Fall 2003
Rec #11980 TU 12:30-1:45 EH 218
Prof. M. L. Donnelly
Office: EH 23C
ENGL-361: BRITISH SURVEY I
Scope of the Course: A survey designed for English majors, covering representative figures,
movements and developments in British literature from Anglo-Saxon times through Milton. I teach
Survey primarily as a "content" course, though inevitably in the process of lecture/discussion and
preparatives for written work, some attention will be given to highlighting skills of reading,
interpreting, writing and talking about works of literature.
Text: Frank Kermode and John Hollander, gen. eds., The Oxford Anthology of English Literature,
vol. 1 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973) [required]
English Poetry and Prose, 1557-1674, ed. Christopher Ricks (The Sphere History of English
Language and Literature, vol. 2) [recommended]
I recommend that students also own and consult regularly a good handbook of literary
terms, such as Ross Murfin and Sypria M. Ray, The Bedford Glossary of Critical and
Literary Terms (latest edition: Boston: Bedford Books, 2003 [ISBN 0312259107])
On-Line resources: I recommend particularly the materials and links available at Anniina
Jokinen’s site, http://www. luminarium.org/lumina.htm, which has some excellent
materials, including primary texts and excerpts, critical articles, and student essays, on
Medieval and Renaissance and Seventeenth-Century texts and authors.
Hugely comprehensive is the Voice of the Shuttle (VoS) site run by Alan Liu and others
from the University of California Santa Barbara: http://vos.ucsb.edu/index-netscape.asp.
Browse its ever-expanding resources.
Consult also http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/EngLit.html, which is a general
clearing-house for sites dealing with English Literature, and has links to a number of sites
that deal with our periods.
Requirements:
First Hour Exam, 30 September...............................................…………….…………..15%
Second Hour Exam, 11 November..............................................………………………20%
Paper on a topic selected from list or cleared with instructor by 18 Nov. at latest,
due 4 December ………………………………………………………………25%
Final Examination..............................................................……………………………..30%
In-class written exercises, brief reaction papers, class participation.....………………..10%
Bulletin Board Access: Username: engl361 Password: thegreats
Office Hours and contact information:
Office hours TU, 8:30-9:20 & 11:00-11:20 AM, and TU 2:00-2:30 PM; and by appointment
e-mail: donnelly@ksu.edu [the preferred way to contact me--I usually respond promptly]
Office Phone: 532-0385
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NOTE ESPECIALLY THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS, INCLUDED IN THIS SYLLABUS PER
RECOMMENDATION OF JANE D. ROWLETT, DIRECTOR OF UNCLASSIFIED AFFAIRS AND UNIVERSITY
COMPLIANCE:
University Honor System:
Kansas State University has an Undergraduate Honor System
based on personal integrity which is presumed to be sufficient
assurance that in academic matters one's work is performed
honestly and without unauthorized assistance. Undergraduate
students, by registration, acknowledge the jurisdiction of the
Undergraduate Honor System. The policies and procedures of the
Undergraduate Honor System apply to all full and part-time
students enrolled in undergraduate courses on-campus, offcampus, and via distance learning.
A prominent part of the Honor System is the inclusion of the Honor
Pledge which applies to all assignments, examinations, or other
course work undertaken by undergraduate students. The Honor
Pledge is implied, whether or not it is stated: "On my honor, as a
student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this
academic work."
A grade of XF can result from a breach of academic honesty. An
XF would be failure of the course with the X on the transcript
indicating failure as a result of a breach of academic honesty.
For more information, please visit the Honor System web page at:
http://www.ksu.edu/honor.
Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:
Any student with a disability who needs an accommodation or
other assistance in this course should make an appointment to
speak with me as soon as possible.
Notice of copyright for course syllabi and lectures:
Copyright 2003 M. L. Donnelly as to this syllabus and all
lectures. During this course students are prohibited from selling
notes to or being paid for taking notes by any person or
commercial firm without the express written permission of the
professor teaching this course.
Class Schedule (a general indication of the approximate dates on which we will take up the texts in
question, and an accurate guide to the order of our readings; adjustments to accommodate
the amount of discussion generated by particular texts and topics will certainly occur):
Aug. 21: Introductory lecture. Read for next session editors' Introduction to Medieval English
Literature (3-18), and poems listed for next session. All assignments are keyed to Oxford
Anthology, by page nos., parenthetically.
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Aug. 26: “Caedmon’s Hymn” (19-20), “The Wanderer” (100-104), “The Battle of Maldon” (104114); begin Beowulf (20-56)
Aug. 28: Beowulf (56-77)
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Sept. 2: Beowulf (77-98). Another artefact of the Christianization of the Germanic heroic warriorethos: The Dream of the Rood (114-18)
Sept. 4: Chaucer: Introduction, General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales (119-156) and Miller’s
Prologue and Tale (156-176). Read Nun's Priest's Prologue and Tale, and selections from
Bestiary and Caxton for next time (176-98), as well as other texts assigned for Sept. 9.
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Sept. 9: Discussion on Chaucer’s Nun’s Priest’s Tale and selections from The Bestiary. Wife of
Bath’s Prologue only (198-223) [Wife’s Tale optional]; Pardoner's Prologue and Tale (25776); Cantus Troili (280), finale of Troilus (496-98), Chaucer's Retraction (276-77).
Sept. 11: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ll. 1-1019 (284-312)
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Sept. 16: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ll.1020-2530 (312-48)
Sept. 18: The Vision of Piers Plowman (348-363) and English mystics (Richard Rolle, Dame Julian
of Norwich, Margery Kempe if availability of texts can be arranged, or you read them on
the web).
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Sept. 23: Medieval lyric: “Summer Is Ycumen In” (415), “Separated Lovers” (417), “He Is Far”
(417), “The Maid of the Moor” (419), “All Too Late” (422); Popular Ballads: “The Two
Magicians” (431), “The Carpenter’s Wife” (434), “The Wife of Usher’s Well” (435), “Lord
Randall” (438); later medieval religious lyrics: “Divine Love,” “I Sing of a Maiden,”
“Adam Lay Ybounden,” “Corpus Christi Carol” (422-425); cf. "Balade" from Legend of
Good Women (281). For next week, read The Wakefield Second Shepherds’ Play and
Everyman
Sept. 25: Discussion of The Wakefield Second Shepherds’ Play and Everyman (363-411).
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Sept. 30: First Hour Exam
Oct. 2: Development of modern prose style and the English language: Malory selections (444-58);
Caxton, from the Preface to the Aeneid (461). Handouts on Talking and Writing about
Prose, Prayer Book Collects, a sample of Skelton’s aureate style. Poetry: Skelton, “Colin
Clout” (468), “Philip Sparrow” (469).
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Oct. 7: More's Utopia (552-569) and selection from The History of King Richard III (571-575);
Roper's Life of More (575-578). Read selections from Elyot (578-83), Hoby trans. of
Castiglione (584-98), Ascham (598-606). [Lecture/discussion on courtliness and
humanism]
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Oct. 9: Renaissance Lyric: Wyatt, “My Galley . . .” (617) and all other Wyatt poems in anthology
except “The Long Love . . .”; Thomas, Lord Vaux (608-9); Tichborne’s Elegy (611);
Spenser, Intro and Shepheardes Calendar October Eclogue (652-59); Nashe, “Litany in
Time of Plague” (compare Dunbar’s “Lament for the Makers”, pp. 446-66—and Nashe,
“Autumn” [615]); Peddler’s Song (615-16); Sidney, “Ye Goatherd Gods” (627-29);
Campion (1009-1015). Next week: As a suitable diversion for Fall Break, read the
following excerpts in Oxford Anthology, which might be titled "The Golden Age Myth and
the Garden: some Renaissance versions": Golding's Ovid (521-22); report on the New
World (544-45); Gardens of Alcinous passage from Chapman's Homer (844-45); Daniel's
Pastoral from Tasso's Aminta (909-911); Fanshawe's "The Golden Age" from Guarini's Il
Pastor Fido (1109-1110); Lovelace's "Love Made in the First Age" (1132-33). [A preview
of some characteristic poetic styles from the earlier and later Renaissance in England, and
introduction of a resonant idea in Renaissance literature. Write a brief reaction paper--1-3
pp.--commenting on, responding to, questioning or criticism or just characterizing these
texts, and hand in Oct. 16.]
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Oct. 14: Fall Break: Student Holiday
Oct. 16: The Sonnet: Wyatt, “I Find No Peace” (617), “Farewell, Love” (617-18), and “The Long
Love . . .” (618); Surrey, “Alas, So all Things Now” (622) and “Love That Doth Reign”
(624-25); Sidney, selections from Astrophel and Stella (630-36); Greville, selections, pp.
650-51; Spenser, Amoretti I (820), XV (821), LXIII (822), LXXV (823); Daniel, “CareCharmer Sleep” (909); Drayton, selections from Idea (915-916); for comparison and
contrast, look at Herbert, Prayer (I) (1177) and Milton, “On the Late Massacre” (1221). For
next time, read all the Shakespeare sonnets included in the Anthology; we will discuss those
you wish to address.
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Oct. 21: Shakespearean sonnets. For next Thursday, the Ovidian Epyllion: Shakespeare, selections
from Venus and Adonis (917-21; compare Marlowe’s Hero and Leander [899-908]) and
“The Rape of Lucrece” (921-24). Other Lyric Forms: songs from plays: “Dirge” (939),
“Take, O Take Those Lips Away” (941), “O Mistress Mine” (941).
Oct. 23: The Ovidian Epyllion [a challenge to strictly high-serious approaches to Renaissance Lit]
and other lyric forms. For next time, examine rhetorical play in Lyly selection (1422-1424)
and selection from Sidney's Old Arcadia (629-30); as a short written exercise, see if you can
differentiate (citing examples from the selections) between Lyly's Euphuistic style and the
"Arcadian rhetoryke."
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Oct. 28: Prose style: In-class discussion of rhetorical play in Lyly selection (1422-1424) and
selection from Sidney's Old Arcadia (629-30). Next: Some religious and moral
backgrounds for later Renaissance literature and thought : Ralegh’s History of the World
(834-36), Hooker’s Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1424-26, 1427-29); Donne, Satire III
(1045-48); Bacon essays (1434-35, "Of Truth," "Of Innovations," others to be read on-line
and discussed in class--assignment will be placed on the course Bulletin Board).
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Oct. 30: Discussion of religious and moral backgrounds as exemplified in assigned readings. Next:
Sidney, Defence of Poesy (636-49). Spenser, “A Letter of the Authors” (664-68); The
Faerie Queene Intro (662-64); selections from Book I (669-718).
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Nov. 4: Sidney, Spenser, and English literary theory in the late 16th Century. Start Faerie Queene.
Next Thursday: Spenser, Faerie Queene highlights: Book II, the Cave of Mammon (72038); Bower of Bliss (738-46); FQ III.vi, The Garden of Adonis (749-760); III.xii, the
Masque of Cupid (767-777); apologia from Book IV Proem (778-79); Scudamor's account
of the Temple of Venus and his gaining of Amoret, IV.x. (783-791); Britomart at Isis'
church, V.vii.1-24 (794-801); excerpt from Mutability cantos (809-819); [optional:
Calidore's vision on Mt. Acidale VI.x. (803-809).
Nov. 6: Finish up Spenser's Faerie Queene; Spenser, Epithalamion (823-34). Hand out suggested
topics for third paper.
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Nov . 11: SECOND HOUR EXAM. For next time, read assigned readings for Nov. 13th.
Nov. 13: Donne: read first Thomas Carew’s Elegy (1124-27); Paradox (1019-20); Elegy 18,
“Love’s Progress” (1020-1022); Songs & Sonnets selections: “The Sun Rising” (1025-26),
“The Canonization” (1026-27), “Song” (1028); “Love’s Alchemy” (1034); “A Valediction:
Forbidding Mourning” (1038-39); “The Ecstasy” (1039-42); compare Marlowe’s
“Passionate Shepherd (908), Ralegh’s “Answer” (838-39), and Donne’s “The Bait” (1037).
Jonson: “To the Memory of . . . Shakespeare” (1065-67); Cary-Morison Ode (1067-71);
“Ode to Himself” (1071-72); Epigram from Petronius (1074); “To Penshurst” (1075-1077);
“On My First Son” (1082); “To William Roe” (1083). Glance at “Song: To Celia” (107780) and “To the Same” (1081); [optional: compare Catullus original (look it up) and
Campion’s “My Sweetest Lesbia” (1010)]. Robert Herrick: “To the Virgins” (1114-15);
“Corinna’s Going A-Maying” (1115-16); “Upon Julia’s Clothes,” “Delight in Disorder” [cf.
Jonson’s “Clerimont’s Song” (1085)], and “Night-Piece to Julia” (all 1117).
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Nov. 18: More “Cavalier” verses: Carew, “Upon a Ribband” (1127) [cf. Donne’s “The Funeral”
(1042) and “The Relic” (1044)]; Lovelace, “Song” (1130) and “The Grasshopper” (112829); Waller, “Song” (1134); Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress” (1148-49), Mower poems
(1151-54), “The Garden” (1155-57), “An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from
Ireland” (1162-65). Submit to instructor and clear final paper topic by today at latest.
Nov. 20: Donne, religious poems: Holy Sonnets II (1050-51), IV (1051), V (1051), VI (1052,
optional); “Good Friday, 1613” (1053-54); “Hymn to God, My God” and “Hymn to God the
Father” (1054-55); [Meditation XVII (1056-57) optional]; Herbert, “Easter-Wings” (1168),
“Our Life is Hid . . .” (1169), “The Pulley” (1172), “The Collar” (1173), “Jordan” I and II
(1174-75), Love III (1178). Crashaw, “The Flaming Heart” (1187-89); Vaughan, “The
Retreat” (1192-93), “The World” (1194-96), “They Are All gone Into the World of Light”
(1196-97), “Cock-Crowing” (1199-1200).
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Nov. 25: Some 17th C. Prose: Browne, from Hydrotaphia (1485-91); Taylor, Considerations of
the Vanity . . . (1543-45); Clarendon, Characters of Charles I and Cromwell from History of
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the Rebellion (1538-42). Later seventeenth-century prose: Bunyan (1573-81); Traherne,
selections from Centuries of Meditations (1203-5). Over Holiday, read Milton selections.
THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY NOVEMBER 26TH - 30TH
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Dec. 2: Milton, Sonnets: VII (1219), XVII (1220), XVIII (1221), XIX (1221); Lycidas (1251-57);
start Paradise Lost.
Dec. 4: Milton: PL selections from Books I-V, through Adam’s exposition of Eve’s Dream (12581319). Third paper due in class.
Dec. 9: Milton, PL IX (1322-50); conclusion to XII (1357-61).
Dec. 11: Finish Milton, if necessary. If time permits: Transition to “the next Age”: Cowley, “Ode
of Wit” (1136-38) and perhaps "To the Royal Society" (handout); selections from Hobbes,
Leviathan, ch. 2, “Of Imagination” (1599-1504) and ch. 13, Of the Natural Condition of Mankind. .
.” (1505-1507); [Hobbes, “The Answer to Davenant’s Preface . . .” (1507-11); Waller, “Of English
Verse” (1135-36).
FINAL EXAMINATION: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 9:40-11:30 AM