ENGLISH 5313: RENAISSANCE LITERATURE
Fall 2009
Tuesday, 5:30 – 8:15 PM
HSS 3.02.24
Instructor: Dr. Bernadette Andrea
Email: bernadette.andrea@utsa.edu
Office: MB 2.470
Office Hours:
T/R 3:30 – 5:00 PM and by appointment
Course Content and Goals: The English Renaissance represents a late blossoming of the
general cultural “rebirth” in Western Europe characterized by the recovery of Greek and
Roman classics, the celebration of the multifaceted individual, and a renewed emphasis
on the secular world. Alternatively labeled “the early modern period,” this era also saw
the voyages of Columbus, the development of the printing press, the Protestant
Reformation, and the rise of centralized monarchies. English writers expressed the
vitality and volatility of the Renaissance/early modern period in an outburst of prose,
poetry, and drama that spanned the end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the
seventeenth century. In this course, we will focus on Queen Elizabeth I, examining
writings by and about her. Elizabeth was an anomalous “female king” who over almost
half a century as sole sovereign negotiated gendered representations including “Virgin
Queen” from her admirers to Jezebel from her detractors. In between, she parried
parliamentary pressure to marry, papal excommunication, and Spanish attempts to
invade. She oversaw the expansion of English imperial ambitions, based on their farflung trading ventures, and the development of a distinctly Protestant English
nationalism. As a highly educated woman in the humanist tradition, albeit as an
exception to the general patriarchal rule, she patronized courtly entertainments, public
stage plays, and Latin orations at the ancient universities, among other literary and
cultural productions. In focusing on Elizabeth I, this course therefore offers students the
opportunity to gain a comprehensive understanding of the English Renaissance,
especially in its literary aspect.
For course prerequisites and requirements the course fulfills, see the UTSA Graduate
Catalog and/or your advisor.
Required Readings: These books are required (i.e., you must obtain them and you must
bring them to the classes in which we are discussing material from them, as listed in the
Schedule below). Whenever possible, I will put extra copies of these books on reserve at
the UTSA Library (Main Campus):
Black, Joseph, et.
al., eds.
The Broadview Anthology of British
Literature: The Renaissance and the
Broadview
Press
2006
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Early Seventeenth Century
Stump, Donald, and
Susan Fletch, eds.
Marcus, Leah, et.
al., eds.
Weller, Barry, and
Margaret Ferguson,
eds.
Elizabeth I and Her Age
Elizabeth I: Collected Works
Elizabeth Cary, The Lady Falkland:
The Tragedy of Mariam . . . with The
Lady Falkland Her Life
W.W. Norton
2009
University of
Chicago Press
University of
California Press
2002
1994
I recommend that you obtain the most recent edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of
Research Papers (7th ed.). If you are using another edition, you must consult with me
first. All written assignments for this course must follow MLA guidelines for mechanics
of writing, format of the research paper, and documentation.
I also recommend the following web sites for reliable background information on the
English Renaissance:
Broadview Anthology of British Literature http://broadviewpress.com/BABL/
The Queen Elizabeth I Society http://research.uvu.edu/Moss/Home.html
Luminarium: An Anthology of English Literature http://www.luminarium.org/
Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/
The Norton Anthology of English Literature
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/17century/welcome.htm
Schedule of Readings and Assignments:
This schedule is subject to change as the class unfolds; all changes will be discussed in
class; all students are responsible for keeping abreast of these changes.
English 5313
(T 5:30 – 8:15)
Week 1: 9/1
Week 2: 9/8
Required Reading
(unless otherwise
indicated, all
readings are from
the Broadview
Anthology)
Introduction:
Syllabus
Thomas More,
Utopia (12-72);
William Tyndale’s
English Bible (7485); Contexts:
Recommended
Reading
“The Renaissance
and the Early
Seventeenth
Century” (xxxvlxxxvi)
Assignments
(plus weekly reader
responses,
beginning Week 2)
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Week 3: 9/15
Week 4: 9/22
Week 5: 9/29
Week 6: 10/6
Week 7: 10/13
Religion and
Devotional Life”
(87-106)
“The Elizabethan
Sonnet and Lyric”
(122-30); Edmund
Spenser, from
Amoretti (138-40;
244-47); Sir Philip
Sidney, from
Astrophil to Stella
(254-55; 256-59);
William
Shakespeare,
Selected Sonnets
(454-458 to end of
Sonnet 20)
Spenser, The Faerie
Queene (140-243)
Sir Walter Ralegh,
from The Discovery
of the Large, Rich,
and Beautiful
Empire of Guiana
(334-35; 338-58);
Contexts: Other
Lands, Other
Cultures (361-87)
Shakespeare, King
Lear (450-54; 469549)
“Contexts:
‘Unconstant
Woman,’ ‘Excellent
Women’: A
SeventeenthCentury Debate”
(556-68); Amelia
Lanyer, from Salve
Deus Rex
Judaeorum (32733); Ben Jonson,
“To Penshurst”
(569-71; 574-75)
Actors from the
London Stage will
perform King Lear
at UTSA (details
pending)
Performance
Review Due
4
Week 8: 10/20
Elizabeth I and Her
Age, 1533-1566 (3135)
Week 9: 10/27
Elizabeth I and Her
Age, 1567-77 (137235)
Week 10: 11/3
Elizabeth I and Her
Age, 1578-1587
(237-372)
Week 11: 11/10
Elizabeth I and Her
Age, 1588-1597
(373-485)
Week 12: 11/17
Elizabeth I and Her
Age, 1598-1603;
Remembering
Elizabeth (487-549;
627-53)
Elizabeth Cary, The
Tragedy of Mariam,
ed. Waller and
Ferguson (63-176)
The Lady Falkland:
Her Life, ed. Waller
and Ferguson (18375)
Final Exam Week
(No classes)
Week 13: 11/24
Week 14: 11/1
Week 15: 12/15
Elizabeth’s
Strategies for Rule
(655-83); The
Virgin Monarch
(683-95)
The Queen’s
Religious Position
(696-711); The
Poems and
Speeches of
Elizabeth (712-37)
The Progresses and
Entertainments
(737-46); The
Queen’s Portraits
(746-69)
Elizabeth in
Literature (770816); Criticizing
Elizabeth (816-53)
The Queen on Film
(853-65)
Mid-Term Paper
Due;
In-class Reports
Introduction to The
Tragedy of Mariam,
ed. Waller and
Ferguson (1-59)
Annotated
Bibliography Due
In-class Reports
In-class Reports
In-class Reports
In-class Reports
Final Paper Due
Assignment Sequence: Details, including due dates, for all assignments are listed in the
Schedule above. No late assignments will be accepted. Unless specified below,
assignments must be submitted as hard copies. Do not email assignments as attachments.
Neither instructors nor office staff can report grades by telephone, mail, email, or fax.

Weekly response to the required reading:
o One page (250 words), beginning in Week Two.
o May summarize, comment, or ask questions about the required reading.;
hence, this response should show me that you have read all that is
required!
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



o Students receive a participation grade for each response submitted on time
to allow for a range of approaches, perhaps some that stretch your limits,
to the topic. So, be creative!
o Posted weekly on Web CT on the Monday immediately prior to the class
in which we will discuss the reading. Responses posted after this time will
not receive full credit.
o 13 responses @ 1 % each + 2% for submitting all responses on time =
15% of final grade.
Performance review:
o Three to four pages (750 to 1000 words).
o Evidence of attendance (ticket stub, video receipt, etc.) must stapled to the
review.
o Your review must focus on a live performance or film of one of the plays
listed in the syllabus.
o I encourage you to attend the Actors from the London Stage’s
performance of King Lear (I will distribute information about this
performance in class). If you plan to attend another performance, or to
review a film, you must consult with me before writing your review.
o Your review should:
 attract the reader’s interest through a “catchy” beginning;
 summarize the performance for a reader who may not know the
play, but might be interested in seeing it after reading your review;
and
 evaluate the performance.
o 10% of final grade.
Mid-term research paper:
o Eight to ten pages, not including list of works cited:
o This paper must develop an argument about your primary sources (any or
all of the required readings we have read thus far), engage secondary
sources (including, but not limited to, the recommending readings listed
above), and conform to the guidelines listed in the MLA Handbook.
o ***I encourage students to discuss their paper topics with me and to bring
drafts to my office hours for feedback well in advance of the due date.***
o 25 % of final grade.
Report on the recommended reading:
o Three to five pages, following MLA guidelines precisely, focusing on the
recommended readings in the Schedule above..
o Students will sign up for reports as listed in Schedule; more than one
student cannot sign up for the same report until all reports have been
selected. I will pass out a sign-up sheet in class.
o Written report is due in class on the day your recommended reading is
listed.
o You will present a brief — no more than five to ten minutes — summary
of written report in class on that day.
o Written + oral report = 10 % of final grade.
Annotated bibliography of secondary sources related to required readings:
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
o Should include at least five items (article or book chapter) beyond the
recommended readings listed in the Schedule above.
o You should consult the MLA Bibliography, the UTSA Library Catalog,
and other databases for relevant sources. ***I encourage students to come
see me if they are not familiar with these research tools or if they have
questions about their sources well in advance of the due date.***
o Each item should be listed according to MLA guidelines, with a short
summary (not an evaluation) of the work (150 – 200 words) following
each listing. This means you must read each article or book chapter prior
to preparing your annotated bibliography!
o Along with the recommended readings listed above, this annotated
bibliography may become the basis for the bibliography of your final
paper.
o 15 % of final grade.
Final research paper plus bibliography:
o Fifteen to twenty pages, not including list of works cited.
o This paper may build on your mid-term paper, incorporating any of my
comments, and your annotated bibliography. You may also write a
completely new paper.
o This paper must include required readings from the second half of the
semester (i.e. after the due date for the mid-term paper); it can also include
readings from the first half of the semester.
o As with the mid-term paper, this paper must develop an argument about
your primary sources, engage secondary sources, and conform to the
guidelines listed in the MLA Handbook.
o ***I encourage students to discuss their paper topics with me and to bring
drafts to my office hours for feedback well in advance of the due date.***
o 25 % of final grade.
Attendance at all class sessions is required (see Policies below); unexcused absences will
result a 1% reduction of your grade for each class hour missed.
I use standard grade scale below when calculating your final letter grade, which I will
post on WebCT.
Course Policies: Our course policies are based on department, college, and university
policies. They are meant to optimize the learning experience for each class member. If
you have any questions or comments about these policies, please do not hesitate to speak
with me.

Attendance: This course assumes an interactive approach in its structure, which
builds each class upon previous classes, and in its presentation, which requires
engaged participation from all members of the class. Your presence is essential to
the success of this course, and therefore to your success in it. Valid excuses for
missing class include documented medical reasons, authorized university
activities, and established religious holidays (“Class Attendance Policies,” UTSA
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Handbook of Operating Procedures). You are responsible for making up any work
missed, and must make up assignments within a reasonable time after your
absence as determined in consultation with me. Habitual tardiness will be treated
as unexcused absences.

Classroom Environment: The following policy is drawn from the Provost’s
statement on “Civility in the Classroom”: “Students are expected to assist in
maintaining a classroom environment that is conducive to learning. To assure all
students have the opportunity to gain from time spent in class, students are
prohibited from engaging in any form of distraction. Inappropriate behavior in
the classroom shall result, minimally, in a request to leave class.” Our goal is to
create a classroom that fosters mutual respect among all participants. We may
have differences of interests, approaches, ideologies, politics, academic
experience, and personal backgrounds. However, we will seek to engage these
differences from intellectually open and informed perspectives, and refrain from
disruptive behaviors such as persistent ringing of cell phones or beepers,
inappropriate challenges to the professor’s authority, excessive tardiness or
leaving class early, making offensive remarks, missing deadlines, prolonged
chatting, reading newspapers during class, sleeping, talking out of turn,
dominating discussion, shuffling backpacks and notebooks, and overt
inattentiveness (all examples listed in the Provost’s Statement on “Civility in the
Classroom”). Naturally, if you have a legitimate reason for being late, leaving
class early, or missing a deadline, you should inform me in advance so we can
make alternative arrangements. If you have concerns about the course, the
instructor, or other students, you are invited to express your concerns in a
constructive manner to me. I am open to suggestions at any point in the semester
about modifying the course to best suit the participants’ needs and interests.

Electronic Equipment: Laptops are permitted in the classroom only to take notes
or to consult electronic versions of required texts for the class and only with the
explicit permission of the instructor (i.e., ask prior to bringing your laptop to
class). Students who elect to take notes with their laptop must sit so the screen is
visible to the instructor. Laptops are not to be used for activities unrelated to the
course (websurfing, checking email, working on assignments related to other
classes, etc.). Such activities interfere with the classroom experience for
everybody, particularly in a seminar setting. Students who engage in non-class
related activities will not be allowed to use their laptop in subsequent classes and
may face a reduction of their participation grade. This policy relates to similar
electronic devices, including cell phones (no texting during class).
This syllabus cannot be posted on the internet or otherwise distributed without the
instructor’s written permission.

Plagiarism and Collusion: UTSA defines “scholastic dishonesty” as including
but not limited to, “cheating on a test or other class work, plagiarism (the
appropriation of another’s work in one’s own written work offered for credit), and
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collusion (the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing course
work offered for credit). Should a student be accused of scholastic dishonesty, the
faculty member may initiate disciplinary proceedings.” The MLA Handbook
provides a detailed discussion of “Forms of Plagiarism” and “Other Issues,”
including the impropriety of submitting the same paper to more than one
instructor or in more than one class by the same instructor.

Disability Services: Support services, including registration assistance and
equipment, are available to students with documented disabilities through the
Office of Disabled Student Services (DSS), MS 2.03.19. Students are encouraged
to contact that office at 458-4157 prior to starting classes to make arrangements,
though they can contact the office at any time.