Course Texts
     Course Schedule
     Course Evaluation
     Other Courses:

EN 245--BRITISH LITERATURE, 1600-1800
This course will look at British literature of the 17th and 18th centuries. (Actually, we'll spend a little more time in the 17th, because that's where the interesting stuff is.) But "literature" does not exist in a vacuum; it is affected by and it affects the culture of its time. So when we consider poetry, or plays, or essays, or anything else, we'll also be looking at the culture which produced it. Hopefully, the result will be an interconnected look at literature, history, religion, politics, science, and anything else we can find.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
     Course Description
     Course Schedule
     Course Evaluation
    Other Courses:

EN 245--BRITISH LITERATURE, 1600-1800

Course Texts:

  • The Longman Anthology of British Literature, vol. 1
  • Middleton, Women Beware Women

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
     Course Description
     Course Texts
     Course Evaluation
     
    Other Courses:
 
 
 
 

EN 245--BRITISH LITERATURE, 1600-1800
Course Schedule:

Week 1 (1/15-19): introduction [read introduction on the Early Modern Period, 568-588)]; Donne, “The Sun Rising” (1552)

Week 2 (1/22-26): Herbert, “Affliction (I)” (1586); Vaughan, “The World” (1618); Jonson, “To Penshurst” (1533) 

Week 3 (1/29-2/2): tracts on women (1330-55); Middleton, Women Beware Women

Week 4 (2/5-9): Women Beware Women (cont’d)

Week 5 (2/12-16): texts on the Civil War (1698-1728) Milton, “To the Lord General Cromwell” (1744); Marvell, “Bermudas” (1624), Milton, excerpt from Of Reformation (xerox)

Week 6 (2/19-23): [read introduction on The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, 1978-2002)]; Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, Book II (1-628), Book III (1-415); Book IV (1-776)

Week 7 (2/26-3/2): Paradise Lost, Book IX, Book X, (1-228, 414-577, 710-1104), Book XII (375-649)

Week 8 (3/5-3/9): Spring Break

Week 9 (3/12-16): Etherege, The Man of Mode and the Collier controversy (2270-2279)

Week 10 (3/19-23): The Man of Mode (cont’d); texts on science (2039-2055, 2068-70)

Week 11 (3/26-30): coterie writing (2139-50); reading papers (2312-19, 2347-61) 

Week 12 (4/2-6): Swift, “A Description of the Morning” (2364), “A Description of a City Shower” (2365), Pope, “Essay on Man” (2526-35) 

Week 13 (4/9-13): Pope, “Windsor-Forest” (2478-89) ***NO CLASS Wednesday or Friday***

Week 14 (4/16-20): Hogarth, “A Rake’s Progress” (2616-25), Montagu, “The Turkish Embassy Letters” (2558-62), Johnson, “Letter to Hester Thrale” and “A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland” (2765-78)

Week 15 (4/23-27): Goldsmith, “The Deserted Village” (2844-54), Smith, sonnets (xerox)

Week 16 (4/30): take-home final

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
     Course Description
     Course Texts
     Course Schedule

     

    Other Courses:

EN 245--BRITISH LITERATURE, 1600-1800
Course Evaluation:

As this is a CW course, papers will play an important role in your final grade. There will be two papers, each about 5-7 pages, due dates to be announced early in the semester. For each paper you are strongly encouraged to submit a rough draft, which I will comment upon and hand back to you.

There is no midterm, but there will be a take-home final, in which at times you will be required to deal with works which we have not discussed in class. 

The base grading for this course is: papers 45% final 25%, class participation 15%. That leaves 15%, which you may allocate at your discretion, with the condition that the two papers must always count equally. You must turn in a written statement of how you wish your grade to be counted no later than the Friday of the first week of class.

There is no formal attendance policy, but class participation is important, and if you aren’t here, you can’t participate. Also, I resolve borderline grades by considering a student’s commitment to the class; attendance and participation are the best way to show that commitment.
 

 

Home Page
A Little About Me
My Photo Album
My Favorite Poems
Goldstein's Laws
Various Rants
Cool Websites