In this course, we will explore literatures of the Seventeenth- and Eighteenth Centuries in England, giving special attention to love relationships of both a sacred and secular nature. Each genre and period has its unique qualities—from the lyric poem used for advancement at court to the novel written to a largely female audience—yet literature tends to circle about familiar themes, such as a few that we will study: the temporal and the eternal; the feminine and the masculine; of what stuff are human beings made; sexual desire and desire for companionship.
Goals of the class:
• To develop a basic understanding of the ideology of the periods. What did people in the two centuries assume about their identities, their social worlds?
• To develop a basic appreciation for the poetry, prose and drama. We will study a number of genres of poetry, one drama and two novels.
• To engage the works as analytical and interpretive readers. For your Analytical/Interpretive essay, you will spend some serious time analyzing the work that you write about, making connections, "unpacking" metaphor, tracing patterns in a work's structure, and so on.
Assignments
(Page numbers with [squared brackets] are for the 8th ed.)
Week 1
1/9
• Introduction
• "Dialogue Between Body and Soul," Donne
• "Virtue," George Herbert
• "The Definition of Love," Andrew Marvell
• "On My First Son," Ben Jonson
1/14
CONTEXTS
• "The Metaphysics of Love"—class lecture
• "Intro. to Early 17th Century, State & Church" 1341-1360 [1235-1250]
HUMAN NATURE & RELIGION
• "Religion & England"A44 [A90]
• "Meditation 17," Donne 1420 [1305]
• "Easter Wings," Herbert 1709 [1609]
• "Love (3)," Herbert 1725
Optional:
• Seventeenth-Century British History: Civil War & Revolution. BBC Online
Week 2
1/16—THE METAPHYSICS OF LOVE
• no class
1/21
• "George Herbert" 1705 [1605]
• "Affliction (1)," Herbert 1710 [1609]
• "John Donne" 1370 91260]
• "#14" / "Batter My Heart," Donne 1413 [1297]
• "Denial," Herbert 1713 [1613]
• "#13" / "What if this," Donne 1413 [1297]
• "Bunch of Grapes," Herbert 1718 [1617]
• "On the Wounds," Crashaw 1746 [1644]
• "The Flaming Heart," Crashaw 1752 [1650]
Week 3
1/23—MATRIMONY & LOVE — Sacred & Secular
• "Book of Common Prayer: Solemnization of Matrimony," 689 [632]
• "Mary Wroth" 1560 [1451]
• "#1"/ "When Night's Black Mantle," Mary Wroth 1566 [1457]
• "#16" / "Am I Thus Conquered?" Wroth 1567 [1457]
• "The Flower," Herbert 1721 [1621]
• "A Celebration of Charis," [download .pdf for full version]
• "Song: To Celia," Jonson 1548 [1436]
• "On Giles & Joan," Jonson 1541 [1429]
1/28
• "Marry Thy Daughters..." Maureen Waller (reserve)
• "A Song to Amoret," Vaughn 1727 [1626]
• "A Married State," Katherine Philips 1784 [1691]
• "Some Reflections on Marriage," Mary Astell 2421 [2285]
• "Methought I Saw My Late Espoused Saint," Milton 1943 [1829]
Further reading (optional)
• "The Imperfect Enjoyment," John Wilmot 2298 [2169]
• "The Disappointment," Aphra Behn 2310 [2180]
• Ovid (b. 43 B.C.E.) Amores 3.8 (3.7)
Week 4
1/30
• snow day—no class
2/4 —TIME & COME-ONS
• "Time," Herbert 1717 [1616]
• "Corinna's Going A-Maying," Herrick 1760 [1658]
• "Love Made in the First Age," Lovelace 1782 [1684]
• "The Vine," Herrick 1758 [1655]
• "Song," Waller online [1687]
• "Song," Mary Wroth 1565 [1456]
• "#40" / "False Hope," Mary Wroth 1568 [1459]
• "To the Virgins," Herrick 1762 [1659]
Week 5
2/6
• "The Definition of Love," Marvell 1798 [1704]
• "To Althea From Prison," Lovelace 1781 [1683]
• "The Garden," Marvell 1804 [1710]
• "A Valediction," Donne 1385 [1275]
• "The Flea" 1373 [1263]
• "To His Coy Mistress," Marvell 1796 [1703]
• "Love's Alchemy," Donne 1382 [1272]
2/11
• Mini-Midterm 1: quotation identification, short answer and/or brief essay
Week 6
2/13—MARRIAGE IN PARADISE
• "John Milton" 1897
• Paradise Lost: Selections, by line number 1945
Book 1: 1-80 & 192-238
Book 3: 135-265
Book 4: 1-113
Book 9: 532-833
Book 10: 909-1006
• Optional:
Milton's tract on divorce. (Introduction and Chapt. 1 excerpt)
2/18—THE SOCIAL WORLD & the CAVALIER
• "The Ode on Cary & Morison," Jonson 1551 [1439]
• "The Bad Season," Herrick 1765 [1663]
• "The Grasshopper," Lovelace 1780 [1682]
• "To Mrs. M.A.," Katherine Philips 1787 [1693]
• "Inviting A Friend to Supper," Jonson 1544 [1432]
• "To William Camden," Jonson 1540 [1428]
• "To John Donne," Jonson 1541 [1429]
• "The Hock Cart," Herrick 1762 [1660]
• "Delight in Disorder," Herrick 1758 [1656]
Week 7
2/20
• Introduction to The Rivals
• Act 1
2/25
• Acts 2 & 3, The Rivals
2/27
• Acts 4 & 5, The Rivals
Week 8
3/4
• Spring Break
Week 9
3/6
• Spring Break
3/11
• Introduction to Eighteenth Century 2177-2204 [2057-2080]
Week 10
3/13—THE NATURE OF 'MAN'
• "An Essay Concerning," Locke 2280 [2152]
• "An Essay on Man," Pope 2713 [2540]
• "Meditation 4," Donne 1419 [1303]
• "A Vindication of Rights of Woman," Wollstonecraft (lecture)
3/18—BIOGRAPHY
• "The Diary," Pepys 2260 [2134]
• "Rambler 60," Johnson 2926 [2746]
• "On Shakespeare & Jonson," Dryden 2117 [2128]
• "Epigram on Milton," Dryden 2246 [2120]
• "A Life," Boswell 2962 [2781]
Week 11
3/20
• Mini-Midterm 2: The Rivals & The Nature of Man readings: quotation identification, short answer and/or brief essay
3/25
• Evelina, Introduction in the Straub edition (3-31)
Week 12
3/27
• Evelina, Volume 1 (57-177)
4/1
• Evelina, Volume 2 (177-308)
• "A cruel, savage and abandoned disposition....,"from The English Marriage (Chapt. 18), Maureen Waller (reserve)
Week 13
4/3
• Evelina, Volume 3 (308-436)
4/8
• Pride & Prejudice: Volume 1
Week 14 —JANE AUSTEN
4/10
• Pride & Prejudice Volume 1
4/15
• Pride & Prejudice: Volume 2
Week 15
4/17
• Pride & Prejudice: Volume 2
4/22
• Pride & Prejudice: Volume 3
4/24
• Review
4/30, Wednesday
Final Exam— 11-1:30
Texts
M.L.A. Documentation Formats
Requirements
Course Policies
Required Texts
• Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1, 9th ed.
• Evelina, Frances Burney (Bedford edition, edited by Kristina Straub)
• Pride & Prejudice, Austen, ed. Donald Gray, Norton Critical edition
• "The Rivals" in The School for Scandal & Other Plays, Richard Brinsley Sheridan (alternatively, "The Rivals" Gutenberg project download for Kindle)
• The Bedford Glossary of Critical & Literary Terms
• The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1, 9th ed., in split volumes
• "A cruel, savage and abandoned disposition....,"from The English Marriage (Chapt. 18), Maureen Waller
• "Marry Thy Daughters...," from The English Marriage Maureen Waller
Online PowerPoint:
• Marriage & Women's Lives in the 17th Century
• Burney
• Burney 2
• Burney 3
• Austen
• Austen 2
• Austen 3
• Detailed parenthetical citation MLA style at University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Detailed Works Cited MLA style at University of Wisconsin-Madison (NOTE: Don't use for online database sources. See next link for that.)
• Citing an online database source for an article: M.L.A. at Cornell U.
• Detailed advice for Annotated Bibliography
• How your Annotated Bibliography must look for this class.
• It is assumed that you have mastered the language. That said, we all need refreshers and we all can learn more about our language and its use. We all need a solid handbook, and need to use it. The Essentials of English handbook, seven bucks at amazon.com, is cheap and solid
Requirements:
All papers must be double-spaced in 12-point Courier or Courier New, with a letter- and format-perfect Works Cited page. Exception: You may single-space work photocopied for class workshops
NOTE: In all of your work in class, demonstrate and understanding and use of literary and historical terminology—in quizzes, in the Interpretative / Analytical essay and final exam. The Bedford Glossary of Literary Terms, the English department's choice for a "terms" book, can be very helpful.
• Two Mini-Midterm Exams (50%)—open-notebook: quotation identification, short answer and/or short essay.
• Final Exam ( 25%)—open-notebook: quotation identification, short answer and/or essay on topics we have discussed throughout the semester. Special emphasis on Pride & Prejudice.
• Analytical / Interpretive essay (25%) (6-8 pp./ 1,500-2,000 words) —Papers must use one of the courses topics (see the Paper Topics list). The topics correspond to works we will be reading in weeks 2-13. You will write about works as they come up on the assignment list, but the paper is due one week after the work you write about comes up in class. In this way, you have the benefit of class lecture and discussion as your write. You are welcome to use research to help you develop your paper, but you do not have to—except for the Weeks 7 & 8 topic on Sheridan's play "The Rivals." What's important is your own thinking and analysis, working closely with the literature and—importantly—the rubric in the topic that you select. Straying from the rubric can result in a reduced or failing grade. What's important is your own engagement with the literature, with its language, with its historical context.
See Paper Basics, Writing Guidelines & Grade Rubric for a discussion of expectations for this essay. If you have any concerns or questions, be sure to raise them in class or during an office conference.
See Paper Topics for the list of topics. We will preview the list in the first week of class. Take time to look at works coming up later in the semester and decide what topic you will take.
For questions about the topic, grade rubric or expectations for a successful paper, see me for a friendly office conference.
General Course Policies
Coming Late to Class, Walking in and Out of Class.
Count as absences. (See below.)
Food & Phone
Class is neither a cafeteria nor lounge. When I start eating chicken nuggets and texting friends in class, so can you.
Office Hours
My door is always open, and I am happy to see you during my office hours, as well as other times that I'm in my office—drop by or call or e-mail to see if I'm in. You are welcome anytime to come by and talk about your class work in general, or about a specific reading or essay draft on which you are working.
Learning Disabilities
CNU Disability Policy: Students with documented disabilities are required to notify the instructor on the first day of class and in private if accommodation is needed. The instructor will provide students with disabilities with all reasonable accommodations, but they are not exempted from fulfilling the normal requirements of the course. Work completed before the student notifies the instructor of his/her disability may be counted toward the final grade at the sole discretion of the instructor.
If you believe that you have a disability, you should make an appointment to see me to discuss your needs. In order to receive an accommodation, your disability must be on record in the Dean of Students’ office, 3rd Floor David Student Union/DSU (Telephone: 594-7160).
CNU Success Policy
We want you to succeed at CNU; therefore I may notify the Academic Advising Center if you seem to be having problems with this course. Someone may contact you to help you determine what help you need to succeed. You will be sent a copy of the referral form. I invite you to see me at any time that I can be of assistance in helping your with the course material.
Attendance
Not Attending Class Can Result in Failure of Course .
Repeated tardiness and repeated walking in and out of class makes your grade suffer.
You may miss one week of class without any penalty or consequence. You are responsible for the material covered, of course, and I draw my exam questions from material covered in class, class discussion and lecture, as well as from our texts.
Additional absences will result in reduction of your final course grade.
That means that a "B" in all of your coursework can become a "C," if you have excessive absences. It also means that a passing grade for the course can become a failing grade for the course.
In the case of an emergency, contact me as soon as possible. Emergency absences can be excused, and I may ask for documentation.
Complete All Work
You must complete all work by the last day of class to receive a passing grade.
Incompletes
Given only in extraordinary circumstances. Plan to complete work by last day of class. Not completing the work results in an "F," not an "I."
"St. Teresa's Esctasy"
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
in the Cornaro Chapel,
Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome
Completed by the sculptor
Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1652.