ENGLISH 3310: ENGLISH LITERATURE BEFORE 1790
FRANK
GRADY FALL
2019
461
LUCAS MW
11:00-12:15
516-5510
/ fgrady@umsl.edu JC
Penney 63
M 2:30-4:30, W
1:00-2:30 [SEC. 001, #14994]
&
by appointment
In
this course we will be reading, writing about and discussing
"representative works of selected major authors" from the tenth
century through the seventeenth. While
surveying the first eight centuries of English poetry, prose and drama, we'll
be asking what makes some works "representative" and some writers
"major," and what these works want of their readers--not so much what
they want us to know, but what they want us to do, what they want to do to us,
and why we might sometimes want to resist their designs for us. The author of The Battle of Maldon might assume that
you are a tenth-century, land-owning, English-speaking, Viking-hating patriot,
but you're not, and while there can certainly be some literary pleasure derived
from pretending for a little while that you are, there's often more to be
gained from resisting that assumption.
Thus we will be exploring the context as well as the content of the
texts we study, so as to reveal and understand the things they take for granted
that might or might not be true for us today.
We’ll also practice using some of the conventional tools of literary
analysis—formal, historical, and theoretical.
REQUIRED
TEXTS:
·
The Norton
Anthology of English Literature: The Major Authors, Volume 1. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt, et.
al. 9th or 10th edition (Norton, 2013 & 2018; hence NA).
·
Shakespeare,
William. King Lear. Ed. Grace Toppolo.
Norton Critical Edition (Norton, 2007).
Additonal Resources:
·
Though
relevant documents (e.g., supplementary readings, ssay
topics) will be posted on Canvas, the main course page, which we will use in
class every day, resides at http://www.umsl.edu/~gradyf/F19SYLL3310.htm,
which can also be reached through my home page (www.umsl.edu/~gradyf).
·
Norton
maintains a very useful web page designed to supplement our use of the
Anthology at https://digital.wwnorton.com/englishlit10major, to which we will
make frequent reference; in fact some of the texts we’ll be reading are stored
in their on-line archive.
COURSE
REQUIREMENTS
(What I want you to do):
·
Come
to class, and come on time. Arriving
late is not an endearing habit, and more than four unexcused absences (almost 15%
of our brief semester) will have an adverse effect on your grade. Absences mean you will certainly miss some
quizzes, which cannot be made up. I take
attendance every day.
·
Keep
up with the reading. This won’t always
be easy; this is a survey course, which means that we'll be moving fairly
quickly ( see “eight centuries,” above) through a heavy and largely unfamiliar
reading load, one that cannot be adequately metabolized in an hour before
class. Try to budget your time, and then
try to add a little more to the budget, whenever you can. Remember that we are
not just reading the texts assigned,
but studying them, so
·
Think
about the reading and be prepared to discuss it: about what happens in it, and
to whom it happens; about what it assumes that you know about the world and
about how people ought to behave (and how they actually do); about what it
thinks is interesting, how it tries to make you feel, and whether it succeeds;
about what form it implies that writing should take and how it tries to
distinguish or beautify itself. And please learn the names of major characters.
(Further details on the English Department’s goals for survey courses can be
found here and here.)
·
Take
two mini-midterms (10% each) and one final exam (10%), and write one imitation
(15%) and two longer four- to six-page essays (15 % and 20%). The final 15% will be based on a combination
of quizzes (there’s that word again!) and a trio of in-class summaries. [See the
attached assignment summary sheet for an overview.] You will have three chances to write the two
longer papers, and I will distribute suggested topics about ten days in advance
of each due date (though you will not be limited to those topics). Plagiarism on papers, electronic or the
old-fashioned kind, will mean an instant F for the assignment, my undying
disapprobation, and possible disciplinary action by the university; please
refer to this site for further
details, and please please
please ask me if you have any questions.
Tentative Syllabus:
WEEK |
DATE |
READING |
ASSIGNMENTS |
1 |
M AUG 19 |
Introduction; The
Wanderer (NA 110-13) |
|
W AUG 21 |
Anglo-Saxon Literature (NA 6-11); The Battle of Maldon [Canvas] |
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2 |
M AUG 26 |
Beowulf
ll. 1-1250 (NA 37-70) |
Quiz forecast: |
W AUG 28 |
Caedmon’s
Hymn
(NA 30-33); The Dream of the Rood (NA
33-37); |
Quiz forecast: |
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3 |
M SEP 2 |
NO CLASS—LABOR DAY |
|
W SEP 4 |
“Anglo-Norman Literature” (NA 10-13); “Romance” (NA 115-16); Marie de France, Lanval (NA 116-3) |
Quiz forecast: |
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4 |
M SEP 9 |
“Middle English
Literature…” (NA 14-20) and
“Medieval English” (NA 20-25); Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Fitt i (NA 140-53) |
Quiz forecast: |
W SEP 11 |
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Fitts ii-iv (NA
153-95) |
Quiz forecast: |
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5 |
M SEP 16 |
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (cont.) |
Quiz forecast: |
W SEP 18 |
Medieval and Renaissance Drama: “Mystery Plays” (NA 308-09); Play of Abraham and Isaac [Canvas]; The
Elizabethan Theater (NA 383-89); |
Quiz forecast: J |
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6 |
M SEP 23 |
“Christopher
Marlowe” (NA 511-12);Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Scenes 1-3 (NA 513-23) “William Shakespeare” (NA 550-54); King Lear, Act 1 |
Quiz forecast: |
W SEP 25 |
King Lear, Acts 2-3; Mini-Midterm #1 |
Quiz forecast: |
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FRI
SEP 27 First Essay due date |
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7 |
M SEP 30 |
King Lear, Acts 4-5 |
Quiz forecast: |
W OCT 2 |
King Lear; excerpts from Holinshed (KL 148-50) and Geoffrey of Monmouth (KL 162-65); Medieval to Renaissance: “The Sixteenth
Century, 1485-1603” (NA
359-83) |
Quiz forecast: |
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8 |
M OCT 7 |
“Sir Philip
Sidney” (NA 503-04); Sidney, Defence
of Poesy [Canvas]
Castiglione/Hoby, The Courtier [Canvas]; Gosson, from The
School of Abuse |
Quiz forecast: |
W OCT 9 |
Sidney,
cont.; 16th- and 17th-century sonnets (poems
tba) |
Quiz forecast: |
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9 |
M OCT 14 |
TBA |
Quiz forecast:? |
W OCT 16 |
Sonnets
(cont.) |
Quiz forecast: |
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10 |
M OCT 21 |
John Donne (poems tba); “John Donne”
(NA 684-86); “The Early Seventeenth Century” I (NA 655-72) |
Quiz forecast: |
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M OCT 23 |
The Revolution; “Early
Seventeenth Century” II (NA
672-81); Mini-Midterm II |
Quiz forecast:J |
FRI OCT 25
Second Essay due date |
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1 |
M OCT 28 |
“John
Milton” (NA 789-92); Milton, Paradise
Lost, Book 1 (NA 820-41) |
Quiz forecast: |
W OCT 30 |
Imitation
workshop |
Quiz forecast: J |
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12 |
M NOV 4 |
Paradise Lost, Book 2 & Book 3 (NA 841-77) |
Quiz forecast: |
W NOV 6 |
Paradise Lost, Book 4 (NA 877-93) |
Summaries due Quiz forecast: |
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13 |
M NOV 11 |
Paradise Lost, Book 5 & Book 8 (NA 893-910, plus Canvas supplements) |
Quiz forecast: |
W NOV 13 |
Paradise Lost, Book 9 (NA 911-36) |
Quiz forecast: |
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14 |
M NOV 18 |
Paradise Lost, Book 10 & Book 12 (NA 936-53, plus Canvas supplements) ·
Some additional Book
10 passages: God to the Angels / Adam and the Son ·
Some additional
passages: Prevenient grace / Michael
and Adam / Adam on the Flood |
Quiz forecast: |
W NOV 20 |
Paradise Lost, conclusions (+1) |
Quiz forecast: |
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M NOV 25 & W NOV 27—THANKSGIVING BREAK;
NO CLASS |
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15 |
M DEC 2 |
“Restoration and Eighteenth Century” (NA 955-83); “Alexander Pope” (NA
1266-70); Pope, The
Rape of the Lock (NA 1286-1305) |
Quiz forecast: |
W DEC 4 |
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Quiz forecast: J |
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FRI DEC 6 Third Essay due date |
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M DEC 9 |
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Students with disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact the Disability Access Services Office in 131 Millennium Student Center at 516-6554 as soon as possible to ensure that such accommodations are arranged in a timely fashion.