EN 251: British Literature I

Spring Semester 2007

Monday and Thursday 2:00-3:15

Syllabus

Subject to revision

(All readings are in the Norton Anthology of English Literature except those highlighted;

click on underlined readings for links to e-texts.)

PART ONE: Other Worlds

Thursday 1/18:Introduction. Selections from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville.

Monday 1/22: Sir Thomas More, Utopia

Response paper 1.

Thursday 1/25: Utopia, continued

Monday 1/29: Michel de Montaigne, “Of Cannibals”
Response paper 2.

Thursday 2/1: Selections from Sir Walter Raleigh, “Empire of Guiana,” and other “discovery” literature

Monday 2/5: Edmund Spenser: Amoretti 15; The Faerie Queene: Letter to Raleigh; Prologue to Book 1; Book 1, Canto 6; Prologue to Book 2
Response paper 3.

Thursday 2/8: John Drayton, "Ode to the Virginia Voyage"; Ben Jonson, "The Masque of Blackness"

Monday 2/12: William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 1

Thursday 2/15: The Tempest, Acts 2

Response paper 4.

Monday 2/19: No class meeting - Presidents' Day Holiday.

Thursday 2/22: The Tempest, Act 3

Monday 2/26: The Tempest, Act 4

Thursday 3/1: The Tempest, Act 5

Response paper 5.

Monday 3/5: Thesis workshop

PART TWO: Beauty, Love, and Sex

Thursday 3/8: Shakespeare, Selected Sonnets

In the Norton Anthology, read the introduction to Shakespeare's Sonnets (pp. 1060-1061) and Sonnets 1, 3, 12, 18, 20, 116, and 130 (pp. 1062-1074).

First essay due.

SPRING BREAK

Monday 3/19: Shakespeare, Selected Sonnets

Read Sonnets 23, 29, 30, 33, 35, 55, 60, 65, 71, 73, 87, 93, 106, 126 (pp. 1064-1073).

Thursday 3/22: Shakespeare, Selected Sonnets

Read Sonnets 127, 129, 138, 147, 152 (pp. 1073-1077).

Response paper 6.

Monday 3/26: Invitations to Love

In the Norton Anthology, read:

• Christopher Marlowe, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" (p. 1022)
• Sir Walter Ralegh, "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" (p. 917)
• John Donne, "The Bait" (p. 1274) and "The Flea" (p. 1263)

Response paper 7.

Thursday 3/29: John Donne, Selected Poems

Monday 4/2: John Donne, Selected Poems
Response paper 8.

EASTER BREAK

Thursday 4/12: John Donne, Holy Sonnets

Monday 4/16: Lady Mary Wroth, Selections from Pamphilia to Amphilanthus

Response paper 9.

Thursday 4/19: As You Like It, Acts 1-4

Monday 4/23: As You Like It, Act 5

Response paper 10.

Thursday 4/26: As You Like It (cont.)

Monday 4/30: Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”

Wednesday 5/2: Second essay due.

Tuesday 5/8: Second essay returned.

Friday 5/11: Final Exam.

Revisions of second essay due.