17th Century Poetry

Tentative Syllabus for English 4120: Spring 2006

 

Place: TLC 1204 Writing Center Seminar Room

Time: MW 3:30-4:45

Instructor: Dr. Micheal Crafton

Office:  TLC 2225

Office hours: M,W 9:30-11:30, and by appointment.

Email: mcrafton@westga.edu

Home page: http://www.westga.edu/~mcrafton/

 

Brief Course Description:

 

Some of the most argued about poets in the twentieth century were from, oddly enough, the seventeenth century. Two that stand out are John Donne, favored by the New Critics, and John Milton, favored by so-called “myth” critics as well as such popularizers as C.S. Lewis. In this course we will read the poetry of these two as well as some of the critical controversy about their modern reputation and the poetry of their contemporaries: Robert Herrick, Andrew Marvell, Ben Johnson, George Herbert, Amelia Lanyer. This period of English literature witnessed one of the most profound political upheavals, a civil war and the execution of the king. We will attempt to trace those social crises in the poetry of the period.

 

 Course description

  • An investigation of significant issues, themes, and ideologies in selections of seventeenth-century British literature studied in terms of their original cultural contexts.
  • Prerequisites: ENGL 1101 and 1102.
  • A further specific description pertaining to this section of the course may be added.

Course Goals

  • Students will develop in-depth understanding of seventeenth-century British literature in its European and world historical and social context.
  • Students will develop an understanding of how those specific contextual details affect literary history.
  • Students will develop the ability to apply theoretical argument to the historical conditions that shape the production of literature.
  • Students will recognize the implications of different critical and theoretical readings as culturally invested products.
  • Students will understand the points of congruence between literature and other disciplines.
  • Students will demonstrate in both oral and written work a discipline-specific critical facility through convincing and well-supported analysis of related material.
  • Students will demonstrate their command of academic English and the tenets of sound composition by means of thesis-driven analytical prose.
  • Students will learn to use discipline-specific computer technologies related to the study of language such as listservs, word processing, and internet research.

Program Goals

  • This course fulfills one of the departmental requirements for the completion of the English major.
  • Students will develop the analytical, oral and written skills to pursue graduate study or careers in teaching, writing, business and a variety of other fields.
  • Students will be able to define and pursue independent research agendas.
  • This course contributes to the program goal of equipping students with a foundation in literary history and the issues surrounding literary study in contemporary culture.
  • This course broadens students' desire and ability to take pleasure in their encounter with literature.

 

Evaluation, Assignments, and Grading Procedure

The procedures for evaluations are three: in-class exams, oral reports, and out of class essays.

 

Essays:

            There will be two essays required.  The first is what a professor of mine from Wisconsin called a working paper.  You might call it a response paper.  It is a short (3-5 page) paper wherein you demonstrate your ability to analyze a text and create a focused and logical essay that illuminates our understanding of the text (or texts) as a result of that analysis.

            The second paper is the classic research paper, or research-enhanced paper (8-10 pages).  Here, of course, your focus is not only your analysis of texts but your ability to engage the scholarly conversations about these texts or the contexts surrounding them and produce an essay that further illuminates our understanding of the texts and/or contexts.  This paper could well be built out of the work done in the two oral reports described below.

 

Advice Given upon the Prospect of Writing the First Paper for 4120

 

  1. First of all, this is a short paper that does not require research.  As such, my strong recommendation is to take one of the Donne poems in our book, perhaps one we did not discuss in great detail during class discussion and write an exegesis of that poem.
  2. While research is not required, it is not banned either.  We have been reading some excellent scholarly articles, introductory to be sure, in the Cambridge Companion.  Any one of these could well provide an idea or jumping off point for a short essay.  Remember, you are free to use any idea you find, but you must indicate it with documentation.
  3. For example, you might take an idea from Cleanth Brooks’s essay on paradox in “Canonization” and decide to test a similar strategy in another poem.  Give Brook’s credit in the early going of the paper and then off you go.  You may want to articulate the inner struggle with faith that Donne writes and something in Loewenstein on Calvinism.  Make a quote from Loewenstein and off you go.
  4. It’s a short paper. The introduction should be about a half a page, no more than one page and the conclusion can be very brief, a couple of sentences, whereas the rest of the paper will be your clear expression of your most important ideas about reading the poem.  Those ideas could focus on structure or word choice or conceits (or figurative language) or historical references or mythological references or tone and voice (most difficult).

 

Oral Reports:

            Since the vision of this course is bifocal, which is to say, focusing on the historical context as well as the contemporary appropriation; we will attempt two oral reports.  One early in the term and one toward the end.  The one early in the term will present some aspect of the historical context.  There are too many topics to list here, but the student will be able to choose from a broad array of subjects and then narrow the scope of that topic.  So, for example, if a student wanted to talk about politics, a broad topic, that student might end up presenting on the Gunpowder Plot.  Perhaps, the student might narrow that further to pictures, drawings of Gunpowder Plot people or events and the politics that inspired them.  Also, one could report on some aspect of the life of one of our poets or on a poet that we are not taking in the class.

            The second report, accordingly, will present something of a cultural nexus between some aspect of 17th-century poetry and the modern period.  This project could result in a discussion of a modern representation (film or literature or other) of the period or a figure in the period or a modern text that grapples with the idea of the period.  We will take a look at the film version of Margaret Edson’s Wit, wherein the poetry or the idea of the poetry of John Donne plays an important role.  (We will do this before her visit to campus, so we can ask informed questions upon her visit.)  This report might also take up the issue of modern criticism and its responses to 17th-century poetry: the New Critics and their love of Metaphysical poetry; Harold Bloom’s obsession with Paradise Lost as the figure of the castrating father in the “visionary company” of Romantic and later lyric poetry; of the response to C.S. Lewis and his understanding of Milton and medieval and Renaissance notions of romantic love.

 

Report Sign-up Sheet

Report topic suggestions

 

Midterm and Final Examinations

Examinations will be based on reading assignments, course lectures, and other materials presented in class. For each examination students will be expected to know the major terms and figures, concepts and theories related to the study of the literature that will be presented in reading assignments and course lectures. Consequently, students should be thoroughly familiar with each reading assignment and be prepared to take notes during class. Examinations will include an objective, in-class component (terms, definitions, etc.) and an out of class essay component. Examinations cannot be taken late or scheduled at an alternate time unless you have a serious medical emergency or another legitimate reason for doing so. In the event that such circumstances arise, you must let me know in advance to schedule an alternate time to take the examination. Otherwise, late exams will be marked down one letter grade for each day they are taken late. I will provide you with a study guide prior to each exam.

 

Attendance Requirements and Class Protocols

Improving your critical thinking, analytical writing, and presentation skills requires commitment and concentrated effort. Therefore, careful preparation and active participation are crucial to your success in this course. Obviously, you should be present and on time for all class meetings. Readings and other assignments should be completed in advance of each class. You should come prepared to participate actively in our class discussions. If you are going to be absent from class, you should let me know in advance. Late work will not be accepted unless you make arrangements with me in advance and you have a legitimate reason (a serious medical or family emergency) for turning in work after it is due.
In the case of excused absences, it is your responsibility to make arrangements with me to complete assignments you have missed immediately upon your return to class. Failure to follow these guidelines will result in a zero or grade reduction for work not submitted on time. You will not be able to make up missed in-class assignments or quizzes, and you will not receive credit for these assignments.   If you find it unavoidable to miss class, be aware of the following guidelines:
   

Technology
You need to be familiar with finding sources online and other aspects of computer technology for this class. I will assist you if you have questions. Also, information can be found online at the UWG Technology / Surfing Guide: http://www.westga.edu/~techlife/

 

Plagiarism & Academic Dishonesty
UWG defines plagiarism as taking personal credit for the words and ideas of others as they are presented in electronic, print, and verbal sources. I expect that students will accurately credit sources in all assignments. An equally dishonest practice is fabricating sources or facts; it is another form of misrepresenting the truth. Plagiarism is grounds for failing the course.  Any student caught submitting materials (in part or whole) as their own work from online websites will fail the course automatically and be referred to the Academic Discipline Council. For additional information, please see http://www.westga.edu/~engdept/Plagiarism

 

Conferences and Outside Assistance
I will be glad to meet with you outside of class to discuss your work in this class, the writing assignments, or the texts we are studying. If you are having trouble with the material in this class or have questions and/or concerns you would like to discuss, please set up a time to meet with me.

 

Assignments and Their Grade Weights:

1. Short paper = 10 %

2. Mid-term exam = 20 %

3. Presentations = 10 % (counts more because of comprehensive essay question)

4. Participation = 10 %

5. Research paper = 30 %

6. Final exam =  20 %

 

Texts:

(Cumings)  Seventeenth-Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology.  Ed. Robert Cummings.  Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2000.

(Corns) The Cambridge Companion to English Poetry Donne to Marvell. Ed. Thomas N. Corns.  Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1993.

(PL) Paradise Lost.  John Milton.  Text of your choosing.  There are several on-line versions:

            http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/lost/lost.html

            http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/note/index.shtml

            http://www.gutenberg.org/

 

 Daily Assignments

 

M         9          Introduction to the course, syllabus, books: Brief overview of the term Renaissance and Early Modern, a few of the topics and personalities of the period; a Donne poem “The Sun Rising. 

 

W        11        Loewenstein, “Politics and Religion” in Corns p. 3: Group work on the essay; Laying our more tropes of the “new” in the Early Modern Period, particularly New Politics; New Religion; New Learning or Culture; and New Physical World 

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M         16        Holiday: MLK, Jr.

 

W        18        Fowler, “Genre and Tradition” in Corns p. 80; Chapman, “Ulysses in Phaeacia”;                        Lanyer, “Description of Cookham”; Drayton, “Wildlife in the Fens”: Chapman and the trope of the New Learning, Renaissance Humanism; Drayton as well, with more of a native emphasis; Lanyer and the New World of Female Voices

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M         23       Guibbory, “Donne” in Corns p. 123; Donne Cummings pp 35-42: The Inexorable Paradoxes of the Lover’s Discourse: Donne’s Love Poetry and some characteristics of his style

 

W        25        Donne Cummings pp 42-50: Close Readings of a few poems

                        Report: __Alaine Job – Tme and Ren Love Poetry

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M         30       Donne Cummings pp 51-64: Defining Metaphysical Poetry

                        Report: _Laura Mehok___Donne’s sailing adventure and “The Calm”

 

W        1          Donne Cummings pp 64-78: Martz and the Meditative Tradition: Overview of Resources for Paper Topics.

                       

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M         6         Helgerson, “Jonson” in Corns p. 148; Jonson Cummings pp 79-90

                        Report: __Daniel Thomas__Jonson’s use of Martial and Horace

                        Dynamic tensions in Jonson’s career: humble beginnings versus noble ambitions; noble patrons versus dependent status: Epigrams and Forest

 

W        8          Jonson Cummings pp 90-106

                        Report: __Tara-Ann Githens__Jonson and classical rhetoric

                        Underwood: Cavalier Pose, aristocratic degage and the failed lover.

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M         13       Corns, “Carew, Suckling and Lovelace” in Corns p 200; Carew, Suckling and Lovelace   Cummings pp 208-215, 315-321, 361-366

 

W        15        Lady Mary Wroth Cummings pp 135-144

                        Report: __Tamara Daniels _; _Molly DeBorde

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M         20       Wit : Short paper due*****

 

W        22        Wit

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M         27       Mid-Term

 

W        1         Marcus, “Herrick” in Corns p. 171; Herrick Cummings pp 145-164; specific poems                   TBA

                        (March 2nd is the last day to withdraw with a W.)

                        Report: _Stuart Amerson_; _ Melissa Stubbs__________

                        Report: _Camilla __; _Ricky LeFevre_

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M         6         Wilcox, “Herbert” in Corns p. 183; Herbert Cummings pp 177-187

 

W        8          Herbert Cummings pp 187-207

                        Report: _Angela Sassar – Ren Art__; _Emily Rosekrans_

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M         13       Vaughn; Essays in Corns p. 256

 

W        15        Crashaw, Essays in Corns p. 242

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M         20        Spring Break

 

W        22        Spring Break

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M         27       Friedman, “Marvell” in Corns p. 275; Marvell Cummings pp 399-410

                        Begin considering research paper topic.

 

W        29        Marvell Cummings pp 410-440

                        Report: _Angela Sasser__; Alaina Jobe__

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M         3         Milton, PL I

                        Overview of some research options in Milton’s PL and elsewhere

                        Report: _Stuart__; __Camilla__

 

W        5          Milton, PL II, III

                        Research paper topic due.

                        Report: _Laura Beth_;

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M         10       Milton, PL IV, V

                        Rough sketch of argument and rough bibliography due

                        Report: _Molly DeBorde__; __Melissa______

 

W        12        Milton, PL VI, VII, VIII

                        Report: _Ricky LeFevre_; ___Amy Adams_

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M         17       Milton, PL IX, X

                        Rough draft due: Half the class report on paper.

                        Report: __Matt__;

 

W        19        Milton, PL XI, XII: Second half report on paper

                        Report: _Emily Rosekrans__; __Tamara Daniels__

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M         24       Aphra Behn Cummings pp 533-541, K. Philips Cummings pp 515-520

                        Report: _ _Tara-Ann Githens__

 

W         26        John Wilmot Cummings pp 542-553

                        Final Draft of Research Paper Due

                        Report:  Danielle Thomas___;

                       

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M         1          Last Day of class

 

M        8          Exam: 2:00-4:00