The Sun Rising," "The Flea," "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," Holy Sonnet 14; "Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward," "A Hymn to God My God in My Sickness," "A Hymn to God the Father," Meditation 17 (p. 1277).
3/24 George Herbert: "The Altar," "Redemption," "Easter," “Easter Wings,” "The Windows," "The Collar," "The Pulley," "The Flower," "Love" (III)

3/28 Ben Jonson: "On My First Son," "Inviting a Friend to Supper," "To Celia," "Still to Be Neat”; Herrick, "Delight in Disorder,” "Corinna's Going A-Maying," "Upon Julia's Clothes"; Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress”
3/30 Milton, Paradise Lost (PL), Book 1 to line 375; ll. 522-end.

4/5 PL, Book 2, l. 390-end; Book 3 to l. 371; Book 4
4/7 Summaries of 5-7 (in handout); Bk. 8, l. 250 to end; PL, Bk. 9

4/12 Bk. 10; 12, l. 386 to end
4/14 Test 3, take-home on lyrics due, 5 p.m. Friday, 4/15

1C: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century
4/18 “Restoration and Eighteenth Century," 2045-2068; John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress
4/20 Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, Part 4

4/26 Pope, The Rape of the Lock
4/28 Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”; Smart, Jubilate Agno; Cowper, "The Castaway"

Final exam: 01s: Thur. 5/5, 12-3:00; 02s: Tues. 5/10, 12-3:00