Engl 41701 / 52701: early 17th-century english poetry
Fall 2025: TR 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.
Syllabus
General Information
Office: LA 41 Hours: please contact me
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)
26 28 August; 2 4 September
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"
9 11 16 18 September
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”
FIRST SHORT ASSIGNMENT DUE FRIDAY 19 SEPTEMBER BY 11.59 P.M. VIA BRIGHTSPACE
23 25 30 September
George Herbert, “The Altar”; “Redemption”; “Easter [I]”; “Easter-wings [I]”; “Affliction [I]”; “Jordan [I]”; “Jordan [II]”; “The Collar”; “Love [III]”
2 7 9 October
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 ; Katherine Philips, “To Mrs. M. A. at Parting”
SECOND SHORT ASSIGNMENT DUE FRIDAY 3 OCTOBER BY 11.59 P.M. VIA BRIGHTSPACE
ANALYTICAL ESSAY DUE FRIDAY, 17 October , 11:59 p.m. via Brightspace
NO CLASS TUESDAY 21 OCTOBER
14 23 28 30 October
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
THIRD SHORT ASSIGNMENT DUE FRIDAY 24 OCTOBER BY 11.59 P.M. VIA BRIGHTSPACE
FIRST EXAM DUE FRIDAY 31 October, 11: 59 pm. via Brightspace
November and December
Milton, Lycidas, sonnets, Paradise Lost
4 November: sonnets
"How soon hath Time"; "When I consider"; "Methought I saw"
6 and 11 November: Lycidas
18 November-12 December: Paradise Lost
The poem is hard going for the novice. It helps to listen as your eyes run over the words.
You can hear it at this LibriVox link, read by Thomas A. Copeland.
18 November: Book I ; Book II.1-628; Book II.629-1050
20 November: Book III; Book IV
2 December: Book V; Book VI; Book VII
4 December: Book VIII
9 December: Book IX (Doc)
11 December: Book X ; Books XI and XII (Doc)
FOURTH SHORT ASSIGNMENT DUE FRIDAY 21 NOVEMBER BY 11.59 P.M. VIA BRIGHTSPACE
FIFTH SHORT ASSIGNMENT DUE FRIDAY 12 DECEMBER BY 11.59 P.M. VIA BRIGHTSPACE
SECOND EXAM DUE FRIDAY 19 DECEMBER 11.59 P.M. VIA BRIGHTSPACE
NO CLASS THURSDAY 13 NOVEMBER
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.
Please do not sleep in class or put your head down on your desk while class is in session. If you're in no shape to be with us, you are welcome to depart. Just let us know.
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 11:59 p.m. via Brightspace. Late papers = 0. No exceptions. These will be short, 4-6 pp. for undergrads, 10-15 pp. for grads. Your paper, first exam, and short assignments may be revised after meeting with me in the office.
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.
Relying on artificial intelligence, chat-gpt and other means of cheating will not help you write better and are easily spotted. Your first move when starting a paper should not be trying to find material on search engines on the subject.
GRADING
The course grade will be determined by the combined point total out of 100 based on your analytical paper (25), first exam (25), second exam (25), and your five short assignments (5 =25). 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 range, 80s = B range, 70s = C range, 60s = D range, 50s = F
Please keep in mind that you can revise your papers as much as you like as long as you meet with me first.
COMMUNICATION
You may email me at any time. I will usually get back to you quickly: stapletm@pfw.edu
ANALYTICAL ESSAY
PROMPT
Though we'll be reading Milton's Lycidas later in the semester, I think we should write about the poem before we study it as a class. It might be difficult for you, but that's expected and moreover, it's good for you. You will never encounter anything like it again, believe me.
As you'll see from its eleven paragraph indentations, Milton designed his 193-line pastoral elegy to be read in parts. Your assignment is simple. Explain how the section you choose functions in Lycidas and how it relates to the whole. In addition, bring Stanley Fish's famous essay on the poem to bear on your discussion in some way. Use MLA Works Cited style. Here's a link to his "Interpreting the 'Variorum.'"
Think of this as a longer version of one of your short assignments with a research component. Strongly advised: see the instructions for writing below, and consult the Writing page on my website. Feel free to consult me at any time about the paper.
Send me your paper in a Word document on Brightspace. 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, 10-15 pp. for graduate students
you are welcome to include additional reputable sources if you care to use them
due Friday, 17 October 11:59 p.m via Brightspace
no late papers
*The grade on your analytical paper is approximate. This means that you may revise for a better grade. However, you really have to revise the essay, and you must schedule an office conference before you undertake your revision. The due date for the revision is any time before the second exam is due, 21 December
FIRST EXAM
PROMPT
Donne, Jonson, Herbert, Herrick, Marvell, 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.
One creative idea with two options: Katherine Philips. Which of her poems seem to engage with our other writers? Specifically? Or, how would each react, specifically, to one of the Philips pieces we read?
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, 10-15 pp. for grads
reputable sources if you care to use them
due Friday, 31 October , 11:59 p.m. via Brightspace
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. The due date for the revision is any time before the second exam is due, Wednesday, 21 December, 11:59 p.m. via Brightspace
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 and other works to make your point.
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. undergrads, 10-15 pp. grads
no need for secondary materials
due Friday 21 December, by 11:59 p.m. via Brightspace
no late papers
Some reading
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
Seventeenth-Century English women writers (Wiki)
Six instructions for writing exams, essays, and exercises
Identify, if necessary
Expand on your evidence
Identify, if necessary
Who said it? Where, and why? What system of notation are you using to indicate the source of your quotation?
What's your evidence?
Expand on your evidence
Identify, if necessary
Which words or phrases make reference to the concept you're trying to explain, and why does your evidence matter?
Expand on your evidence
Expand on your evidence
Relate quotations to each other
Paragraphs should be focused on a single topic, with topic sentences, evidence, and analysis. They should not consist of a series of broad, unrelated statements.
Relate quotations to each other
Check out the Writing page--revsion
Relate quotations to each other
This is where we see what you've got. Which words and phrases seem especially important in each quotation as they relate to the premises and thesis you're advancing?
Analysis, not summary
Check out the Writing page--revsion
Check out the Writing page--revsion
What each quotation says is fairly clear. So there's no need to rehash or summarize unless requested. Why does it matter? Why is it important? What insight can you bring to the material?
Check out the Writing page--revsion
Check out the Writing page--revsion
Check out the Writing page--revsion
Go up to the site menu and click on Writing. Pay special attention to the sections on analysis, lead-ins and quotations, and quoting poetry.
When we are working out of our book, or from an assignment prompt, use those line-numbers in parentheses.
You are allowed to revise your first exam and any of your five exercises, provided that you meet with me in the office to discuss them first. You are welcome to turn in your revisions at any time before the deadline for the second exam.
STANDARD PAPER FORMATTING
SOFTWARE
As a PFW student, you are entitled to free software, which you'll need. If you follow this link, you can download your own copy of Office 365 from IT services.
EVERYTHING IS DOUBLE-SPACED
Everything in your papers should be double-spaced (unlike everything on this page). There are no extra spaces between paragraphs, and block quotations are double-spaced. Go into your copy of Word, find the Paragraph menu, and make sure that it looks like the picture to the left.
CHECK YOUR HEADING
It can be on the left or the right side
Your Name
My Name
ENGL 40901 (or 52201)
Date
On the next line after the heading, center a title for the paper.
Begin your text on the next line after that title.
OTHER FORMATTING
- Don't use "fun" fonts or all-caps.
- Your font size should be 12-point.
- Don't use 'single quotation marks' for emphasis, or, for that matter, for most any reason at all.
EVERYTHING IS ELECTRONIC
You'll compose your papers and shorter assignments in Word and upload it to Brightspace, so there is nothing in hard copy. Again: upload your paper as a Word document to Brightspace. Do NOT send it in Google Docs. Do NOT send it in .pdf.
