ENGL211 - 0301
Jamison Kantor
9/1/11
TTh 11-12:15. Tawes Hall 1236
ENGL211 – English Literature Beginnings to 1800:
The Ethics of Early Modern Literature
So what’s the moral of the story? In this class, we are
going to ask that question over and over again. To some of you,
this may seem quaint or superficial. Only certain types of stories
have morals, you may say, stories like fables, or bedtime tales
told to keep us courteous even in our dreams, or parables from
certain holy books. By now we all know that real stories are
supposed to represent life in all of its complexity, not to just push
certain values on us. Or, maybe you prefer fantasy—unreal
stories. If you do, then stories are supposed to get us to escape
from our everyday morals, and to get us to indulge in a world of
different values and different standards. But what if we could
return to our childhood when stories were thought to instill
certain values, or maybe to the classical world when stories were
supposed to be read with a moral outlook? What if we
hypothesized that morals are simply an inescapable part of stories
and of our reading experience? With this in mind, I want to
A medieval knight, an embodiment of heroism.
propose that we revisit the old question of what’s the moral
of the story?1 However, this class won’t be nearly that simple. Most of the texts that we read this
semester will feature characters at odds with the dominant values in their society. These are great
moments for investigation, when old values are challenged and new ones are put forward. So the
real question informing this class may be what are the dominant morals of the story and how are
they challenged?
I have broken up our reading into five different units. Although they are in chronological
order, each unit will also investigate a certain set of values that remain influential in the study of
British literature. With the exception of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf and the medieval poem
“Lanval,” all of our reading takes place between the fifteenth and the nineteenth century A.D..
Our first unit “Foundational Myths/Moralities,” looks at the culture of heroism in
Beowulf and Marie de France’s poem “Lanval,” and ends with Thomas More’s Utopia, a
depiction of a society built for perfect order. In these texts, we will see that even the most
idealized cultures can be marked by imperfection. Our next unit, “Love and Society,” looks at
the ethics of romantic love in the British renaissance using a famous poetic form, the sonnet.
Among other questions in this unit, we will ask if love can truly be selfless, and whether our
sonneteers’ idealization of women is really a good thing. Our third unit is called “Modern
Politics and Ethics.” Beginning with excerpts from Machiavelli’s famous political treatise The
Prince, we will read Shakespeare’s Hamlet in its entirety and sections of John Milton’s epic
Paradise Lost. All three texts question established values and their continuing relevance in civil
society and governance. “Reason, Passion, Satire” throws us into the early eighteenth century
dialogue about reason, and whether one can truly live by “reasonable” principles. Beginning with
the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, we will move on to famous—and funny—
challengers of reason, Jonathan Swift and the Earl of Rochester, John Wilmot, affectionately
1
Recently, philosopher Peter Singer edited an anthology of ethics and literature that uses this question as its title.
See his The Moral of The Story (NJ: Blackwell, 2005).
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ENGL211 - 0301
Jamison Kantor
9/1/11
TTh 11-12:15. Tawes Hall 1236
known as “The Libertine.” Our final unit “Sense and Sensibility” takes its title from Jane
Austen’s well-known novel. Featuring Austen, as well as Samuel Johnson, James Thomson, and
Thomas Grey, this unit presents the late eighteenth century debate over morals and manners, and
whether they should be founded upon natural “sympathy” or upon more
rational modes of reflection.
Texts:
1.) Abrams, M.H. and Stephen Greenblatt, eds.. The Norton
Anthology of English Literature — Eighth Edition: Volumes A, B,
C. NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2006. ISBN: 9780393928334.
2.) Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed(s). A.R. Braunmuller &
Stephen Orgell. NY: Penguin, 2001. ISBN: 9780140714548.
3.) Handouts as needed.
A silhouette of Jane Austen, satirist of
morals and manners.
~
Grade Categories
Participation, including reading quizzes……….…25%
Commonplace Book……………………………...10%
Paper 1……………………………………............15%
Paper 2……………………………………………30%
Final Exam..………………………………………20%
Learning Outcomes
This course fulfills the General Education requirements for Humanities courses. At the
completion of this course, students will be able to:
1) Demonstrate familiarity and facility with fundamental concepts in the study of various
literary genres—poetry, drama, and fiction.
2) Demonstrate how to apply those fundamental concepts to the analysis of different texts.
3) Describe how language is related to changing values, ethics, and cultural standards.
4) Demonstrate the ability to formulate an argument, and to support that argument strongly
with evidence from the text.
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ENGL211 - 0301
Jamison Kantor
9/1/11
TTh 11-12:15. Tawes Hall 1236
Assignment Schedule:
Assignments are listed by author, the author’s dates, title, and page number unless
otherwise indicated. Although the Norton Anthology is split into three volumes, the pages are
cumulative.
The following assignments are subject to change. You are responsible for all of these
changes. If you think you may have missed a change in the syllabus, please contact a fellow
classmate to fill you in. Email addresses should be available through elms.
For everyone’s convenience, I have created a Google Calendar listing all of the
assignments. Everyone in the class has access. If you have not already done so, sign up for a
Google account using the email address you officially provided to the university. If you access
Google Calendar you will see our class as a blue-highlighted option on the left. Click on it, and
assignments should appear across the calendar as “Reading.”
"Foundational Myths/Moralities"
Th, 9/1:
Introduction, syllabus overview, course policies and expectations.
Tu, 9/6:
Unknown (800-1100)
Beowulf (32-61)
Th, 9/8:
Unknown
Beowulf (61-100)
Tu, 9/13:
Marie de France (Late 12th century) "Lanval" (142-55)
Th, 9/15:
Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)
Utopia: Book 1 (521-45)
Tu, 9/20:
Sir Thomas More
Utopia: Book 2 (545-92)
"Writing Love in the English Renaissance"
Th, 9/22:
Elizabeth I (1533-1603)
"On Monsieur's Departure" (695)
"Verse Exchange between Elizabeth and Sir Walter
Raleigh" (698-9)
Tu, 9/27
Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder (1503-42) "The long love that in my thought doth harbor" (594)
"Whoso list to hunt" (595)
"Farewell, Love" (596)
Th, 9/29
Edmund Spenser (1552-99)
"Sonnet 1" (903)
"Sonnet 37" (904)
"Sonnet 79" (907)
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ENGL211 - 0301
Jamison Kantor
Tu, 10/4
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86)
9/1/11
TTh 11-12:15. Tawes Hall 1236
"1" (975)
"9" (977)
"61" (985)
Commonplace Book due at 11am.
Th, 10/6
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Tu, 10/11
William Shakespeare
"Modern Politics and Ethics"
Th, 10/13
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)
Paper 1 due at 11am.
"18" (1063)
"65" (1067)
"87" (1069)
"106" (1071)
"130" (1074)
"135" (1075)
From "The Prince" (handout)
Tu, 10/18
William Shakespeare
Hamlet (Acts 1-3)
Th, 10/20
William Shakespeare
Hamlet (Acts 4-5)
Tu, 10/25
William Shakespeare
Hamlet
Th, 10/27
William Shakespeare
Hamlet
Tu, 11/1
John Milton (1608-74)
Paradise Lost: From Book 1 (1832-3, ll. 1-25), Book 2
(1850-71)
Th, 11/3
John Milton
Paradise Lost: Book 4 (1887-1908)
Tu, 11/8
John Milton
Paradise Lost: Book 9 (1973-98)
"Reason, Passion, Satire"
Th, 11/10
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
From "Leviathan" (1596-1605)
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ENGL211 - 0301
Jamison Kantor
John Locke (1632-1704)
9/1/11
TTh 11-12:15. Tawes Hall 1236
From "Two Treatises of Government" (2829-33)
Tu, 11/15
John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester (1647-80)"The Disabled Debauchee" (2168-9)
"A Satire against Reason and Mankind" (2172-7)
Th, 11/17
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
"A Modest Proposal" (2462-8)
"Sense and Sensibility"
Tu, 11/22
Samuel Johnson (1709-84)
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia (2680-43)
Tu, 11/29
Thomas Gray (1716-71)
Th, 12/1
Jane Austen (1775-1817)
Tu, 12/6
Jane Austen
Paper 2 due at 11am.
Th, 12/8
Jane Austen
"Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" (2863-5)
"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" (2867-70)
Sense and Sensibility: Chapters 1-3 (Handout)
Sense and Sensibility: Chapters 10-11 (Handout)
Sense and Sensibility: Chapters 31, 44 (Handout)
Tu, 12/13
Final review.
Commonplace book due at 11am.
Th, 12/15
Final Exam. 8am-10am, Tawes 0236.
Four famous sonneteers: Sir Thomas Wyatt (above), Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare (L-R).
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ENGL211 - 0301
Jamison Kantor
9/1/11
TTh 11-12:15. Tawes Hall 1236
Course Policies and Expectations
One of the aims of this course is to spark an appreciation for language itself. Perhaps the
best way to cultivate that appreciation is to practice what we call close reading: patiently and
repeatedly engaging with a text in order to highlight its complexities and ambiguities. Think
about close reading as a conversation between you and the poem, the play, or even the nonfiction piece. It is way to engage with, expand upon, and interrogate the language in front of you.
Yet, because close reading can and will be difficult, our actual classroom conversations will
supplement the ones you have with our assignments.
To prepare for class meetings and written work, you must read the assignment in full. For
shorter poems—like the sonnets—you should read the text at least twice. This is a requirement.
Take some light notes on passages you want to engage during class. These notes will prepare you
to offer commentary and interpretation. You will also turn in two papers and a commonplace
book. Trust me, this work will be much easier if you have already reflected upon the literature
during your reading.
Evaluation: Quizzes, Commonplace Books, and Papers
Come to expect a short quiz every week. The quizzes will be unannounced, and they will
assure me that you have been keeping pace with the reading—and taking your time with it. A
small part of your grade is determined by these quizzes. Never fear: you may drop the two lowest
quiz grades at the end of the course (this includes missed quizzes, which count as a 0).
Our commonplace book will be a semester-long, portfolio-style assignment. Please be
diligent about it. You will receive an assignment sheet today.
Your first paper will address a single work of literature from the first six weeks of class.
It will require approximately 1000 words (or 3-4 pages). Your final paper will address two works
of literature from across fourteen weeks of study. It will require 1500-2000 words (5-7 pages). I
will hand out individual assignment sheets for major papers as needed. Adhere to the guidelines
on those sheets unless we make changes as a class, or discuss alternatives. Stick to a single paper
format across the semester: twelve-point Times New Roman with one-inch margins and double
spacing.
You must include a full header for your papers. The header should include your name,
my name, the class mnemonic (ENGL211), your section number (0301), and the date. Please
number your pages.
Take the time to spell check, grammar check, and content check your work. This means
going beyond the requisite MSWord operation (click! Done!). Carefully read through and edit
each paper twice—yes twice—before submission, marking errors and making changes. This
usually makes a huge difference in your grade.
For your convenience, I do electronic submission of work. All of your assignments
should be turned in electronically to my email address (jkantor@umd.edu). Submit them as an
attachment to an email. Do not provide me with an additional hard copy. The arrangement saves
both of us time: you don’t have to go through the extra step to print, and I can give you more
comprehensive feedback and turn papers around quickly.
Always include your name as the first part of the filename when you save the assignment
(i.e., “Jamison Kantor – Paper1.doc”). This way, there will be no confusion about submission.
The name on the file is the name on the assignment. If you do not include it, the paper is
effectively anonymous. You may not get your assignment back for a while.
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ENGL211 - 0301
Jamison Kantor
9/1/11
TTh 11-12:15. Tawes Hall 1236
This next part is super-important: For absolutely every email you send to me regarding
this class—especially your emails containing assignments and absence notices—you should
include the word ENGL211 in the subject heading. That means ENGL211 spelled exactly that
way, all caps, no spaces. This allows the email to filter to a special folder for our class. You can
include other words in the subject heading as well. Just make sure you type in ENGL211. Don’t
freak out if you forget to include that line in the subject heading. I will still get the email. But it
will float amongst a sea of other email, and I will likely pass over it. And I certainly don’t want
to miss an important paper or any last-minute, burning questions you might have.
Participation and Classroom Etiquette
I expect everyone to attend each discussion section and to participate. Come to class
instilled with ideas, those you had during your quiet reading hours, or that you couldn’t quite fit
in to the class before. A good participation strategy is to make sure you have prepared at least
one thing to contribute to each discussion.
Note: participation does not just mean being present. When we get to the ten-week mark
of the fall semester, I know this can be tough. But we will have an active classroom discussion.
Yes, there is such a thing as negative participation. I think we all know what this means: texting,
dozing, facebooking, iPhoning, chatting in person or on the internet, eating chips, crunching ice,
generally zoning out—the list may go on, but I hope it doesn’t. Devote our scanty seventy-five
minutes to positive participation and active discussion. Those who are simply “here” each class
are not actively participating.
Turn off your cell phone. Turn off your cell phone. Turn off your cell phone. We don’t
even want to hear vibrations.
No laptops. Although I’m pro-technology (I’ll use multimedia during many of our
classes), it’s simply become too difficult to ascertain what is and what is not a learning device.
New technology has also wired us to multitask: we just can’t help having open multiple
windows. So we’ll avoid temptation altogether.
I have a liberal two-absence policy. This means everyone can miss two classes, the
equivalent of one full week. You may do so unexcused, without worrying about any impact it
may have on your grade. The third absence will require an email with legitimate circumstances
received at least a day in advance. These circumstances include illness, religious observance, and
family emergencies. All other absences will adversely affect your participation.
If you are feeling ill, it is especially important that you do not come to class. Please write
me a short email before class if you think you’re not well enough to attend. If I receive your
email after class begins, you will not be excused. Again, I expect everyone will have to miss a
single discussion section for this reason. So it’s good policy to save your absences. We’ll talk if
you start missing frequently, or haven’t adequately informed us of your absences. But, please:
don’t sacrifice your health or the health of those around you for participation.
If you happen to be absent for one of our classes, it is entirely your responsibility to find
notes for that day. Please contact a classmate to fill you in. I’m always more than happy to
answer questions about our discussion, but I’m very hesitant to recap the day’s events.
Students with disabilities should see me during the first week of class with the
appropriate paperwork.
We have a single “Major Scheduled Grading Event”: our final. Be there. Be prepared.
Late Work
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ENGL211 - 0301
Jamison Kantor
9/1/11
TTh 11-12:15. Tawes Hall 1236
Turn your work in on time, before class that day. This should be easy because of
electronic submission. Always backup your work on a portable drive, or send it to yourself over
email. If there are extraordinary circumstances prohibiting you from turning in assignments, send
me something in writing within a reasonable amount of time. If you have made a concerted effort
to contact me, and provided good reasons, I will try to provide a very short extension.
If it is clear you have made little to no effort to contact me, you have no tenable excuse,
or you are dragging your feet on an extension, I will start deducting points. For every three days
the assignment is overdue, I will deduct 10% (and 3% for one day, 6% for two days, etc.).
Hence, an ‘A’ (95%) turned in one week late receives a D+ (68%). Also, there is no grade
“floor.” If you turn in a paper two weeks late, you start with a 58%.
Please be responsible. I promise to turn assignments around efficiently, if you promise to
do your work.
Intellectual Honesty
Although I always encourage discussion of ideas outside of class, your work on every
written assignment must be your own.
Lazy plagiarism occurs when you have unintentionally missed a citation or paraphrase.
Please work to accurately cite your papers. Citational proficiency is part of the technique in
writing a good paper. If you have citation questions, please consult McKeldin’s abbreviated
MLA style manual online (http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/citing_mla.html), or talk to me. Best
rule: if there is any doubt whether something should be cited, err on the side of caution—cite it.
Intentional plagiarism, which is deliberately passing off another entity’s words or ideas as
your own, is entirely prohibited and entirely discreditable. Assignments found to be intentionally
plagiarized will result in course dismissal and further disciplinary action. Please consult the
University’s honor council website for more information: (www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu).
Grades
Your assignment grades will always be posted on elms, so you shouldn’t need to ask
about them. I also don’t discuss grades arbitrarily, ever. However, I love to discuss the contents
of the course and how you can improve your writing and thinking about literature. I am always
open to that.
If you have an imminent grade concern, make sure you have calculated your grade
accurately, and framed your concern positively and proactively. And remember: grades are
earned, not assigned.
Office Hours and Contact
I will hold office hours on Wednesdays from 11-1, and by appointment, in Tawes 2200.
Feel free to come talk with me about the reading, your commonplace books, or other college
conundrums. If you want me to review an assignment with you, please make sure you come in
prepared to talk about specific issues in that assignment. Be prepared to lead our discussion when
you have something specific to review. If you want to informally discuss readings or chat about
collegiate/academic life, no such specificity is necessary. I recommend that you stop by at least
once this semester.
My email address is jkantor@umd.edu. I will try to promptly respond to emails. Please
give me at least a day to turn them around.
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