English 20.601: Major British Writers, 1350-1660

Fall 2001 Tuesdays 5:30 P.M. - 8:40 P.M. 226 Bennett Hall

Instructor: Erika Lin
Email: elin@english.upenn.edu
Office: Bennett Hall, Room 215, Cubicle B
Office Hours: by appointment
Mailbox: English Department, Main Office, 119 Bennett Hall
Course listserv: lin20@english.upenn.edu
Course home page: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~elin/eng20.html

Last updated: 11/6/01

Course Description | Books and Bulkpack | Schedule | Requirements and Policies | Resources

Course Description

This course is a survey of the so-called "great" writers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, but rather than generalizing about what makes these writers "great" (a very problematic designation), we will focus on the specific historical contexts in which they wrote. Who were these authors writing for, and what expectations did they have about writing, reading, speaking, and hearing? What literary traditions and generic conventions did these writers espouse or work against? How did the material circumstances of printing, publication, and oral performance affect not only what was written but also how we see those writings today? How did race, class, gender, and sexuality operate in these texts, and what historical changes can we see both within this period and between their time and ours? In exploring these questions, we will be looking at both "literary" texts and "non-literary" documents, such as anatomical treatises, legal documents, and engravings.

This course is an SAS Distribution III course and is required of most English majors.

Texts

Books

Books have been ordered through House of Our Own Bookstore at 3920 Spruce Street. It is important that we all use the same editions of these texts. If you already have a used copy of these particular editions, feel free to use them, but if you plan on purchasing the texts new, please do not buy them through the Penn Bookstore, which is operated by the Barnes and Noble chain.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales: Nine Tales and the General Prologue. Ed. V. A. Kolve and Glending Olson. New York and London: Norton, 1989.
Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night: Texts and Contexts. Ed. Bruce R. Smith. Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001.
Spenser, Edmund. The Faerie Queene. Ed. Thomas P. Roche, Jr. 1978. New York: Penguin, 1987.
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Ed. Scott Elledge. 2nd .ed. New York and London: Norton, 1993.

Bulkpack

The bulkpack will be available from Wharton Reprographics in the basement of Steinberg-Deitrich Hall.

Bulkpack Contents:

Orgel, Stephen. "What is a Text?" Staging the Renaissance: Reinterpretations of Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama. Eds. David Scott Kastan and Peter Stallybrass. New York and London: Routledge, 1991. 83-87.
"Mankind." Medieval Drama. Ed. David Bevington. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1975. 903-38.
Introduction to "Mankind." Medieval Drama. Ed. David Bevington. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1975. 901-2.
Vickers, Nancy J. "The Body Re-membered: Petrarchan Lyric and the Strategies of Description." Mimesis: From Mirror to Method, Augustine to Descartes. Eds. John D. Lyons and Stephen G. Nichols, Jr. Hanover and London: UP of New England, 1982. 100-9.
Farago, Claire. "Jean de Léry's Anatomy Lesson: the Persuasive Power of Word and Image in Framing the Ethnographic Subject." European Iconography East and West: Selected Papers of the Szeged International Conference, June 9-12, 1993. Ed. György E. Szönyi. Leiden: Brill, 1996.
Excerpts from Abrams, M. H. et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Major Authors. 7th ed. Vol. A: The Middle Ages through the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century. New York and London: Norton, 2001.
- "Geographic Nomenclature" (p. xliv)
- "British Money" (pp. xlv-xlvii)
- "The British Baronage," including a list of England's rulers (pp. xlix-liii)
- "Religions in England" (pp. lv-lvi)
- "Poetic Forms and Literary Terminology" (pp. A37-A53)
- "The Middle Ages to ca. 1485" (pp. 1-20)
- "The Sixteenth Century 1485-1603" (pp. 315-38)
- "The Early Seventeenth Century 1603-1660" (pp. 577-98)
- "Edmund Spenser" (pp. 357-61)
- Summaries of parts of Book I and II of The Faerie Queene (pp. 381, 390-1, 399, 417, & 418)
- "Queen Elizabeth" (pp. 350-1)
- Elizabeth I's speech to the troops at Tilbury and the "Golden Speech" (pp. 354-7)
- John Donne, "The Flea," "The Good-Morrow," "The Canonization," "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," "Elegy 19: To His Mistress Going to Bed," "Holy Sonnets 9 & 10," and "Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness" (pp. 602-3, 606-7, 611-2, 617-8, 623, & 625-6)
- George Herbert, "The Altar" (p. 661)
- Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress" (pp. 679-80)

Schedule

Tu 9/18 First Day of Class	Topics of discussion: Introduction to the course Introduction to Middle English	Reading due today: None.	Conferences #1 this week
Tu 9/25 Unit 1 Historical Difference: Theoretical Problems and their Consequences	Topics of discussion: Historical difference: how do we negotiate the gap? Oral and written forms of language Introduction to The Canterbury Tales	Reading due today: Stephen Orgel, "What is a Text?" Canterbury Tales Section on Chaucer's Language in the Preface General Prologue F. R. H. Du Boulay, "The Historical Chaucer" (pp.441-59 in Norton Critical Edition) (recommended)	Middle English practice: group #1
Tu 10/2 Unit 1 (cont'd)	Topics of discussion: The Canterbury Tales (cont'd) Narrative, narration, and voice	Reading due today: The Canterbury Tales Miller's Prologue and Tale Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale	Middle English practice: group #2
Tu 10/9 Unit 1 (cont'd)	Topics of discussion: Medieval theatrical traditions Religion and everyday life Mankind	Reading due today: Mankind "The Sixteenth Century 1485-1603" from The Norton Anthology (recommended)	Short Paper #1 (Dictionary Exercise) due Tuesday in class
Tu 10/16 Unit 2 Gender and Genre: Texts and Contexts	Topics of discussion: Introduction to The Faerie Queene Generic conventions: romance and epic Allegory, representation, and politics	Reading due today: Introduction to Edmund Spenser from The Norton Anthology The Faerie Queene "A Letter of the Authors Expounding His Whole Intention..." (pp. 15-18) Book I, Proem, Cantos I (all), II:1-27, IV:1-36, IX:21-end, X:46-end, and XI (all) Book II, Canto XII:42-end Summaries of the others parts of Book I & II from The Norton Anthology "Poetic Forms and Literary Terminology" from The Norton Anthology	Language Quiz Conferences #2 this week
Tu 10/23 Unit 2 (cont'd)	Topics of discussion: Introduction to Twelfth Night Crossdressing and theatrical performance Clothing, disguise, and identity	Reading due today: Twelfth Night, Acts 1-3 Introduction to "Clothing and Disguise" (pp. 237-9 in Smith edition) "A Proclamation Enforcing Statutes and Proclamations of Apparel" (pp. 248-55 in Smith) "Eight Accounts of Boy Actors" (pp. 273-8) Introduction to and excerpts from Stubbes's Anatomy of Abuses (pp. 341-53)	Short Paper #2 (STC Exercise) due Fri., 10/26 at Noon
Tu 10/30 Unit 2 (cont'd)	Topics of discussion: Twelfth Night (cont'd) Bodies, sexuality, and the stage	Reading due today: Twelfth Night, Acts 4-5 Introduction to "Sexuality" (pp.183-5 in Smith edition) Introduction to and excerpt from Crooke's Microcosmographia (pp. 195-201 in Smith edition) Introduction to "Eroticism, Homoeroticism, Paneroticism" (pp. 201-2 in Smith edition)	Language Quiz
Tu 11/6 Unit 3 Recovering/Uncovering: New Worlds, New Subjects	Topics of discussion: The poetic subject, material texts, and the body Religion, space, and the new world	Reading due today: Donne, "The Flea," "The Good-Morrow," "The Canonization," "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," "Elegy 19: To His Mistress Going to Bed," "Holy Sonnets 9 & 10," and "Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness" Herbert, "The Altar" Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress" Nancy J. Vickers, "The Body Re-membered: Petrarchan Lyric and the Strategies of Description"
Tu 11/13 Unit 3 (cont'd)	Topics of discussion: Introduction to Paradise Lost The epic: formal structures and conventions	Reading due today: Paradise Lost, "The Verse" and Books 1-4 Isabel Rivers, "[Political and Religious Issues in the Time of Milton]" (pp. 307-313 in Norton Critical Edition) (recommended)	Short Paper #3 (Close Reading Exercise) due Thurs., 11/15 at 1 PM Oral presentations: Jennifer P. Jamie-Lee Brett Xavius Linda
Tu 11/20 No Class--lecture by Michael Neill at 4:30 PM
Th 11/22 Thanksgiving
Tu 11/27 Unit 3 (cont'd)	Topics of discussion: Paradise Lost (cont'd) Imperialism and fantasies of the Natural	Reading due today: Paradise Lost, Books 5-8 Claire Farago, "Jean de Léry's Anatomy Lesson: the Persuasive Power of Word and Image in Framing the Ethnographic Subject"	Conferences #3 this week Oral presentations: Dave Jake Jennifer F. Mike Melody Jennifer K.
Tu 12/4 Last Day of Class	Topics of discussion: Paradise Lost (cont'd) Summary Course Evaluations	Reading due today: Paradise Lost, Books 9-12	Oral presentations: Eddie Greg Stephanie Chantal Emily Adam
Tu 12/11			Final Essay due

Requirements

Language Quizzes

During the course of the semester, I will give two short quizzes where you will be asked to translate a passage or two into contemporary English. The purpose of these quizzes is to strengthen your grasp of medieval and Renaissance vocabulary and syntax. Don't worry too much about these--they test your basic understanding of words and sentence structures used repeatedly in these texts, not whether or not you can memorize obscure vocabulary words used only once or twice. If you are having trouble understanding the language of these texts, you can always make an appointment with me outside of class to get some additional practice.

Short Papers

#1: Dictionary Exercise

This assignment will ask you to choose a word from The Canterbury Tales, look that word up in the Middle English Dictionary (MED) and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and then write a 3-page essay about how that word's history, etymology, and usage affects one's understanding of the text.

#2: Short Title Catalogue (STC) Exercise

This assignment will train you to do research using historical documents that are not published in modern editions. You will be asked to look up materials in the STC room at Van Pelt Library and briefly analyze your findings (no more than 3 pages). One of the documents you find will become part of your final essay (see below). Specifically, I'd like you to do the following:

Chronological Search

Choose a year from 1550-1650.
Look at all the records in the STC Room chronological catalogue for your year.
Write down ten interesting titles and their publication information (in MLA format). Be sure to include the STC number.
Write one page on what your selections tell us about what was on readers'/printers' minds in your year.

Subject Search

Choose a subject from the following list: London, gardening, Elizabeth I, courtesy, medicine, husbandry, education, anatomy, marriage, America, emblems, or death (or choose your own, with instructor's permission).
Look up your subject in the author/title/subject catalogue and pick five interesting works on your subject. Write down the full publication information.
Write one page commenting on what you can tell about your subject just from the titles, authors, and dates of the works.

Summary of One Work

Choose one of the items from your subject search.
Write one page summarizing the work. Be sure to indicate its organizational structure, the writer's argument or bias (if there is one), and any unusual features of the physical text itself.

#3: Close Reading Exercise

This 3-page assignment will ask you to do a close reading of a passage from a literary text. A close reading analyzes the language of a text--its imagery, sounds, form, and the connotations of specific words--in order to make an argument about the text. The argument you make should be about how the text works (its internal functions, dynamics, and structures). It should not use the text to argue about an external generality (e.g. about the way life is), nor should your paper be about the relationship between the text and its historical context (that would be a different kind of literary analysis). You should consider the following issues in constructing your thesis. (However, you should organize your paper based on some logic internal to your thesis, rather than as answers to these questions.):

The literal story, or implied situation, of the passage
The kinds of imagery and sounds used to describe that situation or tell that story, and what difference they make
The sentence structure, punctuation, and other formal elements--how do they support or contradict the surface story?
The tone of the speaker or speakers, how that tone is created, and whether it supports or undermines the surface story
The connotations of individual words and any multiple meanings of words (use the OED or MED)

Please choose a passage of no more than 300 words from a literary text that we have read for this class, and email me with your selection and a preliminary thesis by Noon on Thurs., Nov. 1. All theses and passages must be approved before you may write the paper. (Note: the sooner you send me a preliminary thesis and passage selection, the sooner I can approve it, and the sooner you can begin work on your paper!) If you are unfamiliar with the genre of the literary close reading, there are some excellent resources available to help you construct a workable thesis statement. See http://www.english.upenn.edu/~frosheng/Teach/mborig.html, http://www.english.upenn.edu/~frosheng/Teach/mbthesis.html, and http://www.english.upenn.edu/~esimpson/Teaching/thesis.html.

Oral Presentation

Towards the end of the semester, each of you will give a short presentation (15 minutes tops) on the STC documents of your choice. This assignment will build off of the work you did in your second short paper and will lead up to your final paper. It is a chance for you to share your knowledge on your specialized research topic with the rest of the class and to learn from others. I'll give you more information about this assignment when the time comes.

Final Essay

For your final essay, I'll ask you to do a close reading of a literary text in conjunction with a close reading of one of the documents you found in the STC room. This 10-page paper is meant to help you integrate your historical knowledge of the period with close textual analysis. You'll be doing original work with primary documents on a topic of your choice. I'll give you more information about this assignment when the time comes.

Individual Conferences

I'll be scheduling individual conferences with each of you outside of regular class times. Each conference will last approximately 15 minutes (or longer if you want), and I encourage you to meet with me outside of these times as well. These conferences are meant to give us a chance to talk one-on-one about any questions you have. I encourage you to jot down questions or issues you would like to discuss prior to each conference and bring your list with you, so that I can make sure to address whatever is most important to you.

Policies

Grading

Final Essay 25%
Short Papers 45% (15% each)
Language Quizzes 10%
Oral presentation 10%
Class participation, Reading preparation, Middle English Practice 10%

Any penalty for attendance problems will be deducted from this total.

Attendance

Attendance is very, very, very, very important! This is a discussion-based class, so without you there is no class. You may miss one class meeting without penalty, but you must attend all other class meetings unless you have obtained my permission in advance or can document a medical or family crisis after the event. Attendance is also required at each of the individual conferences scheduled with me outside of regular class times. Students with 1 unexcused absence will be graded a third of a grade lower for the course (for example, a B+ gets lowered to a B); students with 2 unexcused absences will be graded two-thirds of a grade lower for the course (a B+ becomes a B-); students with more than 2 unexcused absences will fail the course. Frequent tardiness will also affect your grade, so be here and be on time.

Late Assignments

All assignments must be turned in on time. If you have a medical or other emergency, talk to me as soon as possible about it, and we can discuss alternative arrangements. Otherwise, though, no extensions will be granted!

Collaborative Writing/Plagiarism

I encourage you to work with one another to become better writers and better thinkers by sharing your ideas and giving feedback on each other's work. However, the work you submit to this class is expected to be your own. When you want to refer to someone else's ideas (even the ideas of someone else in this class), you must properly acknowledge your sources. Sometimes this involves providing appropriate citations in the body of your writing and additional bibliographic information at the end. Other times it involves using footnotes correctly. If you have questions about how to cite a source properly, consult a style manual or ask me. If you submit work that has been copied without attribution from some published or unpublished source, or that has been prepared by someone other than you, or that in any other way misrepresents somebody else's work as your own, you will face severe discipline by the University! Work that is your own work but has been submitted to more than one class for credit is also considered plagiarism unless you have obtained the permission of all course instructors involved prior to handing in the work. For more detailed information, see the College of Arts and Sciences' pages on academic integrity at http://www.college.upenn.edu/rules/academic_integrity.html.

Resources

Short Title Catalogue (STC) Texts (http://www.library.upenn.edu/vanpelt/guides/stc.html): A. W. Pollard and G.R. Redgrave's Short Title Catalogue lists the titles of more than 37,000 English books published between 1475 and 1640. Penn's Van Pelt Library has photocopies of the microfilms of most of these books in a room on the 3rd floor. The room has a handy card catalogue, which contains a chronological listing as well as author, subject, and title indexes. These items are shelved in the numerical order in which they are listed in Pollard and Redgrave's book, which can be found at the Van Pelt Reference desk. The second edition also has a chronological listing. The library also has microfilm copies of the books in the STC, with more books than are on the shelves in the STC room. These microfilms are, unfortunately, not presented in STC number order. Instead, the library listing should tell you the reel number, and the position of the book on the reel (e.,g, 4 or 5). See the reference desk for help. For books published from 1640- 1700, you would need to look at Donald Wing's Short Title Catalogue.

The Furness Shakespeare Library: English Renaissance in Context (http://www.library.upenn.edu/etext/collections/furness/): facsimiles of original playtexts and other stuff from the Renaissance through the nineteenth century plus a bunch of tutorials to learn how to use these materials. To get to the tutorials, click on the "ERIC" icon to begin, then select "Multimedia Tutorials." To go directly to the facsimiles, click on the "Enter the Collection" icon. You'll need a good modem connection to use this site since there are a lot of images to download. To view the tutorials, you'll also need Flash Player, which you can download from the site. If your computer is old or slow, you might want to use the computer on the sixth floor of Van Pelt Library. The site is currently in development, so there are still some kinks to work out in the programming. If you encounter a problem, be patient.

The Oxford English Dictionary Online (OED) (http://dictionary.oed.com/) : the standard dictionary for literary scholarship which also gives examples about how a word's usage has changed over time. Use this for your papers.

Chadwyck-Healey Literature Online (LION) (http://lion.chadwyck.com/): a searchable, full-text database of over 250,000 works in English and American Literature, including nearly all early modern English drama, all Renaissance editions of Shakepeare and later adaptations, much early modern poetry, and some early modern prose fiction.

Early English Books Online (EEBO) (http://wwwlib.umi.com/eebo/): essentially a computerized version of the STC room with scans of UMI's microfilms of facsimiles of early modern texts. This database is not searchable, but it does include lots of useful historical texts not otherwise digitally available. Requires you to download the DjVu plugin.

The Writing Center (http://www.sas.upenn.edu/writing/services/center.html): all kinds of writing help and advice provided by grad students from various departments, located on the 4th floor of Bennett Hall. Make an appointment by calling 898-8525.

Peer Writing Advisors (http://www.sas.upenn.edu/writing/services/advisors.html) : peer advising online at http://www.english.upenn.edu/~writhelp/ or in-person at the dorms and at Writers House.

Jack Lynch's Grammar and Style Guide (http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/): fast, online advice about style (grammar and mechanics) from former Penn English grad student Jack Lynch.

Writers House (http://www.english.upenn.edu/~wh): hosts many fun events for readers and writers. For more info, check out their website or call 573- WRIT.

Writing Program Home Page (http://www.sas.upenn.edu/writing/): general guide to writing resources at Penn.

Tutoring and Learning Resources: Help with all kinds of study skills from time management to reading a lot very quickly. Call 57-EXCEL (573- 9235) for an appointment, email them at tutoring@pobox.upenn.edu, or drop by their office at Suite 110, Harnwell College House/High Rise East (3820 Locust Walk).

Counseling and Psychological Services: Confidential and free individual counseling, support, workshops (on such topics as stress management, eating issues, test anxiety, and relationship issues), and walk-in crisis counseling--all to help you develop greater understanding about yourself and others and to enhance your personal well-being and academic performance. Call 898 - 7021 or stop by their office 133 South 36th Street (near Sansom), 2nd Floor Mellon Building, between 9 AM and 5 PM, Monday - Friday.