Seminar in Early Modern Literature
In no way is this seminar intended as an exhaustive study of
early modern British (formerly known as “English Renaissance”)
literature. I have selected several
topics, focusing on the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, in
order to showcase recent critical approaches and additions to the
canon—here represented by Ben Jonson, John Donne, John Milton, and Sir
Philip Sidney, while the “additions” include Isabella Whitney,
Aemilia Lanyer, Lady Mary Wroth, and Elizabeth Cary,
the Lady Falkland.
Place in the Curriculum: For the MA in English, each student
must complete two required courses and 24 credit hours of electives, including
at least 18 credits of 500- or 600-level English Department courses. ENGL622 is an elective. For more information, please see http://www.tcnj.edu/~english/academics/grad.html.
Learning Goals: In this course, students will be expected
to demonstrate the kind of intellectual independence and sustained, critical
thought required for the production of high-quality literary scholarship. The course is designed:
Course Grade:
10%
Preparation and participation
10%
Essay 1
10%
Essay 2
5% Essay 3
15%
Essay 4
50%
Essay 5 (final researched essay)
Preparation and Participation: You will be expected to discuss the readings, and discussion entails reading the assignment(s) before class as well as listening respectfully to others. Although attendance is not graded at TCNJ, please note that it is difficult to participate unless you are both physically and mentally present; therefore, absences and tardiness will adversely affect your grade in the course. Preparation may include assignments in addition to those listed below, as I deem necessary during the semester.
Assignments: You will write four brief essays
and one longer, researched essay.
For the first three essays, research is not required, but any source
used must be acknowledged appropriately.
Citation format should follow the latest MLA guidelines. (See Gibaldi’s MLA Style
Manual, 2nd ed., or his
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed. The former is designed for graduate students
and other scholars of literature; the latter, for undergraduate and secondary
students. It also explains how to
cite online sources.) The specific assignments are given
below. I expect each essay to
demonstrate understanding of literary theory as well as primary texts, and to
provide ample relevant support cited with considerable accuracy (including use
of spacing or virgule for poetry).
On the date listed on the syllabus for each essay, a copy is due in your
SOCS drop-box before class, and a paper copy is due in class, at the beginning
of the period. The essay should be
double-spaced, and headed with your name, the assignment name or number, and
the essay's title. Using SOCS will
give us both a record of the semester’s work and my feedback. For the
SOCS heading, please use “Essay 1” and so forth.
Essay 1: Cultural materialism, feminist/gender,
“race”/postcolonial critical approaches. Rough draft due 9/28; final draft due
10/5.
Select one chapter or article from
one of the following texts. Write a
2-3-page critical review, including a brief summary of the chapter or article,
using the form of a review article for an appropriate scholarly journal.
Hall, Kim F. Things of Darkness: Economies of Race and Gender in Early Modern
England. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1995. Reserve
Hendricks, Margo, and Patricia
Harker, ed. Women, "Race," and
Writing in the Early Modern Period. London: Routledge, 1994. Reserve
Orlin, Lena Cowen, ed. Material
London, ca. 1600. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. [Other than Friedman’s article] Reserve
Essay 2: Class, feminist/gender/queer, or
“race”/postcolonial critical approaches. Due 10/19.
Read the following poem, and write a
4-6-page analysis using details from the poem to support your own sociocultural
interpretation.
Cleveland, John. "Upon the
Death of Mr. King." In Justa Edovardo King: A Facsimile Edition of
the Memorial Volume in Which Milton's "Lycidas" First Appeared.
Ed. Edward Le Comte. Norwood, PA: Norwood, 1978. Reserve
Essay 3: Reflective critical statement. Due 11/2.
How do you begin to interpret a
literary text? Stanley Fish has
just cornered you at an MLA cocktail party and demanded to know whether you consider
yourself a post-colonial, queer, Marxist, psychoanalytical, race, or feminist
theorist. You manage to distract
him by praising his book How Milton Works,
but realize later that you should be prepared next time you get up enough nerve
to go to the MLA. Write a 3-5-page
description of your personal critical stance, using relevant examples from
early modern literature and appropriate terms from literary criticism but also
(remembering how many interpretations of Bhabha or Derrida there are) explaining
what you mean by these terms. How
is your critical stance consistent with your worldview, values, and personal
and professional goals?
Essay 4: Researched essay proposal with annotated list of
works consulted. Due 11/16.
Write a 2-4-page proposal persuading
me that your early modern British topic is relevant and interesting, and that
your thesis is fresh and sufficiently-focused for a 20-25-page researched
argument. Attach a list of works
you have consulted or intend to consult, differentiating clearly between these
two categories by including a one or two sentence summary for each work
consulted. Works you intend to
consult must be available to you before the researched essay is due.
Essay 5: Final Researched Essay. Due 12/14.
Based on your proposal (Essay 4),
write an essay of approximately 20-25 double-spaced pages, not including the
required 500-word-maximum abstract and (non-annotated) list of works
cited. All sources used must be
acknowledged appropriately using the latest (parenthetical) MLA citation
style. For this essay you are
expected to demonstrate an understanding of current theoretical trends and
conversations in early modern British literature.
Late Work: Unless I receive documentation of
an emergency (see "Emergencies," above), or (if applicable) a
verifiable power outage or SOCS shutdown occurs, each late assignment will be
marked down 10% for each day it is late according to the date-stamp in SOCS;
weekends count.
Academic Integrity: Using the words and/or ideas of others
without giving credit violates the policies of our college and the laws of our
nation. If I suspect plagiarism, I will seek the most strenuous penalties
available to me; please consult the graduate bulletin (http://www.tcnj.edu/~graduate/bulletin.html)
for information about the process.
Required Texts:
Cary, Elizabeth [the Lady
Falkland]. The Tragedy of Mariam: the Fair Queen of Jewry. Ed. Stephanie
Hodgson-Wright.
Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Literary Texts,
2000. ISBN 1551110431. [The Berkeley version edited by Barry
Weller and Margaret W. Ferguson will also do; it includes The Lady Falkland: Her Life, by one of her daughters.]
Cary
Jonson, Ben. Ben Jonson’s Plays and Masques. 2nd ed. Ed. Richard Harp. New York and London: Norton, 2001. 0393976386. Jonson
Milton, John. The
Complete Poems. Ed. John Leonard. London and New York: Penguin, 1998. 10140433635. [If you don’t already have
“Lycidas” and A Maske
Presented at Ludlow Castle (“Comus”)
with good notes, this is a reliable and inexpensive edition.]
Salzman, Paul,
ed. Early Modern Women’s Writing: An Anthology 1560-1700. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 0192833464. Salzman,
EMWW
Sidney, Sir
Philip. Sir Philip Sidney: The Major Works. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0192840800.
Recommended Texts:
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly
Publishing. 2nd ed. New York: MLA, 1998. ISBN 0873526996
Salzman, Paul,
ed. An Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN 0192839551. Salzman,
ASCF
Schedule. Reading assignments should be completed before
the class for which they are listed, including the first class. Readings in a class textbook are marked
by the author’s or editor’s name. “Reserve” means on physical
(not electronic) reserve at Roscoe West Library’s circulation desk, while
“Periodicals” are in the periodicals stacks downstairs. Literature Online, GenderWatch, Academic
Search Premier, and EBSCOhost are electronic databases available through the
library’s homepage (the “Find Articles and More” link).
Material culture: the country house and the busk
8/31 Jonson, Ben. "To
Penshurst." Literature Online
Williams, Raymond. Chapts. 2-3: “A Problem of
Perspective” and “Pastoral and Counter-Pastoral.” The
Country and the City. New York:
Oxford Univ. Press, 1973. Reserve
Friedman, Alice T. “Inside/Out: Women, Domesticity,
and the Pleasures of the City.”
Material London, ca. 1600. Ed.
Lena Cowen Orlin. Philadelphia:
Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2000.
232-250. Reserve
9/7 Donne, John, "Elegy 19: To His Mistress Going to
Bed." Literature Online
Spreuwenberg-Stewart, Allison. "'To His Mistress Going
to Bed'; Or, 'Could You Lend Me Your Clothes?'" John Donne Journal
18 (1999): 25-59. Provided on 8/31
Colonization and “race”
Raman, Shankar. "Can't Buy Me
Love: Money, Gender, and Colonialism in Donne's Erotic Verse." Criticism 43 (spring 2001): 135-68. Periodicals
or Literature Online
Donne. From "A Sermon Preached to the Honorable Company of the Virginia Plantation." Norton Topics Online: http://www.wwnorton.com/nael/17century/topic_4/donne.htm.
Sandler, Florence. "'The
Gallery to the New World': Donne, Herbert, and Ferrar on the Virginia
Project." John Donne Journal 19
(2000): 267-97. Provided on 8/31
9/14 Jonson, Ben. The
Masque of Blackness. Jonson 314-24
Orgel, Stephen. From The
Jonsonian Masque. Jonson 482-88
Elegy: Lycidas
9/21 Milton, John. Lycidas.
Lewalski, Barbara K. Chapt. 3: “Studious
Retirement.” The Life of John Milton: A Critical
Biography. Oxford: Blackwell,
2000. Reserve
9/28 Boesky, Amy. "The Maternal
Shape of Mourning: A Reconsideration of Lycidas."
Modern Philology 95 (1998 May):
463-83. Periodicals or Academic Search Premier
Boehrer, Bruce. "'Lycidas': The
Pastoral Elegy as Same-Sex Epithalamium." PMLA 117 (2002): 222-36.
Periodicals
Essay 1 rough draft due.
Women according to men, and in their own voices
10/5 Jonson. Epicoene,
or The Silent Woman. Jonson 111-99
Jonson, Prologue to Every Man in His Humour (second version,
1616). Jonson 346-47
Watson, Robert. From Ben
Jonson’s Parodic Strategy.
Jonson 434-43
Essay 1 final draft due.
10/12 Cary, Elizabeth, the Lady
Falkland. The Tragedy of Mariam the Fair Queen of Jewry. Cary
47-128
In addition, each student will read
one of the following (pairs of) extracts from sources and didactic/polemical
texts:
Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, from Book XV, Chapter IIII [sic] (Cary 145-49);
Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, from Book XV, Chapter XI (Cary 149-55);
Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, from Book XV, Chapter XI (Cary 156-58) and from Book XVI, Chapter
XI (Cary 158-59);
Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, from Book I (Cary 159-62);
Vives, Instruction of a Christian Woman (Cary 163-64) and The Book of
Common Prayer (Cary 169-71);
The Second Tome of Homilies (Cary 164-67);
Cleaver, A Godly Form of Household Government (Cary 167-69);
James VI and I, Basilikon Doron (Cary
171-72) and The True Law of Free
Monarchies (Cary 172-73);
Leigh, The Mothers Blessing (Cary
173-76);
Speght, A Muzzle for Melastomus (Cary
176-77) and Sowernam, Ester Hath
Hang’d Haman (Cary
177-79);
Whately, A Bride-Bush (Cary
179-81);
Jocelin, The Mother’s Legacy to her Unborn Child (Cary 181-83).
10/19 Whitney, Isabella. “The Admonition.” Salzman,
EMWW 7-10
Lanyer, Aemilia. From Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum. Salzman,
EMWW 21-56
Clifford, Anne. From her Diary. Salzman, EMWW 63-81
Essay 2 due.
10/26 Prynne (Moulsworth), Martha,
"November the 10th 1632: The Memorandum of Martha Moulsworth,
Widow." In Early
Modern Women Poets: An Anthology. Ed. Jane Stevenson and Peter Davidson. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2001. Reserve
Any student article (i.e., anything but the editors’ introduction) from the Jan. 1996 issue of Critical Matrix, a special issue devoted to Moulsworth and edited by Ann Depas-Orange and Robert C. Evans. GenderWatch
Evans, Robert C. "Deference and
Defiance: The 'Memorandum' of Martha Moulsworth." In Representing Women in Renaissance England. Ed. Claude J. Summers
and Ted-Larry Pebworth. Columbia: Univ. of Missouri Press, 1997. 175-186. Reserve
Wilcox, Helen. "'The Birth Day
of My Selfe': John Donne, Martha Moulsworth, and the Emergence of Individual
Identity." In Sixteenth-Century
Identities. Ed. A. J. Piesse. Manchester, England: Manchester UP, 2000.
155-78. Reserve
Literary theory and experimentation: the Sidney family
11/2 Sidney, Sir Philip. The
Defence of Poesie. Sidney 212-50
Sidney. Select and read at least two sonnets and
one song from Astrophil and Stella. Sidney
153-211
Sidney. “The pitiful story of the
Paphlagonian unkind king,” from The
New Arcadia (The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia). Sidney 253-58
Anon. “The Manner of Sir Philip
Sidney’s Death.” Sidney 315-18
Greville,
Fulke. From The Life of Sir Philip Sidney.
Sidney 329
Herbert, Mary, Countess of Pembroke. “To Thee Pure Sprite.” Provided on 10/19
Essay 3 due.
11/9 Wroth, Lady Mary. From Pamphilia to Amphilanthus. Salzman, EMWW 133-35
Wroth. Love’s
Victory. Salzman, EMWW 82-133
Wroth, Lady
Mary. The First Part of The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania. Ed. Josephine A. Roberts. Binghamton, NY: Medieval and Renaissance
Texts and Studies, 1995. 1-45. Reserve,
or in Salzman, ASCF
Masque
11/16 Jonson. Pleasure
Reconciled to Virtue. Jonson 333-42
Mulryan, John. “Mythic Interpretations of Ideas
in Jonson’s Pleasure Reconciled to
Virtue.” Jonson 489-99
Marcus, Leah S. From The
Politics of Mirth. Jonson 499-507.
Marsh-Lockett, Carol P. "Pleasure Reconcild to Vertue in
Historical Context." In New
Perspectives on Ben Jonson. Ed. James Hirsh. Madison, NJ; London, England:
Fairleigh Dickinson UP; Associated UP, 1997. 154-64. Reserve
Essay 4 due.
11/23 Happy Thanksgiving!
11/30 Milton. A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle.
Marcus, Leah Sinanoglou. Chapt. 6: “Milton’s
Anti-Laudian Masque.” The Politics
of Mirth: Jonson, Herrick, Milton, Marvell, and the Defense of Old Holiday
Pastimes. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1989. 169-212. Reserve
12/7 Rogers, John. "The
Enclosure of Virginity: The Poetics of Sexual Abstinence in the English
Revolution." In Enclosure Acts:
Sexuality, Property, and Culture in Early Modern England. Ed. Richard Burt
and John Michael Archer. Ithaca and New York: Cornell UP, 1994. Reserve
Shullenberger, William.
"Milton's Lady and Lady Milton: Chastity, Prophecy, and Gender in A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle."
In Fault Lines and Controversies in the
Study of Seventeenth-Century English Literature. Ed. Claude J. Summers and
Ted-Larry Pebworth. Columbia, MO: U of Missouri P, 2002. 204-26. Reserve
12/14 Leasure, Ross. "Milton's
Queer Choice: Comus as Castlehaven." Milton
Quarterly 36 (May 2002): 63-86.
Academic Search Premier
Orgel, Stephen. "The Case for
Comus." Representations 81
(Winter 2003): 31-45. Periodicals or EBSCOhost
Herrup, Cynthia B. From A House in Gross Disorder: Sex, Law, and the
Second Earl of Castlehaven. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999. Reserve
Essay 5 due.
· Online
resources (SOCS): for TCNJ users only
· Oxford English
Dictionary (OED): for TCNJ users only
· Other Roscoe
West Library resources for English
http://www.tcnj.edu/~graham/ENGL622fall05.html,
last updated
[Dr. Graham's home page] [TCNJ English Department]