syllabus
General Information and Course Book
ENGL 40901 / 52201: Elizabethan Poetry
Spring 2025 TR 4.30-5.45 LA 116
Office: LA 43
email: stapletm@pfw.edu phone: 481.6841 (message)
webpage: www.elmlsteach.org
Text:
Greenblatt, et al., eds., The Norton Anthology of English Literature, volume B: The Sixteenth Century, The Early Seventeenth Century, 11th edition (2024)
(Please note that this text is available on sites such as abebooks.com for lower prices; there is also an e-book.
Electronic Devices:
Yes, please. Feel free. I only ask that you use their magic powers for Good: don't distract yourself or others.
january
14 January
Introductions: humanism, Renaissance, Reformation, lyric, Songs and Sonnets
16, 21, 23, 28 January
Wyatt and Surrey (120-40)
FIRST SHORT ASSIGNMENT (2 pp.)
DUE SUNDAY, 26 JANUARY, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace
30 January; 4 February
More Wyatt, Surrey, writing, meter, Poetica
SECOND SHORT ASSIGNMENT (2 pp.)
DUE FRIDAY, 7 FEBRUARY, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace
February
6, 11, 13 February
Spenser, Shepheardes Calender, "October" eclogue (258); Southwell, "Burning Babe" (171); Isabella Whitney (193)
ANALYTICAL PAPER DUE FRIDAY, 21 FEBRUARY, 11.59 p.m. via Brightspace
18, 20 February
Spenser, Amoretti and Epithalamion (452-65)
25, 27 February
Marlowe, Hero and Leander (563)
THIRD SHORT ASSIGNMENT (2 pp.)
DUE FRIDAY, 28 FEBRUARY, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace
March
4, 6 March
Commonplace Book (467-94)
11, 13 March
No class
18, 25 March
Sidney, Astrophil and Stella (514)
NO CLASS 20 MARCH
FOURTH SHORT ASSIGNMENT DUE FRIDAY, 21 MARCH, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace
27 March, 1 April
Shakespeare, Sonnets (620)
3 April
Spenser, Faerie Queene, Book I (269-421)
FQ, cantos 1 and 2: doc
TAKE-HOME EXAM DUE FRIDAY, 4 APRIL, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace
April
8 April
FQ, cantos 3 and 4
summary of 3, good stanza: Ted
summary of 4, good stanza: Nick
10 April
FQ, cantos 5 and 6
FIFTH SHORT ASSIGNMENT DUE FRIDAY, 11 April, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace
15 and 17 April
FQ, cantos 7, 8
summary of 7, good stanza: Ted
summary of 8, good stanza: Nick
22, 24, 29 April
FQ, cantos 9, 10, 11, 12
NO CLASS ON THURSDAY 1 MAY
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.
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. Doctors's notes, team travel letters, and other personal effects do not entitle students to extra absences. If circumstances prevent you from observing the attendance policy, drop the course.
DUE DATES
Your analytical paper, shorter assignments, and take-home exams are due on the scheduled non-class dates by 11.59 p.m. via Brightspace. Late papers = 0. No exceptions. For the analytical paper and the take-home exams: 4-6 pp for undergrads, 10-12 pp. for grads. Shorter assignments: 2 pp. for all. Your paper, first exam, and any of your shorter assignments may be revised after meeting with the instructor and conferring.
DON'T BE A PLAGIARIZER
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.
Engaging Artificial Intelligence software and databases to undertake your work for you is also plagiarism .
PLEASE DO NOT BE A PLAGIARIST! THIS IS UNNECESSARY, AS WELL AS UNETHICAL
GRADING
The course grade will be determined by the average of your analytical essay on an assigned topic, two exams, and the total of your five shorter assignments as a single grade. Grades are not negotiable, personal, or subject to the influence of extracurricular academic factors. A failure to complete your assignments results in failure of the course.
COMMUNICATION
You may email me at any time. I will usually get back to you quickly: stapletm@pfw.edu
ACCOMODATIONS
Purdue University Fort Wayne strives to create inclusive learning environments and experiences for all students. If you anticipate or experience physical or academic barriers based on disability, please let me know immediately so that we can discuss options. You are also welcome to contact the Disability Access Center to begin this conversation or to establish accommodations. Contact the center at dac@pfw.edu or 260-481-6657, or visit them at Walb Student Union, Room 113.
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.
Shorter assignments
SHORT ASSIGNMENT #1
Read Surrey's "Martial, the things that do obtain" at this link. Write an explication, and explain how the poet uses devices of sound to enhance his meaning. How does Surrey present himself?
Follow the advice in "Six Instructions" as your guide.
2 pp.
DUE SUNDAY, 26 JANUARY, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace
SHORT ASSIGNMENT #2
Find a poem in the section "Commonplace Book" (467-94) and write a brief explication of it.
Follow the advice in "Six Instructions" below as your guide.
Analyze this lyric in terms of what you consider to be its most important word. How does this term inform the poem throughout?
For example: in the Surrey translation you wrote about, the term that seems to illuminate it is "happy." Perhaps it meant something different than it does now, and the OED would help. Another reader might choose "life." Someone else? Maybe "simplicity," or even "beguile."
Follow the advice in "Six Instructions" as your guide.
DUE FRIDAY, 7 FEBRUARY, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace
SHORT ASSIGNMENT #3
Read Anne Locke's sonnet from her collection A Meditation of a Penitent Sinner (167). She obviously understands sonnet conventions but uses them in a very different way than her male peers. How does she do this, and what words in the sonnet seem designed toward this end?
Please be specific.
Follow the advice in "Six Instructions" as your guide.
DUE FRIDAY, 28 FEBRUARY, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace
SHORT ASSIGNMENT #4
Please read Astrophil and Stella 108, "When Sorrow" (p. 551 in your book)
How are the stanzas designed to help organize the parts of the poem? Are there any words and phrases that you think deserve special mention? Why and how does Sidney use the medieval device of allegory and personification to lend drama to his sonnet?
Follow the advice in "Six Instructions" as your guide
2 pp.
DUE FRIDAY 21 MARCH, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace
SHORT ASSIGNMENT #5
FQ 1.6, the episode of Una, Sir Satyrane, and Sansloy, presents a conundrum. Does it strike you as strange that Satyrane is Una's savior, in spite of his origins? Why or why not?
Follow the advice in "Six Instructions" as your guide
DUE FRIDAY, 11 APRIL, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace
analytical paper
THE PROMPT
Your mission is fairly simple. Re-read Wyatt and Surrey's translations of Petrarch's Rime 140, "The long love" (122) and "Love, that doth reign" (136). What significant differences can you find in these Tudor renditions of Petrarch's "Amor, che nel penser mio vive et regna"? How about similarities? What is important, and what should we notice?
Why would any of this matter?
The Writing page on this website provides a great deal of help to those who seek it. The Writing Papers section explains what we do in a general way. The sections on Analytical Writing, Avoiding Needless Repetition, and Lead-ins and Quotations are highly recommended. Crucial: the “In Medias Res” section of Writing Papers. Build your paper from the inside out. Specific is good. Your essay should be 4-6 pp., double-spaced. No other question of formatting need concern us now. You may indicate line numbers in parentheses. Please see the Quoting Poetry section on the Writing page.
Avoid listing, summarizing, and making needless general statements about life and literature. Avoid value judgments (the poem is good; the poem is bad; I believe; I think). I’d really enjoy seeing what you can do and hearing about what you consider significant. You’re welcome to bring our other reading to bear on the topic as well.
SPECS
The paper is due Friday, 21 February, by 11.59 p.m., on Brightspace. 4-6 pp. Late papers = F. Strictly enforced, non-negotiable. I’m more than happy to discuss your paper or writing at any time possible. Email is fine, and the office is better. The best news is that you may REVISE this paper, the revision due at any time before the due date for the final take-home exam-paper. Required: for revision, conference. Like your grade and attendance, non-negotiable.
FIRST EXAM
THE PROMPT
The hardness of her heart and truth of mine
When the all-seeing eyes of heaven did see,
They straight concluded that by power divine
To other forms our hearts should turnèd be.
Then hers, as hard as flint, a flint became,
And mine, as true as steel, to steel was turned;
And then between our hearts sprang forth the flame
Of kindest love, which unextinguished burned.
And long the sacred lamp of mutual love
Incessantly did burn in glory bright,
Until my folly did her fury move
To recompense my service with despite;
And to put out with snuffers of her pride
The lamp of love which else had never died.
How is this characteristic of sixteenth-century poetry as you've come to know it? How does it reflect our course thus far? Please be specific in your use of our writers, featuring brief, specific examples from their work.
How are you to do this? you might ask. To my mind, this is the simple part.
Many, even most of our poems have been sonnets, with certain conventions.
Every poem has a beginning and an ending.
Some writers like to employ reversed feet.
There might be allegory or personification.
Sometimes our writers will use an elaborate central metaphor, which Elizabethans called a conceit.
Most of our writers choose the ordering of their elements in their sonnets carefully.
Virtually all our writers are men writing love poetry to women.
Most of the speakers have assumptions about women.
We have read only two women poets. Are their subjects inside or outside those in the course so far?
The Writing page on this website provides a great deal of help to those who seek it. The Writing Papers section explains what we do in a general way. The sections on Analytical Writing, Avoiding Needless Repetition, and Lead-ins and Quotations are highly recommended. Crucial: the “In Medias Res” section of Writing Papers. Build your paper from the inside out. Specific is good. Your essay should be 4-6 pp., double-spaced. No other question of formatting need concern us now. You may indicate line numbers in parentheses. Please see the Quoting Poetry section on the Writing page.
Avoid listing, summarizing, and making needless general statements about life and literature. Avoid value judgments (the poem is good; the poem is bad; I believe; I think). I’d really enjoy seeing what you can do and hearing about what you think. You’re welcome to bring our other reading to bear on the topic as well.
SPECS
The exam is due Friday, 4 April, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace. 4-6 pp. for undegrads, 10-12 for grads. Late papers = F. Strictly enforced, non-negotiable. I’m more than happy to discuss your paper or writing at any time possible. Email is fine, and the office is better. The best news is that you may REVISE this paper, the revision due at any time before the due date for the final take-home exam-paper. Required: for revision, conference. Like your grade and attendance, non-negotiable.
SECOND EXAM
THE PROMPT
Concentrate on the canto you understand and appreciate best and relate it to the rest of The Faerie Queene, Book I
- You can be as imaginative or as prosaic as you like here. We can try this in class with canto 12 and see what we come up with.
- general statements from your canto that apply to the rest of the work, or vice-versa
- plot elements that seem truly significant and help elucidate some other part of Book 1, or vice-versa
- epic, romance, or allegorical conventions that you see as operative in your canto that apply elsewhere
- be specific, and try to be clear about your connections
- look at the Writing prompt in the site menu
SPECS
The exam is due Wednesday, 7 May, 11.59 pm., via Brightspace. 4-6 pp. Late papers = F. Strictly enforced, non-negotiable. I’m more than happy to discuss your paper or writing at any time possible. Email is fine, and the office is better. This paper cannot be revised, nor will it be returned with comments unless the student specifically requests this courtesy in advance.
Faerie Queene Guide
Title page for 1596 edition.
There were two editions: 1590 and 1596
1905 illustration of Archimago and Una
A children's redaction of the epic.
Walter Crane
Crane the Pre-Raphaelite
His dates were 1845-1915, his origin Liverpool. He was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which sought to recapture the "purity" of late medieval art. Dante Gabriel Rosetti and William Morris were its best-known members, and the movement featured painting and poetry and, most spectacularly for bibliophiles, the Kelmscott Press, which turned out beautifully ornate volumes featuring terrific engravings and illustrations.
Here is a link to the original Faerie Queene publication (1897)
Crane the Arts and Crafts practitioner
The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society was Crane's invention, as was the ensuing artistic movement. Crane said of decorative design: "the artist works freest and best without direct reference to nature, and should have learned the forms he makes use of by heart."
Here is a Dutch video with music featuring many of the illustrations.
Hans holbein the younger (1497-1543)
My favorite painter
He's my favorite because he sees into the core of people and captures it in paint, chalk, or pencil in a way that is simultaneously breathtaking and disturbing. You could see his faces in England today, or, for that matter, in West Virginia or Vermont. The expressions are enigmatic: are the subjects about to burst into laughter or start crying? What could possibly be on their minds? And so forth. Holbein (1497-1543) was, like Handel after him, a great German artist who made good among das englische Volk. He learned much from his father and namesake, the late Gothic painter whose style resembles Breughel’s. He was also apparently influenced by fifteenth-century Italian portraiture and humanism, so that he was able to create his own aesthetic. Erasmus recommended him, and on his migration to England in 1526, joined Thomas More’s household: the artistic results speak for themselves. His patrons included Anne Boleyn (as queen) and Thomas Cromwell, Lord Chancellor after More and Wolsey. He became Henry VIII’s official court painter. He is also important in the history of the book, and one hell of an engraver. Although I love his paintings, it is his chalk drawings that I find astonishing—like a Shakespeare play or a canto of The Faerie Queene, the perspective changes and shifts on each viewing or reading.
Hans Holbein site (commerical)
Michael Sittow, Catherine of Aragon as Mary Magdaline