Required Texts:
• George Herbert: The Complete Poems, ed. John Tobin (Penguin,
1991), ISBN 0-14-042348-6
• Isabella Whitney, Mary Sidney and Aemilia Lanyer: Renaissance
Women Poets, ed. Danielle Clarke (Penguin, 2000)
• Edmund Spenser's Poetry: Authoritative Texts, Criticism,
ed. Hugh Maclean and Anne Lake Prescott (Norton, 1993)
• John Milton: The Major Works, ed. Stephen Orgel, Jonathan
Goldberg (Oxford, 2003)
• Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (The Revels Plays), ed.
David Bevington and Eric Rasmussen (Manchester, 1993)
• Christopher Marlowe: The Complete Poems, ed. Mark Thornton
Burnett (Everyman, 2001)
Requirements and Class Structure:
Please check the class website often (above). While I do not foresee any substantial
changes to the syllabus, I may alter our schedule depending upon our progress
and will periodically add supplemental material which will be linked to the
site and/or e-Reserve. Please prepare the readings, both primary and secondary,
for our class meetings. This course’s format is lecture and discussion,
therefore I expect you to be prepared and ready to discuss the material. The
reading will at times be heavy, and I may also suggest additional recommended
essays to help us manage this literary period, so I recommend you always look
ahead and plan accordingly.
Office Hours
Since I am not local, I will not be on campus as much as I would like. I will
do everything I can to find a time that we can meet, but unfortunately I will
be restricted to Monday and Wednesday afternoons and evenings. If you cannot
meet during my scheduled office hours, please let me know (in person) so we
can arrange a time. Feel free to email me as well, although I have found that
for anything beyond a simple question it is far more productive, and enjoyable,
to talk face-to-face.
Grading
Papers (50%): Assignments and requirements will be handed out as we make our
way through the semester, but some basic parameters follow: the first paper
will focus on composing a close reading and perhaps a comparison how two writers
handle certain topics or strategies; it will be at least five pages long.
The second paper will be a bit longer, six to eight pages, and will require
you to grapple with some of the larger themes and problems we have covered.
Of course I require you to do your own thinking and any evidence of plagiarism
will result in a failure of the class and possible academic sanctions. There
is a multitude of “supplemental” material in the libraries and
on the web (some helpful, most not), but I am more interested in your particular
understanding of the material and your ability to articulate this on paper.
No late papers will be accepted.
Participation (25%): Under this category falls daily participation in class,
responses to in-class quizzes, and quality of (very) short writing assignments.
Simply completing the reading will not suffice. You will need to take notes
and work to comprehend the artistic and intellectual ideas fueling the poetry
and prose. I of course am here to help you through this rich and often puzzling
material, but the more work you do outside of the classroom the more productive
our meetings will be. I strongly suggest you attempt to reread as much as
possible – poetry is an extremely compressed form and has much to offer
should you give it an opportunity. Attendance is required, and more than two
absences during the semester will result in a lowered final grade.
Midterm and Final (25%): More information on the structure of the exams will be announced later. The exams are what you would expect, an opportunity to display your understanding of the material covered.