DESCRIPTION:
This class will read two long poems: Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene and John Milton's Paradise Lost. We are interested in how these poems relate to broad traditions of epic (and numerous other literary forms, as well), how they relate to one another, and how they work as long poems. We are interested as well in how they relate to the history and thought of the times in which they were written, and how they can continue to be read and enjoyed in our own very different time. The course will require a willingness to read a great deal of poetry and to speak about it in class. Some additional secondary works will also be assigned. The class will require two longish papers. Students should also expect exercises in oral interpretation of these texts (that is, reading them aloud publicly).
Reading the Aeneid in the early days of this class, if at all possible, will be extremely helpful for seeing how Spenser and Milton use -- both by adopting and changing -- epic conventions. Both of the translations above read well in English. Somewhat nicer than Bantam's mass-market paperback of Mandelbaum's Virgil is California's a trade paperback edition, adorned by Barry Moser's illustrations. Everyman publishes a relatively inexpensive hardcover edition of Fitzgerald's Virgil.
Serious readers with a lot of time on their hands may also want to read some of the following works. NOTE: This list involves a great deal of reading! No one expects you to do all of it. Doing even any of it may prove daunting. This list is here for no other reason than if pleasure, inclination, and time lead you to try anything on it.
and, for historical Background:
Recommended:
Recommended:
Week 3
1 February
Recommended:
Week 4
8 February
Recommended:
Week 5
15 February
Recommended:
Websites:
Week 6
22 February
Recommended:
Week 7
1 March -- CANCELLED (SNOW); CLASS AND PAPER RESCHEDULED
8 MARCH
Graduate student assignment:What resources would you choose for teaching and studying FQ, Books 3-4, 5, OR 6? How would you go about locating and evaluating these? -- Note that this paper asks you to think about both process and results. 3-5 pages; absolute maximum of 1000 words.
Week 8
8 March -- CLASS AND PAPER RESCHEDULED 22 MARCH
TOPIC Spenser's characters often occur in "clusters" or "groups": several nominally "different" characters all of whom illuminate various aspects o associated virtues or ills. Such "clusters" might include, e.g.,
and numerous others.
- Gloriana, Britomart, Belphoebe -- all of whom seem to reflect various aspects of Queen Elizabeth (or, dare one say it, several of whom Elizabeth seems a [pale] reflection);
- Red Cross, Guyon, Arthur -- variably representative of the major qualities with which "magnificence" seems to be involved;
- Florimell and Marinell;
- Amoret and Belphoebe;
- Duessa, Malecasta, Acrasia;
- Duessa and Archimago
Consider one group -- either one of those mentioned above or one you yourself define. Why might Spenser want to display virtues -- or ills -- through more than one "character"? (On the other hand, why ought he not to have done this?) Are the reasons you can determine -- positive or negative -- primarily "moral" or "didactic"? or does his use of such clusters have any literary impact, and, if so, how might that be defined?
This is a complicated question. Say less rather than more: find one group and one argument and stay with them. Don't digress; don't try to say everything about even one group, let alone a bit about many of them. You will need to buttress your points FROM THE TEXT: be specific.
We are concerned with how you argue; how you write; and how you READ Spenser's text, how you pick and use the evidence you bring to bear in this essay.
Week 9
15 March -- NO CLASS / SPRING VACATION
Week 10 -- CLASS RESCHEDULED 27 MARCH
22 March
Week 11
29 March
Week 12
5 April
Recommended:
Graduate student assignment: What resources would you choose for teaching and studying the construction of Eve, Satan, OR Eden in PL? How would you go about locating and evaluating these? -- Note that this paper asks you to think about both process and results. 3-5 pages; absolute maximum of 1000 words.
Week 13
12 April
Week 14
19 April
Week 15
26 April -- LAST CLASS
Graduate student assignment: Review a recent book that deals with both Spenser and Milton (you will have several from which to choose: ASK FIRST!). -- 3-5 pages; absolute maximum of 1000 words.
You can
send Traister e-mail concerning this page at
traister@pobox.upenn.edu