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Aug. 24 |
Introductions and the Big Questions |
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Aug. 26 |
Terms, timelines, and literature in history. How this course
is going to work. Read: The Dream of the Rood
(125-131). After class, look at "Tips
for Reading a Work of Literature" from the
English/Core pages
and at "Critical
Reading: A Guide" by Professor John Lye of Brock University. Here is
The Lord's Prayer in Anglo-Saxon. |
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Aug. 31 |
The Middle Ages (3-26).
¤Anglo-Saxon Perspectives: 131-146; The Wanderer; Wulf & Eadwacer and
The Wife’s Lament (150-155). |
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Sept. 2 |
Chaucer:
The General Prologue¤.
Here is a
good
explanation of medieval estates from the Norton Anthology
website. |
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Sept. 7 |
Chaucer:
The Miller’s Tale and
The Pardoner’s
Prologue and Tale.¤ Here are some
images to help you visualize these tales. |
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Sept. 9 |
Chaucer: The Wife of Bath’s
Prologue and
Tale. Margery
Kempe, from
The Book of Margery Kempe (529 ff). ¤ |
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Sept. 10 |
Friday: Last day to elect or change S/U option |
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Sept. 14 |
Marie de France, Prologue and Lanval (176-191);
skim the "Perspectives" on Arthurian Myth, p. 159 ff.
Here are a bunch of
links to Arthurian Resources on the web, ranging from the scholarly to
the utterly ridiculous, and here is the slide show on the
evidence for King Arthur. |
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Sept. 16 |
Sir Thomas Malory, from Le Morte Darthur (249-279).
Exam review. You should also
e-mail an essay question to the class discussion list no later than 7 pm
Monday night. Here are the
rules for "fin amor" or
courtly love. |
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Sept. 21 |
The Early Modern Period (640-662).
Perspectives on Government and Self-Government (756-777).
You should fill out the comparison
sheet "How Does the Early Modern Period Differ from the Middle Ages?" before
Tuesday's class. Here is the
list of essay questions submitted for the
first test. |
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Sept. 23 |
First Midterm Exam. It will cover materials
from Aug. 24 till Sept. 16. |
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Sept. 27 |
Monday: Last day to drop courses with grade of automatic ‘N’ |
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Sept. 28 |
Some Shakespeare on video. Introduction to the
Elizabethan/Jacobean theatre. |
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Sept. 30 |
Shakespeare, “The Tempest” Acts I - III.
Here's the slideshow. |
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Oct. 5 |
Shakespeare, “The Tempest” Acts IV-V |
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Oct. 7 |
Spenser, Sidney,
Donne, and other important sonneteers;
The Passionate Shepherd and friends.† Here's a
cheat sheet on sonnet notes if you need it.
The Sonnet
Game slideshow. Click here for the list of
sonnets you must all know. |
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Oct. 12 |
Sonnet Day.† Here is the
list of assigned sonnets; you'll read yours
OUT LOUD. |
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Oct. 14 |
No class; instructor at conference. Get a running head start
on Milton if you’re smart! |
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Oct. 15-18 |
Fall Break |
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Oct. 19 |
Introduction to Milton.
Areopagitica
(1827-36) and online selections from
The Doctrine and Discipline of
Divorce.
Milton is tough; you might want some
online help with him. You might
be interested in this important talk about "Milton
and the First Amendment" from the Yale Law School, or the notes from
Dartmouth's Milton Reading Room on Areopagitica. (The
Dartmouth Milton Reading Room is a wonderful resource for any of
Milton's writings!) |
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Oct. 21 |
Milton, Paradise Lost.
Read books I, II,. Focus on the
characters of Satan, Beelzebub, Adam, and Eve. Make notes about the four
themes. Pay attention to Milton's style, especially to his use of
blank
verse,
epic conventions, and
enjambment. Many students find
Milton the hardest author we read this semester; if you want to look at the
Spark Notes for Paradise Lost as a starter, here's the
link. (Don't rely on these alone; remember that you will have to
recognize specific quotations and discuss specific episodes on the exam!)
Believe it or not, there is Milton
humor. If you are interested in lots of illustrations of Milton, try
this page:
http://www.paradiselost.org/4-stories-pictures.html. Here is
today's slide show on Key Terms in Milton. |
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Oct. 26 |
Paradise Lost book IV. Exam review. Introduction to
The Restoration and the 18th Century (2061-2084).
Print out and fill out the grid.
Essay questions due
by 9 pm October 25! |
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Oct. 28 |
Second midterm exam. It will cover everything
from Sept. 21 to Oct 21.
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Nov. 2 |
Election day; no class. After you vote, take time to get started reading
Pride and Prejudice. |
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Nov. 4 |
Discuss final paper.
If you are interested in the
Great Fire of London, click here.
Slideshow from today. |
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Nov. 9 |
Perspectives: The Royal Society and the New Science; Pepys,
The Diary (selections).
Pope, Essay on Criticism, Essay on Man (selections). |
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Nov. 11 |
Swift, A Description of a City
Shower, Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift, A Modest Proposal;
(Hint: read the selection from Petty’s Political Arithmetic, 2472, first!) |
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Nov. 16 |
Gray, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, †Elegy
Written in a Country Churchyard . Johnson, Letter to Lord
Chesterfield; from A Dictionary of the English Language, from
The Plays of William Shakespeare. |
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Nov. 18 |
Pride and Prejudice: Introduction and Vol. I (to
p. 119).
Rise of the Novel/Intro to Jane slideshow.
Resources for studying Jane Austen. |
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Nov. 23 |
Pride and Prejudice Vol. II (119-208).
Skim “Marriage and the Marriage Market,” pp. 349-383. |
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Nov. 24-28 |
Celebrate Thanksgiving and my mother’s 87th
birthday. |
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Nov. 29 |
Monday: Last day to withdraw from classes. |
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Nov. 30 |
Pride and Prejudice Vol. III (208-329).
Skim “Female Character and Conduct” and “Male Character and Conduct,” pp.
384-407. |
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Dec. 2 |
Final
papers or lesson plans due at the beginning of class–no late papers will be
accepted without doctor's or Dean's excuse.
Wrap-up, course evaluations, and review for final exam.
Essay questions for this exam must be
e-mailed to the class list by 7 pm today. |
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Dec. 12 |
Review Session. 6:30 PM. Bancroft 267. |
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Monday Dec. 13,
3 p.m. |
Final Exam. It will be in two parts: 50 points on the material from
Oct. 26 to the end of the term (with terms,
quotations to identify, and one
essay, like a normal
midterm) and 50 points from a
mini-grid of ideas and characteristics and one comprehensive essay (you'll
have some choice). You will need
at least one blue book (I don't care which size,
and you can get them at the Bookworm). You must
take the final exam to pass the course. The only excuses accepted for
missing the final that would warrant a re-scheduling of the exam are medical
or those accepted by Dr. Bethany Marlowe, Dean of Students. Check your exam schedule
at
http://www.winthrop.edu/recandreg/pdf/exams/F04sched.pdf. |
|
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† On these days everyone will have an assigned work or portion of a work to
read aloud and make comments on it. Be prepared!
¤ Tapes of these works in the original language will be placed on reserve in
Dacus if you’d like to hear them.