I. ASCRC General Education Form (revised 3/19/14)
Use to propose new general education courses (except writing courses), to change or
renew existing gen ed courses and to remove designations for existing gen ed courses.
Note: One-time-only general education designation may be requested for experimental courses
(X91-previously X95), granted only for the semester taught. A NEW request must be
submitted for the course to receive subsequent general education status.
Group
II. Mathematics
VII: Social Sciences
(submit
III. Language
VIII: Ethics & Human Values
separate forms
III Exception: Symbolic Systems * IX: American & European
if requesting
IV: Expressive Arts
X: Indigenous & Global
more than one
V: Literary & Artistic Studies X XI: Natural Sciences
general
w/ lab  w/out lab 
education
VI: Historical & Cultural Studies
group
* Require a Symbolic Systems Request Form.
designation)
Dept/Program English literature
Course #
LIT 353
Course Title
Prerequisite
Milton
Proposing deletion of current
department prerequisite of LIT 300
Credits
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office
Please type / print name Signature
Instructor
Rob Browning
Phone / Email 406-210-1358
Program Chair Beverly Chin
Dean
Chris Comer
III. Type of request
New
One-time Only
Renew
Reason for Gen Ed inclusion, change or deletion
3
Date
9-25-14
Change
Remove
X
LIT 353 would be a valuable
addition to the Gen Ed curriculum
because of the course's engagement
with a wide range of literary
genres, the centrality of Milton's
work to Western culture, and the
literature's readily appreciable
relevance to students' future lives.
Description of change
Inclusion of LIT 353 as a course
satisfying the Literary and Artistic
Studies General Education
requirement.
IV. Description and purpose of the general education course: General Education courses
must be introductory and foundational within the offering department or within the General
Education Group. They must emphasize breadth, context, and connectedness; and relate course
content to students’ future lives: See Preamble.
In LIT 353 students become familiar with John Milton's most important works in verse and prose. We
devote our energies to reading these texts closely and to tracing the development of the author's thinking
about certain ideas (creativity, the poet’s vocation, Platonism, monarchy, ritual, the natural word, the
sciences, the sexes, marriage, citizenship, the relationship of individual and community) through the
course of his career. The course introduces students to a wide range of literary genres (epic, lyric, hymn,
masque, sonnet, monody, autobiography, prose pamphlet) and modes (pastoral, heroic, tragic, satiric,
elegiac). Through the process of reading this varied literature, discussing it, and writing exploratory
essays about it, students become actively engaged in the business of interpreting Paradise Lost, one of
the most influential literary texts in the Western canon. The course's primary purposes for students are
to strengthen their reading and writing skills, to bolster their confidence as interpreters, and to help them
gain an understanding of how Milton's texts remain vitally relevant to our lives today.
V. Criteria: Briefly explain how this course meets the criteria for the group.
The course introduces students to a wide range of
"Courses cover a number of works in one or
literary genres (epic, lyric, hymn, masque,
more of the various forms of artistic
representation; they also establish a framework sonnet, monody, autobiography, prose pamphlet)
and modes (pastoral, heroic, tragic, satiric,
and context for analysis of the structure and
elegiac). Students approach Milton's handling of
significance of these works."
these genres and modes by way of leaning the
history and conventions of each. In the case of
epic, for example, we study the basic
characteristics of Homer's Illiad and The
Odyssey, Vergil's The Aneid, and Beowulf. In the
case of masque, we study representative court
masques from the early 17th century. In the case
of Milton's political pamphlets, we study a range
of representative texts from "the pamphlet wars"
of the 1640s.
1) to receive instruction on the methods of
analysis and criticism
In each class, students are introduced to and
practice specific analytical methods. These
include: analysis of genre according to how a
text follows and deviates from established
conventions; interpretation of metaphor,
allegory, and symbol; analysis of a given
work's structure; analysis of the author's selfrepresentations; inter-textual analysis:
interpretation of references and aesthetic
correspondences; analysis of artistic
development in the course of the author's
career; inter-arts comparisons; crosshistorical study: consideration of the
relevance of a given 17th-century text to our
own time.
2) to develop arguments about the works from
differing critical perspectives.
Students study examples of literary criticism
representing a range of critical perspectives.
These include: biographical criticism;
theological criticism; historicist criticism;
feminism; interdisciplinary studies that
explore Paradise Lost through the sciences
(biology, astronomy), political philosophy,
and ecology.
VI. Student Learning Goals: Briefly explain how this course will meet the applicable learning
goals.
1. analyze works of art with respect to structure This course's texts are especially suitable for
and significance within literary and artistic
providing students with experience in
traditions, including emergent movements and
analyzing literary works within artistic
forms
traditions because Milton was ambitious to
make original contributions to each of the
major literary genres. Studying a poem such
as "Lycidas" involves learning, first, the
history and defining characteristics of
previous elegies (chiefly from classical
antiquity and Milton's own time) and the
conventions of the pastoral mode (as
exemplified in Vergil's Eclogues and early
17th-century poetry). We analyze the
significance of literary form in "Lycidas" by
comparing and contrasting it both to
contemporary examples and to radical
modern examples (such as T. S. Eliot's The
Waste-Land), which allows us to think
flexibly about this highly innovative text's
place in literary history. Our analytical
approach to each text we study involves first
gaining an understanding of the work's
genre and place in literary history; and,
second, considering the relevance of the text
to the social perspectives and aesthetic
sensibilities of our own time.
2. "develop coherent arguments that critique
these works from a variety of approaches, such
as historical, aesthetic, cultural, psychological,
political, and philosophical."
Students gain facility in making coherent
arguments from different critical
perspectives by way of: 1) reading critical
studies from a variety of critical
perspectives (see V. 2, above) and
discussing the validity of these to the
literature in class; 2) using these in critical
perspectives in short bi-weekly response
papers and in a formal, midterm essay; 3)
using these in a formal term paper. In
addition, students become familiar with the
critical arguments of a handful of prominent
Milton scholars (C. S. Lewis, Stanley Fish,
Barbara Lewalski, Dennis Danielson, and
John Forsyth)--in particular, with the
coherence of these scholars' typical ways of
thinking about Milton.
3.
VII. Assessment: How are the learning goals above measured? Please list at least one
assignment, activity or test question for each goal.
1. I evaluate the students' analysis of literary structure and their ability to interpret the
significance of texts within artistic traditions in their two formal essays (of five and ten pages,
respectively). Here are two representative topics for the midterm essay:
1) In the Nativity Ode, what is to be learned about how Milton expresses the expulsion of the pagan
gods? First of all, what does it mean in this birthday poem to Christ that the poet devotes so much
attention to describing the expulsion? Inseparable from this matter are the aesthetic qualities of the list –
the vivid imagery, virtuoso aural effects, and powerful diction (which on the whole seems quite elegiac
to me). How are we to understand the emotional and artistic power of this section of the poem?
2) How does A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle respond to Ben Jonson’s and Inigo Jones’s Pleasure
Reconciled to Virtue? Specifically, what does Milton’s mask have to say about pleasure (be sure to
explain what you understand this to mean) and its relationship to virtue? In what ways does it challenge
and in what ways does it remain constrained by the court masque conventions Jonson and Jones are
following?
2. I evaluate the coherence of students' critical arguments in: 1) their class presentation on a
focused, critical topic (which must include commentary on a published scholarly article), 2)
their two formal papers: one a midterm essay and one a term paper with a research component.
The course's requirement of seven written assignments ensures that students are exercising their
analytical skills in a variety of critical frameworks.
3.
VIII. Justification: Normally, general education courses will not carry pre-requisites, will
carry at least 3 credits, and will be numbered at the 100-200 level. If the course has more than
one pre-requisite, carries fewer than three credits, or is upper division (numbered above the 200
level), provide rationale for exception(s).
I am requesting that the current pre-requisite for LIT 353 --LIT 300--be dropped.
The course is listed at the 300-level because of the English department's history of placing
single-author courses (including Shakespeare) at this level. The department's current curricular
structure reserves the 100 and 200 levels for genre-oriented courses and broad historical
surveys. My primary reason for requesting "L" status for LIT 353 is to make the course more
accessible and more appealing to motivated non-English majors, who I believe would benefit
greatly from satisfying their Literary and Artistic Studies general education requirements with
this material. While the course does satisfy the goals for Literary and Artistic Studies and is
otherwise in the spirit of the General Education program, the texts it covers are inherently
challenging, which makes the 300-level designation warranted.
IX. Syllabus: Paste syllabus below or attach and send digital copy with form.  The syllabus
should clearly describe learning outcomes related to the above criteria and learning goals.
Milton (LIT 353)
Autumn 2014
Rob Browning
e-mail: rob.browning@mso.umt.edu
Office hours (LA 217): Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:00-11:00, 1:00-2:00, 3:40-4:30, and by
appointment
Course summary: In this course students will become familiar with John Milton's most
important 0-works in verse and prose. We will devote our energies to reading these texts closely
and to tracing the development of the author's thinking about certain ideas (creativity, the poet’s
vocation, Platonism, monarchy, ritual, the natural word, the sexes, marriage, the relationship of
individual and community) through the course of his career. We will read a selection of critical
essays that illuminate some of the perennial debates that have animated Milton studies over the
last century or more. Because of its complexity and its prominence in the canons of English
literature, Paradise Lost will be our focus for more than half the semester. We will conclude the
course with classes on Milton's legacy and the second of C. S. Lewis’s space trilogy novels,
Perelandra (1943), which Lewis wrote in concert with his classic A Preface to Paradise Lost
(1941).
Required texts:
The Riverside Milton, ed. Roy Flannagan (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998). ISBN: 0-395-80999-1
Various articles, chapters, and other readings accessible on our course’s Moodle site. I’ll let you
know as we go along which of these you should print out and which will be fine to read in
electronic form.
Graded work:
Bi-weekly short essays --------------------------------------------------------Term paper ----------------------------------------------------------------------Shorter formal essay -----------------------------------------------------------Presentation ----------------------------------------------------------------------
40
30
20
10
Attendance is an indication of your commitment to your studies. I become concerned after a
student has missed more than three classes, and expect anyone in this position to see me so we
may discuss his or her status in the class. Ordinarily (and certainly if I hear nothing from you),
each absence beyond four will reduce the final grade by one third of a letter grade.
Please arrive to class on time. I understand that the most conscientious of us sometimes are
delayed by circumstances beyond our control (and in those instances, please do come to class
rather than not at all). Persistent late arrivals, however, become a distraction for the class. You
may dismiss yourself during class time, but please do so only for urgent reasons.
Participation: Milton himself deplored mere spectatorship and went to great lengths to entice
and provoke his readers to think actively and independently. Our class will be successful to the
extent that each of you makes efforts to contribute to our discussions of this controversial
literature. My sense of your level of "participation" is based on a number of things: your
attendance, how well you appear to be keeping up with the reading assignments (based on your
bi-weekly essays and your involvement in discussions), and any conversations you and I have
beyond class time. Normally, outstanding participation will raise a final grade by one-third of a
letter grade or more; poor participation due to poor preparation and an obvious lack of effort will
lower a final grade by one-third of a letter grade.
Essays: This course includes three kinds: 1) Bi-weekly response papers are informal, one to two
page (single-spaced) explorations of some aspect of a text we have read during the previous week
or two. They are due every other Thursday we meet (with a couple exceptions), for a total of five.
You should use these papers as an aid to your reading (one typically thinks differently when
writing about literature than when reading only) and as a forum for generating interesting
questions and topics you might pursue in either of your two formal papers. Otherwise, you have
considerable freedom in how you go about these papers. You may revise and build upon a
previous paper so long as your revisions are substantial and reflect your engagement with an
additional text. I'll distribute topics and prompts for 2) the shorter formal essay at least two
weeks in advance of the due date. For this essay (of about five double-spaced pages) you will also
have the option of devising your own topic. To earn a grade of “C” or higher, your essay must have
a strong, clearly stated thesis—which is to say, a focused claim that requires the work of your
body paragraphs to demonstrate. 3) The term paper (of no fewer than ten double-spaced pages)
should engage with your chosen primary text(s) and carefully selected critical/theoretical
publications. It will be your responsibility to devise a topic for this paper, however, I encourage
you to talk with me about your reading and research interests at any point during the semester.
Presentation. Either in collaboration with one of your classmates or solo, you’ll be called upon to
give a presentation on a specific topic relevant to our reading. Part of this work will entail
introducing the class to a scholarly article or portion of a book that bears on the topic.
Academic honesty: Plagiarism is a violation of scholarly trust. According to the Provost,
“Academic misconduct is subject to an academic penalty by the course instructor and/or a
disciplinary sanction by the University. All students need to be familiar with the Student Conduct
Code. The Code is available for review online at
http://www.umt.edu/SA/VPSA/index.cfm/page/1321.” Violators of the Student Conduct Code
will receive an “F” for the offending paper. Each essay you submit must be signed at the bottom of
the last page, assuring that the work is your own, except where indicated by proper
documentation. Your signature is your word that the essay is free of plagiarism.
Accommodation: The University of Montana assures equal access to instruction through
collaboration between students with disabilities, instructors, and Disability Services for Students
(DSS). If you think you may have a disability adversely affecting your academic performance, and
you have not already registered with DSS, please contact DSS in Lommasson 154. I will work with
you and DSS to provide an appropriate accommodation.
Specific objectives for students of this course:
1. To gain familiarity with the major cultural currents and happenings of the seventeenth century,
and to understand how these contexts can contribute to our interpretations of Milton’s works of
literature.
2. To learn how Milton works with the conventions of certain literary genres (epic, lyric, masque,
and political pamphlet) and how he deviates from these conventions in meaningful ways.
3. To develop your skills in performing meaningful, interesting close readings of literary texts.
4. To gain practice in revising and developing informal response papers into formal analytical
essays.
5. To develop your proficiency in writing rhetorically effective essays (well-reasoned and
grammatically sound), driven by a thesis and sustained by an ordered, coherent argument.
The following schedule is tentative. At the beginning or end of each class I will confirm the
reading for the next class. If you ever miss a class, please check with a classmate (or myself) about
any schedule changes that may have occurred.
8/26 Tues.
8/28 Thurs.
Introductions
The Nativity Ode (33-47); Elegy 6, To Charles Diodati (195-97); "Ad Patrem" ("To his
Father") (223-27); Shawcross, “The Life of Milton,” pp. 1-6 (on Moodle).
9/2 Tues.
"L' Allegro" and "Il Penseroso" (65-77); Prolusion #1, "Whether Day or Night is more
Excellent" (846-850).
Ben Jonson, Pleasure Reconcil'd to Virtue (Moodle); A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle
(a.k.a. "Comus"), lines 1-330 (Flannagan's introduction begins on p. 109).
9/4 Thurs.
9/9 Tues.
9/11 Thurs.
First response paper due. A Mask, lines 331-end. Finish reading Shawcross’s “The Life
of Milton” (5-19).
"At a Solemn Music" (55-57); Sonnet 18 ("On the Late Massacre") and Sonnet 19 ("When
I consider how my light is spent") (254-56); Sonnet 23 ("Methought I saw") (258-59)
9/16 Tues.
9/18 Thurs.
Virgil, Eclogue V (link to e-text on Moodle); "Lycidas" (94-107).
Second response paper due. “Lycidas,” continued; Womack, “On the Value of ‘Lycidas’”
(Moodle).
9/23 Tues.
N.H. Keeble, “Pamphlet Wars” (Moodle); Areopagitica, including Flannagan's
introduction (987-92, 997-1015). See outline of Areopagitica (Moodle).
Areopagitica (1016-24)
9/25 Thurs.
9/30 Tues.
10/2 Thurs.
C. S. Lewis, from A Preface to Paradise Lost (Moodle); Paradise Lost, prefatory texts (350354) and book one, lines 1-126.
Shorter formal essay due. Paradise Lost, book one (finish); from Neil Forsyth, The
Satanic Epic (Moodle)
10/7 Tues.
10/9 Thurs.
Paradise Lost, book two
Paradise Lost, book three; from Dennis Danielson, Milton's Good God and "Astronomy"
(both on Moodle)
10/14 Tues.
10/16 Thurs.
Paradise Lost, book four; from Neil Forsyth, The Satanic Epic (Moodle)
Third response paper due. Paradise Lost, book four, continued.
10/21 Tues.
Paradise Lost, book five; Stephen Fallon, "Paradise Lost and Intellectual History"
(Moodle)
10/23 Thurs.
Paradise Lost, book six
10/28 Tues.
10/30 Thurs.
Paradise Lost, books seven (all) and eight (lines 1-451)
Fourth response paper due. Paradise Lost, book eight (finish), book nine, lines 1-781
11/4 Tues.
11/6 Thurs.
Election Day—no class
Paradise Lost, book nine (finish); Marcia Landy, "Kinship and the Role of Women in
Paradise Lost" OR Sandra Gilbert, “Patriarchal Poetry and Women Readers” AND
Lewalski, "Milton on Women - Yet Once Again" (all on Moodle) (read Lewalski and either
Landy or Gilbert)
11/11 Tues.
11/13 Thurs.
Veterans Day—no class
Fifth response paper due. Paradise Lost, book ten
11/17 Tues.
11/20 Thurs.
Paradise Lost, book eleven; Ken Hiltner, from Milton and Ecology (Moodle)
Paradise Lost, book twelve
11/25 Tues.
11/27 Thurs.
Milton's legacy (readings to be announced)
Thanksgiving Day -- no class
12/2 Tues.
12/4 Thurs.
C. S. Lewis, Perelandra
C. S. Lewis, Perelandra
Term papers are due on December 9 (Tuesday) by high noon. Please slide your essay under my office
door (rather than use my department mailbox).
Please note: Approved general education changes will take effect next fall.
General education instructors will be expected to provide sample assessment items and
corresponding responses to the Assessment Advisory Committee.