Doubt, Belief, and Madness
in The English Renaissance
Instructor:
Email:
Ethan Guagliardo
ethan.guagliardo@boun.edu.tr
Time:
Place:
TTF 7,8,7
Course Description
“New philosophy calls all into doubt,” wrote John Donne. It was the expression of an age’s
anxiety and uncertainty. From the splintering of Christendom after the Protestant Reformation
and rediscovery of the often wild and unorthodox early history of Christianity, to the Copernican
Revolution and exploration of the New World, the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed
the collapse of old pieties and the birth of new doctrines and enthusiasms. This class will explore
how writers dealt with these events by reimagining political and religious authority, the nature of
spirits, the reliability of the senses, the role of custom and convention in human affairs, and the
place of human beings in an increasingly strange and perhaps even hostile cosmos. Finally, this
course will double as an introduction to many major Renaissance genres, from theology,
philosophy, psychology, and travel literature to tragedy, prose romance, lyric, satire, and epic.
Assignments
Participation and Quizzes
Responses
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
20%
25%
25%
30%
Participation: Your presence and participation are crucial for success in this course. Regular
quizzes will be given and will count as part of this grade. Students missing more than 75% of
classes will not be admitted to the final.
Responses: You will write 7 response papers (no longer than 1 page, single-spaced) over the
course of the semester. When you choose to write these and what you choose to write on will be
up to you. However, they must be exercises in close reading. That means that in your responses,
you should concentrate on analyzing no more than 2-3 lines of poetry or 3-4 lines of prose. Using
a good dictionary like the OED is a must! These responses will be graded on a 1-5 scale, though
excellent responses will be given a 6/5.
Midterm and Final Exams: Essays and short answer questions.
Grading Scale
90-100
85-90
80-85
75-80
70-75
65-70
60-65
AA
BA
BB
CB
CC
DC
DD
Weekly Schedule
Journeys Outward and Inward
Week 1:
T
Introduction; John Donne, “First Anniversary”.
F
Thomas Hariot, “A True Report”.
Week 2
T
Martin Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian; John Calvin, Institutes; Book 1, chapters
3-4.
F
John Calvin, Institutes; Book 1, chapter 11; Book 2, chapters 1 and 3.
Week 3:
T
Church of England, “39 Articles”; “The Baines Note”; Christopher Marlowe, Doctor
Faustus, act 1 (A-text).
F
Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, acts 1-2 (A-text).
Week 4:
T
Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, acts 3-4 (A-text).
F
Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, act 5 (A-text)
Week 5: Reformation Anxieties
T
Edmund Spenser, “Error and Archimago,” from The Faerie Queene.
F
Spenser, “Error and Archimago,” from The Faerie Queene.
Week 6:
T
Spenser, “Despair,” from The Faerie Queene.
F
Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveler
Week 7
T
Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveler
F
Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveler
*Midterm Exam*
Skepticism, Madness, and the Supernatural
Week 8:
T
Michel de Montaigne, from “The Apology of Raymond Sebond”
F
Francis Bacon, “Idols” from New Organon; “Of Truth” and “Of Unity in Religion” from
Essays.
Week 9
T
Thomas Nashe, from The Terrors of the Night; Reginald Scot, from The Discovery of
Witchcraft.
F
Robert Burton, “Religious Melancholy,” from The Anatomy of Melancholy
Week 10:
T
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
F
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
Religion and Nature in the Lyric
Week 11
T
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
F
Fulke Greville, “Caelica 56”; “Chorus Tartarorum”; “Chorus Sacerdotum”: John
Donne,”The Good Morrow”, “The Sun Rising,” “Air and Angels”, “Love’s Infiniteness”,
“Community”, “Love’s Growth”, “Confined Love”
Week 12
T
John Donne, “Love’s Diety”, “The Will”, “The Relic”, “The Dissolution”, “Farewell to
Love”, “Elegy XIX”
F
John Donne, “Satire III,” “To Sir Edward Herbert.”
Week 13
T
George Herbert, “Jordan 1,” “The Collar,” “The Forerunners,” “Love 3”;
Henry Vaughan, “The World”; Thomas Traherne, “Innocence”; Anne Finch, “A
Nocturnal Reverie”.
F
John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, “Satire Against Reason and Mankind”