Engl 41701 / 52701: early 17th-century english poetry
Spring 2020: MW 4:30-5:45 LA 116
We’ll read selections from several poets, the non-canonical as well as the traditional, from the reign of James I to slightly after the Restoration (1603-1667). Although we'll spend a bit more time on John Donne, Ben Jonson, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, and John Milton, we will also study poets such as Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, Edmund Waller, Richard Lovelace, Aemilia Lanyer, and Katherine Philips. We'll devote the last month of the course to Paradise Lost. We'll investigate trends in seventeenth-century English history: the reigns of James I, Charles I, Charles II, and James II; Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution; religion and society.
Sir Herbert Grierson, ed. Metaphysical Lyrics and Poems of the Seventeenth Century (1921)
Dr. Johnson, Life of Cowley (1784)
T. S. Eliot, Review of Grierson ["The Metaphysical Poets"] in TLS 1921
Seventeenth-century timeline (BBC)
Magnificent Paradise Lost in medias res chart
Grandmother Eve and Prelapsarian Sexuality
Syllabus
General Information
Office: LA 233 Hours: please contact me
shakespeareinyourface.blogspot.com
Texts: Rumrich and Chaplin, eds., ed., Seventeenth-Century British Poetry: 1603-1660: A Norton Critical Edition (ISBN: 0393979989) .
Teskey, ed., Paradise Lost: A Norton Critical Edition (ISBN: 0393924289)
13 15 22 27 January
Introductions, Stuarts, neoclassicism, baroque, mannerism, Puritans, Anglicans;
Ben Jonson, "On Something That Walks Somewhere"; "On My First Daughter"; "On My First Son"; "Inviting a Friend to Supper"; "Why I Write Not of Love"; "To Penshurst"; "Shakespeare"
29 January; 3 5 10 February
John Donne, "The Sun Rising"; “The Flea”; “The Apparition”; “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”; “The Ecstasy”; “Elegy: On His Mistress Going to Bed”; [“At the round earth’s imagined corners”]; [“Death be not proud”]; [“Batter my heart”]; “Good Friday, 1613: Riding Westward”
12 17 19 February
George Herbert, “The Altar”; “Redemption”; “Easter [I]”; “Easter-wings [I]”; “Affliction [I]”; “Jordan [I]”; “Jordan [II]”; “The Collar”; “Love [III]”
24 26 February; 2 4 March
Robert Herrick, “The Argument of His Book”; “Dreams”; “Delight in Disorder”; “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”; “His Prayer to Ben Jonson”; “The Bad Season Makes the Poet Sad”; “Upon Julia’s Clothes”; Thomas Carew, "Song: Persuasions to Enjoy"; Richard Lovelace, "Love Made in the First Age: To Chloris"; Edmund Waller, “The Story of Phoebus and Daphne Applied”; “Song [Go, lovely rose]”; Sir John Denham, Cooper's Hill
ANALYTICAL ESSAY DUE FRIDAY, 28 FEBRUARY, 9 A.M., VIA EMAIL:
23 25 30 March
Andrew Marvell, “An Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland”; “The Nymph Complaining for the Death of Her Fawn”; “To His Coy Mistress”; “The Definition of Love”; Aemelia Lanyer, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum
FIRST EXAM DUE FRIDAY 27 MARCH, 9 A.M., VIA EMAIL:
April
COURSE POLICIES
ATTENDANCE AND GOOD MANNERS
You are allowed five (5) absences for any reason you choose. Students who miss more than this will fail the course, without exception, regardless of circumstances. I do not distinguish between “excused” and “unexcused” absences, nor am I responsible for material that you miss because you are absent. Students who miss the attendance call (the first five minutes of class) will be marked absent; students who get up and leave in the middle of class will be marked absent. Please take care of your rest room issues BEFORE class. If you must leave, give us the high sign.
NOTE: if you signed up for the class, it is understood that you can attend it regardless of family or employment obligations. If you have emergencies, this is why you have absences allowed.
DUE DATES
Your paper and take-home exams are due on the scheduled non-class dates by 9 a.m. via email. Late papers = 0. No exceptions. These will be short, 4-6 pp. for undergrads, 10-15 pp. for grads. Your paper and first exam may be revised after meeting with the instructor in the office and discussing your plans.
DON'T BE A PLAGIARIST
it should go without saying that students are also expected to do their own work; indebtedness to secondary materials (either printed or electronic) must be clearly indicated so as to avoid plagiarism:
—(piecemeal) using someone else’s words and phrases as if they were your own, not pararphrasing or summarizing properly, even with proper documentation;
—(grotesque) using someone else’s ideas as if they were your own, without proper documentation;
—(more grotesque) allowing someone else to write your paper for you.
GRADING
The course grade will be determined by a rough averaging together of your essay on an assigned topic, take-home midterm, and take-home final exam, and the less formal writing I will assign individually for presentational purposes. I reserve the right to take into additional factors into account; improvement, class participation, and, of course, attendance. Grades are not negotiable, personal, or subject to the influence of extracurricular academic factors.
We grade on the usual 100 pt. scale: 90s = A, 50s = F
COMMUNICATION
You may email me at any time. I will usually get back to you quickly: stapletm@pfw.edu
NOTE WELL:
I always acknowledge an email submission with a reply confirming receipt. If you DON'T hear from me after a reasonable period of time, it means I didn't get the paper. It is YOUR responsibility to follow up in this case, not mine.
ANALYTICAL ESSAY
PROMPT
Read Henry King’s “The Exequy,” which you can access by this link, since the poem is not in your anthology. Write an analysis and explication of it. Your paper should have a point, an arguable thesis that you keep in sight throughout for the reader’s edification. Avoid summary (simply paraphrasing the poem into your own words) for its own sake. Concentrate on analysis (why the poet does what he does, not just what it is). Original thinking is key, and gets the nod.
If you are an undergraduate, please do not feel obliged to do library work on the poem, or to surf the internet for bad ideas. Graduate students should make some attempt to investigate recent criticism on the poem.
And remember: it is plagiarism to use materials that are not your own; online “sources” such as Wikipedia are illegitimate; the rationale for using secondary materials is to show your academic audience that you have researched your topic thoroughly and that you are making an original contribution to scholarship on the site.
Here are some things to think about as you begin, but please do not program your paper as a set of answers to these questions:
who is the speaker and what does he want?
what seems to concern him?
some of the language and metaphor seems odd, but was characteristic of its time. Why did King think it was appropriate to the subject matter?
which passages of the poem seem particularly significant and worthy of analysis? Is there a section of “The Exequy” that really demands significant and detailed treatment? (This is key.)
Send me your paper in a Word document from your email address to mine: stapletm@pfw.edu You can always turn your paper in early. Most of my students do. Late papers will result in an F grade (see syllabus). Last-minute computer problems are no excuse.
SPECS
4-5 pp. for undergraduates, 10-12 pp. for graduate students
reputable sources if you care to use them
due Friday, 28 February 9 a.m. via email
no late papers
*The grade on your analytical paper is approximate. This means that you may revise once for a better grade. However, you really have to revise the essay, and you must schedule an office conference before you undertake your revision. And that grade is final. The due date for the revision is any time before the second exam is due, 8 May
note well: I always acknowledge an email submission. If I DON'T acknowledge after a reasonable period of time, it means I didn't get the paper. It is YOUR responsibility to follow up in this case, not mine.
FIRST EXAM
PROMPT
Donne, Jonson, Herbert, Herrick, Lovelace, Carew, Waller: what common field marks do they share to identify them as poets of their time? Or, what one specific thing do they all have in common?
Besides maleness, that is. This is a take-home examination. Detail and specificity, as well as adventurous thinking, are definitely prized here. Since this is an exam rather than a formal paper, strict adherence to the conventions and formatting of formal writing are not necessarily required. At the same time, please consult the Writing Papers webpage.
SPECS
4-5 pp. for undergraduates, 10-12 pp. for graduate students
reputable sources if you care to use them
due Friday, 27 March 9 a.m. via email
no late papers
*The grade on your exam is approximate. This means that you may revise once for a better grade. However, you really have to revise the exam, and you must schedule an office conference before you undertake your revision. And that grade is final. The due date for the revision is any time before the second exam is due, Friday 8 May
note well: I always acknowledge an email submission. If I DON'T acknowledge after a reasonable period of time, it means I didn't get the paper. It is YOUR responsibility to follow up in this case, not mine.
SECOND EXAM
PROMPT
Your final mission is simple. What is Miltonic? What is characteristic of the author we have been reading and studying for the last month? By which signs and tendencies would you know him? Use short but appropriate quotations from Paradise Lost to make your point. Or, if you feel ambitious, you may use examples from other works of his that you have read.The exam should be typewritten and no shorter or longer than 5 pp. for undergraduates, 8 pp. for graduate students
Because it is not my practice to write comments on final papers and exams, yours will not be returned, unless you really, really, really want it back, with lots of comments. You must request this, however.
Specs
4-5 pp.
no need for secondary materials
due Friday, 8 May 9 a.m. via email
no late papers
I would rather not have to return these with commentary unless you specifically request it
note well: I always acknowledge an email submission. If I DON'T acknowledge after a reasonable period of time, it means I didn't get the paper. It is YOUR responsibility to follow up in this case, not mine.